The One Show
The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising, design and digital marketing. For 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has had a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.
About the Work
In May 2022, Balenciaga launched a collection of “fully destroyed” sneakers, selling for 1.450€. While the collection drew criticism on social media with people asking how far fashion can go, we jumped on the opportunity to shift the conversation towards those who have no option but to wear destroyed shoes: the homeless. And to grab people’s attention we didn’t simply react to Balenciaga, we played its game.
Together with the Dutch Salvation Army, we created “Truly Destroyed”, a limited edition collection of truly worn-out shoes by people living on the streets. To emphasize the contrast of our message, we mimicked Balenciaga’s website and photography style - in collaboration with fashion photographer Carli Hermes, we shot the homeless shoes as if they were truly coveted items. Each pair was named after the real homeless person who had worn them, alongside product descriptions that gave context to the hardships they’ve been exposed to. On trulydestroyed.com, the antagonist version of Balenciaga’s “fully destroyed”, we displayed our collection for a good cause.
By taking advantage of the fashion industry codes, Truly Destroyed was able to hijack the controversy around the Balenciaga sneakers and drive the attention to the problem of homelessness, making its way into publications like Vogue, Elle or Highsnobiety. It was able to tap into the cultural phenomenon fast enough, infiltrate the same space of the original collection but reach a much wider audience, becoming an instant internet trending topic. Our shoes even got displayed at one of the world’s biggest sneakers events and are now part of a permanent exhibition in a Dutch Museum. Above all, Truly Destroyed brought renewed attention to a subject that is still very real but often overlooked.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
Cloudfactory / Amsterdam
Client
Marlies Smedinga
Michel Rosenquist
Thamar Keuning
Client / Brand
Dutch Salvation Army ReShare / Deventer
Art Director
Sako Tvildiani
Simon Carr
Copywriter
Nika Khundadze
Tristan Lenczner
Creative Director
Cesar Garcia
Julio Alvarez
Designer
Ricardo Leite
Photographer
Carli Hermės
Producer
Saffron Pape
Strategist
Diana Machado
Agent Photographer
Unit C.M.A. / Amsterdam
Brand Director
Lennard Franken
Managing director
Sandeep Chawla
Related Awards
