Snapback Lifestyle Campaign

Transforming Urban Snapback Hat into a Timepiece Watch through Authentic Cultural Movement

Project Overview

Launched in October 2017, this four-month initiative transformed Luku Watches’ market presence by uniting hip-hop culture with brand storytelling exclusively with partnerships with local artists as brand ambassadors. The campaign celebrates individual expression and creativity through artist collaborations and, as a result, increased brand awareness, improved sales across all channels, and established a sustainable network of artist partnerships.

My Role

I led the Snapback campaign as creative director, directing brand strategy, photography, videography, and visual design and managing brand strategy and visual direction.

Project Duration: October 2017 - February 2018

Team: Fas Lebbie, Colby Smith, Alec Mcdonald

Campaign Background

The Snapback Watch campaign taps into the vibrant intersection of fashion, culture, and individual expression rooted in the snapback culture since the 1990s. While other brands chased influencers, we saw an opportunity in hip-hop’s deep connection to snapback culture in the local context – where headwear transcended function to become canvases for self-expression. As the foundation, our challenge was to authentically integrate the watch brand with local artists while leveraging its rich history for brand awareness. Market analysis highlights the cultural significance of snapback fashion in cities like New York, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, and Stockholm. We zeroed in on cities where snapback and hip-hop culture has evolved uniquely through local artists: New York’s neighborhood pride, LA’s cross-cultural fusion, London’s battle rap scene, Brussels’ multilingual hip-hop movement, and Stockholm’s genre-blending creative community.

Design Interventions

Through artist-led storytelling, we let artists shape our brand story. Across five cities, we identified emerging artists who embodied creative authenticity to engage in photoshoots with us, centering our product functionality and their cultural authenticity. We celebrated individual creative expression, allowing artists to showcase their unique perspectives while organically incorporating the Snapback Watch into their artistic narrative. Artists incorporated watches into music videos, street photography, and live performances – each bringing their unique perspective.

Vibrant blue Luku Watch paired with yellow streetwear, embodying snapback culture's bold color aesthetics for urban youth expression.

Close-up detail showing accessible blue wristband integration, representing cultural authenticity.

Minimalist black timepiece designed for versatile style pairings, redefining watches as everyday hip-hop cultural expressions.

Creative youth with black watch using audio equipment, demonstrating artist integration in authentic creative environments.

Pink-faced timepiece complementing athletic casual wear, showing versatile styling for young urban fashion-conscious audiences.

Watch with clean white face paired with casual attire, appealing to style-conscious younger demographic.

Artist incorporating black timepiece with trendy accessories, representing creative professionals embracing the watch as cultural signifier.

Minimal black watch in athletic setting, demonstrating lifestyle versatility beyond traditional luxury watch contexts.

Streetwear styled with black timepiece, capturing urban fashion aesthetic that resonates with snapback culture's bold expressions.

Light blue watch with white face paired with striped clothing, highlighting accessible design for everyday youth fashion.

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Research & Campaign Strategy

My process started by immersing ourselves in each city’s hip-hop scene through online engagements with local artists and primary research to understand how snapback culture evolved from practical headwear as a functional gear to a creative canvas symbol of creative identity—combining deep local insights revealed opportunities to integrate our timepieces into existing cultural narratives.

Each city offered unique cultural dynamics that shaped my research. In New York, where the snapback culture originated, it symbolized neighborhood identity through sports teams and hip-hop pioneers. LA transformed it into a universal style statement. London’s battle rap community used it to signal creative authenticity. Brussels showed how style transcends language barriers. Stockholm demonstrated the fusion of global influences. These distinct yet connected scenes guided my strategy: empower local voices while building a cohesive global narrative celebrating creative freedom.

Through online engagement with artists and local shows I participated in, We identified a fundamental shift: Young consumers prioritize authentic cultural connections over traditional luxury status symbols. While established watch brands remained anchored in aspirational marketing, our target audience sought genuine creative engagement with local underground artists. Being “in the Know” with local artists also increases people’s knowledge of ongoing events and activities they can engage in in their community. Analysis of successful marketing collaborations revealed that unscripted content generated 92% higher engagement than polished campaigns. This validated our core strategy: enabling artists to naturally integrate timepieces into their creative process rather than imposing brand narratives.

Campaign Implementation

Our strategy aims to celebrate individuality through community engagement, grassroots collaboration, and customizable fashion accessories. Our rollout followed a four-month sequence starting in October 2017:

Phase 1 (October): Cultural mapping in each city, identifying authentic voices, and understanding local dynamics.
Phase 2 (November): Established artist relationships organically, focusing on creators naturally aligning with our brand values.
Phase 3 (December): Let artists create unscripted content, capturing genuine moments of creative expression with our timepieces through photoshoots.
Phase 4 (February 2018): launch across all cities in February 2018 with synchronized city activations, integrating sales channels while maintaining community engagement.

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Campaign Outcome

The Snapback Campaign increased brand awareness and artist engagement while building long-term creative partnerships that drive organic growth to our social media platforms. The campaign’s success stemmed from three key factors: artist-led content creation generating authenticity ratings, local cultural integration, and sustainable community growth, reaching a 60% increase in social media engagement and customer referrals. Partnerships with content creators also helped refine our campaign strategies to transform watches from status symbols to cultural touchpoints through artists.
Future opportunities lie in expanding this community-driven model globally while maintaining the place-based cultural artistry and expression that defined the campaign’s success. This campaign was also used to raise funds in crowdsourcing for new product lines.

Artists immediately embraced the collaborative approach, creating spontaneous content sensitive to the realities of their lives and communities. Artist networks grew organically, creating ongoing opportunities for authentic brand storytelling with community-driven brand-building. The campaign’s community-driven approach evolved into sustained artist partnerships. The network effect amplified our reach as more artists sought involvement, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem of authentic brand storytelling.

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