To celebrate PUMA's PUMALab store coming to Detroit, we were challenged to find a way to let local sneakerheads in on the good news (creatively, of course), and to drive store traffic and sales.
Our analysis of local sneakerhead social content demonstrated strong pride for their neighborhoods and go-to hangouts. They were 39% more likely to tag their neighborhoods, rather than their city, in social conversations. They were also mobile-first and among the most prolific users of Snapchat. These insights pointed to the need for an idea that drove awareness and anticipation for the PUMALab launch through social, and at street level.
Our initial hyperlocal insights surfaced key neighborhood hotspots around Detroit where we knew we could reach and engage our target audience. Taking these locations as inspiration, the local artist partners were engaged to design a series of one-off neighborhood geofilters – conceived in their own unique style and matching their limited edition Clyde colorways being released in-store on launch day. We then dropped the geofilters across these neighborhood hotspots in the lead up to the store opening.
Not only was each filter a sharable, locally inspired piece of digital art, it was also designed as an 'admit one' ticket to opening day when saved to Snapchat memories. To encourage users to save, we placed the 'admit one' motif on the geofilter hovering just above the 'save to memories' button on Snap's user interface.
SnapAds and targeted content let local sneakerheads know about the local artist collabs, and challenged them to hit their neighborhoods, discover the geofilters in the run up to launch day and hit the store.
Over 17,000 local sneakerheads (that's about 68% of all sneakerheads in the city) spent more than 486 hours engaging with the content and geofilters, ensuring PUMALab's opening weekend beat all expectations in terms of footfall and sales. The store sold out of the ltd edition artist collab on the first day of launch, beating targets by a full four weeks. Since opening, the Detroit location has continued to produce strong results in sell-through for the PUMA brand.
Special thanks goes to artists Mr Kiji and Nick Jaskey as well as our partners at Adnauseum.
