Project Overview

Shortly after the first Olympics and Boston Marathon, no one was making professional running shoes. Runners were wearing leather, spikes, and even bare feet. Two years later, a running shoe company was started, in 1868, with its first factory located along the Saucony river (pronounced Sock-uh-knee). Today they are still making professional footwear for athletes and the aspiring.

Saucony consistently rates within the top ten brands for serious runners, yet rarely do non-professionals know of them. The goal became more about bringing the amateurs and hobbyists on board using aspirational messaging. We were defining who a Saucony runner is, what they’re about and what it takes to join their ranks, through social media.

Over the course of a year, about 200 separate images were created, with copy that spoke to motivating runners, offering tips and tricks, provoking conversation, and advertising new products and events. These multi-use online ads were posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and in certain cases the signifiers were strong enough to see fans appropriating the ads for use as their own social media site cover and avatar images.