The Footwear Collective is a nonprofit doing something the footwear industry had never done: bringing competitors together to build and scale circular solutions none of them could build alone.
Through Other Tomorrows, I worked on the Collective’s logo/brand system and facilitated workshops during their summit.
This case study focuses on a key engagement I worked on: their first public brand campaign for a takeback programme with their partner Goodwill SoCal.
THE BRIEF
After 18 months of groundwork, eleven brands were ready to launch a first-of-its-kind shoe takeback programme with Goodwill SoCal, with one audacious goal: collect as many unwanted shoes in one month as possible.
-> How do you develop the Collective’s voice in its first-ever direct contact with consumers, while aligning 11 different brands and Goodwill SoCal on logistics, look, and message?
RUNNING THE LAUNCH
I project-managed the marketing campaign: co-facilitating design workshops with the Collective and its member brands and managing the design, photography, an in-store rollout, and a live event.
The throughline of the job was alignment, understanding the considerations across 12 brands, finding common ground, and holding the timeline while a lot of people with different priorities converged on one launch.
For example, not only are target customer groups different, but so are the marketing channels: Ecco has physical stores in SoCal, while Brooks does not and prioritises an online presence.
THE SOLUTION: A MODULAR MARKETING KIT
One system, many brands. The answer was a modular marketing toolkit built so every brand could adapt it to their own voice while the campaign stayed coherent across social posts, in-store posters, postcards, banners, a website.
Steve Madden, Altra, Ecco and others each ran it their way; it still read as one programme.
WHAT WORKED
The programme beat its goal. 26,500 pairs, 30,525 lbs of shoes, collected across 50 Goodwill SoCal locations and diverted from landfill. The launch drove the Collective’s first direct public engagement, earned coverage in Fast Company, and produced the sorting data that will shape how the programme scales to new states.
FEATURED PRESS
To learn more about Footwear Futures Project, check out TFC’s official press release or Fast Company’s article.
To find out how you can join the movement, check out FootwearFuturesProject.org.
To learn more about The Footwear Collective and their mission to bring circularity to the footwear industry, click here.
PROJECT TEAM
Other Tomorrows: Hannah Oh, Nicole Nassif, María Risueño
The Footwear Collective: Yuly Fuentes-Medel, Morgan Ginn, Julia Viner, Lewis Campbell
