1. Success Story
Bringing socks to market
The sports apparel company SmartWool, LLC drives thousands of people to
offline national events as a result of a Facebook promotional campaign and sees a
19% increase in sales.
13,000
people driven offline to launch
parties held at national retail
locations
19%
increase in incremental PhD
Performance Sock sales year-over-
year
17%
increase in PhD Performance Sock
units sold year-over-year
Their Story
Everything Merino wool
SmartWool, LLC, based in Steamboat, Colorado, prides itself on making the highest
performing, most comfortable socks on the market. At the heart and soul of every SmartWool
product is nature’s finest Merino wool.
Their Goal
Launching a new product
SmartWool wanted to let the world know about its new SmartWool PhD Performance sock
collection, developed after years of research.
“Facebook gave us access to the greatest amount of people, and
almost more importantly, it gave us real-time results so we could
adapt our strategy as necessary to ensure maximum
effectiveness.”
Molly Cuffe, Global Brand Communication, SmartWool
2. Their Solution
Promoting a sock giveaway
SmartWool wanted to leverage its high loyalty and high
trial-to-conversion rates to bring the PhD socks to
market. Specifically, the brand organized launch day
events at over 114 retail locations across the country to
allow consumers to try a pair and then get pair of the
new socks. SmartWool and its agency Backbone Media,
LLC chose Facebook as the sole advertising partner for
the campaign, making the SmartWool Page the hub of
the PhD launch. Starting 11 days ahead of the
September 28 launch events, SmartWool began
featuring posts on its Page with photos of the new
socks and calls-to-action that encouraged people to
“find a PhD Kick-off Location today.” These linked to a
special PhD launch tab on Facebook where a map
feature enabled people to find their nearest launch
location and take advantage of the “Try a Pair, Get a
Pair” offer. To reach non-fans within the target
audience in addition to current fans, SmartWool also
ran a Facebook media campaign during the 11 days
leading up to the launch. Using the self-serve advertiser
tool, Backbone Media ran Page post ads in Facebook’s
mobile and desktop News Feed. Targeting focused on
U.S. users 22 and over who met several precise interest
parameters, ranging from outdoor activities to relevant
magazines titles, groups and organizations.
3. Products used
Pages
(https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-
page-basics/)
Page Publishing
(https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-
page-create-posts/)
Pages with a Location
(https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-
create-ad-local-awareness/)
Ads (https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads/)
Desktop News Feed
(https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads/how-
ads-show/)
Goals
Raise Brand Awareness
(https://www.facebook.com/business/goals/build-
awareness/)
Increase In-store Sales
(https://www.facebook.com/business/goals/drive-in-
store-sales/)
Their Success
Rewarding campaign
SmartWool’s clever “Try a Pair, Get a Pair” campaign
made a big impact.
13,000 people driven offline to launch parties held at
national retail locations on September 28, 2012
19% increase in incremental PhD Performance Sock
sales year-over-year (July-October 2012)
17% increase in PhD Performance Sock units sold
year-over-year (July-October 2012)
3.5+ million people reached through Facebook Ads
Related Success Stories
4. See all Success StoriesSee all Success Stories
Create Ad
Learn more about creating ads.
Stine Home + Yard
Family-owned home
improvement center
increases sales
Michael Kors
Glamming it up
Neff
Brand advocacy is the
icing on the cake
Facebook can help your large, medium or small business grow. Get the latest news for advertisers and more on our Facebook
Business Page.
Marketing on Facebook
Success stories
Measurement
Inspiration
News
Sitemap
Marketing objectives
Build your presence
Create awareness
Drive discovery
Generate leads
Boost sales
Earn loyalty
Facebook Pages
Get started with Pages
Setting up your Page
Manage your Facebook Page
Promote your Page
Create and boost Facebook posts
Messaging on your Page
Page Insights
Facebook ads
Get started with ads
Buying Facebook ads
Ad formats
Ad placement
Choose your audience
Measure your ads
Managing your ads
