Blake Mycoskie is the Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes. For those of you who dont know TOMS, the company was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what they're all about. TOMS Choose Shoes holiday campaign launched this week and Blake graciously offered to answer a few questions about the holidays and giving gifts that give back.
Q: How did the idea for the Choose Shoes campaign and video come about?
A: We looked back at the year, which was a tough year for many, and realized how thankful we all were to be doing what we're doing, and maybe that telling people about the impact of shoes in a child's life might make them reconsider their gift choices this year. Choosing shoes is a statement against the same old presents and demands our gifts work harder. It's about giving, and giving again to brighten the holidays for others. We knew we wanted to translate that "Choose Shoes" message into a cool viral video and the ideas just started flowing.
Q: TOMS incorporates a lot of animation in their videos. What about animation speaks to you?
A: We like to incorporate a hand-made feel where we can. So much of TOMS is about texture, material, and the feel of things, plus we love making things here. Animation does a good job of articulating messages in a simple way, feels holiday-esque to us, and retains that hand-made feel.
Q: In this video, the One for One movement takes on a whole new meaning: how one person wearing TOMS can inspire another person to get involved in the TOMS movement. It's also a visual representation of how grassroots marketing works. How important is the grassroots component to TOMS overall marketing strategy?
A: Grassroots efforts are of incredible importance to TOMS. The One for One movement is something people (including us) are proud to be a part of and they want to share that story with everyone they meet. We depend on each one of our customers to be ambassadors of One for One- from wearing the shoes, to telling the story, to forwarding a video, or tweeting about TOMS. Just like it says in the video, those little things turn in to big differences... and the better we enable people to do that, the more shoes we can give to children in need around the world.
Q: How are you celebrating the holidays this year?
A: I'll be spending time with my family in Texas. But we'll be having our yearly holiday party at the warehouse first, can't wait.
Q: What's your favorite new TOMS shoe?
A: The Cordones are awesome- we just launched them this September. They have the same clean lines as the classic TOMS, but with laces!
Q: What's in store for TOMS in 2010?
A: A lot of really cool stuff, including exciting new collections, a big giving effort in Ethiopia to help with the prevention of Podo, and a huge plan around One Day Without Shoes on April 8th.
Q: TOMS shoes not withstanding, what has been your favorite holiday gift? For the past two years, I've brought the TOMS staff on a family trip to Mammoth. We're definitely a crazy family, but its such a valuable and special time for all of us to spend together. The TOMS staff each wrote their own words of wisdom and collected them in this cool box to give to me. I loved it because usually I'm the one leading them... but this was a way for me to sit back and learn a lot from each of them.
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