How to Profit from “Lean Advertising”

The footwear industry has traditionally been a hotbed of memorable advertising, with brands such as Nike and Reebok spending millions to sign athlete-endorsers and hire ad agencies that create spectacular TV campaigns. But the approach taken by DC Shoes, which makes footwear for skateboarders, couldn’t be more different. In 2009 the company began shooting videos featuring its cofounder Ken Block driving a tricked-out race car around closed-off airports, theme parks, and even the port of San Francisco. The videos last up to nine minutes and have almost no talking; the stunt driving is interspersed with glamour shots of footwear. Instead of buying expensive TV time, DC Shoes uploads the videos to YouTube. Over the past four years they have gotten more than 180 million views—and in 2011 alone, sales jumped 15%. One was YouTube’s most-shared video of 2011; another garnered a million views in its first 24 hours. Paying online media for this type of exposure would cost upward of $5 million. Using “lean advertising,” DC Shoes achieved it for a tiny fraction of that amount.