Brooks 2021 Run Happy Shoe

Every year Brooks Running releases a special colorway of a franchise shoe that embodies the spirit of Run Happy. For 2021 I drew on runner insight that bananas go hand-in-hand with running. They’re a great source of potassium which helps with cramping and the built-in packaging of a peel makes them a go-to snack for on the run. Plus there’s something inherently happy about a banana. I decided to design a banana shoe, complete with brown ripened spots and a fruit sticker.

Along with the shoe itself I designed the custom shoebox, which swapped out Brooks’ standard runner illustrations with “Banana Runners” and featured a custom lid with Brooks fruit stickers stuck to it.

To help bring this shoe to market, I art directed two separate photo shoots of studio and lifestyle photography. The studio shoot featured the shoes nestled in a custom Brooks Brand fruit crate full of bananas. For the lifestyle shoot we brought in another fun run favorite, the banana costume. This shoot focused not only on the shoe, but the custom apparel as well.

All the photos were featured throughout the month on Brooks’ social media channels. The product launch post broke a Brooks Instagram Product Post record, reaching 10.6k likes.