I strongly recommend you click to AdAge.com and read their entire story by Marc Graser about how Nike-owned Converse has used their customers’ creativity and loyalty to build a successful web site that sells shoes. Note that they spent quite a bit of energy worrying and filtering the ads that were submitted. The advertisers and customers were united by their concern for the ‘soul of the brand.’ (Yikes!)

Link: CONSUMER-CREATED VIDEO ADS BOOST CONVERSE SALES.

Compared to August 2003 figures, traffic to http://www.converse.com surged 66% soon after Converse Gallery was launched last August, with more than 1 million people visiting the site and 400,000 people visiting ConverseGallery.com directly. December traffic increased nearly 200% from the year-ago month. And viewers have turned into customers. Sales have doubled Converse’s online shoe sales doubled in just a month after Converse Gallery was introduced, with much of those purchases occurring after people viewed the spots. The company was able to track just how many people clicked on a link at the end of a short that took them to the Converse store on the site.

I found this story via MediaPost‘s email newletter MediaDailyNews Section Two: Selected Stories from Around the Net.