Title	MESH
Brand	SALOMON
Product/Service	OUTFIT
Category	A03. Online: Fiction & Non-Fiction
Entrant	KINSHIP Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation	KINSHIP Paris, FRANCE
Production	LA PAC Paris, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Bruno Lee	KINSHIP	Deputy Managing Director
Stephane Soussan	KINSHIP	Creative Director
Thomas Lec'hvien	KINSHIP	Account Manager
Ludovic Gontrand	KINSHIP	Art Director
Simon Lamasa	KINSHIP	Copywriter
Thomas Laget	KINSHIP	Integrated Production Director
Marine Redon	KINSHIP	Agency Producer
Jerome Denis	LA PAC	President
Anna Roudaut	LA PAC	Producer
Laurent Perreau	LA PAC	Director of Production
Miles Cable & AJ Favicchio	LA PAC	Directors
Eric Pansier	SALOMON	CEO
benjamin Aidan	SALOMON	Marketing Director
Marion Blache	SALOMON	Global Marketing & Communication Manager
Dilraj Soomaroo	SALOMON	Campaign Specialist Endurance Sports

The Campaign

To prove S/LAB ME:sh can perfectly adapt to any human, we decided to take it to the extreme. Using the regular process Salomon uses with any other runner, we formed a ME:sh for AL 288-1 : Lucy the Australopithecus.

Creative Execution

To form Lucy’s ME:sh, we gathered data on her in collaboration with renowned scientists : The shape of her foot, working on a 3D reconstruction with paleoartist John Gurche, best known for his work on Jurassic Park. The way she ran, based on years of research from paleoanthropologist Dr. Gilles Berillon and the CNRS, Europe’s largest science center. Where she ran and what she ran on, with the help of paleobiologist Dr. François Druelle from the University of Antwerp’s laboratory, etc. That spirit of co-creation also shines through the way we rethought the entire consumer experience, putting the costumer in the middle of the creation of his/her shoe : from the online configurator, to our redesign of the Fab Lab (ME:sh’s production unit) in which we welcome journalists, retailers and athletes.

The story of Lucy’s shoe got picked up by running and sports media on every continent and found its way through mainstream publications like GQ or TrendHunter, making it the most talked about launch in Salomon history. Through Lucy, we were able to show that running shoes can fit the athletes and not the other way around. It shone a new light on Salomon and helped put it at the forefront of innovative sports brands. But more than an intriguing story, the thinking behind Lucy’s shoe and its documentary became a symbol of ME:sh’s technology weaving man back with nature and with his true nature. A philosophy that’s dear to our target audience of outdoor lovers and running freaks, often prompt to injure themselves because of unadapted shoes. In specific terms, it prompted more than 300 athletes to create their own unique shoes in the first few days.

The Australopithecus’ shoe and its documentary isn’t just branded content. It uses the intriguing, curious side of the project to showcase and explain the product, in details, in an entertaining way. To put it simply, Lucy’s shoe not only makes a complex and technically boring technology very simple to understand, it also “tricks” any viewer into learning absolutely everything there is to know about the product, without it feeling like a piece of advertising, but more like a curious story.

Lucy’s intriguing example allowed us to vulgarise ME:sh’s complex technology to our audience of runners and nature lovers, explaining it in a branded documentary. After 2 weeks of teasing, both Lucy’s ME:sh and the documentary were revealed to journalists, influencers and athletes, during one of the most important trail running event of the year. As our story gained some momentum, we invited Salomon retailers around the world to walk in Lucy’s steps and create a ME:sh that’s unique to their community, testing them during special ‘community runs’. Following Lucy’s example, any athlete could create his/her own ME:sh on our online configurator or in the Fab Lap (ME:sh’s transparent production unit), and join the ‘ME:sh Running Club’ that unites all ME:sh users.