Fit My Feet

Read the campaign story

Buckaroo and McCann Worldgroup India developed Fit My Feet around a problem that a standard shoe-size range does not solve: affordable footwear for people with clubfoot. The ADFEST entry dates the Mumbai launch to February 2024. It describes a customisable flip-flop kit developed with footwear designers and orthopaedic experts, intended for adaptation by street cobblers using familiar tools. Local street art helped make the initiative visible. The D&AD record confirms the brand, agency and distribution approach.

Editorial interpretation: the distinctive strategic move is to treat the maker network as part of the product. A centrally manufactured object can be inexpensive yet inaccessible when fitting requires distant specialists or expensive travel. Local skills could reduce that last-mile gap. For a marketer, this changes the brief from explaining a benefit to making the benefit easier to obtain. The cobbler is not merely a place to display a poster; that person performs an essential service.

The campaign records report distribution and impact, but they are not independent clinical evaluations. This study makes no claim about correcting clubfoot, replacing treatment or suitability for any individual. It also does not repeat the medical assertions in promotional summaries. Affordability, comfort, durability and access are separate questions. The practical lesson is to design a service around real constraints, with qualified oversight wherever an adaptation affects health or mobility.

Design around an existing skill network

Map who already solves adjacent problems in the intended community. Ask what tools, materials, time and training they can realistically use. A clever kit that requires unfamiliar equipment may destroy the economic advantage of local production. Include service providers in development and compensate their contribution. Establish what they can safely customise and when they must refer a customer elsewhere. The network should receive usable support, not simply a new obligation accompanied by a brand logo. Test the entire handover with a provider who did not participate in the original design.

Calculate the total cost of access

A low advertised price is only one part of affordability. Include travel, fitting visits, repairs, replacement frequency and the time required from both customer and maker. Identify who pays when an item does not fit or fails early. A responsible pilot should record unsuccessful fittings as carefully as successful deliveries. Avoid using a large distribution count to conceal a difficult customer journey. The useful commercial question is whether the offer can remain available at a sustainable cost after launch publicity and special subsidies end.

Make local communication specific and respectful

Street-level communication can explain where a service exists and who can answer questions. It should avoid portraying people as helpless or promising a universal solution. Give the location, eligibility, process and limitations in accessible language. Ask community members whether the imagery feels representative, and let them decline public identification. The strongest proof may be a reliable service interaction rather than an emotional testimonial. If specialists are involved, state their actual role instead of implying that their presence validates every promotional claim.

A bounded test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: a non-medical accessories business could co-design a repair-and-adjustment service for bags with two local repairers. Pay for a discovery workshop, identify the most common adjustment requests and build a small parts kit using tools the repairers already own. Pilot clear pricing and a written correction policy before advertising widely. This tests the distributed-service principle without copying an orthopaedic product or making health claims. Interview customers privately after use and include people whose requests could not be fulfilled. Decide whether the business can maintain parts supply and provider support without a permanent promotional subsidy.

Measure completed adjustments, repeat visits, total customer cost, repairer earnings after labour, unresolved requests and product failures. Compare with the previous repair route rather than counting kits shipped as successful service.

Stop if repair quality is unreliable, providers cannot earn fairly or the team is asked to make medical adaptations without qualified oversight.