TOMS Finds a New Purpose.

The founder of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie, went on The Tonight Show to promote the company’s latest cause for the second time in three months. Since his first Tonight Show visit, Mycoskie is continuing his efforts to reposition TOMS business model by creating a new primary focus on gun violence.
Donating five million dollars to March for Our Lives, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Moms Demand Action, these have been the first step for TOMS’ brand repurposing. Then the company journeyed cross-country to motivate consumers to use their voices to send 750,000 postcards to Congress.

The switch is no passion project. It’s a dangerous move to transform a brand to save a company in financial turmoil, which is a gamble for TOMS.

TOMS is working with Bain and Company, a strategy consulting firm, to make this transition effective. The partnership is part of a new trend where big companies will hire consulting firms for successful brand repurposing.

TOMS is smart to take a local approach to social issues, whereas in the past, they addressed more global issues. The brand can’t follow the latest fad or fashion like it has in the past five years. TOMS fell out of its original business model to conform to industry norms. This hurt the company because they obliviously became a for-profit brand rather than being the purpose driven brand that most know and love.

TOMS is in uncharted waters for purpose-driven brands. The future will hold many uncertainties for a brand which started off with a purpose, that lost its purpose, and now has repositioned with a new meaning.
With their big platform, TOMS wants to take on significant issues throughout the world. Giving shoes to people in impoverished countries, tackling homelessness in Europe, and now gun violence in America.

Actively rallying their consumers to join their brand in tackling these issues through repurposing their brands could be the future for companies like TOMS.
Women love mobile games, making advertisers rethink tactics.

Now is an excellent time to consider adding mobile advertising through rewarded videos to women to your creative agency’s media strategy.

Studies show 65 percent of American women from ages 10-65 play at least one mobile game daily. What is even more astonishing is that 49 percent of all U.S. gamers are women. Here holds the future for creative agencies to create effective tactics to advertise to women to sell products successfully.

The answer to this opportunity lies within rewarded video ads, which offer some value in exchange for watching the video. These videos bring astounding engagement rates, 3.4 times higher than other mobile video advertising.

Another fact is 79 percent of women are more likely to make in-app purchases while playing. To sum it up, there is now a new strategic tactic that creates women of all ages participating in mobile games, a high engagement with rewarded video ads, and a more effective platform for women to shop while playing.

What creative agencies need to take account for when concepting a reward video ad is to make sure the content resonates with the viewer.

With the analytics of these studies showing that this new tactic is trending in an upward direction, look for brands and creative agencies to become early adopters in creating rewarded videos for in-game advertising.

Nike to reinforce their views on pregnant athletes.

Historically, when female athletes decide to have children, Nike has pulled out of their endorsement contract. After a significant backlash, Nike is now finally addressing this issue.

There have been many years of ad campaigns for female empowerment, contradicting their contractual sponsorship agreements with women. Blind to the public eye, this issue has hit a boiling point and athletes who have further spoken up about this topic, making waves to make a difference.

Nike said it would waive performance-pay reductions for 12 months for athletes who are having children. They will also add terms reinforcing the policy for women in their contracts.

Nike’s proactiveness has created a ripple effect with other companies.

Their new effort to change its pregnancy policy will include protection in contracts. Nike has pioneered a new movement which has influenced companies such as Altra, Nuun, and Brooks Running to follow the path of contractual support for pregnant athletes moving forward.

 

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

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