Free Running

From time to time, I see people running around and jumping on things around campus. I have always wondered what in the world they are doing. Apparently, they are doing something called Parkour. Parkour is an athletic discipline where practitioners travel through any environment in the most efficient way possible using their physical abilities. One of the founders, Sebastien Foucan (pictured left), created a form of Parkour called "Free Running." According to Foucan, Free Running is "the art of expressing yourself in your environment with no limitations."

Free Running is most closely associated with urban areas. When K-Swiss wanted to re-brand themselves as an urban lifestyle brand in Europe, they teamed up with Foucan. Together, they developed the first trainer specially designed for Free Running, the Ariake. K-Swiss launched a TV and print campaign as well as a website to support the launch of the shoe. They teamed up with Perfect Fools to create the website. This viral website allows users to type a message and then view a video of Foucan Free Running over the message. Users can then download the video to their computers. You can check out the message I created in the video below.





I think this website is a cool way to expose people to the Ariake. Free Running is something that not a lot of people know about. This site has information about Free Running as well as a small bio of Sebastien Foucan with a link to his website. It allows users to generate their own content for the message, while showcasing the shoe in the video. People may send the video to their friends to show them the message or what Free Running looks like. In return, K-Swiss gets exposure for their brand. I think this is definitely a good way for K-Swiss to appeal to an urban market. My only complaint is that in the video, you can not always tell what letter he is jumping over. This can make it hard to read the message. Otherwise, I give this campaign a thumbs up.

To view the full article from Marketing Week, click here.