22 creators, one launch.

Supernova Rise and Stride is a running shoe. adidas sold it through DICK'S, and from February to April 2024 it needed runners to carry it. Not one famous face. Real people, on the roads they already run, in the weeks around the launch.

The plan came first

We wrote the activation plan before anyone laced up. It covered casting, product seeding, briefs, shipping, live analytics and community run clubs, with a creator run club event on 22 February 2024. Every creator knew what to film, when to post and what the shoe was for.

• Casting: everyday runners with followers who trust them
• Seeding: the shoe in their hands before the brief
• Briefs: what to show, with room for their own voice
• Run clubs: a reason to run together, on camera
• Live analytics: the numbers read while the campaign is still running

Their routes, their films

Each creator filmed the shoe on their own route. That one choice did a lot of the work. A runner on the road they run every week is more believable than any set we could build, and the films looked like the feeds they were posted to.

Alongside the creator films we made a campaign film, with a RED shoot on 12 March 2024. That gave adidas a hero piece next to the creator work: one plan, two kinds of film, the same shoe.

The numbers

The run earned 2,592,240 views, and every one of those views was organic. They came from creators posting to the people who already follow them.

The films also drew 59,248 likes. Those are people who stopped, watched and reacted to a running shoe sold at DICK'S, in a feed full of other things to look at.

Supernova is one of six creator campaigns we ran for adidas and JD Sports. Together, those six earned 11.3M organic views.

Why it worked

Running is a community sport. People take advice from the runners they see every week, not from an ad. A creator campaign built on everyday runners meets buyers where they already look for proof: in their feed, from someone who runs the way they do.

One partner from plan to report

The same team wrote the plan, cast the runners, briefed them, shipped the product, read the analytics and made the campaign film. A launch with this many moving parts needs one owner. When the plan and the production sit with one team, nothing gets lost between them.

What a launch team can borrow

• Cast for trust. For a running shoe, everyday runners are the proof.
• Seed before you brief. People film what they already like.
• Let creators shoot on their own routes and in their own rooms. It reads as true.
• Give the community a moment, like a run club, so the posts have a reason.
• Read the numbers while the campaign runs, then report at 30, 60 and 90 days.

Planning a launch that needs people to carry it? Book a call. We will talk through casting, seeding and the moment that brings it all together.