Running With It: Teva
The brand exemplifies how important values are to consumers. We spoke about Gen Z’s shopping habits over here; they make purchasing decisions based on value alignment before considering the price. It’s not just young people though, there has been a huge shift in the last couple of years – furthered by the reality check we all got in 2020 – around consumers demanding more from the labels they purchase. Teva’s straps are made from 100% recycled plastic. Their website makes it easy to read about, and that’s not the only thing they’re doing for the planet. Less water usage and waste are also on their agenda, which you can find here.
This one follows on from the point above – Teva aren’t new kids on the sustainability block, they’ve been around for decades and have produced environmentally friendly products from day one. There’s also been a swing towards heritage brands of late; not only are they ‘cool again’, but consumers like supporting well established businesses who’ve been doing good things for a long time, because of the trust that is automatically associated with them. Building trust takes patience and for brands who’ve been around the block a few times it’s often already there, even if a consumer hasn’t made a purchase from them before. It’s easy to assume a brand is good at what they do if they’ve been around for a long time.
Teva knew they needed to pivot; but it wasn’t their product that needed to change, it was their audience. How did they capture the attention of a younger, cooler crowd? Influencers. None of the standard campaigns to be seen here though. Teva put together a campaign with influencers who matched their “outdoorsy adventure vibe” and sent them on a road trip to a music festival. The whole thing was documented. Teva started sponsoring various festivals at the same time and so the name started becoming associated with comfy fun to a new American audience. It worked a treat – as you’ll see on their Instagram – you can now see their shoes being worn at festivals all over.
Some people think that hashtags are dead and it’s because they often aren’t used well. Teva is an exception to that rule; their use of hashtags for campaigns is top notch. Currently, they’re using #StrapInToFreedom. Have a look at the content they’re being tagged in – it’s clearly worked a treat. For the influencer campaign they used #TevaUpgrade – a smart tag for a couple of reasons. Upgrade makes sense in the context of festival goers, it’s also a subtle nod to the fact that they’re saying ‘guys we’ve upgraded, we’re cool now!’. It makes sense for any user generated content too.
Because the influencer marketing went well, and people cottoned onto their hashtag use, the user generated content on Teva’s page is really damn good. Their feed is that ideal mix of campaign content and images taken by consumers. It also means that they don’t need to work hard to show diversity on socials; a diverse audience has created content for them already. Chuck in some stunning nature pics and you’ve got yourself an epic Instagram presence.
You can follow Teva’s IG here, or if you’re feeling like a purchase, shop the range here.
As always, drop us a line if you’ve got any questions.
