The Ask
Hype James Harden's first signature shoe, Harden Vol. 1, for three months on social without ever showing the shoe. 

Project Harden
The solution was to hack Instagram’s native functionality to drive engagement and grow a community of Harden advocates. The campaign was designed to match the disruptive and enigmatic energy of James Harden himself. We exploded the story of James' shoe in 14 distinct chapters.

Case Study

Upending the platform’s native functionality, each week content was taken down and built anew with 9 interconnected posts. Clues about the shoe design and insights to Harden’s personality were encoded with a variety of tactics. The format was deliberately non-linear, jumping between distinct stories each week to break with conventional narrative and prevent people from getting too comfortable.

The visual language was glitchy, kinetic and hard-edged, aligning with James Harden's iconoclastic style and swagger. The content strategy centered on sharing different aspects of Harden's personality, game, gear, and life.

We let our fans be the first to see and review the shoe.

We gamed IG Stories inviting fans to become Harden for a chance to be one of the first own the shoe.

We took Project Harden to the streets of NYC with a pop-up experience that rolled up to iconic streetball courts.

The strategy stemmed from primary research probing social media habits of teens which netted four key insights:
-- Make users part of the action. Gen Z thrives on participation.
-- Establish a sense of discovery by making them work for it.
-- Let the audience be the deciders and they will become advocates, too.
-- Give them special access—to celebrities, information and products.

The Results
Fastest selling adidas basketball shoe of all time. 20% of fans engaged with every single post.

Roles:
Creative Direction, Art Direction, Design

Partners:
Creative Team / Pat McCaren, Forrest Martin, Jacob Cowdin, Jess Harrington, Nick Bynum, Matt Anthony, Brian Lincoln
Planning / Jeremy Webber
NYC Event Director + Editor / James Carrol
Case Study Video Credits / Matt Anthony

Awards:
Shorty Awards / Best Use of Instagram 2017
Addys / Social Media Campaign / District 11 / Silver