
Pinkham also appreciated the lesson and saw value in the campaign even though it didn’t go as Hush Puppies planned.
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Hush Puppies learned from the We Heart Grandparents initiative and included a 100 to 400 word requirement plus a photo in the #ShareOptimism campaign. The insight here is that it's important to set clear requirements for impact-driven promotions to ensure they yield the social good results you’re looking for. That was a bit of a bummer because we wanted to share it more and hoped the shoes would end up in the right place.”

“We had great tracking and within three hours they were all gone.
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“The code was posted on a coupon/free offers site,” Hush Puppies’ VP says. The only prerequisite was that they had to enter their email to receive a promo code. The initiative, called “ We Heart Grandparents” was available to all consumers, however, Hush Puppies encouraged people to get the shoes for their grandparents. We had some inventory sitting there and we thought giving away these shoes could really brighten some grandparents' days.” “Our consumers range from ages 25 to 105. “There was a lot of support for first responders and frontline workers, but no one was really thinking about these grandparents,” Pinkham says. In addition to its #ShareOptimism campaign, Hush Puppies donated 5,000 pairs of shoes to elderly people in quarantine during the pandemic. The lesson here is that brands that position themselves as the chief celebrant, rather than chief celebrity, of their community earn consumer goodwill. “It's been just awesome to see the content that we're getting in,” Pinkham says. You can tell your story here until January, 31st 2021. “We think the most meaningful thing that we could do is to inspire people to not just live this optimistic lifestyle, but to look back and find moments of optimism in 2020 and share those stories,” Kate explains.įor the month of January, Hush Puppies is collecting stories of optimism from 5,000 people and sharing them on their social media channels, blogs and media outlets. As a thank you, the footwear brand is giving away colorful knit beanies to select storytellers in the U.S. This year, Hush Puppies is asking consumers to help them #ShareOptimism. Purpose At Work: How Hush Puppies Amplifies Optimism To Drive Sales and Impact PHOTO PROVIDED BY HUSH PUPPIES “But we wanted to evolve the campaign into 2021.” “We shared that with influencers and editors and had a strong response,” Pinkham says. The company made what they dubbed “a happy book” filled with science and lessons about optimism. “We launched this 21 day challenge where everyday we shared a different thing you could do to be more optimistic,” Kate says. To act on purpose, Hush Puppies launched the Practice Optimism campaign in 2020. “We started that work three years ago and it's so relevant now.” Consumers are starting to see us in a more relevant and meaningful way, and it is helping to drive our global search interest and sales as well,” Pinkham says.

The shoe maker took it to the next level by defining their purpose “to inspire consumers to live life on the bright side.” That purpose becomes an impactful strategy tool that guides decision-making throughout communications and the value chain. It's something we could root ourselves in that we have a right to play in,” Kate shares.Īfter conducting market research and learning more about their target audience, Hush Puppies identified their consumer as what they call “the purposeful optimist.” Someone looking for meaning in life with a good attitude that wants to make a difference. We started thinking about what’s going on culturally. “The brand history is rooted in this playful voice behind the basset hound and bright colors. How does a legacy brand reposition itself in a highly competitive market? Hush Puppies looked to its roots and explored its vision to clarify its purpose. So our mantra became, ‘We need to evolve from being a brand with a dog, to a brand with a purpose.’” “I felt like the dog was almost a crutch,” she says. In fact, Pinkham feels like it’s time to expand on the Basset hound and search for new ways to connect with consumers.

With Nike and Adidas controlling vast footwear market share in the U.S., Kate says the competition and changing fashion trends have presented challenges for the Hush Puppies brand.
