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Foot Locker EMEA The Heart of Sneakers

Crafting a local Identity for scaled global impact.

Foot Locker partnered with AKQA to evolve the brand’s identity and create a flexible design system for The Heart of Sneakers platform across EMEA. The adaptable design system connects North America and EMEA, ensuring a unified global identity while giving each region the freedom to express its own creative voice. This shift strengthened brand equity, deepened cultural relevance and lifted proud-to-own metrics, offering a scalable blueprint for brands seeking global consistency with meaningful local impact.

AKQA brought a deep understanding of both the Foot Locker brand and the nuances of the European market. Together, we evolved The Heart of Sneakers into a platform that feels authentically local while staying true to our global spirit. The collaboration was seamless, the craft exceptional, and the result is an identity built to scale across key markets and needs we have.
- VP Marketing EMEA Foot Locker Slavka Jancikova

Insight

Difference fuels passion.

Sneaker culture is inherently local and counter-cultural. A single global message, powerful in one region, can feel alienating in another. The challenge of connecting with diverse cities and cultures across EMEA was also the opportunity: to recognise that true passion for sneakers is found in local expression, not global conformity.

Split image with abstract, blurred textures. Left side: dark streaks with text Amsterdam, Netherlands 52.3676° N, 4.9041° E. Right: blue-gray tones with text Berlin, Germany 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E.

Idea

Find your heart.

The Heart of Sneakers is transformed from a top-down message into a platform for local celebration. A new brand identity for EMEA, inspired by the cities and communities themselves, empowers grassroots storytelling and gives cultural ownership to the fans. This allows them to define what The Heart of Sneakers means to them.

Three posters show young people in streetwear, each labeled AS SEEN IN with city names: Berlin, Rome, and Lyon. The Foot Locker logo is on each poster, featuring individual and group urban scenes.

The hyperlocal ethos extends to Foot Locker’s global membership program, FLX, aligning the program worldwide with the region’s new identity.

A subway station ad displays the text Your City Your Stripes and features a close-up image of black athletic shoes with orange stripes. The ad also states Nike TN7 exclusively at Foot Locker.
An ad in a subway station shows a close-up of hands tying the laces of a white HOKA sneaker. The text reads AS SEEN IN ROME and HOKA Clifton 9, see it, revel at Foot Locker. The Foot Locker logo is centered.
A smartphone lying on a metal grate displays an Instagram post featuring a gray Adidas sneaker and the text ONLY IN STORE FLX. The screen has a purple gradient background.

Impact

Locally loved, globally scaled.

The new platform provides a clear and resonant foundation that scales across campaigns and seasons, proven to strengthen brand equity and deepen cultural relevance throughout EMEA. This clarity empowers local markets to shape their own narratives through neighbourhood-led storytelling and partnerships, contributing to an uplift in local relevance metrics.

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