Rothy's - Innovation in the Use of Viral Media / Word of Mouth
Company: Rothy's, Shanghai, China
Category: Award for Innovation in the Use of Viral Media / Word of Mouth
Nomination Title: Rothy’s China: From Bottle To Beautiful - scored impressive business accomplishments, while also dedicating ourselves to goals that aid the greater good
Essay:
BACKGROUND
The complete gamechanger, sustainable DTC shoe brand, Rothy’s, born in North American market, decided to officially enter China market at the beginning of 2019. With sustainability at its core, Rothy’s repurposes 47 million post-consumer water bottles (and counting) and turns them into well-fitting, machine-washable, comfy fashion flats. Whereas, when Rothy’s officially entered China market in 2019, it immediately faced several
CHALLENGES
1) Extremely lack of public awareness
2) Relatively high price (over RMB 1,000 per pair) V.S. low willingness of local customers to pay for sustainability
3) Very limited budget of less than RMB100,000 (US$15K)
4) No offline stores or pop-ups to try on yet fitting experience is of great importance in footwear retail market.
OBJECTIVE
1) Announce and introduce Rothy’s to China market, to consolidate and expand brand awareness, strengthen brand image
2) Identify growth opportunity and stimulate purchase demands of potential consumers, to win a market place
A SOCIAL BRANDING CAMPAIGN –
#From Bottle To Beautiful was delivered, and successfully made Rothy’s virally trending among targets
1) Tell an elevated brand story riding on hot topics As the Earth Day approaching and Shanghai government enacting legislation of waste sorting, local media and influencers showed increasing interest and pay more attention towards the topic of sustainability. Riding on the momentum, we kicked off the campaign with a branded feature story - #From Bottle to Beautiful, along with a video for distribution and pitching. With the efforts of over 200 successful media pitching covering fashion, travel and business category, in- depth articles were generated and shared through the media’s websites, WeChat accounts, taking Rothy’s into the public’s sight.
2) Awareness booms via a deeper and broader communication penetration To further expand the impact, we explored more impactful and business-driven opportunities in media, influenced individuals and partnerships, mostly earned! We bridged ELLE, BetterBlue (an NGO dedicated to ocean conservancy), Bottledream (an NGO advocating reducing plastics in life) and over 100 impactful individuals who shared similar value with Rothy’s, through our accumulated media & partner relationship. With joint efforts, we successfully made the campaign and Rothy’s viral among targeted groups, earning millions of readership, impressions and engagements, and help quintupled the retail sales and revenue!
3) Shared not only branded assets, but a sustainable lifestyle & mindset that Rothy’s stands for To maximize the positive impact of the campaign, we turned people’s passion into actions. By posing the question “What do you stand for” to the customers, we encouraged followers of those communities, media and influencers to reduce their plastic consumption in daily life, to strictly sort waste after meals, and to advocate sustainable fashion. A total of 450 inspiring stories were created and shared on Weibo (similar to Twitter),WeChat, RED Book (similar to Instagram) platforms during the campaign. Based on these positive word of mouth, Rothy’s official account also garnered thousands of followers and loyal customers.
RESULTS
The campaign was a huge success, achieving:
1) Overwhelming awareness on social media
- Reported by 500+ media nationwide, earning near 300 million views
- Over 450 social media coverage generated 2 million engagement (reads, comments, likes) on diverse platforms.
- Top tier media including Vouge, ELLE, Bazaar, Luxe (similar to BOF), Forbes and leading fashion bloggers such as Gogoboi endorsed for Rothy’s. Even one of the most popular entertainment show in China “Happy Camp” reported Rothy’s. All Earned!
2) Effective in expanding customer base
- Rothy’s official account garnered 40,000 loyal customers, and good reputation through their word of mouth help penetrated to more potential targets
- Over RMB 600,000 sales have been directly generated (tracked through purchase link) during the campaign
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