A true creative collaboration of outstanding talents. This work reflects a strategy to connect with a generation of people who cherish social currency above all. Millennials don’t want to hear how great your brand is. They want you to acknowledge how great they are. That’s an important distinction. Our goal with this campaign was to do just that. While every other brand is telling them what to do and who to be, we are simply saying: ‘be yourself.’ You get a trophy just for being the amazingly unique human you already are…thus the meme-friendly taglines like ‘You don’t have to be an artistic genius to make your life a masterpiece’ We don’t just want to disrupt. We want to start a conversation and engage. This approach will allow us to connect with new fans who might have otherwise dismissed KEEN as simply a traditional outdoor brand. We want them to connect on an emotion level to the values we live by. Self-expression and fearlessness are key values expressed in this creative.
UNEEK presented an opportunity for a brand like KEEN to disrupt the status quo imagery permeating the outdoor industry. We knew the world wasn’t thirsting for yet another shot of a guy jumping over a log or a girl hiking past a stream. We wanted to bring some self-expression and charisma to the outdoor world…and simultaneously connect the brand to the broader lifestyle market. For KEEN, the outdoors is ‘any place without a ceiling’ and UNEEK is proof positive of this. It’s about stepping out of your comfort zone, comfortably. We see UNEEK as a way to earn new fans and to bridge Keen's heritage in outdoor performance and innovation to its expanded future in lifestyle footwear.
Creative Direction: Michael Minter
Creative Direction & Photography: Tim Tadder
Digital Art: Mike Campau
