The brief
Young Lions Türkiye 2026, Media category. Skechers was the category sponsor, with a single line to work from: position the brand as the enabler of a daily habit, not just an advertiser. Two-person team with Beyza Öner (IPG Mediabrands).
The insight
The starting point was what research says about sitting and walking: the average professional spends more of the day sitting than sleeping, walking boosts creative output and relieves anxiety, and a few hours of walking a week lowers the risk of depression.
The problem is not that people don't know walking is good for them. Walking sits at the bottom of the to-do list, a postponed "extra task" rather than a natural part of the day.
The idea: Walk The Pause
An in-app feature inside the Skechers app that turns commuting and waiting time into Active Thinking Time: a simple daily habit that helps users walk, clear their mind, generate ideas, and stay focused. It reframes wasted moments as productive ones. The media is the behaviour change, not a message about it.
Execution
- Geofencing and traffic data in the Skechers app detect when a user is stuck in traffic in a high-friction urban zone (the deck used Maslak, Canary Wharf and Frankfurt's Bankenviertel) and guide them to a Mental Shortcut map.
- Commuting and waiting time is turned into purposeful downtime, framed around the benefits: clearer thinking, less anxiety.
- For people without the app, DOOH screens with QR codes provide access.
- Mood tracking feeds a weekly Mental Health Dashboard that shows the effect of walking over time.
The result
Second place in the Media category at Young Lions Türkiye 2026 (results announced 2 March 2026). An entry that made the media plan inseparable from the behaviour it set out to change.