Since The Woods Pack was available only in Canada, we decided to give a pair to everyone in Canada.

The catch?

It was Canada, Kansas; a small, rural community about 250 kilometers outside of the Missouri border.

We travelled to Canada, Kansas, and over a three-day period gave each resident a pair of The Woods Pack in exchange for their thoughts on the style, fit and feel. We captured each interaction to create online-only content ranging from 15-second teasers and a 90-second launch film to post-launch videos and in-store point of sale.

The campaign coincided with The Woods Pack launch on September 9th and ran until October 15th.

The online video portion of the campaign appeared across New Balance Canada’s social media platforms, with a focus on Twitter and Instagram. The in-store point of sale posters and window displays appeared in all 17 New Balance stores across Canada.

The sneaker community instantly picked up the campaign; appearing on notable sneaker culture and fashion blogs as well as news media sites, including Brag Affair, Reddit, The Loop, Trend Hunter, Yahoo News, and in particular, Marc Ecko’s Complex.com, which garnered New Balance Canada millions of organic impressions.

New Balance Canada’s online share of voice increased dramatically; with organic brand reach soaring 163 percent. Twitter followers nearly doubled, growing by 89 percent, while Instagram followers rose 24 percent.

Shortly after the campaign’s launch, The Woods Pack shoes began appearing on eBay and other reseller sneaker websites, being resold by collectors for as much as 70 percent above retail price.

Proving The Woods Pack campaign made enough noise to break through and grab the attention of the primary sneakerhead target.

As an unexpected metric of success, the campaign was also logged in the annals of time on the Canada, Kansas Wikipedia page.