Case study: Jimmy Choo

Aims

In 2009, Jimmy Choo launched a limited edition collection called “Project PEP” to support the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Jimmy Choo wanted to increase awareness about Project PEP in order to raise money for the charity through sales from the collection. So it enlisted the help of FreshNetworks to help it develop a social media strategy that would engage people and raise awareness about the campaign.

Solutions

Jimmy Choo was a little uncertain about the value of social media. So when we were approached to help increase awareness about Project PEP, we recognised the need for a fresh, creative approach to its social media campaign. We decided to build an online community based on a theme that reflected the creative element within the Jimmy Choo brand.

We built Jimmy Choo’s community around the core theme of a time-limited photo competition blog. The blog encouraged members to send in photos based around “You, Your Shoes and 72” (the number "72" was picked because the life-saving treatment for those exposed to HIV must be administered within the first 72 hours after exposure).

Having implemented an initial seeding plan to draw known Jimmy Choo advocates to the site, we integrated the online community with Twitter and Facebook, creating automatic updates whenever community members changed or added new photo designs. This hub-and-spoke approach to social media served to increase interest in Project PEP and community membership soared.

We also engaged around 1,700 independent fashion bloggers in conversation, increasing the number of people who talked about and interacted with Project PEP and the Jimmy Choo brand, raising awareness about the charitable cause.

Results

The Jimmy Choo 72 online community encouraged conversations between people who were interested in discussing the Jimmy Choo brand and its products, increasing customer engagement and driving sales.

Those who engaged with the Jimmy Choo 72 community stayed on the Jimmy Choo website for almost twice the length of time as other visitors. They also purchased almost 3.5 times more goods than other visitors.

Adding social media tools to the website also drove a significantly higher amount of traffic to the website, giving an ROI of over 10 times that of standard advertising. What's more, the conversion rate increased by over 100% among those who interacted with the Jimmy Choo 72 community.

Awareness of the aims of Project PEP increased among those who had joined the community, as did awareness of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Moreover, Jimmy Choo proved that social media could work wonders to grow sales for luxury brands.

Project PEP donated 25% of net sales to the charity, which supports the Simelela centre in South Africa.