What it had to solve
Foot Locker's Discover Your Air had to reach Gen-Z and Millennial sneaker buyers who live on social media, embracing 90s nostalgia and the present cultural moment at once.
The idea
A 90s-themed cable network built for the internet: four multi-episode shows, in-network commercials and a home shopping programme, airing on Twitch for Air Max Day.
How it works
The network skipped TV and took over social, retail stores, partnerships and out-of-home with limited-edition collectors items. Laundry Service wrote multiple theme songs, handcrafted a 90s cable box, and engaged dozens of influencers and athletes. A shoebox mailer styled as a retro cable box — ventilation panels, volume buttons, a lenticular clock — housed the latest Air Maxes, with a working remote and a printed TV guide of sneaker horoscopes and crosswords.
What it did
No results were reported (self-reported in the interview only). The agency said the campaign's ambition and engagement would stand out to Cannes jurors and that the work had been submitted for several awards — its first Cannes submission.
Background
In a Live In Cannes Q&A published by Adforum on 18 June 2019, agency Laundry Service describes Discover Your Air, the campaign it built for Foot Locker and Nike: a 90s-themed cable network made for the internet, not TV. The agency led strategy, creative, production, influencer management and media buys, all in 10 weeks.
The network launched with four multi-episode shows, commercials ('because what's a cable network without commercials?') and a home shopping programme airing exclusively on Twitch for Air Max Day. Shows mixed retro design with futuristic elements inspired by Nike products; instead of a TV buy, the network took over social, retail stores, partnerships and out-of-home, with unique limited-edition collectors items.
The craft extended to physical mail: a shoebox designed like a retro cable box, with three-dimensional ventilation panels, volume buttons and a lenticular clock, housing the latest Air Maxes — plus a functioning remote for switching DYA channels and a retro printed TV guide carrying show line-ups, sneaker horoscopes, crossword puzzles and vintage-styled ads.
Why it lands
A cable network is a container big enough to hold nostalgia and product drops at once — shows, ads, shopping segments and merch all inside one fiction.
It met the audience where it already was: Twitch and social, not the TV the premise pretends to be.
The physical layer — cable-box shoebox, working remote, printed TV guide — gave an internet campaign a collectible body.
What you can take
Commit to the bit: a fake network needs fake commercials, a fake TV guide and a real cable-box mailer — world-building detail is what turns a gimmick into a place.
Since then
At interview time the work had been submitted for several awards, Laundry Service's first Cannes submission ('we'll let you know next year!'), and the agency said it was already working on something more. No audience or sales results were reported in the interview.
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