IMA

Leeds

The grit and the glamour.

Real truth

TYSHAWN is a street skater who navigates New York with boundary-pushing tricks, he has flourished into an award-winning athlete.

From humble beginnings in The Bronx, Tyshawn has become skateboarding’s “King of New York”. This brief was about turning him into an icon. A personality that will grow into the same broad appeal as Lionel Messi, but more relatable. Bridging the gap between high-fashion and skate culture.

Real connection

To launch Tyshawn’s signature adidas collections, we brought his luxury grit ethos to the streets.

We created a retail toolkit, seeding kits, and toolkits for a global launch celebration. We looked at ways to sustain conversation globally with a series of grassroots skate activations.

Taking inspiration from what it’s like to be a skateboarder in downtown NYC, we developed a campaign that felt authentic to Tyshawn’s personality. The raw and real streets were juxtaposed with the glamour and glitz of the good life across all key visuals for digital and instore, with the streets of NYC as our backdrop.

We developed targeted OOH near skate parks and shops. The mix of glamour and grit continued with billboard-inspired store windows, and in-store assets featuring subway tiles and trash cans that evoked the rawness of NYC life.

Our seeding kits followed the same juxtaposed theme, with the premium kit created in the style of luxury luggage and leather goods.

To launch the most talked about skate shoe of 2019, we held an event that mirrored this hype. Inviting Tyshawn’s close friends and family, as well as key NYC tastemakers, the event brought to life the luxury grit ethos of Tyshawn in the heart of his world.

Covering cities, from New York to Shanghai, our global activations also created hype for the shoe. We held grassroots events featuring an open-for-all skateboard jam session, bringing the DIY aesthetic of Tyshawn to key cities around the world, with prizes for the most impressive tricks. We gave the public a taste of the good life that felt distinctly New York. Distinctly Tyshawn.