Background

THE BACKGROUND New York-based Stadium Goods had been busy carving a niche across the world as the premier online sneaker resale platform. SneakerCon in Guangzhou was the brand’s first chance to engage with China’s legion of sneakerheads and hypebeasts. THE BRIEF “I want a display-shelf design that will impress these Chinese sneakerheads with our unique, expensive sneaker collections and our culture. It has to have an I-wear-therefore-I-am attitude all over it.” said John McPheters, Founder & CEO, Stadium Good With hundreds of brands all clamouring for attention, it was important for the newcomer to make an impression. Stadium Goods wanted a design for their booth at SneakerCon that would make a splash for their brand among the sneakerheads. VENUE SneakerCon, Guangzhou BOOTH SPACE 6m x 6m THE BUDGET 50,000USD

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

The Stadium Goods brand is a premium brand that is rooted in street culture. Its target audience is made up of young, wealthy sneaker aficionados. In crafting the idea, we needed to focus on attracting attention in a tight space within a cluttered environment, expressing the brand in a way that tapped in to its street heritage yet maintained a level of sophistication that matched with its status as part of the high fashion Farfetch stable of brands. We developed our thinking by looking at what sneakers meant to the audience. Prized possessions worthy of placing on a pedestal. So we imagined what the ideal pedestal would look like to a sneakerhead, something that seemed effortlessly cool and that reflected elements of authentic sneaker culture. Then we imagined a whole booth full of them and the Sneakerhead army was born.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

We explored how we might develop our idea to combine the worlds of hip hop and sneaker culture together with urban vinyl design group and avowed sneakerheads, Naughty Brain. We worked in tight collaboration with them to develop hundreds of figurines which feature the body of a street smart punk, his head replaced with a platform for displaying sneakers. This edgy urban vinyl figurine doubled as a sneaker rack. With a different sneaker for each head, the figurines took on a unique personality of their own.

List the results (20% of vote)

The Sneakerhead™ created a huge buzz for the brand and became one of the most instagrammable spots at the convention. The toys garnered over 12,000,000 impressions on Chinese social media. The event was used to promote the brand outside of China too with over 7,800,000 Youtube views and exposure to celebrities such as Jaden Smith, Tyra Banks, Lil Mosey, Alicia Keyes etc. 200 buyers got to take a figure home. Some of these figurines were sold for inflated sums by sneakerheads with one even setting a starting price of 15,500USD.