How Dr. Martens activated its global brand campaign
Dr. Martens is a global footwear brand that, over six decades, has transformed into one of the most culturally relevant brands in the world.
Adopted by numerous subcultures over the years, the brand continues to surge, with its recent growth linked to its ability to recognise and leverage the growing importance of social media.
Paying tribute to the spirit and values of its wearers, the latest global brand campaign from Dr. Martens, “Tough As You”, focuses on stories of individual resilience.
Launching in AW19, the campaign first told the stories of four contributors overcoming adversity to become who they are today. SS20 saw the campaign evolve to feature the experiences of six further contributors, chosen for their commitment to empowerment and self-expression.
Asked “what does toughness mean to you?”, the stories revealed a common fight to overcome hardships while celebrating individual definitions of “toughness”.
The advent of the coronavirus pandemic soon brought forth a new question for AW20: What is “toughness” in 2020?
The wider Dr. Martens community was called upon to contribute their own experiences to this new phase of the campaign.
The challenge
The Dr. Martens team recognised that as content became increasingly short-lived on social platforms, they needed a way to activate those stories beyond social feeds and understand how audiences truly engaged with them.
To unify content, Dr. Martens needed a format that would allow these stories to not only be seen but also to be experienced by consumers in a single place on the Dr. Martens platform, acting as a central, first-party activation layer for the campaign.
This activation layer could then be used in outreach on the brand’s social channels, driving traffic to the Dr. Martens site, exposing audiences to campaign content and creating deeper engagement with the campaign.
The solution
Content activation and behavioural insight
Using the Amondo dashboard, the Dr. Martens global marketing team activated content from influencers and the wider Dr. Martens community into a structured, measurable brand experience.
By activating the campaign through a fixed-format Amondo Gallery, Dr. Martens was able to capture first-party interaction data on how audiences explored, engaged with, and moved between stories. All of which were behavioural insights which aren’t available through other social platforms.
“It’s fully-featured and really easy to use. Anyone can jump on and learn in 15 minutes.”
Harry Mason
Global Marketing, Dr. Martens
The “Tough As You” gallery activated the campaign through a powerful mixture of lo-fi video interviews and text-based content.
Clickthrough tiles
In addition, Dr. Martens’ team utilised Amondo’s Click-Through Tiles to link content interaction directly to relevant product pages elsewhere on the Dr. Martens site, allowing styles worn by contributors to be explored by viewers.
Social posts
To expose consumers to the “Tough as You” Gallery and invite the community to participate in the campaign experience, Dr. Martens used its social channels to link through to this and the submission page.
The results
“Our key objectives for the campaign were awareness and subsequent engagement. As a digital solution, the Gallery was the primary vehicle to achieve both of these things.”
Harry Mason
Global Marketing, Dr. Martens
Using Amondo, Dr. Martens was able to activate audience-contributed stories from across its community and bring them together into a single, unified setting.
The digital Gallery served as the primary activation layer of the “Tough As You” campaign, immersing viewers in the essence of the campaign and capturing the spirit of the Dr. Martens community.
The Gallery garnered impressive engagement, with an average of more than 90 interactions per submission and 300,000 impressions of the campaign content. The Gallery had 137% more page views than previous campaigns Dr. Martens had ran. Plus, this interaction data gave the team visibility into how audiences engaged with different stories, formats and contributors.
The Gallery’s Clickthrough Tiles generated a 3x higher click-through rate than industry benchmarks, despite their subtlety and lack of a direct call to action.
Beyond reach and engagement, the Gallery provided the Dr. Martens team with clarity on which stories drove deeper interaction, which contributors held attention, and how audiences navigated the experience.
By connecting content and real audience behaviour in one system, Amondo enabled Dr. Martens to move beyond awareness metrics and build intelligence on what types of stories and formats would perform in future brand campaigns.
You can explore more ways brands are using Amondo by exploring our case studies here.
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Live events: From fan-contributed content to behavioural intelligence
Using Foals' sold-out Alexandra Palace shows as a lens, we explore how fan-contributed content from live music events can be activated to capture first-party behavioural intelligence.
On 21 June 2019, Foals played the first of two sold-out shows at London's Alexandra Palace, appearing to a 10,000-strong crowd touring the release of their fifth album, "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost — Part 1".
Foals continued their reign as one of the UK's most beloved bands, and one with a live reputation that precedes them — Ally Pally was, of course, no exception (DIY Magazine; Clash).
But don't take our word for it - take a look for yourself:
Activating fan-contributed content to capture real audience behaviour
We've all been there, witnessing moments in live music that we feel compelled to capture and share.
But these snapshots are valuable. They create a stream of fan-contributed content, which provides a signal of what resonates most strongly among music buffs.
When activated effectively, this content becomes a powerful source of first-party behavioural intelligence, revealing what audiences choose to engage with and explore further — or ignore entirely.
A measurable window into live experience
Live music is one of the most visceral and memorable forms of engagement.
For those not present (or reliving the moment after the show) fan-contributed content provides a window not just into the experience itself, but into how audiences behave when emotion and attention are at their peak.
A single video might capture a highlight from the crowd, but its real value lies in what happens next.
Examples include how long people watch, what they interact with, and whether they choose to take further action — e.g., booking tickets for the next show.
Unfiltered behaviour, not polished performance
Fan-contributed content offers an unfiltered, first-person perspective, not only because it is more "authentic," but because it reflects how audiences naturally respond in real environments.
With a view from the crowd, it feels as though you're there yourself. And more than professional content, it allows the viewer to relate to and connect with the creator: "This is what the experience was like — see it from my perspective".
That lack of polish is valuable because it produces behavioural signals that are closer to reality. Audiences accept and engage with these imperfections because they mirror real experience, creating interaction patterns that reveal genuine interest rather than passive consumption.
An opportunity to understand what actually resonates
With a camera in every phone and a phone in every pocket, audiences continuously generate content that reflects what captures attention in the moment.
But the opportunity for brands isn't to collect more content, it's to understand how audiences interact with it.
Now more than ever, we're viewing experiences quite literally through the lens of others. Increasingly, experiences are discovered, revisited and evaluated through audience-shared moments, creating a measurable behavioural layer.
So what does this mean for brands?
Experience and emotion matter, of course, but what brands really need is clarity. Clarity on which moments capture attention, which formats sustain engagement, and which interactions influence what audiences do next.
Fan-contributed content is valuable to brands, rights holders and publishers, but less so in isolation.
Its value emerges when content is activated in consistent, portable branded formats that allow behaviour to be measured and compared over time.
Connecting content, behaviour and outcomes
By embedding fan-contributed content into branded formats — such as can be achieved with Amondo's Galleries — brands can observe how audiences respond in context, capturing first-party interaction data.
This behavioural insight connects content exposure to meaningful actions, giving brands clarity on what works, why it works, and what to amplify next.
If you're curious to see how this works in practise, check out our case studies here.
How Watford FC engaged fans to create and share content for their FA Cup Hub with Amondo
Here's how Watford FC curated fan-generated content into an FA Cup Hub during their historic cup run, tripling session length and turning matchday excitement into measurable digital engagement.
Premier League football club Watford FC made it through to the final round of this year's FA Cup, battling it out against Manchester City in a historic match at Wembley Stadium on 18th May 2019.
To bring supporters closer to one of the club's biggest moments in recent years, Watford FC wanted to showcase the fan experience across its digital channels.
The challenge
For football fans, attending a live match is an unforgettable experience. The roar of the crowd, the excitement of the game, and the shared passion of supporters make every match day special.
Capturing this energy and emotion online is a challenge, but when done well, it allows fans everywhere to relive the thrill and feel connected to Watford FC, whether in the stadium or at home.
Watford FC could rely on its fans to capture their experiences, but it was searching for a way to bring all of this fan content together under one roof, ensuring every supporter's voice could be seen and celebrated.
The solution
The sights and sounds of Wembley were showcased through a combination of fan-curated content, alongside carefully integrated branded and sponsored material.
Through Amondo's managed service, the best content from each of these streams was curated into an "FA Cup Hub" Gallery, which was embedded on the Watford FC website, as well as shared through social media channels. Watford fans could relive the experience by scrolling through a feed of highlights and interacting with tiles for a closer look.
By encouraging fans to participate through social media channels, the Gallery brought supporters together around Watford's FA Cup run, encouraging content creation while seamlessly incorporating brand partners into the live experience.
The results
Despite losing heavily to Man City, fans displayed an unwavering, fierce pride in their team, refusing to let the defeat crush their spirits or those of the players.
The Gallery was a tribute to this loyalty, capturing the support of Watford's fans in one of the biggest matches in the club's history.
The FA Cup Hub Gallery boosted session length and interaction rate on the Watford FC website. They saw a three times increase in page session length, a 9% brand content interaction rate, and an average of 3.6 content clicks per view.
It's a great example of how to marry digital content with live events. Football is an emotional sport that attracts diehard fans like nothing else, and it's essential to maintain fan loyalty throughout the ups and downs of a team's journey.
Driving fan engagement online strengthens the connection between the club and supporters, while also creating meaningful opportunities for brand partners.
What can we learn from the FA Cup Hub campaign?
A few takeaways to apply to your own experiential marketing campaigns: