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Foot Locker ‘Audio Tours’ Tell The Story Behind The Shoes

At museums and historical sites, you’ll often see visitors with earbuds listening to an audio commentary that gives them deeper information about what they’re viewing. Foot Locker has imported this concept to 300 of its stores, giving its fan base of “sneakerheads” an opportunity to learn more about select pairs of shoes through mobile Audio Tours.

The Audio Tours feature commentary from basketball stars such as NBA MVP Kevin Durant and Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier, as well as footwear designers and renowned sneaker experts, sharing anecdotes and insights about the shoes with consumers.

“Part of our job is to be storytellers,” said Jed Berger, VP of Brand Marketing at Foot Locker. “We look at sneakers as art and I think our consumers do too. They buy them because there’s an expression displayed there, and we’re looking for creative ways to articulate that expression. We draw inspiration from museums, cultural institutions and podcasts and these are all interesting ways of stories that are being told today.”

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Accessing the audio is simple. Upon entering a participating Foot Locker store, consumers can:

  • Connect headphones to their mobile device;

  • Visit footlocker.com/audiotour from the device;

  • Enter a unique product code displayed next to the select shoes in-store; and

  • Listen to the audio tour.

Foot Locker partnered with advertising agency BBDO New York to target the tours to mobile-savvy male audiences that are obsessed with sneaker culture. Berger noted that “the in-store environment is just as important as it’s ever been,” but he justified the decision to make the campaign mobile-exclusive, since the devices’ popularity throughout the shopper journey continues to increase rapidly.

“Good, bad or indifferent, we are all engaging on our phone more than we choose to admit,” Berger said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “If that’s where they want the stories being told, then it’s part of our jobs to tell them there. We’ve done a lot of work to make sure the experience is elevated and we’re telling the story as best we can, but you have limitations in words and how much storytelling you can do when you’re selling as many shoes as we’re selling in a store. It’s very important that we find ways to extend the story and go in depth, and this is the way this consumer chooses to hear it.”

Preserving The Brand’s In-Store Advantage

These stories become more pivotal to the brand as consumers increasingly shop online. As more products become easier to purchase online, Foot Locker retains an in-store advantage by selling merchandise that consumers are often required to try on before buying.

“Obviously, online sales and traffic are growing at an unbelievable rate in every vertical,” Berger said. “But there’s something about sneakers and the opportunity to touch, feel and see that makes the experience hard to replicate online. The joy of walking out of the store with a bag of sneakers, or even with them on your feet, is something that I don’t think will ever go away.”

As part of the campaign, the team selected sneakers that were “legendary, heritage” models such as Air Force 1 and Stan Smith, in addition to newer models like the Jordan 31 and the KD 9, to open engagement with these consumers.

“The shopper wants to be able to share that story,” Berger said. “His decision on what he wears on his feet is the most important thing to him, and he wants to be able to tell others why he’s wearing that particular shoe. To be able to tell that story from the source and have that sort of insider nugget is uniquely special, and it’s something we owe to the consumer.”

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