How Baťa was looking for Cinderella: It turns out that a fairy-tale concept that offers an original experience sells

For our “If the Shoe Fits” campaign, we built our foundation on offering an extraordinary experience and customisation. Every woman knows the magical tale of Cinderella. They’ve seen the scene where Cinderella puts on the glass slipper, but they’ve never experienced that moment for themselves. Baťa made this all possible for its customers before the Christmas holidays. The company transformed every one of its “ordinary female customers” into a princess. –They would sit down in a fancy chair while a charming prince tested out a new shoe on them. We managed to enchant passersby at various shopping centres where competitors in the same industry meet in one place during peak Christmas shopping. 

Goals of the one-time campaign: 

• find new young consumers
• increase in-store foot traffic by approximately 30%
• increase sales revenue in stores

A fairy-tale experience right in the store

We began looking for Cinderellas directly in six Baťa stores over the course of seven weeks. We created a fairy-tale installation that incorporated the character of a charming prince and selected a pair of fabulous, look-at-me shoes from the current new collection that would be sure to catch the eye of trendsetters. Every female customer that entered the store could try on their own magic shoe. If the glass slipper fit just right and the customer was the 50th person to try it on, then she went home with a free select pair of shoes. 

But we weren’t just looking for Cinderellas in stores. We also created an integrated campaign that involved all available channels. The aim was to motivate potential customers to try on shoes in person, just like the select number of influencers. We also developed a special microsite and invited Cinderellas through Baťa’s social media and newsletter while also making use of targeted text message campaigns.

Results

The campaign was extended from the originally planned four weeks to seven weeks due to its overwhelming success. It was also a great experiment for the client, as the brand had until then been communicating rather conservatively. The campaign contributed to a change in how the brand is perceived and its positioning. And in shopping centres where things can get very competitive, it brought in new customers while also still managing to excite those who had many years of experience with the brand.