Recently model, Gigi Hadid, was spotted wearing Australian brand, Tony Bianco's, 'Davis' boot.
This isn't the first time the model has been seen sporting the Aussie brand, so Shoe Trader spoke to Tony Bianco's marketing manager, Danielle Truter, to see what impact Hadid – and other celebrities like Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin – have on the business.
Are these celebrities paid to wear Tony Bianco shoes? Are they on a PR list and if so, how does Tony Bianco choose which celebrities to work with?
No, we do not pay these celebrities to wear our shoes. All gifting is done through our PR and Social Media agency and is organic in nature.
Our agency have worked hard to build solid relationships with these celebrities through their stylists and inner circle. It's these relationships that enable us to have a continuous dialogue with these celebrities.
Authenticity is important – we only gift celebrities that represent our Tony Bianco woman, what she stands for and also celebrities that inspire her.
All styles sent out are tailored to whom we are gifting, it’s important that these celebrities receive styles that they’d want to wear.
What impacts does Tony Bianco see from celebrities sporting the shoes?
We all know that the power of celebrities continues to grow. As soon as someone is spotted wearing Tony Bianco, we see a direct impact on our sales for that particular style.
Celebrities also bring a lot of additional media coverage which naturally increases our brand awareness.
You've previously spoken about working with social media influencers - what difference (if any) is there between a 'traditional' celebrity and a social media influencer, in terms of their affect on the brand?
I think recently the lines have really begun to blur, influencers are now becoming empires of their own and are creating the same amount of impact a celebrity might have.
In saying this, there are certainly still the ‘it’ girls that are forces to be reckoned with.
The impact we see with girls such as Gigi, Bella, Kendall and Hailey when they wear Tony Bianco is significant.