Tansu was one of Japan’s first exports and it embodies Japanese craftsmanship, so the Tansu-inspired sneaker was perfect for bringing ‘Made of Japan’ strategy to life. The characteristic compartments made the sneaker a delivery device for the stories we wanted to tell.In flagship stores and trade fairs worldwide, the shoe intrigued sneaker fans with branded content, secret compartments, and exclusive prizes.Online, over 1,200 stills created a fully interactive ‘virtual sneaker’, revealing new collections, films, and surprise content.

Intriguing packages with keys were sent to influential bloggers, allowing them exclusive access to certain compartments. This generated a global buzz as they shared their discoveries online.The story of the Tansu sneaker appeared in sports, fashion, design publications, generating PR worth 100,000. Instore, Tansu-themed collateral, including scale-models, limited-edition wooden business-card holders, shopping bags and ornate wrapping paper, brought the campaign to life in finely crafted style.

Each element of the integrated campaign, from the sneaker’s global tour to editorial features and blogger outreach activities, helped in successfully driving people online to discover more about the brand.Unique visits to onitsukatiger.com grew 125%, while total traffic saw a massive increase (460%). Interest in the collection went up 20%, direct traffic (WOM) increased 40%, referral traffic jumped 152%.The story of the wooden sneaker spread around the world, appearing in thousands of blogs, tweets and magazines, showing that sometimes, to build something beautiful, even in a virtual world, you need the tools of a traditional craftsman.