What makes a brand email feel worth opening instead of easy to unsubscribe from? A 2021 Benchmark Team article offers six shoe-brand examples built around distinct creative jobs: linking a subject line to the product, inviting customization, using a timely hook, framing seasonal colors, pairing products, and explaining a mission. They are useful idea prompts, not evidence that any tactic improved campaign results.
Six shoe-brand email examples, compared by creative purpose
Benchmark Team’s April 13, 2021 article asks, “What sets the good emails apart from the ones we can’t wait to unsubscribe from?” Its examples suggest that a useful campaign gives the reader a reason to care beyond the fact that a product is for sale. The comparison below reflects the creative role each example plays; it is not a measured scoring system.
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| Brand | Creative approach | What marketers can take from it |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Martens | A product-linked subject line | Connect brand voice to a concrete product detail. |
| Converse | Customization | Make a familiar product feel personally expressive. |
| Rothy’s | Calendar and cultural hooks | Use timely moments as relevant campaign framing. |
| Keds | Seasonal color and an influencer | Use people and seasonal context to help present a collection. |
| UGG | Product pairing | Show complementary items together to suggest a complete look. |
| TOMS | Mission communication | Explain a brand’s purpose plainly and date impact claims. |
Dr. Martens: make the subject line do two jobs
The example uses “Stretch the rules,” a phrase that echoes the brand’s identity while hinting at laceless elastic slip-ons. Instead of merely naming a product, the subject line joins brand language with a specific product cue. That combination can help a message sound recognizable while still giving the reader a clue about what is inside.
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Converse: make personalization tangible
The article describes an email showing Chuck Taylors with customizable patterns, colors, and builds. The creative idea is to present a familiar product as something customers can shape to their own taste. The example does not establish that every model or customization option is available now.
#1 Best Overall
Rothy’s: use a moment as an organizing idea
Two campaigns in the article take different timely approaches: one uses the Grammys and award categories as a theme; another connects products with daylight saving time. A calendar hook is most useful when it gives the message a natural structure or a reason to arrive then. Referencing an event simply because it is current can feel disconnected if the audience or product has no meaningful link to it.
Keds: add context with seasonal colors and a collaborator
The article’s Keds example pairs an influencer modeling shoes with spring colors and mood associations: blue with calm, mauve with positivity, and harvest gold with motivation. Those associations are the article’s marketing interpretation, not scientific findings. The more transferable idea is to give a seasonal collection visual context and a point of view, while treating color language as creative framing rather than objective proof.
Rank #2
UGG: show complementary products together
The example pairs footwear with sweatshirts and suggests several boot-and-sweatshirt combinations. Showing items together can help readers picture how products might work as a complete look, rather than making them imagine the pairing from separate listings. The combination should remain clear: each item should be identifiable, and the styling should support rather than obscure the featured products.
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Benchmark Team’s 2021 article says the email foregrounded TOMS’ support for grassroots organizations. It also reports that, by that article’s publication, the company had shifted from its earlier one-for-one shoe donation approach to allocating a third of profits to grassroots movements focused on equity, mental health, and ending gun violence. That is a historical description attributed to the 2021 article, not a current impact statement or an independently verified campaign result. Any present-day mission or giving claim should be checked against current company information and clearly dated.
How to adapt the ideas without copying the campaigns
- Choose the job of the email. Decide whether it should introduce a product, invite configuration, make a seasonal collection legible, suggest a useful pairing, or explain a mission.
- Give the creative a specific anchor. A subject line can connect a recognizable brand voice to a product detail; a customization email can show what can actually be changed; a timely campaign can tie its moment to a relevant message.
- Make visual context useful. Use styling, seasonal cues, collaborators, or product pairings to help readers understand the offer. Avoid relying on subjective claims as if they were established facts.
- Keep factual claims current and attributable. Product options, availability, and charitable commitments can change. Date or verify claims that may no longer describe current practice.
- Judge the campaign with your own results data. The examples in the 2021 article do not report open, click, conversion, revenue, or comparative performance metrics, so they should be treated as inspiration rather than proof of effectiveness.
What these examples do—and do not—show
Together, the six examples demonstrate different ways of giving a retail email a clearer purpose: brand recognition, individual expression, timing, seasonal storytelling, helpful discovery, or mission transparency. They do not establish which approach performs best, whether the featured campaigns generated measurable business results, or whether the same creative would suit another audience. Use them to develop a campaign concept, then evaluate that concept with results from your own audience and goals.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
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