THE WEBBY AWARDS – ADVERTISING, MEDIA, & PR / Best Use of Native Advertising, 2018
ADDYs – Bronze, 2018
finish line - shoes so fresh
Sneakerhead culture has reached an all-time high. It's a culture where high-priced kicks mean status and power. And now that it's hit mainstream media, it's become clear that whoever's selling the newest and freshest shoes is king. When it comes to budgets, Finish Line is the "David" to the competition's "Goliath." So, since we couldn't outspend them, we had to out-fresh them, and because sneakerheads spend hours on YouTube looking for shoes we decided that was the place to do it.
Using real-time data, we hijacked sneakerheads' YouTube search terms and surprised them with our "Skip You" ads, a collection of pre-roll ads featuring the shoes they searched for. Most importantly, we let them know where to find them. These were the first-ever pre-roll ads featuring shoes that were so fresh, they skipped you before you could skip them.
Not only did these little ads skip every viewer, they also brought a 53% brand ad recall lift and a 193% brand interest lift. But most importantly, we only needed 6 seconds to remind sneakerheads that Finish Line has the freshest shoes around, while also earning their respect.
