The Challenge: Converse is synonymous with Chucks. It has always been intertwined with culture, a space now crowded by others challenging its authentic positioning. We had to create the biggest celebration for the world’s most iconic product – targeted at people whose lives are shaped by their creativity.

The Insight: The Chuck is the only sneaker defined by the self-expression of those who wear them. Converse designs Chucks, but they are Made By You.

The Solution: A worldwide exhibition of Chuck portraits giving credit to over 200 people who made them their own. Every portrait was signed by their owner, elevating their canvas expressions to artwork, and celebrating the democracy of the brand.

Comms strategy led with ‘media as exhibition’, resulting in station dominations, street billboard takeovers and large painted murals. Another principle focused on portrait sequencing to celebrate the variety of expressions. Street-level placements ensured attention to the Chuck details and the owner’s signature.

We also created a virtual-reality experience that provided the chance to step into the Chucks in the portraits: a famous street artist, a zombie actress, an urban explorer and a celebrated musician. Delivered via an app and viewed through Cardboard VR.

The Results: Our influencers shared their portraits via social, driving amplification. The behavior is catching on – over 2,000 Chuck fans have created their own portraits. The experience, designed to be inherently social and shareable, has tracked 98% positive sentiment, 238.6m impressions, 3.0m engagements and 40%+ mentions within the first 3 weeks across social media.

Executions were three or more consecutive portrait-driven takeovers and gatefolds in publications like TimeOut, Pitchfork, Paper and Vice.

On social, we shared an array of portraits, each with a personal story from their wearer. We focused efforts on our primary social channels: Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook. We created a new Chuck Taylor Tumblr and partnered with Tumblr Creators to create custom Chuck portraits for Tumblr only. Portrait behavior caught on — over 2,000 fans created their own portraits.

We partnered with Google’s augmented reality platform, Cardboard, to create an app that added depth to our on-the-ground portrait experience.

On social media we tracked 98% positive sentiment, 238m impressions, 3m engagements and 40%+ brand mentions within the first 4 weeks.