When sustainable footwear and fashion brand, Allbirds, appointed Uncommon as lead creative partner to work on a project for its ZQ-certified Wool Runners, the brief was to craft an attention grabbing campaign.

So the agency chose a product demo.

Not a normal product demo for a running shoe, mind you. That would have involved using them for running. Uncommon’s features balloons, leaf blowers and a sheep. (The sheep is because the brand’s roots are in New Zealand.)

The shoes are being held in mid-air by four balloons and four leaf blowers. That’s how light they are. When the balloons are popped, they drop into their recycled box. (The making of Allbirds shoes creates a very low carbon footprint. The Allbirds average shoe emits 7.6 kg CO2e.)

The work was directed by Chris Cairns through Partizan and was shot with no tricks or gimmicks. The production process involved building the custom designed installation to make the shoes float for real. The installation was shot in one continuous to emphasise that the demo worked for real. The reason for using a barn as the shoot location with the New Zealand countryside visible through the doors is obvious.

“This campaign was about the challenge of showing how light our shoes weigh, while balancing being light on the planet,” stated Allbirds head of creative, Alex Valdman.

“The challenge with this was how do you tell two stories in a simple and elegant way. The result is an irreverent spot that begs all of us to tread a little lighter during the holidays. We’re excited to continue to find fresh ways to tell stories around the benefits of natural materials with help from our friends at Uncommon.”

The campaign launched this week ahead of the festive season and will run across key global markets including the US, UK, Korea, Germany and France,  across TV, online and social.