Red Wing Shoes Asks Americans to #LaborDayOn This Holiday, Opens its Stores to Job Seekers

Red Wing Shoes just did a job right. A PR job that is.

The company, best known for its work boots and no-nonsense attitude, announced a different kind of campaign in advance of this Labor Day Weekend. Instead of discounts and door-busters, the brand is opening its retail stores for something markedly different…or should I say someone markedly different. The unemployed American.

Here’s a little bit more explanation from the company’s press release:

Red Wing Shoe Company, a global leader in the footwear industry for more than 115 years, earlier announced its intention to bring back the true meaning of Labor Day with its #LaborDayOn initiative, which will look to help the 25 million unemployed Americans find jobs by switching from promoting its purpose-built footwear to promoting jobs….

Red Wing is leading these efforts by transforming its more than 525 stores into job centers and transforming their customer service line, 800-RED-WING, into a job search hotline to offer both free guidance as well as to help connect the unemployed to more open positions. Additionally, Red Wing has swapped product for potential (job listings) in its latest advertising film that features clickable, open positions that link to open jobs at Red Wing.

What can I say? I love everything about it, and a lot of the magic in the thinking is captured in the simple graphic below.

It says it all. Instead of taking the day off (or doing something more similarly “frivolous” in the context of today’s environment), Red Wing Shoes is doing the opposite. Too many Americans are out of work. They’re going to do something about it. Less about profits, more about purpose. Sure, it’s a PR play. But it’s also a DAMN GOOD ONE. The tone of it is all dead-on for the brand. No kitsch. No sap. Substance. Real talk from an authentic brand. Simply stated, in simple terms and design.

What’s even more impressive is that, as part of the initiative, Red Wing has convinced other retailers to join the effort.

Today, the company has announced that more than 50 brands have joined in the movement to use their own marketing channels on Labor Day to post all job openings they have available using the hashtag #LaborDayOn. Companies who have pledged to promote jobs include General Mills, Inc., Johnsonville, Land O’ Lakes Inc., Polaris Inc., Sleep Number and The Toro Company.

Super-smart on so many levels. Amplifies the story x50 while keeping Red Wing as the thought and brand leader. Who would’ve thought this kind of graphic and effort would be tied to Red Wing Shoes? I, for one, did not. And that makes it even more impressive. #LaborDayOn. #RedWingShoes