Inspired By: THE NEW CUSTOM SHOP

Creators:

Leslie McElroy Paula Riley

Jackie Labno

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Bucketfeet Page…………………………………………………… 3 Competitors Page………………………………………………….. 4-5 Concept Statement………………………………………………… 6 Visual Communication Calendar……………………………………… 7 Custom Shop Monthly Plans…………………………………………. 8-15 Event Flyer………………………………………………………... 16 Charity Page: Art Start……………………………………………..... 17 Event Day Description……………………………………………… 18 Event Day Breakdown……………………………………………….19 Marketing Tactics…………………………………………………... 20 In-Store x Website Correlation……………………………………….. 21 Work Cited…………………………………………………………22

Bucketfeet launched in 2011 after a chance meeting in Argentina between two strangers – one an artist and one who was backpacking around the world. A pair of hand-drawn shoes ended up inspiring thousands of conversations with amazing people on six continents, and showed us the power of art to bring people together. Based in Chicago, Bucketfeet is on a mission to connect people through art by tapping into the creativity and diversity of the world.

Miss ion: To connect people through art by collaborating with artists from all around the world. In doing so, we create products that stand out and tell a story The Ar t is ts : Illustrators, painters, tattoo artists, writers, graffiti artists and many more original creators are part of the Bucketfeet Artists Network. Bucketfeet has collaborated with over 4,000 artists in more than 60 countries. What We Do: A different artist designs every item we produce, giving each customer an original story and style with every purchase. (Images and Content sourced from www.bucketfeet.com)

BUCKETFEET CUSTOM SHOP Compet i tor Research

Competitors -Vans -Threadless -BANGS “Since 1966, Vans has sought to inspire boardriders, musicians, artists, and anyone for whom creativity matters as they inspire us and every product we make” (www.vans.com) -Embrace Creative Self Expression -Custom shoes: can purchase blank shoes online and can customize them from there or can start with an existing template and change it to make it your own. Offered in Men’s, Women’s, and Boy’s sizes. Range from $85-$90.

“You are Threadless. You make the ideas, you pick what we sell, you’re why we exist.” (www.threadless.com) “Support our artist community in every way possible” (www.threadless.com) -Produce T-shirts, hoodies, wall art…

Mission: Follow Your Passion. Help Others Find Theirs. -Your purchase helps starts businesses in the USA and worldwide. -BANGS will invest 20% of net profits with entrepreneurs through their nonprofit, Kiva. -Canvas shoes -Similar target customer

Inspired By: Concept Statement for the new “Custom Shop”

The Bucketfeet Custom Shop is a space for artists to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Since it is a small section of the business, our concept was to delve a bit deeper into the creative process of designing a custom piece of art. Logistically speaking, it is more beneficial to use artists in the Bucketfeet Artist Network that live in New York. To have a variety of backgrounds we decided to incorporate two artists from each borough of New York: The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan -Midtown & Downtown, and Staten Island. We also wanted to come up with a structure for the custom designers – thus changing the title to “Inspired By:” Each month, there will be a new theme for the artists to draw inspiration from. Each artist will be featured for two weeks each month. By doing this, we have a more cohesive plan for featuring these artists and it creates more opportunity for marketing and promotional events. The in-store setup for “Inspired By” will be similar to its current setup but with a few enhancements. We chose to use acryllic face-out display boxes and will create an “H” shape on the wall. The center box will always display a blank canvas shoe, showing customers the beginning stage of the creative process. The six other boxes will contain the custom designed shoes of the month. Since there are twelve artists total, each artist will be featured for two weeks out of the month to fill in the six spaces on the wall.

Visual Communication Calendar

Bucketfeet Custom Shop Inventory Deadlines by Month

2015 Month Inventory Deadlines

MARCH

Tuesday, March 31st – Establish all six artists participating in SoHo Film Festival themed inspiration

APRIL

The six chosen artists have the month of April to create their design for BucketFeet shoes for May’s SoHo Film Festival themed inspiration Finished shoes need to be submitted to BucketFeet by Friday, April 24th Thursday, April 30th – Establish all six artists participating in June’s favorite outdoor spot themed inspiration

MAY

SoHo Film Festival themed inspiration SELL THROUGH The six chosen artists have the month of May to create their design for BucketFeet shoes for June’s favorite outdoor spot themed inspiration Finished shoes need to be submitted to BucketFeet by Monday, May 25th Sunday, May 31st – Establish all six artists participating in July’s Cultural Symbols themed inspiration

JUNE

Favorite outdoor spot themed inspiration SELL THROUGH The six chosen artists have the month of June to create their design for BucketFeet shoes for July’s cultural symbols themed inspiration Finished shoes need to be submitted to BucketFeet by Wednesday, June 24th Tuesday, June 30th – Establish all six artists participating in August’s music & food themed inspiration

JULY

Cultural symbols themed inspiration SELL THROUGH The six chosen artists have the month of July to create their design for BucketFeet shoes for August’s music & food themed inspiration Finished shoes need to be submitted to BucketFeet by Saturday, July 25th ART START CHARITY EVENT Saturday, July 25th from 12pm-4pm

AUGUST

Music & food themed inspiration SELL THROUGH

MAY: SoHo F i lm Fest iva l The 2015 SoHo Film festival takes place April 30 – May 7th. Artists must draw inspiration from the SoHo Film Festival or films that have previously been entered into the festival. This allows artists to gain exposure into another art form: film-making. The SoHo Film Fest, “celebrates cutting-edge digital technology while honoring traditional forms of story telling.” The relationship between innovation and story telling relate to the model that Bucketfeet runs its business off of as well. Each shoe design tells a story.

Inspired By: Art Direction Plan for Custom Shoes May – August 2015

Inspired By: SoHo Film Festival (May Plan)

JUNE: Favor i te Outdoor NYC Spot Artists must create a custom shoe design based on their favorite outdoor spot in New York City. We often view art outdoors – in parks, on buildings, on the ground. There are various reasons why an artist may choose to express his or herself that way. We want the artists to really think about the place that they find the most inspiration from and create a design that communicates what they feel in that place. Everyone has a place – and it gives a more intimate look into the artist’s creative process. During this design process, we invite our artists to post pictures on Instagram that relate to this theme. The posts can be of anything that might have sparked inspiration from their favorite location that will then ultimately lead to the shoe design. They can use these hashtags:

#bucketfeetartists #inspiredby_NYC #outdoorspot

Inspired By: Art Direction Plan for Custom Shoes May – August 2015

Inspired By: Favorite NY Outdoor Spot (June Plan)

JULY: Cu l tura l Symbols Artists must create a custom shoe design based on their culture and how they symbolize their culture. Diverse people occupy New York City. Some come straight to New York from their home country and others were born and raised but have a heritage that they are still strongly connected with. We want to know more about how our artists symbolize their cultural background. Our artists can communicate their own family heritage or they can communicate how they see their culture portrayed in New York City.

Inspired By: Art Direction Plan for Custom Shoes May – August 2015

Inspired By: Cultural Symbols (July Plan)

AUGUST: New York Food Scene Artists must create a custom shoe design based on part of New York’s food scene. Along with the diversity of people in New York, there is a diversity of cuisines. Consumers of art and food alike will enjoy this month’s theme! It is not often that you will see someone wearing a shoe with food drawn on it, but that is what makes it fun. August is a popular time for end-of-summer parties and festivals – which cannot exist without some good food. What artistic qualities can our artists find in food? That is the goal of this month’s plan. If only the shoes could be scented…

Inspired By: Art Direction Plan for Custom Shoes May – August 2015

Inspired By: New York Food Scene (August Plan)

Char i ty descr ip t ion :

It all started in 1991 when a group of artist came together with homeless children of New York and worked together and created a piece of art. From which created the charity of Art Start to provide art classes and programs to underprivileged children of New York to provide them with an outlet of education. Art Start uses a student-created approach to education. Their workshops instill in the youth the confidence to appreciate who they already are and what they innately have to offer the world. Their creative workshops are structured to support consistency, build resilience, and provide direction to youth going through a time of challenging transition. While encouraging personal development on many levels, by using art and music projects and focusing on the outlet for expression, kids are free to build trusting relationships with our teaching artists naturally, learning to open up and bond in ways not possible through the social service or traditional education model.

http://art-start.org

Event Descr ip t ion: Inspired By: Art Start At this event Bucketfeet will collaborate with Art Start, in connecting local neighborhood artist, with the children of Art Start to create a 19x25 painting, with the inspirational focus created by the artist and children. The main activity is to have the children and artists design a collaborative gallery piece to sell in the store, then with the potential opportunity to make a print and sell in store. And for every blank canvas shoe sold this day Bucketfeet will donate 15% of each sale to Art Start. Event Deta i ls : The event will take place at Bucketfeet’s SoHo store front location 108 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012 on Saturday July 25th 2015. The events time frame will consist of starting at 12:00pm and ending at 4:00pm. Bucketfeet will provide all supplies for event and have Tribeca Taco Truck deliver food for lunch. Supplies included:

1. Event sign 2. Folding chairs 3. Canvas 19x25 4. Paint 5. Paint Brushes 6. Aisle 7. Sheet under Aisle 8. Sketch Pads 9. Pencils 10. Water buckets 11. Water bottles 12. Plates 13. Napkins/ Paper towels 14. Utensils

Event Day Breakdown: 11:00-11:45am- Store Managers and employees set up store for Gallery space for event.

• Set up chairs/ and Signage • Canvas with aisle, paint unopened on the floor surrounding canvas • Water buckets on the side not filled yet, with paint brushes • Sketch pads and pencils on bench

12:00pm-12:30pm-Doors open for event • Artist check in • Art Start check in

12:30-12:45pm- Bucketfeet welcome speech • Introduction of what this event is mainly focusing on • Introducing of Art Start and what they do • Introduction of artist and children

12:45-1:30pm- Collaborative Inspiration • Both artist and children discuss options for what they want to create at the bench • Sketches will be started on pads and ideas will be processed • Artist and children as a team assign areas of focus for the big creation

1:30-2:00pm- Rough sketch established on canvas • Pencil sketch made on the entire canvas of what will be pained in • Clean off bench and start placing plates, and more water bottles, napkins and utensils out

2:00-3:00pm- Tribeca Taco Truck delivery • Food will be delivery at 2 • Bring food in store and place on the bench table for distribution • 2:45 Bucketfeet managers and employees start setting up paint and brushes and water buckets. • Also Bucketfeet team clean-up of food when finished

3:00- 4:00pm- Painting • Artist and children paint the canvas • 3:45pm start wrapping up painting process. • 4:00pm showing of the finished product to all. • Bucketfeet speech with thank you for all the wonderful individuals involved in this process. • Group photo with finished product.

4:00-5:00pm- Clean up • Bucketfeet crew clean up shop/store • Place canvas in safe area to dry • Manager establishes all sales of blank canvas shoes during the event and takes 15% of each sale, and

collect donation for Art Start.

Market ing Tact ics :

1. Develop Flyer for July event during May.

a. Distribute flyers to Art Start sponsors in both June and the first three weeks of July. b. Bucketfeet projects flyer on blank wall or floor of the store in both June and the first

three weeks July. c. Bucketfeet also has flyers to hand out at check in both June and the first three

weeks of July.

2. Social Media publicity for both Art Start and Bucketfeet in July.

a. Flyer displayed on all media outlets for both Art Start and Bucketfeet for the first three weeks of July.

b. Bucketfeet will announce two featured artist a week for the first three weeks of July on their webpage and social media outlets, which will include a picture and a brief bio of these artist.

c. Also on Bucketfeet’s webpage there will be a drop tab for Art Start during this entire month to directly donate to the cause, otherwise based on the blank canvas shoe sales online during this month Bucketfeet will take 15% of each of these sales and donate it to Art Start.

3. July 25th 2015 event in store promotion

a. Bucketfeet will give 15% of every blank shoe sale during the day of the event in store and donate it to Art Start.

In-Store x Website Correlation

-“Inspired By:” Tab on Top of Website -This Month’s Theme (menu) -Inspired By Artists (menu) -Suggestion Box (someone recommends an artist they know to design a custom shoe) -Through the Eyes of the Artist (menu) --Instagram feed of the artists during their inspiration process --assign a hashtag for the month that they use when Instagramming anything related to that design (#InspiredBy_Bucketfeet) - Month of July: have a donation tab for Art Start and advertise our event and the blank shoe deal, which is also held online for that day

WORK CITED

http://stagebuddy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Screen-Shot-2014-05-14-at-5.14.07-PM.png http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/previews/762841-artwork-dominican-republic.jpeg http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/9d/f3/b0/9df3b016338df3b38f96d81f20d6c317.jpg http://www.escapeintolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/promo.jpg http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb67sccYGP1qkgy0bo1_500.jpg http://c767204.r4.cf2.rackcdn.com/ef32aa34-b429-4ab1-a7a2-24887009df73.JPG http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0er4ByW1Txw/Tn-rkpp9ClI/AAAAAAAAFT8/nsHb4Z_yId8/s1600/TribecaTacoOut.jpg http://static.squarespace.com/static/52f79ec0e4b05d1230c313ce/53a46c2ee4b044c4de42cb74/53a46c32e4b0dd65b78e9cdc/1403284560643/DSC_0055_mod.jpg http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/308/5/a/untitled_by_hr_fm-d85as4u.jpg