Dive Brief:

• Keds —​ the still-popular American women’s sneaker that has been around since 1916 —​ has announced a multi-media campaign, the Keds Brave Life Project, aimed at young women and girls.

• The project is being run in partnership with the nonprofit Girls Leadership Institute, which offers camps and educational programs for girls emphasizing emotional intelligence, healthy relationships, and assertive self-expression.

• The campaign also includes $150,000 in “dream-fulfilling grants” that will be awarded this year.

Dive Insight:

Keds is taking a page from rival shoemaker Toms and seizing the do-good trend that so appeals to millennial shoppers. Unlike Skechers, though, which took more than a page from Toms and actually knocked off both its style and its buy-one-give-some campaign, Keds is putting its own spin on things. The focus on girls goes well with its relationship with Grammy Award-winning singer Taylor Swift, who has a clean-cut image, a sweet personality, and formidable talent. The compassionate consumerism trend may simply set a new bar, where eventually all retailers are expected to be closely involved with a charity or empowerment campaign of this sort. In the end, it may not lead to all that many extra sales, but perhaps the world will be a better place for it.