blake mycoskie posts

Back in March, Blake Mycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, stopped by our offices to share the story of TOMS, the impact his revolutionary one-for-one model has had on the world, and explain why the One Day without Shoes campaign plays such an integral part in his company's mission.

Last year, more than 1,000 AOLers went barefoot and due to the amazing employee response we received, we decided to increase our impact and help spread the word not just to employees, but to our clients and consumers as well. In order to do this, we launched the 100,000 Voices Challenge on AOL Impact, a social media campaign aimed to spread the word by reaching 100,000 people with the One Day Without Shoes (ODWS). You can learn more about the 100,000 challenge by visiting our ODWS page on AOL Impact, and also be entered to win a $50 TOMS gift card *

We are excited to announce that we blew past our initial goal of 100,000, and were able to reach over 1,000,000 people (and still growing) with the ODWS message! We were able to do this by leveraging all of our best-in-class assets to spread the word. Here's how we did it:

• We donated a TOMS One Day Without Shoes mail sign in page that ran from April 7th to April 9th. The sign in page reaches an average of 10 million impressions a day**
• Our about.me team encouraged consumers to change their profile pages to help raise awareness and blogged about the event.
• AOL Advertising offered up a Style Your Sole party to the agency who was able to best evangelize their employees to share the word.
• MapQuest donated advertising space on top of every map today to raise awareness about the campaign.
• AOL Artists around the world are pledging to go barefoot with AOL as well. Check out AOL Artists' Tumblr for updates on which artists are going barefoot and to see them in action.
• Inside AOL offices, AOLers are celebrating barefoot with activations like TOMS themed pedicures and foot massages.
• We shared the campaign in taxicab spots that ran in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston (check out the video below).

We encourage you to join us in who are kicking off their shoes today to spread awareness – you may just have a big impact on a child's life.

*Contest ends 11: 59PM ET on 4/10
**Internal AOL data

As AOL prepares to participate in the One Day Without Shoes barefoot challenge on April 10^th, we had the pleasure of having Blake Mycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, pay a special visit to our New York City office. Blake spoke about the origins of TOMS, the impact his revolutionary One for One model has had on the world and explained why the Tom's One Day Without Shoes campaign is so much more than just going without shoes for a day.

Introduced by Blair Cobb, Senior Director of AOL Cause Marketing, and greeted by packed conference rooms across the country watching the live stream, Blake started off by explaining how his life experiences and time spent in Argentina led to his unique vision. When he witnessed the hardships facing children growing up barefoot in Argentina, he knew he had to help in some way, and the One for One movement was born.

Through a bit of trial and error, and the help of amazing editorial pickup from outlets like the LA Times and Vogue, Blake was able to sell 10,000 pairs of shoes his first summer, which translated into 10,000 pairs of shoes donated to children in need. After his first trip to Argentina to drop off shoes, his life was forever changed.

From the beginning, Blake knew that in order to make a big impact and make his idea truly work, he had to do more than just create a charity – he knew that he had to create a business model that incorporated an active giving component into the overarching strategy. Through the success of his model, he strongly believes and teaches that the more "good" that companies can incorporate into their business strategies, the bigger an impact they will have on society, and in doing that, the more brand ambassadors they would have without even trying!


To generate awareness around his One for One model and the importance a pair of shoes can have on a child's life, Blake created TOMS One Day Without Shoes. Through this event, individuals go without shoes for a day, and begin to understand how vital they are to your overall health. Though this sounds like a movement aimed solely around this specific cause, it's a really a day aimed at generating awareness for and initiating conversations around all of the causes that we are passionate about. The idea is that curiosity leads to conversation, which leads to action, which ultimately leads to change.

What was primarily a One for One business around shoes has already grown to include a One for One business for Eyeglasses, but only time will tell what other important issues can be remedied through this business model.

Last year, more than 1,000 AOLers went barefoot in honor of TOMS One Day Without Shoes- this year, we're looking to increase our impact 100 times over!

This is where YOU come in! Help AOL reach its goal of reaching 100,000 people with the One Day Without Shoes message. You can do this by taking on one (or more) of the following actions between NOW and April 10^th, 2012:

• Tweet your support: Click here to tweet now!
• Visit OneDayWithoutShoes.com to take the pledge and go barefoot on April 10^th - Click to take the pledge (and put AOL as your company!)

To thank those who have taken one of the above action, we will be awarding one hundred $50 TOMS gift cards to random winners!

For more information and official rules, please visit: http://impact.aol.com/cause/toms-one-day-without-shoes/

.@BlakeMycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver at @TOMS, Visits @AOL aol.it/GDzNQo

- AOL PR (@AOLPR) March 21, 2012