Last week, Steve Madden, a footwear and accessories brand, launched a new campaign titled “Wear kitten heels, rescue a kitten.” The brand posted a TikTok, which featured rescue kittens surrounded by kitten heels, a style of shoe. Steve Madden partnered with Animal Haven, a NYC-based nonprofit animal rescue that finds homes for abandoned cats and dogs. 

This campaign is one of the most creative I have seen in a while and it’s a burst of fun in the advertising industry. No one would have thought to pair heels and cats together but here we are. The play on words of “kitten heels” and actual kittens was genius, and whoever came up with the idea deserves a raise ASAP. 

As an advertising and public relations student, we are taught that emotional appeal is the strongest when trying to sell someone something. Using a concept that tugs on people’s heartstrings is a popular way of demonstrating this. Remember those depressing American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) commercials with shelter animals? That is the perfect example of emotional appeal. Likewise, Steve Madden including shelter kittens in their campaign was genius. The campaign is not only creative wording, but it also spotlights shelter kittens that need homes.

Animal shelters and other non-profit organizations do not nearly have as much promotional money at their disposal as businesses like Steve Madden. Some non-profits are struggling to stay afloat, especially animal shelters. They don’t have the staffing, funding or time to create advertisements that will hopefully land their animals in homes. Steve Madden’s partnering with Animal Haven was an incredible way to use their resources to introduce the animal shelter to new audiences.

Including kittens in the campaign has been a success because the photos with cats on Steve Madden’s Instagram have a few thousand more likes compared to photos of just models wearing heels. This shows that the emotional appeal of the shelter cats did work because they garnered more publicity than the traditional shoe promotions.

Even though one of the simple, low-cost promotional images includes only a brown backdrop, kitten and heels, it is a very effective advertisement. There are hundreds of comments saying things such as, “I don’t know what I like better, the cat or the heels.” Another comment, “liking for the kittens,” demonstrates that people loved the campaign because of its creativity. Some people are even commenting that they want to rescue a kitten. The campaign was a success in my eyes because of the public’s warm reaction to the product and shelter cats– exactly the goal of the advertisement.

In my opinion, it is an ongoing trend that consumers like simplicity, and this campaign has captured the concept perfectly. People don’t want to be overwhelmed by graphics and bright colors. When there is less distraction to the viewer’s eye, they take in what the campaign is really about, and that is very important. In this case, it’s especially important when the focus is getting kittens into homes and having the animal shelter reach a new demographic of Steve Madden customers. 

These are the types of creative decisions that need to be made more often in advertising campaigns. I truly believe “Wear kitten heels, rescue a kitten” was an innovative way to market both a product and a non-profit, catching the attention of fashion and pet lovers alike.