We handled the creative direction for Meta’s Meta Day Festival ’23 culture film, which kicked off the yearly event at The Outernet in November 2023. The challenge from the client was to elevate what had usually been a simple product story into something more expansive: something that could reflect how Meta products fit into users' everyday lives, and help drive their passions, cultures and communities. Our lead characters were rising presenter fdfromtheFuture, Nike SNKRS Live host AZ and Moses Musana, co-founder of London Sneaker Club. Their shared passion: on-feet heat. Sneakers.
We wanted to tell a story every sneakerhead (or anybody with a passion for collectables) could relate to: getting deep intel on a super special release, giving your best mate a shout and starting the journey of a thousand miles to go and get it.
Every sneakerhead has that one shoe they’ve gone far and wide to find. Their Nike Air Yeezy 1 ‘Grammy’. Their game-worn Converse Fastbreaks. Their Meta Quest 3? We wanted to subvert the payoff a bit, to show that on the voyage for rare, coveted items, the real victory is the journey and the memories made along the way with your pals. Our metaphysics-loving sneaker oracle, Moses, knew this. In his monologue from within the ‘sneakconscious’, he asks all sneakerkind to look past their ideas of a shoe and question what makes it one in the first place. Being able to put them on your feet? Are they only real if other people can see them? After all, this is the power of mixed reality: challenging the experiences (and ontologies) of everyday life by creating outcomes you could previously only imagine.
We built our concept, from casting our talent to creating the story beats, on insights from our report The Strat Tape Vol.1. Specifically sections 2 and 9: ‘The Splintered Consumer’ and ‘The emergence of the women’s sneaker space is driving innovation across the industry’. Read The Strat Tape Vol.1 here.