Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS, http://www.brownshoe.com)
has made two key moves toward building even more powerful marketing
communications for its Famous Footwear chain. The company named Willie
A. Smith to the position of Senior Vice President - Marketing and has
engaged creative and branding agency Campbell Mithun.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/AQM531)
"Famous Footwear marketing -- from store design to in-store displays --
is driven by consumer feedback. We believe these additions to our team
will foster an even stronger customer connection," said Joe Wood,
President of Brown Shoe Retail and Famous Footwear. "Will brings a
proven track record of success in marketing footwear brands, and a keen
understanding of the shoppers Famous Footwear serves. Likewise, Campbell
Mithun excels at creating innovative campaigns that speak to consumers
on an emotional level. With this new team in place, Famous Footwear will
expand the reach of our communications campaigns and excite even more
shoe enthusiasts to visit our stores."
Smith
Smith will be responsible for managing all marketing functions, and
directing the strategic development of the Famous Footwear brand. He
comes to Brown Shoe with extensive specialty retail and wholesale
marketing experience, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer-Athletics
for Steve and Barry's, where he led the marketing and brand development
for the Starbury(TM) (Stephon Marbury), EleVen(TM) (Venus Williams) and
Big Ben(TM) (Ben Wallace) product lines. Prior to that, Smith was with
Liz Claiborne, Inc. in roles ranging from Group Vice President of
Marketing in the retail realm to Vice President of Marketing for the
company's outlet division. During his tenure, he drove multichannel
growth of more than 11 fashion brands, using aggressive customer
relationship management (CRM) strategies to build consumer loyalty and
transactions. He also held senior level marketing positions with
Footstar Athletic and Philip Morris USA, and has an extensive music
marketing and promotions background with companies such as Blackground
Records/Virgin Records, Atlantic Recording Corporation and EMI Records.
Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Cornell
University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke
University's Fuqua School of Business.
Campbell Mithun
Famous Footwear's search for a creative and branding agency led to
Minneapolis-based Campbell Mithun. The new agency will handle Famous
Footwear's national advertising and consumer imagery, as well as
contribute to various marketing and consumer relationship-building
programs. Famous Footwear plans to enhance its effective reach and
reinforce its positioning strategy against its core audience, while
driving market awareness and purchase interest among customers. Campbell
Mithun is one of the largest national advertising agencies in the United
States and is a member of the Interpublic Group. Their client roster
includes Burger King, H&R Block, General Mills, Inc. and Alberto Culver
Company. The first Campbell Mithun-created campaign is currently under
development, and is expected to launch later in the year.
About Campbell Mithun
With a 75-year legacy of building success for its clients, Campbell
Mithun creates "Everything Talks" integrated communications solutions
driven by Pioneering Brand Ideas. For more information, please visit http://www.cmithun.com.
About Famous Footwear
Famous Footwear is one of the largest footwear retailers selling brand-
name footwear for the entire family, with 1,100 stores nationwide. The
chain ranks among the top retailers of such well-known brands as Nike,
adidas, Skechers, Buster Brown and New Balance. Famous Footwear is proud
to be a national partner of the March of Dimes, and sponsors March for
Babies events in more than 1,000 communities nationwide. Famous Footwear
is operated by the retail subsidiary of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:
BWS), which has $2.4 billion in sales as a retailer and wholesaler of
footwear. For more information, visit http://www.famousfootwear.com.
About Brown Shoe
Brown Shoe is a $2.4 billion footwear company with global operations.
Brown Shoe's Retail division operates Famous Footwear, the approximately
1,100-store chain that sells brand name shoes for the family,
approximately 300 specialty retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and China
under the Naturalizer, Brown Shoe Closet, FX LaSalle, and Franco Sarto
names, and Shoes.com, the Company's e-commerce subsidiary. Brown Shoe,
through its Wholesale divisions, owns and markets leading footwear
brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, Via Spiga, Nickels Soft,
Connie and Buster Brown; it also markets licensed brands including
Franco Sarto, Dr. Scholl's, Etienne Aigner, Carlos by Carlos Santana and
Hot Kiss, as well as Barbie, Disney and Nickelodeon character footwear
for children. Brown Shoe press releases are available on the Company's
website at http://www.brownshoe.com.
Starbury(TM), EleVen(TM) and Big Ben(TM) are trademarks of Steve and
Barry's LLC.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/AQM531
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN14
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Web site: http://www.brownshoe.com
http://www.cmithun.com
http://www.famousfootwear.com
