Footwear News Achievement Awards 2020

Footwear News

Footwear News' Achievement Awards, also known as the Footwear Oscars, is an annual event that traditionally takes place at the IAC building on Manhattan's westside.

However, the 2020 event was held virtually due to covid. Which posed our first big question: how do we create a full-scale award ceremony online during a global pandemic?

Firstly, everything being pre-recorded is a given, but keeping it engaging, entertaining, and retaining its usual glitz was going to prove a challenge. The recipients were also located across multiple countries and time zones—all creating some major logistical issues. In addition the branding, editing, content, and music all had to translate across multiple platforms; from handheld mobiles to large screens.

One of the key tasks, from a branding perspective, was to give the whole event a global feel; winners would be spread out across numerous cities including: LA, New York, London, Paris, Cologne, Beirut, and Tokyo.

We used a dark blue textured background with gold and red accents as a palette to give the event an awards feel. Then added a spinning globe so we could jump from location to location, heightening the global aspect. For each recipient’s intro video we used imagery of their city shot at night, continuing the evening ‘event’ feel.

Branding | The one key successes of the branding was it’s flexibility across all the scalable touch-points: from print, to marketing material through to storyboarding the videos. It’s adaptability allowed us to move quickly and reframe as problems and new directions appeared.

Video Production | Maintaining a consistent look and feel, whilst working with different production teams across each location was one of the biggest issues we faced. Whilst also factoring the busy working schedules of some of the stellar presenters.

Video Editing | On the morning of the show we received a directive from the client’s lawyers to edit out all the profanity and covid 'infringements' from Cardi B's video—due to fear of litigation should someone get sick or complain about the swearing—there was no mention of Cardi’s nipple slip, so we pixelated the ‘area’ just to be safe.

Video Production | One of the highlights of the show was the Netherland's based Nike breakdancers. We'll note that shipping several pairs of Nike Dunks from Oregon to Europe during a covid impacted holiday season is something we'll try to avoid in the future.

motion design | Iris Apfel's interview was full of her usual amusing personal insights and reflections on the fashion industry. We decided to split them up and use them as intervals throughout the show—to great success.

The event was well-received by viewers, and with multiple industry plaudits.
With a final running time of over 90 mins, the project was by far the largest project we’d worked on. Helping to keep the tradition of the Footwear Oscars alive during a difficult time.