Ugg Rides the Wave of Its Comeback in First Global Campaign With AKQA

Amid a fashion comeback, Ugg showcases its place in the cultural zeitgeist in the first global campaign by its new creative agency AKQA.

“Feels Like Ugg,” launching on Thursday, reveals the brand’s Fall/Winter line and builds on the brand’s platform that debuted in 2022. AKQA’s Los Angeles office, which opened last year under the creative leadership of global CCO and fashion veteran Shu Hung, spearheaded the campaign. 

Ugg hired AKQA earlier this year to help define “a new spirit of the brand,” Carole Diarra, Ugg’s global vp of marketing, told ADWEEK. The resulting campaign represents the California-based label’s most globally diverse cast as it targets “culture creators and changemakers,” per Diarra. 

“This is a step forward for us to show we’re a global brand part of the zeitgeist. We’re shaping and moving culture,” Diarra said. 

The campaign features a cast of creative influencers from around the world, including models Alex Consani and Precious Lee; singer-songwriters Hanni and Leah Dou; artist and illustrator Karabo Poppy Moletsane; fashion photographer Phil Oh; and actor Young Mazino.

In an anthem film, the creators wear Ugg products while traversing the streets of Seoul, South Korea, playing music in a record store, making art, and holding impromptu photoshoots before meeting at a rooftop party.

The duo known as We Are From L.A. directed the film, while photographer Samuel Bradley captured the images. 

 “Feels Like Ugg” has a double meaning: as well as leaning into the shoe’s famous physical comfort, it is about how the brand inspires “inner comfort” through self-expression, Diarra explained.  

There is also a strong community element to the campaign, which explores “how self-expression connects us,” she added. 

The campaign’s concept was inspired by the Ugg signature twin seam stitch on the outside of its boots. This classic design feature informed the film’s narrative and will also be prominent in the Fall/Winter product line.

“We saw an opportunity to weave this brand heritage into a modern story, where the twin seam stitch metaphorically brings together diverse voices and styles, emphasizing Ugg’s role as a bridge between comfort and self-expression,” Hung told ADWEEK. 

Ads will appear across digital and social media, out-of-home sites, connected TV, ecommerce, and retail stores. 

In the spirit of bringing people together, Ugg will also host a series of activations and events, including the next rendition of its Feel House—a 10-day community retail space with artwork, live performances, and other activities that it first hosted in 2022 in Brooklyn, Seoul and Chengdu, China. 

A global ‘Uggaissance’

The campaign comes as Ugg, a brand once strongly associated with the Y2K era, surges back into fashion. 

Influencers, TikTokers, and celebrities including Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner have been spotted in the shoe, which also appeared on numerous Fashion Week runways this year. Marie Claire called it the “Uggaissance.”

Ugg’s comeback is paying off with business results. Owner Deckers Brands reported a 22.1% increase to $825.3 million in net sales during its first quarter this year, driven partly by Ugg’s performance. Ugg’s sales were up by 14% in the quarter. 

Since Ugg’s early 2000s heyday, when Oprah Winfrey included it on her “Favorite Things” list and celebrities from Paris Hilton to Beyoncé flaunted the boot, the brand fell out of fashion around the 2010s. 

But recently—thanks in part to the rise of TikTok, where users have fueled a resurgence of nostalgic brands and culture from the 1990s and 2000s—subsequent generations have gone on to embrace the brand’s comfortable, everyday style. Underscoring its multigenerational appeal, in 2022 it signed Cher as the face of the brand.

Through social media, Ugg’s team has seen consumers of all backgrounds styling new, popular models, such as the mini and platform boots or the sandals, in various ways across different countries, Diarra observed.

“[Ugg] defies generations. When new people come into the brand, they are able to appropriate it and use it in a way that’s relevant to them,” Diarra said. “Influence is happening across borders.”