Even though it’s coming from a huge advertising agency (Wieden + Kennedy), there’s been something really nice and honest about the social media/influencer marketing efforts surrounding the 3D stop-motion spectacle, Coraline, that’s coming out in a few days. That first little gift I showed you that they sent to me around Christmas, that was really nice of them. It got me interested enough to check out the trailer and the in-depth site they built for the movie, which got me interested enough to read up about the film and about Laika and somewhere in amongst doing that digging I came to the conclusion that Coraline was going to be super awesome and that I absolutely had to see it. And I wanted to tell you that, so I did. That’s marketing that works. Nice marketing.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago when this pair of shoes showed up. Those marketers have gone and sewn black buttons over their eyes, taken the “niceness” dial and cranked it up to 13 with this pair of incredibly limited edition sneakers (this is one pair of 100 worldwide) that are made of premium materials, have awesome handcrafted details designed by the film’s director, Henry Selick, and are being listed on ebay by less scrupulous individuals than myself for upwards of $6500.

I admit though, I discussed it with my wife when they arrived. I said “Look, they’re going for thousands of dollars on ebay, should we keep them or not?”. I proposed that we sell them and then pay for one ticket to see Coraline for every single reader of this blog, then put the money that would be left over into a trust fund for my newborn son, but my wife got sold on the movie when I did, the day that first little parcel arrived. She went out and bought the book by Neil Gaiman and has been reading it to us over the past few days, to get us warmed up for the movie.

So… well… we’re keeping the shoes.

Thanks Laika and everybody involved in making what promises to be a truly groundbreaking and original film, and also a huge thanks to W+K and whoever decided that I should be on a list of people to receive these Nikes. My family will be first in line the day that Coraline hits the theatre… but my wife and I wear the same size shoes so we’re not yet sure who’ll be wearing these dunks that night!

A COUPLE MORE PHOTOS…

The shoe box that looks like the door to the other world that Coraline enters in the story was a nice touch.

If you’d like your own pair of these kicks, and I imagine the same box, they’re giving 1000 more pairs away, just minus those big buttons. Stay after the credits of the film for some sort of hint… or secret code? I’m not sure exactly, but if you want a pair just stay after the credits and perhaps all will be revealed.

The extended trailer…