Content Opportunities for the Luxury Sport Shoe Audience in Q2 2023

The 1-Minute Gist

Organic audiences respond to content that demonstrates versatility & design.

Communicate product variety and comfort through videos that address:

• Simple storylines to show who wears your product and how they can wear it 
• VFX to breakdown your product and what makes it comfortable (or high performance)
• ‍Multi-media and quick clips to produce content that resonates with a trend-forward social audience

Let effects, technology and creative editing be the leader for ad campaigns.

Paid audiences need to be inspired or wowed with editing & references to trending tech like AI:

• Be an inspiration for what your prospects’ active lives could be with aspirational content
• Be future-forward with your creative and show prospects what ‘efficiency’ you’ve built into your product 
• Personify the key selling point of your product (ie. comfort) with imaginable traits

Visual trends…

• Top-performing organic content is more often clean, bright and simple in tone and…
• Top-performing paid content is often more futuristic, colorful and technology-based 
• ‍But both channels are seeing a rise in voyeuristic tones, paying homage to the classic camcorder

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Excellent organic video themes in the Luxury Shoe space:

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Good organic video themes in the Luxury Shoe space:

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Okay organic video themes in the Luxury Shoe space:

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Poor organic video themes in the Luxury Shoe space:

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For Everyone

Communicate product versatility. 

Brands like Lacoste and Malbon Golf are communicating the versatility of products through different uses, locations, ages and types of people.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍20 seconds in duration on average.
• Videos don’t feature any dialogue but tell a clear story with action.
• Emphasize natural audio of sounds made in represented scenarios (ie. the sound of a subway station).
• Lacoste’s campaigns on Instagram and YouTube use soft, almost hazy color grading. 
• Show your audience that golf shoes can be worn off the green in a campaign series that styles your shoes mid-game directly to a business lunch.

Examples

Views 774K | Engagements 50K 

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Views 733K | Engagements 29K 

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Views 271K | Engagements 7K 

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Shoe VFX

Isolate product mid-air in unique settings.

Use visual effects on videos to portray shoes in the air or in an isolated way, breaking down the product technology and highlighting the design.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍23 seconds in duration on average.
• Videos don’t feature narratives and instead aim to highlight aesthetics.
• Use effects to communicate product benefits, like this Asics video that brings their product through the elements like earth, wind, water and fire to demonstrate durability.
• Keep colors and visuals clean & clear.
• Address comfort & technical features like shoe fit (wide or narrow feet), waterproofing and durability on the green through product ‘dissections’.

Examples

Views 980K | Engagements 14K 

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Axel Arigato uses this concept in a creative way that explores a high-fashion approach.

Views 527K | Engagements 7K 

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Views 520K | Engagements 14K 

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Copy & Paste

Combine various shots into one video. 

Use quick audios with various clips showing the same thing in different ways that viewers have come to adopt through social media trends— but in a branded way.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍25 seconds in duration on average.
• Use back-and-forth blurred, and grainy (film noise) footage to combine a series of clips in a way that holds attention.
• ‍Get crafty. Collage and mosaic (multi-media) content is up and coming for brands experimenting with product videos.
• Note that brands are experimenting with below the foot shots like this.
• Take iPhone video concepts and produce them in an artful, unique and branded manner.

Examples

Audiences resonate with this iPhone content. Take these concepts and elevate them.

Views 718K | Engagements 7K 

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Views 301K | Engagements 17K 

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Views 288K | Engagements 11K 

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Top paid video themes for the Luxury Shoe space:

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Excellent paid video themes for the Luxury Shoe space:

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Good paid video themes for the Luxury Shoe space:

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Okay paid video themes for the Luxury Shoe space:

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Poor paid video themes for the Luxury Shoe space:

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Aspirational

Show prospects what they could achieve.

Identify pain points people are having and then show how your products can solve those problems and help them reach their fitness goals.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍19 seconds in duration on average.
• ‍Effects are used across aspirational videos to build a deeper picture. Experiment with multiplying a person mid-air to overlaying clips of other people performing similar actions on another athlete.
• Use added audio and narrative voice-overs.‍
• ‍The top spend sees darker visuals and editing with nods to tech and AI. Create an ad that is sporadic, mysterious and full of possibilities. 

Examples

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Augmented Reality

Portray benefits through a technology-lens. 

ON has dedicated over $1M from July ‘22 to June ‘23 to a series of ads that use Augmented Reality concepts to communicate product value.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍16 seconds in duration on average.
• ‍Bright colors and over-stimulating visuals like this are used on top videos.
• Use text on screen to mirror augmented reality and machine learning concepts.
• Round out the creative by using a robotic voice over that acts as the “creator” of the product’s innovative comfort technology.
• Acknowledge why your product’s technology is different and how it will improve efficiency.

Examples

ON is communicating that their product makes runners superhuman— like their tech.

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Personification

Give your shoe physical energy.

Nike and ON are personifying their products in a way that allows viewers to connect on a personal level with them due to their “personality traits”.

Production Elements From Top Performing Posts

• ‍16 seconds in duration on average.
• ‍Visual effects are used to create realistic visuals that give shoes “life”. Nike communicates comfort through balloon cushioning that looks like smiley faces and marshmallows. 
• ‍Tell a story. Nike created a series of ads around the Pegasus model where runner Joan Benoit owns a shop and tells her shoes to “be good” when she closes up. They proceed to liven up.
• Use texture, dissection and clean graphics to give shoe products new life. 

Examples

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Content Theme Definitions

Organic Videos

For Everyone:  Brands like Lacoste and Malbon Golf are communicating the versatility of a product through different uses, locations, ages and types of people.

Shoe VFX: Use visual effects on videos to portray shoes in the air or in an isolated way, breaking down the product technology and highlighting the design.

Copy & Paste: Use quick audios with clips showing the same thing in new ways that viewers have adopted through social media trends— but in a branded way.

POV & Perspective: Make quick videos with a human perspective or POV focusing on the shoes by looking down.

Product-Centric: Make videos that share close-ups of different elements of shoes or just simple well-rounded presentations of the shoe as a whole.

An Ode to Film: Experiment with storylines that are similar to short films, that also are shot with a grainy effect.

Editorial: Bring unique presentations of products to the forefront with abstract presentations of shoes on models.

Split Screen: These videos use split screens to present more than one model or colorway of a new shoe. 

Tech-Infused: These bring anime or gamified concepts to campaign videos through cityscapes and holographs in a digital world. 

Making Of: These videos show the creation of a shoe from the manufacturing stage onwards.

Paid Videos

Aspirational:  Identify pain points people are having and then show how your products can solve those problems and help them reach their fitness goals.

Augmented Reality: ON has dedicated over $1M from July ‘22 to June ‘23 to a series of ads that use Augmented Reality concepts to communicate product value.

Personification: Nike and ON are personifying their products in a way that allows viewers to connect on a personal level with them due to their “personality traits”.

POV & Perspective: Use a mixture of shots from both the eye level and the ground (as the shoe) to offer a range of clips about a product.

Story Time: Build a deeper story around a product and the impact it’s made on its user base. 

Product-Centric: Focus on the details of a shoe and the product as a whole at face value.

Athlete: These videos present new athlete partnerships for brands and products.

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Brands Included in Analysis

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*Digital Advertising Data Source Caveat

*For videos in this content category. View data collected manually.

*Measured by Average Views

*Measured by Average Impressions