We’d like to enter Converse’s ‘Made by You’ campaign for the integrated award. The simplicity of our campaign idea allowed us to seamlessly disperse over 400 Chuck portraits across an array channels to create one unified campaign. ‘Made by You’ came to life across OOH, digital, social, mobile, and experiential.

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.

Made By You saw a tremendous reaction from consumers and media with strong comprehension of our dedication to Chuck fans.

Featured people shared their portraits via social, driving native amplification. And the behavior is starting to catch 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%+ brand mentions within the first 3 weeks across social media.

‘Made By You’ brought fan-sourced sneaker portraits and films to life across OOH, PR, digital media, experiential and social.

The campaign ran in 41 cities across 5 continents throughout March and April 2015. Turning traditional media into exhibition space, from station dominations to sequential billboards and large painted murals. Each location featured a uniquely-curated combination of portraits, with gallery-style copy panels to introduce the art. We brought the same diversity of portraits to life on social across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.

Our film – which ran online and in cinema – drove deeper engagement with the broader portrait campaign by sharing real life stories from Chuck wearers around the world.

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 role of Converse as a cultural icon was in decline as competitors appropriated 'creativity' in their brand communications. This business challenge demanded a marketing strategy that would put the Chuck Taylor icon back on its pedestal and strengthen brand affinity amongst creatives.

Our insight was unique, as it is both a product and consumer insight: Chuck Taylor is the only sneaker defined by the self-expression of people who wear them.

This opened the door to placing the consumer at the heart of Converse's brand philosophy: Converse manufactures Chucks, but they are ‘Made by You’.

This idea called for the biggest celebration of Chucks...ever. What came to life was a global exhibition of self-expression that turned Chuck-wearers worn, muddy, sharpie-covered, studded sneakers into works of art.