Were you one of the thousands of people who Instagrammed a photo of your feet #withoutshoes in 2015?
For One Day Without Shoes 2015, TOMS encouraged their community to spread the word and post a photo on Instagram of their bare feet using hashtag #withoutshoes. For each unique photo posted, TOMS committed to giving a new pair of shoes to child in need.
TOMS One Day Without Shoes (ODWS), a day ideated back in 2008 by students in Pepperdine University's Surf Club, has been celebrated globally for the past 8 years to drive awareness for children's health and education issues. By taking off their shoes, participants have the chance to put the spotlight on the incredible children's empowerment efforts of TOMS Shoe Giving Partners such as Children International and Save the Children.
For ODWS 2015, TOMS gave everyone the chance - customer or not - to give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. Participants had from May 5th through May 21 to post their #withoutshoes barefoot photo on Instagram and inspire others to do the same.
TOMS invited community members to participate by sharing campaign details on all TOMS social media channels and was invited by Clear Channel to take over several OOH digital billboards across the nation (incl. Times Square) to feature #withoutshoes photos submitted by participants. As well, the TOMS social media engagement team ensured each qualified photo received a like or comment on Instagram; these manual follow-up actions ensured the campaign stayed top-of-mind.
One Day Without Shoes 2015 proved to be TOMS most engaged campaign yet. Participation from people in over 30 countries resulted in 296,243 children in need each receiving a new pair of TOMS Giving Shoes.
Throughout the course of the campaign, more than 338,280 barefoot photos were tagged #withoutshoes showing the community's eagerness to continue spreading the word and help as many kids as possible.
