To boost conversion, Kizik is showing its hands-free shoes ‘in action’ via a mobile tour and TV ads
Although known for its hands-free shoes, footwear brand Kizik is taking a more hands-on approach when it comes to summer marketing.
On Monday, the brand kicked off a monthly mobile try-on tour, bringing a trailer of merchandise to eight U.S. cities in some of Kizik’s biggest markets. Later in July, it will air a TV ad featuring people stepping into their shoes and running after a dog who escapes from a barbecue. Kizik will also continue to hone in on user-generated content, sharing videos of people who love wearing their Kiziks.
It’s all part of the brand’s plan to show how its technology is different from other footwear offerings on the market. Kizik’s shoes are such a “demonstrative product” that the brand’s conversion rate in stores is 75% if people try on a pair, CMO Elizabeth Drori shared in an interview. “Our proposition is so much easier to understand when you see it in action, or, better yet, when you experience it yourself,” she explained. Kizik is now hoping to drive this message home through a mix of experiential retail, social media videos and traditional TV advertising.
Kizik was founded in 2017 as a direct-to-consumer brand. It sells shoes that can be slipped into without crushing the heel — an offering that’s helped propel Kizik to $100 million in sales annually. Kizik’s parent company, Handsfree Labs, has filed for more than 200 patents for the technology behind slip-on shoes. Earlier this year, it settled its first lawsuit alleging that another company infringed on its intellectual property. In June, Kizik brought on a new CEO, Gareth Hosford of Nike, to lead its next stage of growth.
For its mobile tour, Kizik is targeting cities where it has a standalone retail store (it has six in total) or a robust wholesale presence (it’s targeting 500 doors by the end of the year). The tour kicked off on June 30 at Brookfield Place, a shopping center in New York City’s Battery Park neighborhood. The tour will next head to Boston on July 2; Philadelphia on July 8; Washington, D.C. on July 10; Minneapolis on July 13; Denver on July 16; Los Angeles on July 20; and Salt Lake City on July 23-24 and 26. The activation follows Kizik’s pop-up store in New York City last summer.
Kizik’s try-on trailer won’t have a large amount of inventory on hand, Drori said, but it will have try-on sets, so people can slide on the shoes in their correct size. Employees will also be on site to showcase products and tease upcoming merchandise for the fall. There will be a QR code that people can scan to make a purchase, and Kizik will give out a 20% off coupon to use at a nearby Kizik store or Kizik.com for one week following the event.
Kizik joins other retail brands in hitting the road for more immersive activations. Last summer, clothing companies Draper James and PrettyLittleThing brought trailers to college campuses as a way to connect with Gen Z, while this summer, personal wipes brand Goodwipes set up a “Porta Palace” at music festivals. In May, footwear brand Hoka installed a mountain-trail simulation in New York City.
For brands, there’s no shortage of competition for eyeballs and sales, and experiential marketing is something “we’re seeing a lot of brands shift their dollars to,” remarked Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner. “It does seem like it’s increasing this whole idea of: How do you break through the noise?” he explained.
Jashinsky said he thinks it “makes a ton of sense” for a footwear brand like Kizik to try to get people to interact with its products in person, especially since Kizik is still growing its retail footprint and doesn’t have the same reach as, say, a Nike or a Skechers. “There’s nothing better than convincing a customer to buy your product than having them try it,” Jashinsky said.
Kizik is hoping its TV ad can mirror this experience by showing people how easy it is to slide into a pair of its shoes. The ad will feature the distinctive sound made when someone puts on a Kizik shoe, and it will be the first time Kizik has showed a dog in a TV commercial.
It’s a channel that can pay off well, Jashinsky said. “For brand awareness, in particular, video content is still No. 1,” he said. Drori added, “We’re trying to find ways to play off the use case of the product itself but also connect with consumers in an emotional way.”
Ultimately, this summer, Kizik is looking to make progress on two main goals: converting new fans and increasing market share. “We’ve had such rapid growth, but we’re still small and mighty relative to our peers in footwear and more established brands that have been around for longer,” Drori said. “We’re just getting out there and getting visibility.”