Brooks Sports on Saturday will debut a campaign to introduce the Transcend line of footwear "in the vein of the lighthearted" slogan "Run happy" that Brooks has been using since '10, according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. Brooks with Transcend "adds to the mix imagery that is, literally and figuratively, out of this world." The Brooks website shows the slogan "Rise above the run,” and depicts a Transcend shoe "against a background of fluffy clouds." Print ads using similar photography "extol the Transcend as 'a galactic wonder ride.'" Another section of the Brooks website "features images of clouds, skies, balloons, rockets, chimps in spacesuits, satellites and galaxies." A woman in a video clip "describes the features of the Transcend while standing amid a planetarium’s worth of stars and planets, a setting with a charming, childlike feel out of a Wes Anderson movie." The campaign also includes "online ads, events around the country, retail promotions, a public relations effort and content in social media like Facebook and Twitter." In a "mash-up of media," about 1,000 readers of the March issue of Runner’s World will receive copies of the magazine with "ads that will play videos about the shoe." The creative agency for the campaign is Oregon-based The Great Society, and the media agency is OMD. The Transcend, which retails for $160 a pair, is Brooks' "most recent entry into a category of performance athletic footwear." Elliott notes the Transcend campaign "will start at the same time that Madison Avenue will be pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into ads meant to be seen on Super Bowl weekend. Brooks Senior Dir for Global Brand Marketing Heather Snavely said that the "timing is coincidental" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/28).
READY FOR ANYTHING: AD AGE's Meredith Derby Berg reported Saucony's two-minute ad, called "Ready," will be "released this spring via social channels and select digital media" as part of the athletic-shoe marketer's "Find Your Strong" strategy "aimed at forging a connection with the specialty-runner consumer." Taking the strategy "a step further," Saucony is "releasing an inspirational 22-minute documentary called 'Finding Strong.'" The film "focuses on running worldwide and how it can change life's trajectory." It tells "stories from five countries, the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Africa and Finland." The film has premiered in N.Y., Boston and Austin, and "10 to 15 screenings will take place in key markets." It will be "released digitally in late March or early April" (ADAGE.com, 1/27).
