Responses by Daniel Bensusan, writer and Guilherme Martins, art director, Moma
Background: Mizuno is one of the top running shoe brands in Brazil and the Mizuno WaveKnit is a revolutionary running shoe completely made of thread. Since our competitors always have flashy ads and famous athletes in their campaigns, we needed a beautiful campaign with powerful art direction for the outdoors ads and points of sale.
Reasoning: Since we wanted to promote an all-thread tennis shoe, we needed a beautiful design to be noticed on the streets and shopfronts. With the help of Pict Estúdio, we created an all-thread ad, made by hand, that is similar to what the Mizuno WaveKnit looks like. We analyzed the maps and running tracks of the three most important cities that host the major running circuits in Brazil. We’ve re-drawn and stylized the maps to create ads that displayed tennis and the streets as a single piece, linked by the strings.
Challenges: To find the perfect combination and deliver the most faithful replica of the Mizuno WaveKnit. We’ve created a lot of pre-tests to have the perfect design to reflect the WaveKnit in its essence. We’ve tested a bunch of different thread textures, nail sizes and color graduations, which totaled to 300 plus hours of work.
Favorite details: The hard work and the OOH ads’ similarity to the shoes at the end. In total, we used three core tennis colors: black, blue and pink, replicated 8000 plus km of streets, 5000 plus meters of strings, 6500 plus amount of nails, five different thread textures, eleven color gradations and three different nail sizes to create depth. We are very happy that we delivered the most faithful replica.
Anything new: We’ve renewed our faith in the power of craft. When you are working with fashion and design brands, people expect a high level of art direction. We’ve learned that people can understand and appreciate hard work.
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