Four years ago, David Heath and Randy Goldberg learned what the most frequently requested item was at homeless shelters: socks. This simple fact was the inspiration behind Bombas Socks, a startup that equips the buy-one-donate-one business model and pairs it with the perfectly designed athletic sock.
Bombas Socks are made of Peruvian pima cotton, which helps feet stay warm in winter and cool in summer, and include exclusive features such as a blister tab, a y-stitched heel, honeycomb support system for the arch of the foot, and “stay up” technology.
Thanks in part to a successful Indiegogo campaign (950% of goal raised) in September 2013 and an appearance on Shark Tank a year ago, Bombas has made strides in the specialty retail market. Today, it boasts 35,000 likes on Facebook, over 4,000 and 8,400 followers on Twitter, and Instagram respectively, and a popular Pinterest presence.
While Bombas Socks certainly utilizes more traditional product promotion on its social channels …
Ultraviolet Ankle socks for women are here. Shop them at http://t.co/gN8aHSTz9l pic.twitter.com/9z0bGPI4Rx
— Bombas (@BOMBAS) September 22, 2015
At the same time, it’s utilizing less in-your-face brand marketing through the sharing of other brands’ content…
We love people like Willie. #BeeBetter
Posted by Bombas on Tuesday, September 8, 2015
In addition to being less time consuming than creating your own organic content, this helps to build a stronger brand through affiliation with the brands whose content you share.
And, like most companies with a charitable side, Bombas tends to tug at the heartstrings every once in a while.
TriplePundit said it well, “recent research indicates that 80 percent of consumers are willing to buy a product from an unknown brand if it has strong social and environmental commitments, conscious consumerism is on the rise — and this mean’s that Bombas’ marketing strategy is likely to pay off.”
What do you think about startups utilizing the Toms one-for-one business model for new ventures? Is it a concept that can continue to see success if done correctly or is it tired and overdone?
