adidas
Project Harden
Project Harden is an award-winning, record-breaking campaign to launch the first sneaker collab between adidas and NBA superstar, James Harden. A pioneering twelve week tease campaign that didn’t show the sneaker once… or did it?
Role: Creative Direction. Concepting. Copywriting. Comms Planning.
THE BRIEF
Maximise adidas’ new partnership with the enigmatic James Harden to stop getting dunked on by Nike.
Our job was to generate social hype for the Harden Vol. 1 sneaker with Gen Z basketball fans for twelve weeks until it went on sale with one small caveat: don’t show the shoe.
THE SOLUTION
We learnt that Gen Z only posted their ‘Top 9’ photos to Instagram, randomly deleting and adding new content to their profile to present a new version of themselves.
This erratic behaviour mirrored Harden’s personality. So we created our own Instagram account: @projectharden. Our goal was to create the most unpredictable and disruptive Instagram account possible, that would engage fans and keep them coming back to learn more about the Harden Vol. 1.
CREATING CHAOS
Every week for twelve weeks, we posted a new, cryptic ‘Top 9’ to @projectharden that teased info about the sneaker. Then we deleted it and replaced it with something else.
Everything was anarchic: Copy was short and coded, designed to lure people in. Visuals were bold yet misleading, teasing the shoe while animated glitches disorientated.
The goal was participation. Whether asking fans to rate or slate Harden, to more complex actions like taking screen shots and adding Instagram filters to read hidden messages. Harden even played Community Manager from time to time.
The further we coaxed fans down the rabbit hole, the more excited they became for the Harden Vol. 1 launch.
/// Don't waste your time. Fake Shoes. #projectharden
/// 🔴 FOR LOVE ⚫️ FOR HATE
/// Check that footwork 🧐 #projectharden
/// 🔺adidas Harden Vol. 1 🔺 You didn't see it here first.
HARDEN STATE OF MIND
As the launch date approached, we took Project Harden to iconic basketball courts in New York where sneaker heads could see the shoe before anyone else - virtually, via a unique VR headset experience.
RECORD-BREAKING RESULTS
Harden Vol. 1 became the fastest-selling adidas basketball shoe of all time.
When the shoe finally dropped, @projectharden had grown a following of 50,000 fans organically.
adidas was back at the heart of sneaker culture, and the campaign was a win for my team as the campaign won awards too, including a Clio and a Shorty. ✌️
CREDITS
BALLERS
Swift
Portland, OR
2016
AGENCY
Creative Direction
Concepts (Social, Experiential)
Copywriting (Social, Manifesto)
Comms Planning
ROLE
Forrest Martin
Liam Doherty
Nick Bynum
Bre Maris
Matt Berry
Ted Zahn
Brian Lincoln
James Robinson
Billy Lymm
Jacob Cowdin
Jeremy Webber
Cade Wallace
Richard Ramirez
James Carroll
BACK TO THE WORK •
BACK TO THE WORK •