TOMS: A SHOE THAT GIVES BACK

Buy two, receive only one.

It sounds like an offer to keep well clear of.

But it was that offer that made the TOMS brand.

The numbers:

Valuation: $625 million in 2014. (Source)

Revenue: $392 million in 2019 (Source)

Shoes donated per year: 95 million in 2019 (Source)

Who knew, a company that gave away shoes could make so much money!

Company Overview

If you don’t know TOMS, let me give some context on the company.

The whole idea of TOMS came after Blake Mycoskie, went on a trip to Argentina and recognised the lack of shoes on the feet of the children there.

He decided to develop a type of alpargata (a simple canvas slip-on shoe that is popular in Argentina) for the North American market, with the goal of providing a new pair of free shoes to the youth of Argentina and other developing nations for every pair sold.

The company name is derived from the word "tomorrow,” and evolved from the original concept, "Shoes for Tomorrow Project." It’s also important to notice the Argentina colours that run across the company logo - representing the country of the children they are trying to help.

In simple terms, the TOMS brand is one with a very meaningful and charitable mission behind it. They were never trying to be the next Louis Vuitton; their aim is to give kids the chance to put shoes on.

Breaking Down The Strategy

For TOMS is was never about selling a great product. Don’t get me wrong people did enjoy the style of the TOMS shoes. However, they definitely don’t fall under the category of a revolutionary product.

The mission behind the brand is what sells TOMS. They are much more than just a fashion brand; TOMS is a shoe-giving movement. That is what made the brand unique and that is where the majority of their marketing is focused.

The “For One, Another” ad by TOMS (above) is a great example of TOMS Marketing. Not one second of the ad highlights their product. It is all focused on bringing awareness to the situation they are trying to solve and how you buying TOMS helps solve it - notice the video has nearly 1 million views (it works!)

This strategy TOMS is using is referred to as “Cause Marketing.”

Mary Ellen Tribby shared a prime example of this effect: her 13-year-old daughter convinced her to buy three pairs of TOMS by sharing the company’s shoe-giving mission. Tribby says, “Even though I thought three pairs of shoes at $77-a-pop was a bit extravagant; I justified the decision in my head, telling myself that I would be helping kids who weren’t nearly as fortunate as my own.”

It just goes to show how effective cause marketing can be.

Another one of TOMS’ most successful marketing campaigns was their “One Day Without Shoes” campaign, which clearly had no shoes involved at all.

The idea behind the campaign was for people around the world to all see how it feels to have no shoes, for one whole day - in order to raise awareness for the lack of shoes in some countries. TOMS pledged to donate a pair of shoes for every barefoot picture posted with the hashtag #withoutshoes on the day. The event in 2016 led to 27,435 children in 10 countries receiving new shoes. (Source)

This was an awesome way for the brand to draw attention to not only them and their product but also the mission behind the brand - the driving force behind their sales.

As a result of putting their cause first, when customers think about Toms, it is difficult not to associate the product with the company’s contribution to social purpose. The product and the intent in consumers minds are one. This approach is purpose-driven at its finest.

The Lesson

To put it simply, your marketing doesn’t have to be focused on your products. In fact, your whole business doesn’t need to be product-focused. If the mission behind your company is what differentiates you from the rest; then focus your marketing on that!

How valuable cause marketing was to TOMS, was shown clearly over the last 2 years. From 2019 onwards TOMS began to stray away from their original mission focus and began attempting to establish themselves as a clothing brand - and failed terribly. The attempt led to them bringing in just $200 million in revenue in 2020. That’s over $100 million less than the year before, in 2019. It really goes to show that their “Buy one, give one” model was a huge driving factor of sales. (Source)

How To Implement It

Just because your company didn’t start as a mission or a movement like TOMS did, doesn’t mean you can’t implement cause marketing.

It’s never too late to implement a cause behind your company. Even if you don’t want to add a mission to your whole brand. You can still implement cause marketing for a simple product launch.

Here are a few awesome examples of product launches with a cause:

• Ben & Jerry's: Democracy Is In Your Hands: In 2016, ice cream company Ben & Jerry's introduced a new flavour - Empower Mint - to promote democracy. Along with the flavour came a campaign — "Democracy Is In Your Hands", which educated ice-cream lovers about barriers placed in low-income communities to prevent them from voting. (Source)

• Adidas: Ocean Plastic Shoes: Last year, Adidas launched three new trainer editions – all made from ocean plastic! Each pair is made from eleven reused plastic bottles and the sportswear brand managed to sell more than one million of these trainers last year. (Source)

The best in the business, implement cause marketing. So, don’t be afraid to launch a product campaign around a cause. It’s an awesome way to shine a light on your business, pick up media coverage, all whilst doing a great thing for the world!

TOMS did it and so can you!

This has been a breakdown of TOMS’ cause marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy into your business.

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I’ll see you next Sunday!