Experian Assists a Family That Lives in a Dirty Old Shoe

And it's not even a classic Air Jordan

So, your family of five lives crammed inside a stinky old sneaker that’s falling apart at the seams. It’s time to improve your credit score, don’t you think?

Experian’s there to help, as we learn in the centerpiece film of the brand’s new fairy-tale-themed campaign:

Ah, they achieved the capitalist dream, upgrading to a high-rise cowboy boot. Yee-haw!

“We know that life doesn’t always go to plan,” says Sal Miller, CMO at Experian. “But with the right tools and guidance, everyone has the power to change their narrative. This platform brings that promise to life in a way that’s bold, relatable, and full of optimism.”

Frankly, people loathe credit bureaus and how their tallies can make or break our lives. This work humanizes the process with a lighthearted touch that puts the situation in perspective without going too far OTT. (Though for many who struggle to make ends meet, home ownership and other happy endings can feel like fairy tales. So that’s a strike against it.)

BBH London created the eye-catching work, and Tom Noakes directed the :60 through Business Club. (Who’s all about supersizing metaphors.)

“It was super important to us that the homes felt believable,” agency creative director Stu Royall tells Muse. “It had to be relatable for everyday British families. And because authenticity was so central, director Tom Noakes was clear from the outset that we had to capture as much of the action as possible in camera. Which meant building the interior of not one but two giant shoes in a studio.”

For the high-top trainer, “we started with a simple floor plan, working out how to fit a kitchen, living space, bathroom and beds into such a cramped space,” he recalls. “No detail was cheated. We took inspiration from houseboat design, where every space is utilized and every piece of furniture is multi-purpose.”

“We kept the space intentionally constrained to reflect the cramped reality of modern life for a growing family. The cast had to crouch just to stand up.”

As for impressive exterior scenes, “We shot plates of the street and then composited the shoe into them using VFX through post production studio Stray,” he says. “Getting the size of the stitching and the weave of the fabric just right was a painstaking but ultimately rewarding process.”

Dropping today, Experian’s “Better Your Story” will step across TV, cinema, VOD, OOH, radio and digital through Q1.