We are humbled to report that your data-nerd friends over at Campless were recently honored as the 13th Best Independent Sneaker Blog by Complex Sneakers (“Probably the most unconventional sneaker blog”). During the awards ceremony* our CEO and founder, Josh Luber, accepted the honor on behalf of the entire team but was so flustered that he barely got through the first couple lines before the orchestra played him off stage. Knowing that our fans and supporters mothers would want to hear it in it’s entirety, we’ve transcribed the full acceptance speech here:
*The ceremony inside our heads
“…(in breathless voice from running onto the stage) Wow! We did not see this coming at all. I don’t even know where to begin. So many people to thank. Oh man! First, I’d like to thank the Academy, er, Matt Welty from Complex Sneakers. What a great job he’s been doing tonight as MC for the Independent Sneaker Blog Awards. It’s a good thing I wrote all those names down in the cab ride over here, right Matt? Matt is my brother, sitting right there (points behind Kate Upton and Russ Bengston). He’s been with me from the start of this amazing journey. And by journey I mean pivot table. (Hard swallow to catch breath while taking out paper from pocket on side of Roos)
- I gotta thank the fans first. That’s why we’re here. That and the data. So I guess I gotta thank the data first, but since data isn’t a real person let’s thank the fans first. Truly, thank you, all, for the support. Whether via Campless.com, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, we appreciate it all. And an extra special thanks to the 25+ people who have volunteered to help.
- Next, a HUGE thanks to whole Campless team — Matt, Chris, David, Stefan, Nico, Mike, and Vince. Without all of you I’d be much better rested, have a social life, see my daughter more and, as @TheDonDrew so eloquently pointed out on The Sitdown, have more sex. Come to think about it – fuck you guys! Sounds like my life would be much better without you. Of course, without you there’d also be no Campless, so I’ll take it.
(Mumbling to himself) So that’s fans, data, team…what’s next?
Oh, right, my fellow nominees! They definitely deserve some shine. Here’s the quick, non-slideshow, run down of all fifteen blogs:
- Gwarizm
- Kicks On Court
- EU Kicks
- DeFY New York
- IcySole
- Sneaker Steal
- Nike Blog
- Ripped Laces
- Retrobok
- Those NBs
- Brett Golliff
- Kustoo.com
- Campless
- Team Roshe
- Inside The Sneakerbox
” . . . Holding true to our maxim of always spreading #sneakerheaddata wherever we go, we wanted to visualize the Top 15 (again, non-slideshow) and provide a snapshot of how well-known these blogs are. As we all know, social awareness doesn’t necessarily equate to quality but, in this case, we already know the quality – so let’s look at social. We used Twitter followers (as of 4/15/2014) because that was the platform most commonly used by everyone on the list. Here’s what we found.
(The chart below was shown onstage at the awards ceremony via a large poster board on an easel. The AV equipment at the Quickstrike theater wasn’t working.)
Key Insights:
- It’s great to know that Complex based their ranking on quality and not followers. Including blogs with less than 100 followers like Retrobok clearly prove that
- There are a lot of good blogs out there that people haven’t discovered yet. That’s great stuff – always good to know there is more quality content to find
(exit music starts to play…)
“Also big shout out to my wife, my daughter and of course my parents for never buying me Jordan’s when I was a kid.”
