Two masked girls in pink pose by a store checkout counter beside "FAMOUS footwear" shoeboxes, one raising her hand
Submitted by The Shelf Influencer Marketing AgencyAgency IPI Score 43/100

Famous Footwear: Shopping During the Pandemic

Influencer Marketing

The Shelf partnered with parent creators for Famous Footwear's back-to-school campaign during the pandemic, reporting 659,546 blog engagements from content shot inside stores.

659,546blog engagements
+2.77%in-feed post engagement rate
662link clicks

Case in 60 seconds

Famous Footwear needed families to buy back-to-school footwear while people were avoiding public places and remote learning was the most popular option, which removed much of the occasion that normally drives the purchase.

The campaign appears to turn on seasonal habit rather than school logistics, because families shop for Fall and Winter shoes at the end of Summer whether or not classrooms open, and children keep growing regardless.

Partner with influencers to carry an authentic message that shopping in stores was safe, while still promoting the new brands and styles families wanted, so the seasonal purchase could happen in person.

Parent creators took their children into local Famous Footwear stores with masks on, shopped for new styles and showed them off for the camera, publishing Instagram in-feed posts and Stories, Pinterest Pins, Tweets, Facebook posts, blog posts and TikTok videos aimed at school-aged kids.

The Shelf reports 659,546 blog engagements, an engagement rate of 2.77% on in-feed posts, and 662 link clicks alongside 766 sticker taps drawn from 13 influencers/Story sets.

Strategy Breakdown

Families shopping for Fall and Winter footwear at the end of Summer, parents of children entering either in-person or virtual learning, and school-aged kids the brand wanted to reach through TikTok.
People were avoiding public places while some public schools were opening at least part of the time, so a campaign inviting families into stores had to settle a safety question the footwear category does not normally face.
Footwear for growing children is bought by fit, which normally favours the store, while the pandemic pushed even the eldest Americans into the habit of buying online, so the store estate turned from an asset into an obstacle.
Famous Footwear appears positioned as the practical place to finish a familiar errand, with prices for kids of every age carrying the argument while the pictured store visit carried the reassurance.
Children grow quickly, so new shoes are needed whether learning happens in a classroom or at home, which gives the purchase a necessity that a remote school year does not remove.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Blog
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • Blog Posts
  • Facebook Posts
  • In-Feed Posts
  • Instagram Stories
  • Pins
  • TikTok videos
  • Tweets
  • carousels

Partners

  • The Shelf

Creator role

  • Aly Gandarilla — creator
  • Chelsi Lovos — creator
  • Courtney Curtis — creator
  • Daphine Bush — creator
  • Isa Camargo — creator
  • Jazlynn Q — creator
  • Jenypher Cruz-Martinez — creator
  • Maria S. Sanchez — creator
  • 13 influencers/Story sets
  • parent influencers

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Blog EngagementsBlogs did a lot better in this campaign compared to their typical performance, with 659,546 engagements!
In-Feed Post Engagement RateThe engagement rate for in-feed posts was a strong 2.77%, well above the industry average.
Link ClicksWe had 662 link clicks and 766 sticker taps resulting from just 13 influencers/Story sets.

The Work

TikTokPost by @isacamargoreal

TikTokPost by @jayandkaiofficial

TikTokPost by @jazlynnq

Why The Shelf Influencer Marketing Agency's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Seasonal purchase rituals survive disruption, so a retailer cut off from its usual occasion can anchor a campaign on the calendar habit rather than on the event that normally justifies the trip.

  2. 2

    Creators describing store conditions in their own words, as Chelsi Lovos did on associates, cleanliness and safety precautions, gives a safety claim a source the brand cannot credibly supply for itself.

  3. 3

    Blog posts carried 659,546 engagements against their typical performance for this agency, which suggests formats that allow detail earn attention when an audience needs reassurance rather than a quick look.

  4. 4

    Casting across households whose school year differed, from in-person learners to a parent teaching at home to a teacher buying shoes for her own classroom, let one message hold while the circumstances behind it varied.

  5. 5

    Story units answer a different question than feed units, so link clicks and sticker taps read as the measure of intent from a small set of creators rather than a measure of how far the campaign travelled.

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