Seeking to gain a bigger foothold in the wedding market, Aldo Group went straight to where the brides are: Pinterest.
To promote its new bridal and special occasions collection this past May, the Montreal-based footwear retailer developed a Pinterest contest called “Inspired by I Do.” The contest, developed by Montreal agency Made In, gave participants the chance to win shoes and accessories for the entire wedding party.
According to a 2015 Weddingbells survey, 83% of Canadian brides agreed social media played an important role in wedding planning, and 80% said they would use Pinterest to help plan their weddings.
“Season over season, we’re looking at ways we can be innovative in how we activate [and] find new consumers in different categories. ‘Wedding’ shone through as a great opportunity for us as we headed into that really big wedding season,” said Katie Green, senior director, global communications at Aldo Group. “So, we went with Pinterest because it’s a mainstay when it comes to the wedding category.”
To kick off the contest, Aldo Group enlisted three Pinterest influencers, whose total reach is more than five million people. The Pinterest “gurus” created wedding-themed inspirational boards, simultaneously promoting the contest to followers.
To participate, brides and grooms had to create a Pinterest board portraying their dream wedding and pin a minimum of five Aldo items from a selection provided.
Aldo Group promoted the contest on its social media channels including Instagram and Facebook, but was careful not to overdo it. On Instagram, for example, there were only seven posts on the contest. Green said it was done strategically so as not to alienate current Instagram followers who aren’t interested in wedding content.
The social media team was also strategic with the images it used. “[The content] was really fashion-forward—still very bridal inspired—but could have been likable for more than just brides to be,” said Green. “It really captured a wider audience to ensure we were not alienating them if they weren’t getting married… and potentially having a drop-off of our fan base on Instagram, which we did not see in any way. If anything, we had great engagement.”
The campaign generated close to 400 participations, which resulted in more than 2,000 Pinterest pins.
“In terms of number of boards created and re-pins, we managed to have a lot of reach,” said Aurélie Sauthier, president of Made In. “What’s really interesting is that the number of pins are still increasing, even two months after the campaign.”
