"When I run, I run off demons and problems that bog me down day to day. The muddier my trainers, the clearer my mind". And with a 244% increase in revenue for trail running terms this content based campaign did great things for the SportsShoes business.

The brief from SportsShoes was to get the brand to rank higher for trail running terms. Trail runners are a different breed of runner from the people you see pounding along the pavement. They're a more solitary, meditative, mindful and less easily spotted beast. Probably because they run in out of the way places and have eyes focused upon a rapidly changing and uneven terrain. Not unlike life. 

Research told us that trail runners were more likely to be open to messaging about mindfulness and mental well being, than weight loss and physical perfection. This insight coincided perfectly with the discovery on social media of literally hundreds of pictures of 'post run', mud caked trainers. To get your footwear totally and unrecognisably covered in whatever nature throws at it is a badge of honour to the trail runner. And we wondered if there might be some correlation between a clearer mind and a muddier trainer. Hence the name of the campaign:

The time of year that we planned to pitch the campaign was critical too - January - a time of year when the media is saturated with features on losing weight, shredding the post Christmas belly, living on celery or cabbage soup. Miserable, predictable and uninspiring. Forget about the physical weight loss. How about the mental weight we carry around with us, particularly as we go into the darkest months of the year. 

We enlisted some more than willing club runners and filmed them as they ran around various locations in the Cuckmere valley and on Beachy Head - not  for the faint of heart on a very windy December morning. Lighting conditions were awful, but somehow fitted the mood, as our runners literally ran the demons of the soles of their feet. We'd enlisted a psychologist to give us simple one words that represented the most common root causes of mental ill health. I painted the words on the soles of the trainers the night before and we watched them get eroded throughout the morning. 

Video: Sean Tucker

The video was accompanied by a whole collection of content on the trail running hub, built by the wonderful in house team at SportsShoes. With a fantastic range of content for relevance' and this hero 'content for recommendation' we won a huge amount of coverage, increased revenue for SportsShoes, but perhaps more importantly, inspired many people to get out there into the wild and run off some demons. 

Credits

Created in a previous engagement as Creative Director at Propellernet Ltd - a mould breaking agency that helps its client’s to BE FOUND. Massive dual credit to Sophie Tanner, an amazingly talented and driven PR star.