Campbell Mithun Breaks a Trio of Summer Spots to Round Out Its "Make Today Famous" 2011 Spring/Summer Campaign for Famous Footwear

Series of 15-Second Spots Dramatizes How the Transformative Nature of Shoes Can Inspire “A New You”

Three summer spots by Campbell Mithun—”Kenyans,” “Martial Arts” and “Undercover Cop”—recently broke to round out Famous Footwear’s “A New You” campaign dramatizing how new shoes can inspire the feeling of a new you. The campaign leverages the seasonal benefits of spring/summer as a time of renewal and falls under the retailer’s ongoing “Make Today Famous” umbrella.

The summer spots follow a flight of five spring “A New You” executions released in March/April: Red Carpet and Bollywood (fashion executions); and Secret Agent, Base Jumping and Impalas (fitness spots).

“This series dares you to envision who you want to be and how shoes can help you get there. We’ve presented a 15-second stream-of-consciousness reality where shoes lead the way for someone to imagine a new version of themselves,” said Famous Footwear Senior Vice President of Marketing Will Smith.

Each ad opens with a voiceover saying “A new you begins with new shoes from Famous Footwear” and then moves quickly to the vision imagined by the shoe consumer. The summer “A New You” spots run nationwide in the month of May. Promotional versions direct consumers to a special offer available in stores or online at famousfootwear.com/TV.

Credits: The Snorri Brothers of Interrogate directed the spots; editor is Brian Slater of Fischer Edit; music and sound design, Todd Syring, Syring Music LLC. Agency credits: Andy Anema, art director; Bill Johnson, copywriter; and David Howell, executive producer. Spark is the media agency.

Each of the spots was shot on Super 16 and with an HD 2K digital camera.

About the Summer Spots
“The real power of these spots emerges when they’re viewed collectively,” said Campbell Mithun Creative Director Bill Johnson. “Each of the 15-second spots definitely tells its own story of transformation, but together they communicate the imaginative possibilities for re-envisioning oneself—with a little help from Famous Footwear, of course.”

Shot in a game preserve, “Kenyans” presents a woman who imagines running alongside—and passing—a group of Kenyan distance racers. Her inspiration: an Asics Gel-Enhance Ultra shoe.

In “Martial Arts,” the female shopper pictures herself as a martial artist in a fight scene while holding a K-Swiss women’s running shoe. Choreographed by a professional fight coordinator, the fight-scene action was executed with trapeze wire rigs. Day-for-night filming created the B-movie genre effect.

“Undercover Cop” depicts a man envisioning himself in a good-guy-chases-bad-guy scene, all motivated by a Nike Men’s Dual Fusion shoe. The spot was filmed on a downtown rooftop, with two stuntmen jumping freefall and leaping between buildings on wires.

Make Today Famous
Famous Footwear’s “Make Today Famous” campaign was created by Campbell Mithun in 2009. The campaign shows how people can make even everyday activities “famous” in their own unique ways, influenced by the shoes on their feet. The 2011 spring/summer series represents the sixth seasonal effort under the Make Today Famous campaign umbrella and follows the recent 2010 “Frozen Moments” holiday spot featuring a 30-second slow-motion run through the snow.

About Famous Footwear
Famous Footwear is a leading family branded footwear destination, with 1,100 stores nationwide and e-commerce site FamousFootwear.com. The chain offers consumers more than 80 nationally recognized brands, including Nike, Skechers, Naturalizer, Puma, Steve Madden, Converse, New Balance, DC, Rocket Dog and Carlos by Carlos Santana, and features a broad assortment of toning footwear from brands like Skechers and Reebok. A proud national partner of the March of Dimes, the retailer sponsors March for Babies walk events in more than 1,000 communities nationwide. Famous Footwear is operated by the retail subsidiary of Brown Shoe Company, Inc., which has $2.5 billion in sales as a retailer and wholesaler of footwear. For more information, visit www.famousfootwear.com and www.brownshoe.com.

About Campbell Mithun
Campbell Mithun (www.cmithun.com) has thrived for 77 years guided by Ray Mithun’s founding philosophy: make “everything talk” for client brands. The agency has built a national brand-building reputation and, with its Compass Point Media unit and BrandOptix package-design resource, continues to build client success in today’s digital marketplace by making Everything Talk at each point of customer contact.

Primary Contact:
Kristine Olson
(612) 347-1616
[email protected]