Brand campaign · Social · 2024
LiLo × Allbirds
Starting the Lohanaissance.
So fetch.
Allbirds wanted their new running shoe to land beyond hardcore runners. We knew just the gal: Lindsay Lohan, in a film built out of Mean Girls and Parent Trap Easter eggs. The Lux Pink colorway sold out in minutes.
- Sold outLux Pink colorway gone within minutes of the film going live
- #1Most successful Allbirds brand campaign of all time
- Vogue → HypebeastPicked up everywhere fashion, culture, and sneaker press lives
- LohanaissanceA coined word that became a cultural phenomenon.
Filmed in Dubai, where Lindsay lived, to avoid the paps, apparently.
The brief
A serious shoe which needed to feel fun.
Allbirds were launching the Tree Flyer, their first proper running shoe, going head-to-head with Nike, On, and Hoka in a category dominated by performance language and performance bodies. Allbirds didn't have any of that. What Allbirds had was sustainability, comfort, and a brand that had become quietly worthy. People respected it. Few got excited about it.
The ask: launch the shoe with a piece of work that put Allbirds back in the cultural conversation, without abandoning what made the brand credible in the first place.
The idea
The Unexpected Athlete. Cast Lindsay Lohan.
Lindsay Lohan, the original Mean Girl, back in the public eye for the first time in a decade. Her Mean Girls and Parent Trap performances were the kind of cultural property no media plan could buy. So we built the launch film around her, and them.
The leap: don't scrimp on the references. Trust the audience to spot every Easter egg, screenshot every frame, and tag every friend who'd recognise it too.
"These don't just look cute — they're made with natural materials. Always avoid the plastics."
The execution
One film. So many Easter eggs.
The film opens in Lindsay's living room. There are Oreos and peanut butter on the bedside table (Hallie and Annie's Camp Walden snack from Parent Trap). A "Queen Elizabeth 2" lifebuoy on the wall (the ship her on-screen parents got married on). A poster for "Where Dreams Have No End" (a song from the Parent Trap score). Outside, a white VW Beetle (Herbie). Inside, a wall of Tree Flyers in every colorway. Lindsay picks the pink ones. "Well, it is Wednesday."
And then, the line that ate the internet: "They don't just look cute — they're made with natural materials. Always avoid the plastics."
The Easter eggs fuelled the shareability online. Press wrote explainer pieces. Bustle did a frame-by-frame breakdown. TikTok did the rest. Repeat-viewing was built into the brief from day one, and the audience delivered.
The result
The Lux Pinks sold out in minutes.
The number one commercial objective. While, for the brand metrics, Press picked it up in waves: Hollywood Reporter broke it as a fashion story, Adweek wrote it up as a marketing case study, and Entertainment Weekly turned it into pop culture. Oh, and the video went massively viral.
It became, and remains, the most successful brand campaign in Allbirds' history.
What the press said
-
"Lindsay Lohan pays homage to 'Mean Girls', 'The Parent Trap' in adorable new ad."
Entertainment Weekly -
"A fetch product calls for a fetch spokesperson."
Bustle -
"Lindsay Lohan Ditches the Plastics in New Ad for Allbirds."
Adweek -
"Lindsay Lohan Pays Homage to Mean Girls in Allbirds' Running Shoe Campaign."
The Hollywood Reporter -
"Beloved brand has teamed up with Lindsay Lohan to release these adorable new runners"
Runner's World -
"Lindsay Lohan has a lot to celebrate this week... a buzzed-about video with footwear brand Allbirds."
Rolling Stone
Credits
- Creative & Brand lead
- Lee Price
- Talent partner
- Dylan Williams
- Director/dt>
- Ben Hall
- Production
- Shoot the Company
- Talent
- Lindsay Lohan
- Client
- Allbirds
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