Oftentimes shoe companies fall into two categories: high-performance and athletic or veering more into a purely stylish realm but lacking functionality. That’s not what Palladium is about.

One of my favorite shoe brands, I wanted to create this completely conceptual ad campaign for Palladium that reinstates who the companies’ target market and image is.

Palladium is for the rebel, the adventurers and the “sporty rebel” types. As Palladium states themselves: “[Palladium] is at the crossroads of contemporary luxury and functionality in the footwear industry.”

Seeking to get clear on how I wanted to work through creating this faux advertising campaign, I went back to basics with the brand strategy’s goals for advertising campaign, who their target audience is, brand archetypes and keywords to explain their brand.

This ad campaign’s overall goal was to reinstate the target audience as that of a sporty rebel and to draw in new customers by creating this ad campaign. The target audience is ages 25-45 years old and generally deals with Gen Z / Millennial cusps, Millennials and some Gen Xers.

The term “Sporty Rebel” perfectly embodied the marriage of the “Rebel Punk” archetype and Athleticism for the Palladium customer. Brand archetypes included the Explorer (freedom and exploring spirituality) and the Outlaw (focused on liberation and leaving a legacy). Overall, while creating this existing brand’s conceptual, imagined advertising campaign, I focused on these keywords: Radical Freedom, Rebellion, Personal Power, Enduring Legacy, and Grit.

The art direction draws upon Palladium’s enduring legacy and vintage, old school yet modern appeal. Utilizing a few of Palladium’s existing and current products, without getting too specific with the product details as it was a conceptual piece, I drew upon 60s, 70s and 80s sport footwear magazine ads for understanding the campaign’s visual layout “on the page”. I also referred to 60s wild west film posters to embody that wayward traveller vibe that Palladium is famous for.

Palladium got its’ start from being a company that manufactured airplane tires and went on to this day to produce high quality shoes that marry performance with innovative design. With this faux advertising campaign, I looked back to the past for visual reference while focusing on bringing new customers for Palladium’s future.