The integrated campaign, coordinated by Amsterdam-based buzz marketing agency BlueberryFrog, will run in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, comprising elements of PR, direct mail, product placement and online executions, as well as a Highest Hoop world record attempt.
The Highest Hoop event, to be held in London, will challenge street athletes and basketball fans from across the continent to score the world's highest-ever basket, eight metres off the ground, while wearing the Fabre shoes.
Originally launched in 1976, the Fabre shoe was successful for its unusually sticky sole, which was inspired by octopus suckers in inventor Kihachiro Onitsuka's salad. It is named after the "fast break" basketball move, because rubber suckers in the heels allowed wearers to quickly change direction when running.
Inspired by these characteristics, a viral game has been developed in which players have to make Fastbreak Olly the Afro Octopus shoot the highest online hoop. The best player will win a pair of the shoes.
Five hundred pairs of the shoe will then go on sale at online trainer retailer Crooked Tongues, and all this will be backed up by a PR campaign targeting "sneakerheads" in the five countries involved in the push.
Carsten Unbehaun, senior marketing manager for Asics Europe, said: "BlueberryFrog has created a campaign that successfully marries Onitsuka Tiger's Japanese heritage and the Fabre shoe's Octopus-inspired technical superiority. Each pan-European guerrilla execution will create a real buzz that will hit the spot with sneakerheads and ordinary consumers alike."
BlueberryFrog worked with Asics Europe earlier this year to promote the relaunch of several other retro shoe models, including the yellow and black Tai-Chi shoes worn by Bruce Lee in 'Game of Death', which is also being linked with activity centred on the forthcoming Quentin Tarantino martial arts movie 'Kill Bill'.
The company has also done recent work for Sony Ericsson, Mitsubishi and Hoegaarden.
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