Eye For An Eye? Shoe For A Shoe!
Photo by TOMS.com
When was the last time you did something for a good cause? A year, a month, a week ago? Or perhaps yesterday? I would have to admit I don't remember it for myself.
In today's fast-paced society, many of us are too caught up in chasing our dreams. Getting into a top university, building a fantastic career, or driving that exotic sports car, just to name a few. While we are busy cocooning ourselves in our own fantasy land, we often fail to see the power that each and every one of us possesses. TOMS saw it. And the company channels all these powers to make the dreams of the kids on the photos come true.
TOMS shoes was founded by Blake Mycoskie in 2006 to spearhead a business model "to help a person in need with every product purchased". That was the birth of the idea of One for One®. In other words, for every pair of TOMS shoes that a customer purchases, the company donates another pair to a child in need.
To me, TOMS has pioneered such business model with successful cause marketing strategies. The marriage between for-profit operations and non-profit intentions has proven to be an excellent one. Furthermore, the increased attention on corporate responsibility has given TOMS another boost to spread its name in the market place. Indeed, after providing 35 million pairs of shoes to children since 2006, the company has brought itself on the peak of cause marketing.
It is no surprise that cause marketing works. According to the 2013 Cone Communications Social Impact Study,
- 89 percent of Americans are likely to switch brands to one associated with a cause, given comparable price and quality, jumping nearly 35 percent since 1993
- 91 percent wants even more of the products and services they use to support cause
Indeed, there is a part in almost every one of us that hopes to contribute for the greater good. Leveraging on their success, TOMS has rebranded itself in 2011. In an effort to expand the One for One® concept beyond shoes, TOMS launched a series of programs mimicking its existing shoe for a shoe campaign. For instance, when TOMS sells an pair of eyewear, a portion of the profit is used to save or restore the eyesight for people in the developing countries. As Blake envisions, these are just some of the first steps to bring One for One® into every industry, culture, language and ethinicity.
While TOMS is definitely not the first company to adopt cause marketing as a strategy, it is one of the few that has great success. In my opinion, the biggest concern with utilizing cause marketing as a strategy is establishing trust. Even if the company claims to donate a portion of its profit for charitable purposes, it is often difficult to convey the truth to the consumers. In this aspect, TOMS' stories are told through an array of popular digital media platforms.
- TOMS Homepage
- A dedicated section on "Improving lives" to showcase how the lives of people in need have transformed with One for One®
- TOMS Youtube Channel
- Videos to tell the stories of people who benefited from the One for One® program
- Ticket to Give: the winner will fly to various destinations to personally give shoes to the communities in need
- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google+
- Active engagement in conversation of consumers in both product and company's vision
- Facebook is used as the platform to determine the winner of the Ticket to Give program
- TOMS Mobile App on App Store
- Tribe: this tab allows TOMS lovers to communicate across different social media platform in one place
TOMS' success in cause marketing could not successful without the support from these different digital media tools. With the videos and even testimonials of those who experience the giving first-hand, the consumers see for themselves how TOMS keep their words. The ability to visualize and quantify these actions of goodness through different digital spaces has built trust between consumers and the company.
I got my first pair of TOMS in 2010 as one of my friend in college recommended the brand to me. However, she recommended it to me because the shoes were comfortable without mentioning anything about the One for One® concept. It was until I have got onto TOMS's website that I have learnt of it. In this light, it seems that good cause remain secondary to other decision factors such as quality. It remains a challenge for TOMS to ensure the continued delivery of their brand promise into the future. While the rebranding effort in 2011 has paved ways for the company to expand, how TOMS can effectively translate its One for One® into other industries would be the question in focus.
Till then, here's my One for One®. My one blogpost for your one comment!
Thanks for reading!
James