Case Study: SapientNitro and Foot Locker shake up art world with The World’s Richest Colouring Competition awarding first prize winner $50,001

September 7 2011, 11:48 am | BY Lynchy | 13 Comments

Screen shot 2011-09-08 at 6.52.20 AM.jpgCASE STUDY: Leading retailer, Foot Locker Asia Pacific, via agency SapientNitro Brisbane, has shaken up the art world through a unique collaboration that saw a new Sneaker Art Prize trump one of Australasia’s most prestigious art prizes, The Archibald Prize, by one dollar.

Launched in April, the inaugural Foot Locker Art Prize: The World’s Richest Colouring Competition brought together a host of world-renowned brands in celebration of Sneaker Art via an integrated campaign spanning creative, public relations and social media, SEO/SEM, online advertising, digital engagement, direct-to-consumer activations and point-of-sale.

VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIDEO

Culminating in an exhibition at the prestigious Art Gallery of NSW on July 28, the $50,001 Foot Locker Art Prize was awarded to Brisbane artist, Kalin Thompson (left) by Foot Locker managing director, Phill Laing, who announced Kalin by unveiling a bespoke pair of Nike Air Force 1 sneakers that had been created specially by sneaker customiser, Sekure D as part of his first prize win.

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Also joining Foot Locker in its quest to drive awareness of the Sneaker Art movement was a raft of renowned competition judges, including UK Artist, Dave White, Sneaker Freaker magazine editor, Simon ‘Woody’ Wood and Australian art critic, Andrew Frost who were integral in ensuring Sneaker Art’s legitimacy was stamped on the Art community.

In its first year, The Foot Locker Art Prize generated;

·      6,177 entries

·      128,970 unique visitors

·      6.4 million page views

·      PR reach of over 348 million people

·      11,906 YouTube views

·      91.5% increase of Facebook Fans

Screen shot 2011-09-07 at 1.03.32 PM.jpgOn the success of the Art Prize, Phill Laing said; “At Foot Locker we believe sneakers aren’t just something you wear, they’re part of your life. Most of the time retailers do things that are the same old, same old – so we met with our great friends at SapientNitro and said let’s do something completely different.  And we feel we did just that, and more.

Screen shot 2011-09-07 at 1.02.55 PM.jpgThe key driver in the success of this initiative however was the collaboration of our agency partners – SapientNitro, DEC PR, WeAreDigital and Starcom – who brought the campaign to life through seamless communication, ultimately ensuring once and for all that the art community cannot and will not forget Sneaker Art.”

Screen shot 2011-09-07 at 1.03.08 PM.jpgScreen shot 2011-09-07 at 1.04.15 PM.jpgFoot Locker Asia Pacific, including Jessica Spee (marketing director), Sarah Hayward (brand manager) and Di Stirling (marketing consultant) worked collaboratively with creative agency, SapientNitro, public relations agency DEC Public Relations, digital agency WeAreDigital and media buying agency, Starcom.