Fila USA kicked off Fall 2013 with a 12 part video series: Rise of the Independents. At a time when some might say that brands – and not the retailers – have taken on the role of curator and tastemaker, these spots celebrate the shoes and the independent retailers who have built the sneaker business from the ground up.
It's easy to forget that before the days of sneaker blogs and midnight releases, the local shop manager was our only connection to all the latest news and info about our favorite brands. Sneaker culture as we know it was founded by independent stores; no two shops were alike thanks to the diversity and style of the owners, staff, product selection and the community that supported them. The result was a 'golden age' in sneaker business where many different styles and brands were embraced by the consumer.
The FILA crew spent three weeks this summer traveling around the country, interviewing 12 different retailers in their stores. The three minute spots give viewers a behind the scenes look at what makes these shops so successful amidst serious obstacles in the current retail environment, and give the retailers an opportunity to share their sneaker passions and very personal stories about why and how sneakers have influenced their lives.
“Our initial concern in doing these spots,” said Louis W. Colon III, Director of Heritage Product and Marketing, “was that we might end up with 12 very similar narratives about their favorite shoes, their reason for getting into the business and their first FILA story. Let’s face it we all know the Tennis/Basketball/early Hip Hop FILA lore. As it turns out, each retailer had such distinct memories and different outlooks on how to move forward that we ended up with an embarrassment of riches in terms of content to select from.”
“What surprises everyone who has seen the spots,” said Jennifer Estabrook, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, “is that they feature all of the brands these retailers mentioned during the course of the interviews, not just FILA. The purpose of these spots is to embrace the idea that great sneakers deserve a place in every closet in America and FILA has, and continues to sell, sneakers that belong there too.”
FILA has teamed up with Complex TV to showcase the spots within the robust Complex network of content, which is known for presenting the most relevant sneaker and lifestyle news in the industry. A new video profile will update weekly beginning 09.19 with Burn Rubber and ending 11.21 with Salvin's Shoes. The series culminates with an additional seven minute film that will debut in New York City on December 5, 2013 and will appear on Complex TV through December 15, 2013.
The first two videos in the series are running sneak previews now on Complex TV and are not to be missed! Frank Cooke of Wish Atlanta and Matt Halfhill of Nice Kicks drop some serious gems on the history of sneakers and the current state and culture of the industry.
http://www.complex.com/tv/sneaker-videos/rise-of-the-independents-wish-atlanta
http://www.complex.com/tv/sneaker-videos/rise-of-the-independents-episode-02-nice-kicks-austin
FILA hired The Diamond Brothers of New York City to produce the spots. Microsoft is featuring the Diamond Brothers shooting the NICE KICKS spot in their new online promotional spots for the Surface Tablet.
http://blog.surface.com/b/surface/archive/2013/09/04/assimilate-launches-scratch-play.aspx
For additional information about the videos, please go www.filais.com.
