Apparel brand and retailer Guess is partnering with Peace Over Violence for Denim Day today, raising awareness and funds to combat sexual violence while driving online sales and its brand image.

Denim Day is being promoted heavily through social media urging consumers to get involved with the conversation and pledge via Twitter and Facebook to wear denim today in protest of sexual violence with the hashtag #denimday. Guess is sharing links with similar text persuading consumers to purchase apparel online, with $2 from each purchase going to the cause.

“This is a great example of a brand trying to bridge the gap between social capital and mobile commerce,” said Wilson Kerr, vice president of sales and business development at Unbound Commerce, Boston, MA. “While building brand awareness on social media by linking to a cause is relatively easy if done well, quantifying the result in terms of actual purchases converted is far harder.

“This campaign marries all these elements together and, if done well, could start to attach an ROI measured in real dollars, versus viral brand awareness,” he said.

Consumers in support of the campaign are wearing denim all day to pledge their support for victims of sexual assault and to prevent any future occurrence. Guess even has social media stamps on the website for users to automatically share a status declaring the pledge.

Gearing up awareness
The campaign kicked off with a video uploaded to YouTube displaying statistics and facts about sexual abuse and violence. The clip displays multiple hashtags that coincide with the campaign, such as #gearup and #gearup4denimday.

Musicians Aloe Black and Maya Jupiter are featured in the video as well, encouraging viewers to get involved by wearing jeans today, discussing the controversial topic through social media and donating to the initiative. The campaign is encouraging individuals to combine fashion statements with a cultural statement.

These one-day events have a wide range on social media with users sharing images and thoughts surrounding the subject. The hashtags are crucial as well, even though they are created by the brand, it ramps up awareness and gets the campaign moving as users are more inclined to include an already established hashtag.

Guess is promoting the initiative through Twitter and social media channels

Guess consistently linking back to its online commerce and mobile commerce page on social media while offering donations to the movement should drive up sales, if the campaign reaches the potential that it can. Not only does the Denim Day campaign have the potential to boost sales, it coincides with Guess’s attempts to create an all-around authentic image which is crucial in social media marketing.

Representation and sales
Many brands are currently taking to social to accomplish these two things, such as Kohl’s. The retailers recently ramped up efforts to bridge the gap between the retail world and the fitness sector by partnering with popular bloggers and instructors to provide workout tips on the retailer’s social media channels, in a bid to drive sales of its expanded active wear offerings (see more).

Also, fashionable apparel and accessories retailer Hennes & Mauritz, commonly known as H&M, boosted sales with curated lists of trending items in the form of a blog post on social media, playing on consumers’ love of pictures and snackable content (see more).

All these campaigns effectively drive sales and increase brand authenticity. However, getting involved in non-profit campaigns for charity is even more beneficial, and Guess has the right idea with this campaign.

“Increasingly, mobile commerce is where the rubber meets the road, regarding these sorts of social media campaigns,” Mr. Kerr said. “By donating money from each purchase to the cause, Guess Jeans is priming the mobile commerce pump.”

Final Take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily