Adidas Hopes Geo-Social Foot Traffic Sells Sneakers

Adidas wants to see if geo-social foot traffic sells sneakers. The brand will run a campaign on Booyah’s MyTown platform in nine cities until Thanksgiving weekend to promote three new shoe lines: “Superstar 2.0,” “adidas Beast,” and “adiZero Rose.”

The initiative kicked off last week at Adidas stores in Chicago; Las Vegas; Santa Monica, CA; San Francisco; Irvine, CA; Houston; Annapolis, MD; New York City; and McLean, VA. What’s novel about the campaign is its overt push marketing sensibility. Unlike most geo-social campaigns that require an app user to be very close to a place of business, MyTown users in those nine cities will receive an Adidas ad with a call-to-action to find their local store regardless of immediate proximity.

People who check in at any restaurant, bar, retail shop, etc. in the city – it doesn’t have to be an Adidas store – will receive virtual basketball shoes in the form of an icon appearing within the app. MyTown users who click on the shoes receive the full promotional messaging. And if they end up buying a pair, they are rewarded with a complimentary Adidas athletic arm sleeve.

“People might not know where these specific stores are,” said Susan Kuo, VP of sales for San Francisco-based Booyah. “It’s not really a branding campaign per se. It’s about driving foot traffic into stores.”

During the first week, Kuo said over 50 percent of users are clicking through to see the promotion. “The engagement metrics that we are seeing on our end are extremely high. Adidas is pretty pleased with this so far.”

According to Booyah, 3.5 million people have now downloaded the MyTown mobile app. The MyTown game requires players to fictionally buy, sell, or rent virtual properties that are in reality restaurants, bars, and other retail venues near them. Players try to score points while accumulating fictional money, doing so via check-ins at various businesses in their immediate locale. MyTown is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad owners.