ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Stride Rite walks into mobile ads with rebranding campaign

Children?s shoe manufacturer Stride Rite is launching an omnichannel campaign to introduce its rebranding, leveraging mobile and social media to connect with parents through real-life experiences and ad content. 

Stride Rite is focusing on drawing in consumers through high-quality visuals, company history, authenticity and common parenting occurrences. The brand is highly aware of the effect and pull that Facebook and mobile advertising offers, and is therefore enthusiastic in incorporating these channels into its multiplatform campaign. 

"The primary goal of this brand refresh and campaign is to reintroduce the iconic Stride Rite brand to a new generation of parents," said Jamie Katz, group account director at Duncan/Channon, the agency behind the campaign. "Stride Rite tapped Duncan/Channon to lead strategic and creative development of a significant advertising effort targeting millennials. 

"Following extensive research, we developed Stride Rite?s brand platform and refresh strategy," she said. "We are reaching an entirely new audience with this campaign. 

"Stride Rite has long been considered the first walker shoe. The challenge was that research had shown that awareness was low among new parents, which are primarily millennials today." 

Built for brands
The Built for Childhood campaign is showcasing the durability and practicality of Stride Rite merchandise through shared experiences in parenting. Aesthetically pleasing images of children in common chaotic situations can be seen on Facebook, mobile and other various ad platforms. 

It is vital for Stride Rite to leverage all these channels cohesively. Consumer behavior is staggered, and with the over load of content today every individual operates differently through these content platforms. 

Millennials now makeup a substantial percentage of parents and heads of households. These consumers are consistently on their mobile devices and rely on them for various content consumption such as retail information, personal content, media and an array of other subjects. 


Advertisements apart of the Built for Childhood campaign feature children in messy, disorderly situations along with phrases that every parent can connect with. For instance, one photograph shows a young boy riding a bike through the mud with the text reading ?built for going for it.? 

The ad elaborates, explaining the shoe?s durability and ability to be machine washed. Every parent can relate to these messes and frustrations, the shoe brand is showing them that by purchasing its products, life will be easier. 

Another advertisement shows a young toddler covered in stickers, just starting to walk. Stride Rite is connecting with parents over shared momentous occasion such as this. 

Multi marketing
This form of multichannel advertising and campaigning is essential for brands. 

A Forrester Research analyst at the Mcommerce Summit: State of Mobile Commerce 2015 explained the importance of developing a multichannel approach to keep up with consumers' constantly evolving behavior and continual shift towards mobile (see more).

Facebook is a significant part of that approach. For instance, Facebook?s carousel ads showed 30 to 50 percent lower cost-per-conversion, and Procter & Gamble bet on the interactive ads to drive trial for its latest product innovation ? Febreze with Tide Original Scent ? by linking to Coupons.com on the last panel (see more). 

"Stride Rite also found that a large number of younger millennial moms, 42 percent, believe that brands that make adult shoes are more likely to make the best children?s shoes," Ms. Katz said. "Which means there is a misperception that requires some education around the best footwear for growing, developing feet. 

"This insight is one of the drivers behind the new brand platform, Built for Childhood," she said. "The new platform was inspired by the Stride Rite team?s everyday experiences as parents, bolstered by the brand?s decades-long commitment to quality and expertise in children?s footwear. 

"The new work encourages parents both to embrace the chaos and come prepared. The fully integrated campaign launches across multiple channels with the strategy of breaking through the back to school clutter by reaching Mom during her time and starting a peer-to-peer conversation."


Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer