Stride Rite II

Case Studies

Objective

Although the nearly 100 year-old children’s footwear brand Stride Rite is a leading footwear brand, their celebrity relationships were being underutilized and other less-established brands were getting more celebrity attention in the press and on social media.

Strategy

To amp up Stride Rite’s celebrity relationships and presence, GG Benitez & Associates PR developed a plan including strategic celebrity seeding, traditional press outreach and social media sharing by:

  • Identifying which celebrities were expecting or who have children infant through big-kid sizes.
  • Planning strategic seeding campaigns around seasonal and specialty shoe releases.
  • Actively participating in celebrity events.
  • Aligning the brand with a celebrity mom as a brand ambassador (Rosie Pope).
  • Ensuring that Stride Rite was credited in any media where brand shoes appeared.

Celebrity Engagement Tactics

Our team implemented a full-picture approach to reaching and leveraging celebrity fans:

  • Gifting celebrities at strategic times such as a trip to Disney-land with character shoes or birthday party with dress shoes – peak moments where a photo share was probable.
  • Authentic testimonials were garnered and pitched to celebrities, parenting and lifestyle press to initiate product placement and credited photos; creative pitches were developed to initiate "trend" stories.
  • Suggested messaging and hashtags were sent to celebrities to encourage cohesive brand messaging points.
  • A vigilant eye was kept on paparazzi uploads daily to capture images of celebrity kids wearing their shoes.
  • Rosie Pope was utilized to make a celebrity mom-to-millennial mom connection through sharing expert tips on shoe fitting, shopping, and style.
  • Drove traffic to Stride Rite by re-posting and re-tweeting celebrity testimonials and photos on all branded social media channels; provided content for Stride Rite’s social media through celebrity approved images.
  • Planned a back-to-school media event, where shoes were showcased and celebrity fans were verbally communicated to press members.
  • Researched and participated in celebrity-focused events, with shoe towers to educate celebrities in a social environment and garner photo ops.
  • As an expert in the industry, GG personally “interviewed” celebrities and serviced the articles to websites, incorporating Stride Rite into the articles.

Results to Date

Through connecting with and establishing significant celebrity and blogger relationships via direct seeding and events, we were able to secure testimonials, images, interviews and social media placements on celebrity social channels. Utilizing this content, we were then able to secure coverage in top-tier national celebrity, parenting and lifestyle publications online and offline.

  • Stride Rite shoes were seen on the children of celebrities Mario Lopez, DeAnna Pappas Stagliano, Nancy O’Dell, Samantha Harris, Trista Sutter and Molly Mesnick for their special birthday parties.
  • In partnership with Good Carma Studios, Stride Rite shoes were placed at celebrity baby showers like Jenn Brown/Wes Chatham, DeAnna Pappas Stagliano and Kendra Wilkinson.
  • Back-to-school seeding was secured for celebrities Samantha Harris & Nancy O’Dell, which was covered by E! News, Us Weekly and People.com, among other press placements.
  • GG’s personal interviews appeared in CelebrityBabyScoop.com, People.com, HotMomsClub.com, Childmode.com and SheKnows.com, which posted the articles.

Placement Highlights

October 16, 2015

See More

June 16, 2015

See More

May 28, 2015

See More

April 1, 2015

See More

May 6, 2014

See More

May 5, 2014

See More

March 25, 2014

See More

March 25, 2014

See More

March 25, 2014

See More

March 17, 2014

See More

March 17, 2014

See More

February 26, 2014

See More

February 25, 2014

See More

February 25, 2014

See More

February 24, 2014

See More

February 17, 2014

See More

January 21, 2014

See More