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ADIDAS

 

Every signature shoe comes with a story.

For three months, we told that story… without ever showing the shoe.

Growing up a Rockets fan, I was beyond excited to show the rise of a superstar and the unique story he brought to his first signature shoe.

Shorty - Winner, Best use of Instagram (Project Harden)

Shorty - Finalist, Best in sports category (Project Harden)

Clio Sports - Silver, Best use of single platform (Project Harden)

Rosey Awards - Winner, Best online advertising (Project Harden)

We launched James Harden’s first ever signature shoe exclusively on IG without ever showing the shoe.


For 3 months, we told the story behind harden’s shoe in 14 distinct chapters. Each week a new, cryptic IG grid teasing the shoe was posted. Then deleted the next to keep fans coming back for more clues and more Harden.

Word spread organically and our follower count grew, no matter what we did. 

One week we’d post photos of Harden in the gym with glitched-out shoes, the next we’d ask fans to rate or hate on him with 🔴⚫️. One afternoon he became our community manager, the next we’d release footage of real sneaker heads seeing the shoe for the first time.

nyc activation ///

We even appeared at iconic basketball courts around New York where sneaker heads got to see the shoe before anyone else.

Recognition ///

Fastest selling adidas basketball shoe of all time.

20% of fans engaged with every single post.

@projectharden community had grown organically to 50,000 followers.

we even picked up a few awards including a Clio and Shorty.

Made with Pat McCaren, James Robinson, Forrest Martin and more at Swift.