Foot Locker is getting into Social Media with Sneakerpedia Project !!!

Foot Locker is a brand that needs no introduction as it is so central to all sneakers fans. Until now, this brand has always had a fairly standard communication to develop its visibility towards its community of buyers and sneakers addicts.

In other words, Foot Locker has always used a classical media mix (TV - RP - Display) with chosen medias and its web presence was limited to a big flagship website and some buzz sites relayed on the ground through street and guerilla marketing. However, Foot Locker has never neglected the 2.0 tools. In Europe, they have relationships with influencer and bloggers for a long time and I am well placed to talk about that because I worked for them for almost 3 years at my former agency, by supporting them and giving advice on precisely these aspects of Influence & e-PR. If you watched the video above, you now know that Foot Locker has decided to move to the next level by setting a social media strategy dedicated to their core target : the sneaker-addicts.

I can only say one thing : Well done! The bet is admittedly a bit risky but not that much if you look deeper into it. Indeed, they don't come with a project aimed at generating sales in the short-term and they follow a different logic where they value their customers and the community of sneaker-addict. This way, they have already incorporated one of the basic rules of social media that is to put consumers at the heart of the process. Moreover, they are re-inventing the UGC concept by providing the sneakers community a challenge, creating the largest global sneakers database, and the tools and infrastructure to succeed in this challenge. Finally, they act cleverly because the branding is really subtle and discrete, especially in the above video. In doing so the consumer / fan / expert can concentrate on the project without feeling polluted or bludgeoned by the brand.

It seems to me that this device is an example which should inspire many brands that have the illusion to have a Social Media strategy only by having a few pages on Facebook and profiles on Twitter. And no, I won't give you any names ! lol ! Anyway, if you want to know more, it will take you a bit time because the project is currently in beta and the site was launched yesterday. But, if you're a fan of sneakers, I'm sure you will find a solution to get the code that will allow you to join the project ^ ^