Designer retailer Kate Spade New York is pirouetting into the world of TikTok for the first time with a joyful, dance-filled summer campaign, intended as a love letter to New York City and its performing artists, whose livelihoods have been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic.

For the month-long digital and social campaign, which launches today, Kate Spade assembled Radio City Music Hall choreographer Dylan Pearce, singer-songwriter Ines Nassara and a cast of New York-based dancers—many of whom have been out of work during the past year—for an energetic, inspiring rendition of Judy Garland’s classic “Get Happy.” 

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In the 1:11-minute film, we see masked people on the streets of New York going about their everyday business until they break out in dance and twirl, leap and kick across the city, ending up in Washington Square Park. The dancers are dressed in the bright checkered and flowered silhouettes of Kate Spade’s 2021 summer collection, as well as the green Spade Flower Jacquard collection.

For Kate Spade, the new dance-driven campaign is a perfect segue into testing TikTok, after having posted for the first time at the beginning of May. The move also aligns with the goal of making the brand synonymous with joy. Kate Spade is amplifying the campaign on TikTok with the help of creators and dancers Todrick Hall (@todrick, 1.1 million followers) and Kelli Erdmann (@happykelli, 1.9 million followers). Both were invited to the filming of the spot, and worked with Pearce to create their own TikTok dance routines that complemented the film’s choreography.

The brand will launch a hashtag challenge in June that encourages users to share their own dances. Kate Spade store associates, which have become brand ambassadors on social media, are also taking part in the challenge.

Jenny Campbell, chief marketing officer at Kate Spade, says the brand was drawn to TikTok after seeing users post organically about their favorite Kate Spade products. Since January, the brand has seen three videos go viral on the platform, and in each case the products sold out quickly in stores and online.

In one instance, a heart purse sold out just two days after TikTok creator Nat (@natt.cova) posted a video that clocked nearly 300,000 views. The bag soon began appearing on resale sites like Poshmark, Depop and Ebay. Google search impressions for “kate spade” and “heart” spiked, the brand saw a 50% increase in customers searching for “heart” on the brand’s website and creator videos began popping up, discussing their search for the viral bag. Kate Spade later worked with the creator to do an unboxing video. The two organic videos from other users in March delivered nearly 6 million views each.

“With this strong organic demand for the brand, we knew we had to lean in more on this platform,” says Campbell. “We also know that consumers have started to interact with brands differently, especially during the past year. We wanted to capitalize on these findings for Summer 2021, and proactively integrate TikTok and two top creators into the production of our seasonal brand campaign from the very beginning.” Aligning with the right TikTok creators was also extremely important. “Both Todrick and Kelli have a Broadway dance background and naturally exude joy and color,” she says.

Campbell says the move to lean into TikTok is part of the brand’s efforts to adapt to a “more consumer-centric model” that will allow the brand to “connect with audiences in a way that gets them directly involved in the fun, while also encouraging them to add their own creativity to the brand.”

Campbell, who was previously Tinder CMO, joined Kate Spade in November 2020 to execute a turnaround of the Tapestry Inc.-owned brand. At the time of her arrival, the brand had seen net sales slip to $164 million, from $332 million the year prior. The brand’s first-quarter 2021 earnings saw improvement with net sales of $240 million, but still short of the $306 million from the previous year.

Beyond TikTok, Kate Spade is running the campaign across Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, along with connected TV channels on Hulu, NBC, ABC and CBS. The brand is also planning a YouTube takeover and out-of-home placements throughout New York City, as well as sharing content organically on its website and social channels. Creative agency Zast & Co. worked on the campaign, while Ovative handled media and Good Company handled production. Kate Spade did not disclose the ad spend.

Campbell says the inspiration for the campaign came in December 2020, when the brand came across a dance performance on Instagram from Pearce. The new film borrows some of the choreography and flair from Pearce’s original video, which saw around 13,000 views.

“We were so inspired by his indomitable attitude and refusal to let even the darkest days of the pandemic keep him from creating beautiful work,” she says. “His resilience and optimism felt quintessential New York and quintessential Kate Spade, and we wanted to partner with him to bring that sense of joy and hope to our audiences around the globe, while also supporting his community of performers who had largely been out of work over the past year.”

Kate Spade is also aligning the campaign with a social-impact mission around mental health and wellbeing. The brand is donating $100,000 to the National Center for Mental Wellbeing, which provides mental health education and resources to New York artists. 

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