Skins and SLAM Partner in Web Video Contest Inspired by a Footwear Revolution

NEW YORK, NY, October 18, 2007 - Skins Footwear and SLAM, which provides nontraditional creative marketing promotion, advertising production and consulting for select brands, have announced "SKIN & BONES: THE VIDEO CONTEST" (http://www.getskinnedalive.com/contest.htm), an online content competition that will leave some talented, aspiring filmmaker armed with $10,000.00 to make a short film for the brand.

The contest solicits spec Web commercials and film shorts inspired by the revolutionary Skins technology that blazed into stores this past September, and promises the grand prize winner a 10K spot budget, one-of-a-kind custom Skins, and a trip to LA for a screening party at Sportie LA. Other prizes include trips to LA for the screening party, and a Skins 12-Stack - a custom-fitted Bone with a one-year supply of Skins styles.

"We introduced an extremely disruptive and creative technology to the marketplace, and it's only appropriate for Skins Footwear to get behind young artists and aspiring film makers," said Skins Footwear CEO Mark Klein. "We're calling on the creative community, on film & advertising schools...we're challenging them to get involved in a liberating artistic experience."

SLAM Sr. Creative Director Hesh Rephun said the contest idea began brewing when the blogger known as Mondo Mouth published reviews of the product that circulated throughout the blogosphere. Inspired by the brand's concept, Mondo tracked SLAM down and expressed interest in crafting a spec spot for Skins.

SLAM had crafted content and executed events for Skins since forming an alliance with the brand in March 2007, and created an independent blog for Skins (www.GetSkinnedAlive.com), but the idea of allowing an outside creative team into the mix was a new one.

"He saw the brand as magical and sexy," Rephun recalled of the pitch from Mondo. "I told him, if you can deliver sex and magic for less than I usually pay for it, we've got a deal."

SLAM armed Mondo Mouth with a small budget, and the result was a pair of spots, "Beach" and "Banana", shot in one day on the sun-drenched shores of Malibu. "Beach" and "Banana," respectively, delivered magic and sex as promised, and - most importantly - offered audiences an outsider's perspective. "There's a very clean, sensible, corporate story about Skins' innovation and appeal," said Mondo. "But to me, innovation is about Skins being comfortable enough and having the sense of humor to open the creative gates and have a little %&*^in' fun."

In the first spot, the hot sands of a deserted "Beach" inspire a shoe-less sun worshiper to seek refuge under a looming, shady tree guarded by an enormous Samoan with a secret stash of Skins. The process of casting the Samoan star was a story in itself, and Mondo will soon be publishing The Polynesian Kid Stays in the Picture, a chronicle of his adventures in island casting.

%&*^in' fun, as Mondo calls it, is also evidenced via the suggestive (if not explicit) "Banana," which plays like the teaser of an adult film starring a gorgeous fruit-loving babe - and a dude packing Skins and Bones. "I envisioned the kind of piece that would get written about in Slipitin, my favorite adult fanzine," Mondo recalled. To his amazement, after seeing the spot the mag requested an interview with the film's "director," Barry Bones (a nom de porn Mondo slapped on the titles). 

SLAM not only dug the spec spots ("We call it that because the budget was literally a spec," laughed Mondo), but the gates have now swung wide open. "As a group of guys who welcome any opportunity to get creative without boundaries, we just want to give people a little purpose and incentive," Rephun explained. "Sometimes, that's the only excuse you need to cut loose." He added that SLAM was about to release its own branding spot for Skins, one much different in tone and style from Mondo's work. "We want prospective contestants to explore their own creative inspiration and our upcoming spot shows the range of work we're open to."  

Submissions can employ any concept, and SLAM does not require or even encourage the use of the Skins product; rather, beyond the official rules and submission guidelines - to be made available shortly at http://www.getskinnedalive.com/contest.htm - SLAM encourages entrants to convey the brand's "attitude, spirit, technology, and design."       

"SKIN & BONES: THE VIDEO CONTEST" runs through January 2008, with a screening party at Sportie LA - showcasing the winning piece and several runners-up - scheduled for March.

SPOT CREDITS:

Client: Skins Footwear (spec)
Agency: SLAM
Sr. Creative Director: Hesh Rephun
Production Company: Snurb Productions
Spot Title: "Beach"
Writer/Director: Mondo Mouth (aka John Burns)
DP: Chip Bailey
Producer: Vicki Matlin
Editor: Justin Trovato
Original Music: John Burns
Talent: Farren Ray, Kolose (K-9)

SLAM provides nontraditional marketing and consulting for select brands and since its inception late in 2006, has carried out Web-based initiatives for brands such as PF Flyers and Creative Recreation, and had a hand in live events for K-Swiss, Asics Onitsuka Tiger, New Balance, and Reebok. At the recent WSA Show in Las Vegas, SLAM's Skins effort involved a series of live performances by contortionists demonstrating the "flexibility" of the brand. The well-received - if 'un-WSA-sanctioned' - stunt turned out to be a tease for a print and broadcast campaign.