The Harvey Effect
The first edition of the Horizon Series was the “Dream Big” ID we designed with Harvey Lewis in conjunction with his 10th run of the Badwater Ultramarathon. That’s 135 miles through the blistering heat of Death Valley.
I love working with Harvey. His energy and positivity are infectious and he inspires me to push myself. Every time I meet with him it triggers a butterfly effect of creative productivity that’s fun to be a part of. In my time at ROAD iD we’ve adopted the horizon as a concept we allude to as often as we can. I’ve written at length about its relationship to the ROAD iD brand core values. Creating a product series dedicated to the horizon is something we’ve been brewing for a few years now, so the way it came together and sold out in a few days was fun to witness. This promotion was special in that it created a new product development and marketing process for us with clear ties to the brand promise. I’m excited for the next one to drop in 2022.
Strategy | Product Design | Concept Development | Art Direction.
The Site
The site execution was fun because we got to focus on the product design more closely, as it was central to the promotional vehicle. The landscape silhouette paid homage to the American Southwest - one of Harvey’s favorite places to run. We were also able to partner with Harvey’s charity as a beneficiary of the proceeds from the ID sales. It’s this combination of Charity, Event, Brand Ambassador that have become the model for future Horizon Series productions.
Harvey’s got this affinity for heat that most people don’t understand. The first time I shot photos with him, as part of his training for another ultra he had his AC off in the middle of summer. I was in this upstairs room trying to get photos of the gear he was packing for the trip. I was sweating so much I needed wiper blades on my camera display and he had a jacket on. It was a light jacket though.
Organic + Paid Social
Harvey posted about the collaboration as a teaser before the race and his team posted images of him throughout. It was surreal to see the ID on his wrist through 135 miles of desert, crossing the finish line first to win Badwater 135. After the race he promoted the brand in media coverage and in subsequent posts as an ambassador. We’re currently hashing out where Dream Big will go next and as a creative team we’re developing the Horizon series to something even bigger.
Our audience connected with the product design and engaged with the product focused social posts from the ROAD iD brand as well. We were successful in creating buzz for the launch and sold out of the product in less than a week.
Email + Text
Our email campaign focused on the desert imagery and brought the IDs to center stage. Badwater provided a perfect vehicle to deliver on brand content that added value to our subscriber base while also peaking their interest in a new series of products to watch out for.
Our text campaign was a one off since the product sold out so quickly. We simply used product on white images of the IDs to present a clear representation of the CTA which took people to the product page instead of the landing page.