Toms and Other Companies Make Philanthropy Central to Their Business—and Their Marketing
Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms Shoes, has hit on the perfect fund-raising pitch for his shoe-giving charity.
Or is it a perfect sales pitch for his footwear?
The idea has soulful simplicity: For every pair of rubber-soled “alpargatas” shoes Mr. Mycoskie sells to the affluent, he gives away a pair to someone who needs it.
On April 8, he will promote both brand and cause with “One Day Without Shoes,” challenging people to go barefoot and feel what it’s like to be among the world’s shoeless. Mr. Mycoskie hopes to persuade 300,000 people to participate. So far, 70,000 people have pledged to do it at www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.
The concept is catchy, like much that Mr. Mycoskie does. When it comes to “cause marketing,”—the pairing of a product or brand with a social mission—Mr. Mycoskie is a pace-setter. At 33, he’s on a national speaking tour, he pals around with Bill Clinton, and his company was recently ranked #6 on Fast Company magazine’s list of most innovative retailers.
Corporate America has a long track record of charitable fund-raising and has been exploring brand tie-ins with charities for decades. But Toms is going a step further than most in blurring the difference between brand and charity; the brand doesn’t exist outside the charitable work. Its success shows that good works can be a powerful profit engine.
Another fashion line that mixes profit and charity will announce its launch next week—and its organizers cite Toms to explain the revenue-sharing theory. The American Family Collection will sell three collections of clothes to mass retailers. (Ralph Destino Jr., president of the Legacy Group, which is launching the line, is hoping for Target and Wal-Mart.) Mr. Destino and his father, a former president and chairman of Cartier Inc., have lined up three American heiresses—Kick Kennedy, Sara Delano Roosevelt and Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin—to lend their names and help design the collections.
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SOURCE: Wall Street Journal