Sole food

In marketing, it’s all about getting noticed.
Ellen Gallagher, an account marketing manager for Reebok, understands that maxim better than most. So, when the Atlanta Community Food Bank was looking for a way to get the media to notice press kits for its annual Hunger Walk, Gallagher hit upon the idea of attaching a brand-spanking new Reebok to the kits.
One Reebok.
Thirty pairs, all split into singles, began appearing at metro-area newspapers, radio stations and television stations last week in anticipation of the March 25 walk. Several types of Reeboks, which retail for between about $60 to $70 a pair, were sent out — a total of more than $1,900 worth of shoes to draw attention to a walk organized to raise money to feed Atlanta’s poor.
“We all get lots of paper across our desks,” says Gallagher, who serves on the Hunger Walk organizing committee. “This was something that would definitely set this apart.”
The shoes were leftover samples, says Gallagher. Reebok regularly donates shoes to the Atlanta Union Mission and My Sister’s House. If recipients of the one-shoe media kits would like to have theirs matched with mates and given to people who need them, Gallagher says they may be returned to her through the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
By the way, there’s a 5K and a 10K route for the walk/run, which starts at 12:30 p.m. on March 25 at Turner Field. The $25 entry fee goes to support local charities that feed the hungry. Last year’s event raised almost $180,000. For more info, call 404-892-3333.