To launch adidas’ latest running shoe, Ultra BOOST, we needed to make it known as the ‘greatest running shoe ever’.

Our audiences were notoriously tough to reach. While they want to be seen as in the know, they aren’t the ones to discover the new trends. And if we told them directly it was the greatest shoe ever, they’d say - prove it.

To cut through we needed to be bold and disruptive.

So we staged a revolution, in one of the most attention-grabbing locations; a Running Revolution in Wall Street. And invited key influencers to join us.

We created a fully immersive brand experience – for attendees to understand and sign up to the revolution - and then took to the streets to actually run the revolution, in Central Park.

Influencers declared it the ‘greatest running shoe ever’, selling out global stock within 48 hours of sales launch.

adidas challenged us to launch their latest running shoe, Ultra BOOST, and make it known to the world as the ‘greatest running shoe ever’. But it was headed into a highly crowded category and the BOOST technology was not new.

Our strategy was to go straight to the target audience’s ‘friends’; their online influencers and running community, allowing them to form their own opinions and share it, rather than make the claim ourselves. We needed to be disruptive so we created a running revolution.

200 influencers and media from 17 markets attended and were quick to set their Twitter channels buzzing and Instagram feeds publishing every facet of the launch, from product profile shots, athlete ambassadors and running experiences.

In the first 10 days the campaign generated estimated impressions of 250M+. and #UltraBOOST trended in the UK and US, with 11,000+ tweets and 2,000+ Instagram posts across owned and earned channels,

Adidas Instagram engagement increased by 225%% and Facebook achieved a 200% increase in engagement, 42% increase in reach and 23% increase in likes.

The launch captured the attention of key influencers and succeeded in building excitement and anticipation ahead of the commercial on shelf date of 11/02/15. Through PR and social alone, the campaign drove the highest number of e-commerce sign-ups in adidas history, and within 48 hours, global stock was sold out.

Disruption was key to cut-through and revolution was a theme that tested well with this audience. The running revolution was hosted in an old bank vault, 23 Wall Street, in NYC. The location was chosen because the heart of any revolution comes from the disruption of the core of the establishment, and the bold urban environment fit with the adidas brand.

No long speeches or global celebrities, just the shoe, athletes and experts. For the first time in adidas history, we conducted live competitor testing and held a running clinic for our influencers, led by professional athletes. We supplied the influencers with stylists, photographers, production studios, a gif photobooth and a testing arena in Central Park. This allowed them to explore, ask questions and create their own content at launch. All of the creative execution was rooted in the act of running, opening a vault and launching a running revolution.