TRUTH IN RUNNING

Issue: The world didn’t need another running shoe, so as an unknown running shoe brand in America, 361° was challenged to jump into an already crowded running shoe category. The board’s had a lofty goal of tripling revenue in a 12-month span or abandon the U.S. market entirely, so we had our work cut out for us.

Insight: Real runners don’t want to be sold to, yet the running category is rife with ads tout ‘the perfect shoe’, imagery depicts happy models and lofty technical claims. What runners want is the truth. We needed to get back to real running.

Idea: Expose the truth about running. To help runners reflect on what’s most important about why we run, 361° had an opportunity to run towards the truth while other brands ran away. 361° was going to be the brand that takes the BS out of the category by selling running, rather than just selling shoes.

Impact: 361° is outpacing its goals. Sales were up almost 100% in six months and the running world is taking notice.