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The Ave Goes to London For AdWeek Europe!

Posted on April 17 2015

 

Nick, Amy, and our print crew, interns have just returned from AdWeek Europe 2015! We had an amazing time around London with our friends from Microsoft, and were thrilled to print up our custom Converse once again for AdWeek attendees.

 

This year's event took place in Piccadilly Circus, a buzzing area in the center of London that is similar to New York's Times Square. We set up in the courtyard of the legendary St. James Church, which was built in the 1600's by Christopher Wren.

  

Our home for the week was the Microsoft Cube, a pop-up structure created to house our custom Converse printer as well as an interactive demo of a device that allowed users to control their computers with their eyes. There was a steady stream of curious execs, students and more participating in the demo and hoping to win a great pair of custom printed Converse!


Setting up for the event This year, 25 people each day chose from 2 different Microsoft designs, specifically made with a London theme. We printed each pair on the spot for the attendees, allowing them to get a close-up look at our patented printing process.

 
Nick with our team members!



Printed for Leah, an AdWeek Attendee

Each day, one lucky winner received a custom pair of Converse! The Ave loves helping our customers design the perfect pair of custom shoes, and jumped at the chance to bring this to London. Amy from The Ave sat down with each winner and incorporated their ideas into 100% unique designs for a one-of-a-kind experience.



One of our custom winners with his Race Cars and Bicycle custom Converse Nick, the owner and founder of The Ave, was once again asked to speak about the shop for Microsoft's "I Am My Own Brand" discussion.

 

He described the early days of the shop, sharing how a custom t-shirt store in Chicago provided the inspiration to create The Ave and allow customers from around the world to "Customize Everything" - from Converse All-Stars to Vans, shirts, sweatshirts and more. The crowd of several hundred advertising executives from some of the world's biggest companies heard about The Ave's patented printing process first-hand from Nick. He provided insight into The Ave's platform which allows our customers to create their own brands, making one-of-a-kind items that highlight their individuality.


 

Soon after the talk, Nick met up with Damilola Odusote, an artist for Converse (check out more about him here). Damilola has created 3D sculptures for Converse and also has had his art featured on the shoes as part of the "Made By You" campaign.

 

Being a Converse artist, Damilola was stoked about our printing process and gave us some of his incredible artwork to create a pair of custom Chucks. Armed with just a thumb drive, he gave us some of his favorite designs and we mocked them up on the spot. Once we got his approval, we printed them up and with in a few moments they were laced up and ready to go.

 
Nick with Damiloa; Kyle with the Olympic-level photobomb

After 4 incredibly busy days - where we printed over 100 pairs of shoes - it was time to wrap up another fun, insightful and successful event with our friends at Microsoft. Everyone had a blast working with one another and we couldn't have asked for a better team. To celebrate another great week, we popped the champagne and had a toast with Nacholand, Galen Rice, Stacey and Josh from Microsoft and the rest of our all-star team!


Nick with Stacey Elliot from Microsoft


Of course, we had to squeeze everyone in for the ultimate AdWeek Europe Selfie:

 

With another successful event under our belts, we decided it was time to hit the town and check out some of the fine cuisine London had to offer.

We had to try out the local Fish & Chips...

 

... and the British version of Roscoe's- London's Duck & Waffle, served with a fried egg and a 42nd story view of the city:

  

And after a successful English foxhunt...

 

...Big Help Kyle cooled down with a crisp Bacon drink.

 

Our London adventures brought us to Sketch, a bar and restaurant which featured some of the tastiest cocktails and finger-foods ever enjoyed by a human being. The best part of this spot, though, was revealed when we needed to use the restroom after said cocktails- and were greeted by a set up steps leading around some sort of space orb, up to a curious mystery:

 

At the top, Nick and Amy were greeted by what we were informed were "eggs", complete with Mama Duck on top and quacking noises on loop inside.

 With our minds blown by the advancements in technology that led us inside of human-sized duck eggs, we decided to continue our spiritual adventure and make a 1.5 hour trek to Stonehenge, the legendary rock arrangement in the English countryside that has of late been made incredibly popular by certain television programs.

 


Amy with some unimpressed sheep near Stonehenge After another successful event and our impromptu English tour, we were ready to head back to the States. We had a blast seeing all of our friends from New York's AdWeek as well as making new friends with our London team! We can't wait to see what the next event has in store. Keep up with our custom adventures on Instagram.

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