KEEN Foootwear - From your Grandpa’s Favorite Shoes to Culturally Relevant
This project was completed at ALLY Marketing & Communication in Los Angeles
+660 Publications
+9.5M Impressions
While KEEN has long been a leader in the outdoor industry, creating reliable footwear for all types of adventure, the digital landscape has shifted. Consumers—especially Gen Z—now prioritize brands that align with their personal values: ethics, individuality, and transparency. KEEN had the credibility, the product, and the mission. But visually and socially, they hadn’t yet translated that into content that resonated with tastemakers and cultural trendsetters.
They needed support repositioning their brand—not by changing their story, but by telling it in a way that connected with a new generation. This meant getting their message in front of the right creators and communities, in ways that felt both intentional and authentic.
Problem
KEEN Footwear is a Portland-based, family-owned company known for its durable, innovative outdoor shoes. Since 2003, KEEN has stayed committed to making an impact not just on the people who wear their shoes—but also on the planet and communities around them. With a legacy of transparency, ethical manufacturing, and timeless design, KEEN continues to shape the future of sustainable footwear.
Solution
Our goal was to evolve KEEN’s influencer marketing strategy and establish cultural relevance without sacrificing its identity. We focused on:
* Partnering with taste-driven creators: We intentionally seeded KEEN product into networks that aligned with their values and aesthetics, including seeding speciality shoes from their debut collection with Comme de Garçons.
* Event Influencer Management: This included events like Highsnobiety Not in New York event during Fashion Week and Only NY Collection In-Store Event
* Partnerships with style-forward artists like Toro y Moi, ceramicist Danny Dooreck, LA-based photographer Brian Chorski, and VOGUE Published, climate advocate Aditi Mayer.
* Telling a visual story through diverse creators: Each collaboration helped KEEN step into new cultural spaces while staying true to their purpose—ethics, longevity, and thoughtful design.
* Creating meaningful paid partnerships: We established 14+ brand collaborations per year, choosing creators who could authentically weave KEEN into their own narratives. This resulted in deeper relationships and evergreen brand content usable across social and web.
* White Label Program launch: We developed a KEEN-branded creator program for content creation—2-minute vertical storytelling videos by consistent creators with the brand’s product at the center. This gave KEEN more control over narrative and execution while still allowing for creative freedom from the talent and familiar faces across social platforms.
* Special campaigns for iconic products: We gave The World’s Ugliest Sandal (the KEEN Newport) a Gen Z makeover through personalized gifting, storytelling, and social reposting. The result: 1.7M reach, 2.2M impressions, and 100K+ interactions from organic and paid placements.
About
Impact
We helped shift KEEN’s brand perception—without losing its core values. From heritage product to hype conversation, the campaign brought KEEN into the feeds and conversations of a new generation of outdoor lovers, creatives, and conscious consumers.
+276.3k Interactions
+5M Reach
Contact Us
Interested in working together? Contact us and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!