Re-introducing JanSport in some unexpected places

Our partnership with JanSport spans over ten years, thousands of pieces of created content, and multiple continents. This year we are more excited than ever to bring things back home to create a campaign that reintroduces the SuperBreak and Hatchet backpacks.

The SuperBreak’s design has earned worldwide acclaim, MOMA recognition and true icon status by simply being the perfect everyday backpack. To almost everyone in the world, SuperBreak IS backpack. They’re synonymous. But this success brings with it a catch-22: how do we reintroduce and redefine an icon for modern consumers, who are often reminded only of their childhood?

For a universal icon, almost no one knows the name SuperBreak—this realization spawned an idea that became the core of our messaging campaign, making SuperBreak a verb that lives in the most important moments in our lives. Kinda like our backpacks.

On the Hatchet pack side, its utility and functional design led us on a journey down the path of youthful self-discovery and urban exploration. We sought late nights in the city, special friendships, and limitless possibilities. We found our protagonists dominating the urban landscapes, exercising the freedom to go anywhere and do anything.

We took a non-traditional path to finding talent, featuring real urban explorers, not actors. We casted from social media channels and even sought out skateboarders off the street in San Francisco, starting a dialog with real JanSport customers that helped grow and shape JanSport’s brand story, as well as our campaign.

In keeping with the JanSport brand we’ve helped establish, we partnered with up and coming musicians to drive the narrative.

Showcasing the scope of the JanSport product line, “Driven to Go” will run throughout the year—a departure from the traditional back-to-school marketing push—and will include streaming TV, digital videos, social, and out of home.