Old Navy on Sunday wrapped up its second rollout of Twitter-enabled vending machines in Japan that dispense free flip-flops in exchange for sending a tweet from a kiosk. Earlier this summer, the retailer used 28 machines in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco leading up to a summer sale.
The U.S. kiosks generated 3,500 tweets and 12 million impressions, and gave away 9,000 pairs of flip-flops. Although a paper flier attached to the shoes alerted consumers about the upcoming sale, the program wasn’t intended to directly increase sales. “The purpose of the vending machines was definitely not a traffic-driving initiative for us,” explained Jamie Gersch, Old Navy’s vice president of marketing. “It was absolutely about building excitement and innovating on a day that we’ve had in the brand’s history for over 10 years.”
The out-of-home effort underscores a bigger shift in Old Navy’s strategy toward more digital media. Last year, the retailer ran a TV ad to support its annual sale but instead bought Promoted Tweets on Twitter this year. “This is an example of the translation of out-of-home advertising and marketing from the legacy, old-school way to the new way, and a lot of brands are going to take this and run with it,” noted Abid Chaudhry, senior director of industry strategy and insight at BIA/Kelsey.