The Liverpool Echo is changing its masthead for a brand campaign for the first time in its history, as JD Sports and Nike launch a takeover spanning print, outdoor advertising and projections across the city.
The newspaper’s ECHO branding becomes “EC110” today, October 1, to celebrate the Nike Air Max 110, with a specially created edition featuring a full front and back page wrap.
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Independent media agency Edison Media planned and delivered the Liverpool campaign, which also includes large-format digital out-of-home advertising, flyposting and light projections across prominent buildings and locations.
Liverpool FC player Dominik Szoboszlai fronts the campaign, promoting a Liverpool-exclusive edition of the shoe.
Available only in the city, the limited-edition Air Max 110 features “Scouse” and the Liverpool skyline on its sole. According to the campaign team, Liverpool is the shoe’s strongest sales market nationally, with a following rooted in the city’s streetwear culture.
The activity builds on Edison Media’s three-year relationship with JD Sports and Nike Air Max, developing campaigns around the 110’s connection with Liverpool.
Nicola Orrell, Managing Director of Edison Media, said: “The 110 has a relationship with Liverpool that you simply can’t manufacture. Our job was to take something that already has huge cultural relevance within the city and find a way of celebrating it that felt worthy of that relationship. Taking over Liverpool is one thing, but being able to transform the Liverpool Echo itself into the EC110 takes the idea somewhere completely different. The Echo is part of the fabric of the city, so seeing such an established Liverpool institution change its identity for the first time makes this a really special media moment.
“We’ve worked with JD and Nike Air Max for three years now, and every time we come back to the 110 and Liverpool, the challenge is to find another way to push it further. From the newspaper takeover and projections to flyposting and some of the city’s biggest digital screens, we’ve tried to make the campaign feel unavoidable — but importantly, unmistakably Liverpool.
“The product itself says Scouse and carries the Liverpool skyline on its sole. That gave us the perfect starting point. This isn’t a national campaign that happens to be running in Liverpool. It’s a campaign created for Liverpool, celebrating the city’s relationship with a shoe it has genuinely made its own.”
The takeover launches on Thursday October 1, with the special Echo edition at the centre of activity designed to reach audiences throughout Liverpool.
