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Global Public Relations Campaign: TOMS One Day Without Shoes

Alyssa Pernice

Day of Scholarship, Stockton University, March 2017

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Introduction

  • Research for course Global Public Relations with Dr. Song
    • Analysis of a global PR campaign
  • Why this campaign proved to be successful and how
  • Case study approach-- ROSTE Analysis
    • Research
    • Objective
    • Strategies
    • Tactics
    • Evaluation
      • Critiques

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Key Words in PR

  • Public relations is establishing mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.
  • A campaign seeks to engage potential consumers through various strategies and tactics.
    • A global campaign works to grab the attention of audiences in countries besides your own. Global campaigns often feature ideas of social responsibility and ethical principles.
  • A strategy is the message being sent in a campaign as well as the rationale behind it.
  • A tactic is putting the strategy into action through specific activities.

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Research: The One Day Without Shoes campaign

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  • Though TOMS has run this campaign every year since 2008, I will be focusing on the year 2015.
  • One Day Without Shoes was May 21, 2015.
  • The campaign promoted this day/event.
  • This event focused on not wearing shoes to show what life is like for people who don’t have access to them.
  • TOMS campaigned globally. Besides the United States, this campaign also took place in Korea, the UK, Canada, France, and several other countries.
    • The company itself also has a global reach-- they have donated shoes to children in 70+ countries.

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Research: TOMS

  • TOMS is a for-profit company that sells shoes, glasses, apparel, and other accessories. They are best known for their shoes.
  • Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS in 2006 after a trip to Argentina where he discovered the hardships of children without shoes.
  • Mission statement: “With every product you purchase, TOMS will help a person in need. One for One.®”
  • The company has cultivated an image of being socially responsible because of their mission and efforts in helping children.
  • TOMS sells products in the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland, and France.
  • Online presence: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, company website, YouTube channel

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Research: Media and Previous Campaigns

  • Was there any research done by TOMS prior to this campaign?
    • Though I cannot find any information about what kind of research TOMS conducted before launching this campaign in 2015, it seems that they rely on research from previous years’ campaigns.
  • According to the PRSA, when this campaign launched in previous years, it earned almost 500 million media impressions and increased traffic on the TOMS website (2011). They were also able to engage over 25 countries in the campaign.
  • In previous years, the company was able to donate thousands of pairs of shoes to children in need.
  • In previous years, there was also a lot of coverage about the event on news websites such as The Huffington Post and pop-culture websites such as Refinery29.

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Objectives

  • Attitudinal: “Generate consumer awareness of the day via mass and target-right media coverage”
    • Generate 10% more coverage than previous year and get a late-night or morning show to have reporters/hosts be barefoot, mom-targeted coverage
    • This objective has been proposed to make more people aware of the One Day Without Shoes event, because while TOMS already has a large audience, it is growing every year.
  • Behavioral: “Drive cultural noise and conversation via social media and grassroots engagement”
    • Increase traffic to TOMS website, trending topic on Twitter, more engagement on Facebook page
    • This objective has been proposed to get people to participate in the event.

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Strategies: Major Target Audiences

  • TOMS consumers: men and women age 18-32
    • Millennials (Generation Y)- heavy usage of social media
      • Can easily get involved
      • TOMS supports a cause that they care about
    • Already familiar with TOMS
  • Moms
    • Have influence on friends, family, kids
    • Will also want to support cause
  • Characteristics of each public can differ with each country.

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Action Strategies

  • Celebrity support: P!nk, James McVey, Jeff Bridges, Laura Dern, Zoe Saldana, and more
    • This strategy was directed toward men and women ages 18-32 and also moms, depending on the celebrity.

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Communication Strategies

  • Making customers aware that they can be involved in helping others
    • Love appeal
    • Facts about children in third world countries, where the shoes will be donated
    • Strategy for both target audiences

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  • “One for one” slogan of TOMS company

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Tactics

  • Walks where participants walked barefoot
    • In communities, at schools, organizations
    • Tactic for men and women ages 18-32 as well as moms
  • Posts on TOMS’ social media platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
    • Donating a pair of shoes for every post with bare feet with the hashtag on Instagram
    • Tactic for men and women ages 18-32
  • Appearance by Blake Mycoskie (CEO) on MSNBC
    • Major news show where the event was discussed
    • Tactic for moms- they are likely to tune into the news

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Tactics

  • Hashtag “#withoutshoes”
    • Strategy for both target audiences
    • Donation promised for use of hashtag during time period of May 5-21, 2015

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Real-World Example of Tactic: Blake Mycoskie on MSNBC

  • Skip to 0:41, stop at 1:49

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Real-World Example of Tactic: Instagram Posts

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Real-World Example of Tactic: Community Walks

NYC

Penn State

Leonia, NJ

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Evaluation

  • The campaign was a success.
  • Participation in 30+ countries: USA, Korea, Canada, France,
  • 296,243 children received a pair of “TOMS Giving Shoes”
    • “Most engaged campaign yet”
  • Over 338,280 photos of bare feet posted
  • MSNBC broadcast with bare feet
  • No data about website traffic could be found.
  • Coverage by The Huffington Post, InStyle website
  • Campaign earned Bronze Award in the Social Good Campaign category in the 8th Annual Shorty Awards
  • No formal post-campaign research is evident, but they were able to find the output data mentioned above as well as data of the impact of the campaign and event mentioned above.
  • Both objectives were achieved.

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Critiques: Good

  • Most effective strategy:
    • Celebrity support
      • Opinion leaders
      • Global reach
      • Various target audiences can be reached
  • Most effective tactics:
    • Barefoot walks in communities
      • Community relations
      • Easy and fun way to get involved
    • Creation and use of the hashtag “#withoutshoes”
      • Easy way for people to get involved and spread the word about the campaign
      • Perfect for target audiences

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Critiques: Could Be Better

  • For improvement: Target audiences
    • Though the two target audiences that were identified were perfect for this campaign, I would add more groups because there are other groups that could benefit from this campaign.
    • I would add teachers as a target audience (secondary) because they have great influence over students of all ages and could help plan a walk to get their students involved while also educating them.

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Questions?

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Sources

Aria. (2012, April 14). Case study: TOMS One day without shoes. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from https://mynameisaria.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/case-study-toms-one-day-without-shoes/

Baek, H. (2011, April 5). TOMS One day without shoes-join TOMS One day without shoes april 5, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.refinery29.com/go-barefoot-for-children-in-need-on-april-5th-toms-shoes-one-day-without-shoes

Botelho, C. (2014, January 31). 15 brands that rock at content marketing to Moms. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/15-brands-rock-content-marketing-moms-0763794#mER3GBfmdjSMmolt.97

Couch, R. (2015, May 21). Instagram users went #WithoutShoes this month and gave 265, 000 pairs to kids in need. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/21/toms-shoes-without-shoes-_n_7360312.html

Fromm, J. (2016). Why idea brands win with Millennials Retrieved from http://www.millennialmarketing.com/2013/09/why-idea-brands-win-with-millennials/

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Sources

Henning, K. (2015, May 8). Toms’ One day without shoes Instagram campaign. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from Footwear News, http://footwearnews.com/2015/fn-spy/media/toms-one-day-without-shoes-social-instagram-campaign-28790/

TOMS, & Ketchum. (2012, January 1). Toms One day without shoes: Engaging One Million people in a meaningful movement. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from PRSA, https://www.prsa.org/SearchResults/view/6BE-1203A36/0/Toms_One_Day_Without_Shoes_Engaging_One_Million_Pe#.WCdk5cmNMZ5

The Huffington Post One day without shoes. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/one-day-without-shoes/

TOMS One day without shoes 2015 - the Shorty awards. (2015). Retrieved November 12, 2016, from Shorty Awards, http://shortyawards.com/8th/toms-one-day-without-shoes-2015

TOMS shoes: One for One movement. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from Crossroads’ Global Hand, http://www.globalhand.org/en/search/success+story/document/29181

TOMS. (2006). TOMS® official site | the One for One® company. Retrieved November 12, 2016, from http://www.toms.com/

Wilcox, Dennis L et al. Public Relations: Strategies And Tactics. 10th ed., 2012,.

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