Aldo takes non-fashion approach in new Instagram push

With multiple places to get style information today, shoe and accessory brand Aldo is looking beyond the fashion industry on Instagram.

From floral arrangements to gift wrapping and even baking, the brand’s latest campaign taps creative influencers from a number of fields outside of the fashion industry who share how their creative endeavors affect their fashion choices. The Instagram campaign, created by agency Kettle, is called “#INSPIREDxALDO.”

Feast your eyes on our minimalist style crush, chef Karen Mordechai a.k.a. @SundaySuppers. Dig into her seasonal faves and follow the step by step as she reimagines holiday dessert. Part 1 of #INSPIREDxALDO drops now.

A photo posted by ALDO shoes (@aldo_shoes) on Dec 2, 2015 at 6:03am PST

The campaign kicked off last week with chef and food stylist Karen Mordechai showing off her salted chocolate cake-baking skills — and, coincidentally, some of her favorite products from the brand’s latest collection.

The brand is also working with Brittany Asch, a floral designer who will be creating an “exotic mistletoe.” Leta Sobierajski, a multidisciplinary designer will be building a holiday piece inspired by gift wrapping and Paul Octavious, a photographer who will be reimagining the typical New Year’s card.

“Social media has shifted the conversation around fashion from the latest trends to how those trends inform personal style,” Chris Gilbert, social media manager at Kettle. “Partnering with these creative influencers gives the brand more credibility in the space, makes it more authentic and transforms fashion from something unattainable to something aspirational.”

Fashion and beauty brands are increasingly placing their bets on Instagram over any other social platform. Instagram gives them tremendous organic reach and engagement, so it’s no surprise that L2 found that 95 percent of beauty brands are on the platform in an August report — up from 78 percent in October 2013.

Aldo has 588,000 followers on Instagram, which Gilbert calls “the epicenter of fashion culture on social media.” But rather than just focus on runway models, the brand is hoping to “stand out from the sea of sameness on the platform — you can’t distinguish one fashion brand from another.”

While Aldo did experiment with Instagram ads back in August, it is focusing on Facebook for the paid media component of this campaign. It is also crafting Pinterest boards with pins for each influencer’s favorite product picks. Aldo is also running a competition called “Inspiration is Everyone,” asking its fans for the “muses” that inspire them for a chance to win $250 Aldo gift card for both.