Famous Footwear… during COVID-19…
The Brand
Chances are, there’s a Famous Footwear either in your city or close to it. As one of the largest footwear retailers in the US, Famous Footwear has over 1,000 storefronts across the country that offer customers a pretty fantastic selection of shoes for each member of the family. They boast different tastes at various price points, which are stylish enough to make every customer walk out feeling like a superstar.
The Approach
This campaign was all about back-to-school shopping during the pandemic. Uncharted territory, we know. We were navigating some pretty tricky terrain here – people were avoiding public places, but some public schools were opening at least part of the time. Remote learning was still the most popular option, but we knew that families tend to shop for apparel and footwear at certain times of the year… and shopping for Fall and Winter shoes at the end of Summer is tradition and necessary for a lot of families – even in a pandemic.
So, our tactic was to partner with influencers to bring an authentic message to consumers that shopping in stores was safe, while still promoting new brands and styles we knew they’d want to purchase.
Our Strategy
We looked for parent influencers to kick off the school year with a brand new pair of shoes for their kiddos. Whether they were entering in-person or virtual learning, new shoes are always needed (since kids grow like weeds), so we had them talk about the unbeatable prices for kids of every age. Families went into their local storefronts with masks on, shopped for their new styles, and showed them off for the camera – all to share how confidence is key, no matter what your school year looks like.
Post Types
Pins
Tweets
In-Feed Posts
Posts
Stories
Blog
Posts
The Big, Beautiful Highlights
The in-store imagery was designed to really help customers (who would normally shop in-store) feel more comfortable making their grand return, even though nobody knew how school would look in the Fall. 🤷♀️
Blogs did a lot better in this campaign compared to their typical performance, with 659,546 engagements!
This campaign offered people the option of heading back into stores, which was imperative as the pandemic pushed even the eldest Americans into the habit of buying online. 🛍️ We made sure the content created for this campaign pictured influencers safely shopping in Famous Footwear stores around the nation. 😷
We worked with Famous Footwear to pivot the messaging, tone, and focus of this campaign from the very first days of the pandemic. We helped them reimagine this campaign in the most creative ways, to produce content that would resonate with people who were trying to plan for an uncertain future. This campaign helped to push Famous Footwear shoppers back into their stores. 🎉
The engagement rate for in-feed posts was a strong 2.77%, well above the industry average. We had 662 link clicks and 766 sticker taps resulting from just 13 influencers/Story sets.
Influencer Highlights
Aly Gandarilla of @aly.andco
Aly reflected on back-to-school shopping trips with her mom while taking her two girls shopping. Her pics featured the entire family shopping in-store with their masks on, safely picking out new shoes in preparation for a new kind of school year.
Jenypher Cruz-Martinez of @foreverjenypher
Jenypher posted three carousels for the Famous Footwear campaign that showed off two pairs of shoes she’d picked up for herself! Jenypher’s post wasn’t so much about heading back to school as it was about connecting the experiences between in-store and online shopping. So, she explained how she’d ordered her shoes a size too large, and demonstrated how easy it was to just pop into a local store and exchange them. Easy peasy.
Daphine Bush of @simplydaph
Daphine’s blog and IG posts really showed how much her kids loved their new sneakers, and how it boosted their confidence for the new school year. Plus, they grabbed top engagement for the campaign!
Courtney Curtis of @misscurtisclassroom
Nobody knows the chaos of back-to-school time quite like an elementary school teacher! Courtney went shopping to grab some BTS shoes for herself that she could rock in the classroom. She made sure they were comfortable and supportive enough to be on her feet all day with her future students!
Maria S. Sanchez of @mariasjsanchez
Maria took on the role of her kid’s “teacher” since they were learning from home this year. “This year, I hear my youngest got a super cool teacher… Yep, that would be me. 🙃 Just call me Mrs. Sanchez…” She wanted to get the school year started off on the right foot with fresh kicks for everyone, so they’d feel great about staying home (but still moving forward!).
Jazlynn Q of @jazlynnq
This kid has moves! We loved her dance poses in her new shoes on Instagram… but better yet, she did the “jump and snap” moves into different outfits and pairs on her TikTok to show off her BTS style.
Chelsi Lovos of @raisingwolvess_
Chelsi not only posted some super cute pics of the kids shopping, but she also wrote a blog post that detailed how safe they felt in the process. “I was so impressed by the helpful associates, cleanliness, and safety precautions the store was taking.” This was huge for the brand to get across in the time of COVID-19!
We had fun TikToks in the Mix!
Back to school week is not just a time for parents and all their shopping needs – it’s also a time for kids to get excited about the year ahead of them. That’s why Famous Footwear wanted to target school-aged kids in this campaign… and what better way to do that than TikTok?
@isacamargoreal back to school mode with shoes from Famous Footwear 😂❤️💪🏻 ##shoeschallenge ##transformation ##backtoschool ##fyp ##tiktokbrasil ##tiktoktrend
♬ original sound - Isa Camargo ♥️
@jazlynnq Back To School looks with @famousfootwear ##ad ##FamousFootwear ##BackToFamous ##FamousTogether ##TimeforTENET ##VinylCheck
♬ original sound - Jazlynn Q
@jayandkaiofficial Stepping up our back to school game with @famousfootwear ! ##FeelingFamous ##BackToFamous ##BackToSchoolWithFF ##sponsored ❤️❤️
♬ original sound - Minifashionaddicts
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