Kizik, an e-commerce footwear company known for their hands-free technology is debuting its first brand campaign this week. The campaign was created by Little Big Engine, which won the assignment after a review. The campaign will also incorporate direct-response (DR) advertising, which is part of the company’s success to date.

“We wanted to push Kizik into a bigger brand space without sacrificing sales. So, we partnered with Little Big Engine to create a campaign that does both,” said Alex McArthur, chief marketing officer of Kizik.

The campaign was created to disrupt the start up shoe brand category on social platforms to help people understand that hands-free technology is the future of footwear. 

The work illustrates this point by showing the learning curve one man experiences when unboxing his Kiziks and trying to put them on...with his hands. The spots use humour and a Melissa McCarthy-like investigator to figure out how random hands, coming out of thin air, try to stop the new Kizik owner from putting his shoes on...with his hands!    

“Everyone has a learning curve when it comes to embracing new technology. When it comes to hands-free technology for shoes, we decided to take that cultural truth to a ridiculously hilarious next level,” added Blake Brown, VP of brand and creative at Kizik. 

“Most direct-response ads take a ‘Big Bang Theory’ approach to humour. We wanted to elevate the humour to be more like ‘The Office,’ added Brandt Lewis, founder, executive creative director, Little Big Engine. “We developed a brand story that was funny and could still sell shoes—versus simply cracking jokes to sell shoes or putting shoes on unapproachable, gorgeous supermodels.”

The work will be live on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, CTV and TV starting this week. 

"We wanted to explore brand storytelling and determine if it could perform like the more traditional direct-response marketing we’ve done in the past. But for me, it’s not a question of brand versus DR, it’s finding a way to do both,” said Brett Swensen, VP of marketing, Kizik.

“This is the type of campaign that can live in top-funnel awareness, and then stretch all the way down to DR conversion,” added Patrick Maravilla, founder, executive creative director, Little Big Engine.