Bands on the run

Shoehorning music into footwear campaigns

What?: Music is getting the runaround in the footwear market. It’s all about teenage kicks.

Throughout October and November, Nike held speed trials for its Supersonic campaign. The Supersonic final took place in a secret London location, with the fastest 1,000 being cheered on by 2,000 of their friends to the sounds of The Enemy and Dizzie Rascal.

Adidas is teaming up with artists from a number of genres (RJD2, The Rapture, Polyphonic Spree, Bad Brains) to write and record an original song that represents each Major League Soccer team in the US.

MTV Networks International and Nike have joined forces on a fundraising initiative for raise money for HIV and AIDS education and prevention work. Fans can bid for specially-designed Nike trainers signed by a variety of stars including Snoop Dogg, Craig David, Shaggy, Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland.

Converse’s latest 30-second spot campaign features 11-year-old Sophie Kasakove, of teen-rock band Care Bears On Fire, under the tagline “Learn three chords. You’ll know 1,000 songs”. The ad is one of three ‘disruption’ music-related ads.

So what?: The $55B footwear industry is seeing moderate-to-slow growth in the US, with Adidas predicting a flat 2008 for its recently-purchased Reebok brand. Footwear brands’ musical relationships often reflect a very practical application (Nike + iPod for example). Can better integration with music, targeting casual footwear consumers, fuel a flat US sales market? Sportswear has little to do with sport in reality and much more with individual fashion and lifestyle statements. The tide has turned from wanting to be Michael Jordan to emulating musical icons. Footwear is now as much a part of a musician’s journey as a battered guitar case.

“Let’s just put it this way, it’s been more than once that the whole band has shown up to a gig and realised we were all wearing Converse. That’s no coincidence.”
Sophie Kasakove, Singer, Care Bears on Fire

“When it comes to music and sneakers, collaboration and content needs to insightfully draw on street culture or to show a sound understanding of where music and sport experiences intersect. If not, they’ll smell like those Chucks you wore without socks for a whole summer. Nasty.“
Anthony Swede, Creative Planner, FRUKT

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