K-Swiss is a heritage American sneaker brand established in 1966 that’s known for one of the most iconic sneakers of all time, The Classic. With stylish shoes and an aging audience, K-Swiss found an opportunity to market toward entrepreneurial Millennials.
It started with a simple insight. Millennials aspire to be a new kind of superstar — an entrepreneur.
With that in mind, the K-Swiss Board of Directors campaign was born — an “influence the influencers” approach designed to let Millennials reset the brand themselves. DJ and musician Diplo, serving as "board chairman," would lead 100 aspiring entrepreneurs through a series of assignments that would reshape the brand.
As the strategic design and technology partner, Hanson Dodge elevated the campaign using a multi-platform approach:
What started as a design and technology project became an integrated marketing campaign and a successful relaunch of the K-Swiss brand.
As a result of our work in conjunction with other partners, K-Swiss’ The Board was covered by scores of media and received over 180,000,000 impressions in social and digital media. The Board application website received more than 350,000 visits; 50% of web traffic was mobile and 90% was within target demographic of Millennials. The campaign engaged over 200,000 consumers, and during the campaign, K-Swiss received 40% social community engagement.
