Reebok’s universal brand truth is the belief that people can be their very best selves – physically, mentally and socially – by leading an active life. And Reebok as a brand has an unexpected, witty and even a bit provoking and cheeky personality.

So when the World Health Organization released statistics showing that 25 % of all Swedes are so physically inactive it is actually harmful, Reebok had to address the issue.

With zero media budget, we needed to do something interesting and bold enough to generate media coverage and press by itself.

In that same period, Stockholm (along with other cities around the world) was practically invaded by a new phenomenon: rentable electrical scooters. They were highly debated and stirred up emotions – some people loved them while others hated them. They were the perfect antagonist for Reebok and could represent the passive lifestyle Reebok is working against.

How could we use the debate around scooters to take a stand for physical movement?

Say hello to “Reebok to Go”, an idea equally bizarre and brilliant.

In order to make people see the stupidity in riding scooters instead of getting their well needed exercise when going places, we decided to start "competing” with the rentable scooters.

We equipped a fleet of walking friendly Reeboks with soles with an integrated GPS leading to a site where the shoes could be tracked in real time. The shoes were placed in the center of Stockholm and could be borrowed by anyone with a mobile phone.

We wanted to find the perfect balance tonality wise, so that people would understand that the service in itself wasn't a serious business extension for Reebok since it obviously wouldn't work - but make it serious enough to get the message behind everything shine through.

Our strategy was to tap into a current phenomenon that had been debated in the news and most people had an opinion about, to increase the chance of getting buzz.

We approached journalists (one of our target groups) with a PR kit (press release, images and film) in order to get them to act and report about our campaign.

Our main goal was to reach our larger, primary target group (early adopting, active Stockholmers) through earned media. Our objective was to create brand heat and make people like and engage with the brand, not primarily to increase sales. We obviously knew the service wouldn't "work" and that the shoes would disappear and never be seen ever again, but we saw it as a creative give away/sampling that helps us get lots of attention and liking.

We approached news, health, fashion and tech journalists in Sweden, but it spread organically globally.

We equipped a fleet of walking friendly unisex Reeboks (in sizes ranging from EU 36-45) with soles with an integrated GPS and a QR code leading to a site where the shoes could be tracked in real time on a map.

The shoes were placed and spread out in the center of Stockholm, where lots of people pass and where scooters exist in abundance, and could be borrowed by anyone with a mobile phone by scanning the QR code.

Besides the outdoor guerrilla marketing in the form of sneakers, we also produced a PR film explaining the idea, and press material for journalists.

The service was launched in the autumn of 2019. (The sneakers disappeared fast, but the campaign kept spreading.)

With zero media spend, we managed to get a media reach of over 4 million.

The guerrilla stunt and the film was spread socially.

All the shoes were gone within a few hours, and we received engagement from all over the world.

We even had one of the top politicians in Stockholm tweeting about the stunt as part of the debate around physical health and the existence of electrical scooters in the city environment.