Cole Haan's David Maddocks, chief marketing officer and general manager of business development, rejects the fashion world's "sea of sameness". His brand vision for Cole Haan is one that is "inspirational" yet "attainable" while motivating women to pursue all their passions -- preferable wearing Cole Haan's latest shoes, accessories and ready-to-wear.

Cole Haan's Fall 2017 brand campaign "Extraordinary Women's, Extraordinary Stories" turns to two supermodels Christy Turlington and Karlie Kloss, who are also close friends in real life. Christy Turlington Burns founded 'Every Mother Counts' in 2010 and has acted as a mentor to Karlie Kloss, in her decision to give up her Victoria's Secret Angel wings. and complete her education at New York University. Karlie founded Kode with Klossy in 2014, dedicated to teaching young girls core coding skills at her summer camps.

Cole Haan’s in-house creative team created the new campaign in the lofty attempt to "redefine what it is to be advertising in this category," says Maddocks. “So much is about presenting and asking the customer to want to look like the subject in the ad, and our idea is to suggest that anyone can be like these two individuals.”

Cass Bird shot the short films and stills, which are meant to suggest that any woman can be like Christy and Karlie, who represent so much more than the clothes on her back. The emphasis is a woman's self-development, not living or looking like a supermodel.

The brand has a new media strategy, working with Giant Spoon, to show up “where the customer is but not necessarily where she might expect to see us.” That means taking over subway stations in New York (at the Rockefeller Center and World Trade Center stations), popping up on podcasts (with 30-second spots on WNYC’s Two Dope Queens; Note to Self; Death, Sex & Money; and Nancy) and creating custom content with media properties like Lenny Letter and Refinery29.

The campaign also includes print and digital advertising with Hulu, The New Yorker, New York Magazine’s The Cut, T Magazine: The New York Times Style Magazine and The New York Times as well as out-of-home print and digital billboards and hand-painted signs.