Case study: Measuring awareness across multiple audiences with Steve Madden

Steve Madden has been a footwear icon since its launch in 1990. The company was founded by New York-based designer and businessman, Steve Madden, with $1,100 and a desire to sell to teens and similar unserved audiencesOpens in new tab.

Shoes like the chunky, platform Mary Lou and iconic late-‘90s Slinky sandal were among Steve Madden’s earliest must-haves, solidifying the label as a brand specializing in high-quality, on-trend footwear and accessories.

The marketing landscape has evolved significantly in the 34 years since Steve Madden launched. As such, the brand has had to adjust its strategic vision.

Changing strategies for changing times

Senior Director of Marketing and CRM at Steve Madden, Hannah Sinclair, shared that the brand had focused on performance marketing in recent years and wanted to shift to a blended, data-driven approach to full-funnel marketing.

“We were searching for a tool to help us gain a deeper, unbiased understanding of our brand’s perception among the diverse consumer profile within the competitive footwear landscape,” Hannah says, adding that while performance marketing dashboards are widely available, few support brand tracking.

“Tracksuit helped us gain this insight while measuring how it changed over time. This … has helped shift our focus to ensure we are developing strategies to set Steve Madden up for success for the next 34 years and beyond.”

While the impacts of performance marketing can be seen almost instantaneously, brand marketing is a long game. Being able to point to Tracksuit’s data month over month has proven to executives that strategic awareness efforts pay off in the long run.

“Having the additional brand data visibility has allowed us to refine our awareness marketing efforts,” Hannah says.

Reaching multiple audiences with one campaign

With the fashion pendulum swinging back toward the early 2000s, Steve Madden saw an opportunity to prioritize awareness marketing and connect with its multiple audiences — and leverage Tracksuit to better understand how its message is perceived in market.

The resulting campaign, Perfect PairOpens in new tab, featured mother-daughter duos like Lori Loughlin and Olivia Jade Giannulli. In showing how people across generations and aesthetics wear Steve Madden, the brand was able to demonstrate that its shoes are for people of all ages.

Taking a strategic full-funnel approach, the Steve Madden team leveraged new media channels to communicate its brand story. YouTube and CTV, in particular, were new channels for the brand, selected for their storytelling potential.

In the months following the campaign’s run, Steve Madden saw a 9% increase in awareness on Tracksuit among its core audience (18 to 24-year-olds).

Exploring consumer perceptions in 2024

In the next stage of its brand marketing journey, Steve Madden is analyzing open-ended responses within Tracksuit. With Tracksuit, Hannah says, Steve Madden has been able to get anonymized, unbiased feedback – something it previously struggled to capture – to unlock true customer perceptions.

Those open-ended responses won’t just be used by Steve Madden internally, but also externally, as Hannah said the team is eager to incorporate customer language into future marketing efforts.

The team is also eager to track improvements in awareness and brand perception across its audiences as time goes on. With Tracksuit, the team can more effectively see where its growth comes from and where its opportunities lie, tracking data month over month to gain richer insights and keep customers coming back.

Check out more of the Steve Madden brand via their InstagramOpens in new tab and websiteOpens in new tab.