Dive Brief:
- Amid its transition to offline stores, Hoka, a footwear and apparel brand, has launched its Fly Human Fly campaign, according to a Wednesday announcement. The brand is also introducing its Mach 5 running shoe, which will be promoted via an ancillary marketing campaign.
- The Fly Human Fly campaign features a 60-second anthem film, Pursuit. The brand is promoting the campaign internationally across its digital channels and national video ads on connected TV platforms, per the press release.
- The brand said it is also donating funds and products to Achilles International, a charity that supports people with disabilities through athletics and community. The company also plans to promote the nonprofit through its Humans of Hoka storytelling platform.
Dive Insight:
Though Hoka is debuting its first global campaign, the brand has already seen a spike in sales. Its worldwide sales were $891.6 million in the year that ended March 31, a 56% increase from the previous year, Ad Age reported.
“Hoka has been championed by a strong community of endurance athletes from the very beginning. When a consumer tries a Hoka product, they fall in love with our product innovation that delivers an experience that is both easy on the body and world class fast. Thus, the brand growing primarily by word of mouth up until this point,” Norma Delaney, vice president of global brand marketing at Hoka, said in a statement. “Those that know us, are fans for life. The Fly Human Fly global campaign is an invitation for humans everywhere to experience Hoka and fly into a world of new possibility.”
Amid its rise in sales, the DTC brand also took its presence offline last year. Last September, Hoka launched two brick-and-mortar pop-up shops in New York and Los Angeles, keeping them open until last December. At the time, Delaney said in a statement that the stores were meant to be gathering spaces for customers, brand ambassadors, elite athletes and product experts.
For now, Hoka, bought by the footwear giant Decker’s in 2013, remains available in specialty running stores and online, but it joins other brands in blending physical stores with its e-commerce operations. As Foot Locker seeks to fill the hole left behind by Nike’s departure, the activewear retailer confirmed last month that Deckers Brands will sell Hoka’s shoes in Foot Locker this summer.
