Piper Blog

Habbot Studios, an online Australian retailer of designer shoes, has recently found a way to defy current retail gloom with a highly successful campaign using the support of icon fashion blogger Karen Cheng.

The campaign, devised and implemented by Noosa digital agency Piper Digital Marketing, incorporated a review by Karen on her blog and a competition to win a pair of shoes of their choosing - based on liking Habbot Studios on Facebook.

The review and the competition appeared on August 2 on Karen Cheng’s Fashion and Life. On August 3, Australia’s retail figures posted their worst results for half a century. The same day, Habbot posted a 642% increase in traffic to their site. A week later, Habbot’s facebook likes had risen by 433% and subscriptions to their e-newsletter doubled. Commentary and interaction on the Habbot facebook page & website exploded, providing a huge new group of Habbot enthusiasts and customers.

Dena Dillon, Director of PiperDM, highlights the benefits of adopting digital strategies in the marketing mix. With “trading conditions and competition so tough at the moment, businesses need to look at innovative ways to reach and engage new customers. In the fashion world, respected online blogs like those of Karen Cheng are the new hotspots for keen fashion enthusiasts. It provides razor-sharp targeted marketing other media finds almost impossible to match.”

Habbot followed up the competition with an exclusive Facebook offer for unsuccessful entrants - offering free shipping if they chose to purchase the shoes they had selected as their potential prize.

Take up, literally, took off.

By participating in the competition entrants had fallen in love with a pair of shoes already. The offer of free shipping was a small reward for participating and a great trigger to purchase. In one week following the final draw, the dollar value of sales for Habbot Studios increased by 385%. 

Ross Gittins, senior columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, recently wrote the “Internet’s ability to disrupt and benefit has only just begun”.  Habbot’s success with a strategic digital marketing campaign clearly demonstrates the benefit of the internet for small business and certainly shows its ability to disrupt traditional marketing thinking.

Not only did the online PR generate a huge spike in interest for Habbot which genuinely translated into sales, it opened new geographic boundaries. Many of the entrants and purchasers were from Singapore and Hong Kong. Perhaps this is another reason why Habbot were able in August to defy the prevailing Australian retail gloom.

Online PR and social media have certainly become the new black for Habbot Studios when it comes to integrated marketing campaigns. Dena Dillon suggests “for other questioning retailers, digital marketing may also be the new black... to help businesses drive sales to be in the black.”