Could this be the year fashion makes its mark at Cannes Lions?

There was a great article written by Rei Inamoto, chief creative officer of AKQA, for AdAge last year about why Cannes Lions, the international festival of creativity – otherwise known as advertising’s biggest global awards – trumps SXSW in terms of content.

“At events like SXSW, there is a lot of information. And information can become useful knowledge for marketers. However, what really moves people is inspiration. And that’s where Cannes keeps its edge for marketers. While SXSW may be about informing and finding that Next Big Thing, Cannes’ focus has been about pushing this industry of ours forward,” he says.

It reflects my own sentiments exactly. I’m well versed in both, but Cannes likewise wins for me* largely because of both the curation and the quality of its content. This is the place where true leaders come together to share not only best in class work, but overarching ideas and thoughts for the future of this space.

It’s a week where inspiration is utterly abound (alongside copious vats of rosé of course). Speakers over the last couple of years have spanned former US president Bill Clinton, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Redford, Sir John Hegarty, Alain de Botton, Patti Smith, Aaron Sorkin and more.

Yet it’s SXSW that the fashion industry has managed to get a good grip on in terms of its relevance to them – all manner of luxury brands and major retailers have been in attendance these past couple of years, as I’ve previously covered, to source both content and opportunities for partnerships within the largely tech-focused world. Of course at SXSW there are now huge volumes of agency folk too, and at Cannes an increasing number of technology companies.

Two years ago I wrote this article about the significant lack of fashion presence throughout Cannes. It focused on the fact that fashion communications remained largely about print ads selling product over campaigns selling ideas, a viewpoint I still hold at large, but certainly one that is beginning to shift. In doing so, it’s sparking more relevance than ever for these brands to start making an appearance at Cannes, both on the delegates list and in those nominated for awards.

The great news is, 2013 looks like the year that might take shape.

Just announced is news that Burberry CCO Christopher Bailey will take to the stage on the Friday of the festival (it runs from June 16-22) to talk about “digital’s creative revolution” with Google’s head of marketing, Lorraine Twohill. From the write-up, as well as prior news from Google, that event will be the kick off for another impressive digital project from the brand.

Burberry is one of a number, alongside adidas and Volkswagen, involved in Google’s Art, Copy & Code initiative, a follow-up to its Project Re-Brief last year. This is “a series of projects and experiments to show how creativity and technology can work hand in hand”.

The write-up for the session at Cannes adds: “How do you engage your audience when ad views are voluntary? What happens when the physical and digital worlds intersect? How can data enable creativity? What if ads didn’t have to look or feel like ads? The only way to find the answers is through risk taking and experimentation.”

[Side note here as to Google's subtle but increasing infiltration into the fashion industry across all aspects of its business - way beyond just search].

Elsewhere at Cannes there are other fashion types in attendance too – Vivienne Westwood speaking with SapientNitro to “de-construct the narrative behind some of the most innovative stories of all-time”, and photographer Annie Leibovitz as part of a panel discussing the “genesis, evolution and continued success of the global ‘Disney Dream Portraits Series’.”

Watch this space…

And do also keep an eye out for the free daily live-streams being offered from the festival for the first time this year… there will undoubtedly be some good ones to choose from.

*Full disclaimer: I am employed by the same parent company as Cannes Lions. My opinion would stand regardless.

Calvin Klein proves value of video for conversions

 

The launch of Calvin Klein’s Push Positive Bra was its single-best for a bra in the brand’s history and it sounds like its video campaign starring Lara Stone dancing to Salt-n-Pepa’s Push It, is why.

According to a story focused on video as a strong measure of ROI in WWD yesterday, the 32-second ad from last August has had 10.9m views to date and garnered more than 450m impressions. Importantly, during the time of the campaign, calvinklein.com saw a 30% increase in overall traffic and a 385% increase in referral traffic from YouTube.

Ad dollars behind the spot undoubtedly helped – the brand took over YouTube’s homepage in 10 markets, including Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, and placed the ad in-stream on multiple other YouTube videos through the site’s TrueView advertising system.

The audience retention rate for the video – meaning those who watched the whole segment rather than clicking away – was well above the industry standard too, at over 80%. Its men’s Concept underwear spot, which first aired during the Super Bowl this February, meanwhile, also saw a retention rate of over 85%.

Calvin Klein CEO, Tom Murry, said: “As a brand, video has not only been integral to our overall communications strategy but also a part of the brand identity. We see YouTube as the natural place to house and curate our digital video content… [It’s] an impactful way to reach and interact with our audience through multiple touch points — desktop, tablet and mobile.”

According to WWD, video is proving to be the most powerful digital medium for reaching consumers in a measurable way. Importantly it’s also proving a killer option for the fashion and retail space in terms of driving conversion. Statistics from YouTube and research firm Compete show four in 10 consumers visit a store either online or in person as a direct result of watching a video online. This shopper also tends to be a retailer’s most valuable customer: 28% of those who watched a retailer’s online video spent more than $500 on apparel in the past six months, while only 2% of non-video watchers did.

Maureen Mullen, L2’s director of research and brand advisory, added that video is now a “way to push consumers further down the purchase funnel”.

Digital snippets: Nike, Bloomingdale’s, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Armani, Sephora

A round-up of stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

• Holographic ad gives live demo of Nike shoes on the street [PSFK]

• Bloomingdale’s installs body scanners to help you find jeans that fit (as pictured) [Mashable]

• Michael Kors releases limited edition sneakers to celebrate reaching 500 million fans on Facebook [Web & Luxe]

• Marc Jacobs to dress famous Japanese holograph, Hatsune Miku [Fashionista]

• Armani touts brand personality in latest Frames of Life eyewear campaign [Luxury Daily]

• How Sephora differentiates in digital [Digiday]

• The Business of Fashion is nominated for a Webby Award [BoF]

• This Bond No. 9 ‘digital fragrance’ is only sold via QR code [Styleite]

• Tavi Gevinson creator of The Style Rookie is the next big media mogul [AdWeek]

• Menswear e-tailer FreshCotton creates drug cookbook to promote Stüssy’s spring line [Campaign]

• Fashion e-commerce flowers in the Middle East [BoF]

• Japanese luxury market evolves to keep up with digital generation [Japan Daily Press]

Cara Delevingne’s outdoor ad flies on social media

Here’s one way to grab attention with your outdoor campaign: stick a famous model on it and hope she’ll snap a pic of it to send out to her 1.5m or so combined social media fans.

That’s what happened with Love magazine’s billboard of Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne on Ocean Outdoor’s Holland Park roundabout space in London last week. In place for just three days to celebrate the cover stars of its latest issue, an image of it went viral when Delevingne herself shared it over Instagram and Twitter.

“Check me out on that round a bout! LOVE @thelovemagazine,” she wrote, attaching a shot of the poster showing each of the models posing in the bath nude.

That Instagram shot (taken on March 14) now has nearly 60,000 likes on it.

Digital snippets: Louis Vuitton, Target, John Lewis, M&S, Chinese shoppers

Some more great stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past week:

 

• Louis Vuitton releases Retracing the Trunk video (as above) [Dazed Digital]

• Target hosts interactive runway show powered by Twitter [BrandChannel]

• Q&A: John Lewis on the ingredients of a successful multichannel retail strategy [Econsultancy]

• Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s M&S lingerie advert complaints dismissed [Vogue.co.uk]

• Chinese shoppers have gone mobile. So should brands [JingDaily]

• Fashion 2.0: Online vintage heats up [BoF]

• Three major hurdles brands face launching e-commerce in China [Fashion’s Collective]

• 50 must-have fashion apps to download now [StyleCaster]

• The most influential personal style bloggers right now [Fashionista]

Brazil’s Reserva turns CCTV footage of burglary into creative YouTube sales promo

 

How’s this for inspired… Brazilian menswear brand Reserva has launched a video of the robbers breaking into its São Paulo store, to help promote its seasonal sale.

The spot, hosted on YouTube and being pushed across social networks, shows real CCTV footage of a gang of thieves raiding the boutique in December. Placed over the top is bold red copy reading: “It’s not necessary to break the window. Just come in! Inventory clearance: up to 40% off.”

It shows the robbers smashing the window, knocking over mannequins and making off with armfuls of merchandise worth $20,000. “Hurry!” reads the next caption. “Why are people doing such crazy stuff for Reserva?”

The Guardian refers to it as “creative revenge”. Or as Reserva owner Rony Mesiler told Brazil’s O Globo newspaper: ”They stole my clothes and we stole their image.”

The YouTube write-up outlines that the store until that point had been beautifully prepared for Christmas. The team had to do a quick turnaround to clean it up ready for shoppers the same morning. They opened without a glass window and hit sales target for the day by 4pm. “DO instead of COMPLAIN,” is the message.

Mesiler adds: “Complaining gets you nowhere, business is about doing things. Rather than suck lemons, it is better to make lemonade with them.” The video, aptly, is called Limonada Reserva.

3.1 Philip Lim turns to “Trickers” for SS13 menswear video

 

3.1 Phillip Lim has proved an early addition to the onslaught of spring/summer 2013 campaign videos, with a beautiful spot for its menswear line that demonstrates martial arts tricking.

Shot by photographer Jacob Sutton, the film features real-life trickers Jason Mello and Micah Karns in action. As described by the Huffington Post, tricking is “a real-time, pan-athletic forum between floor gymnastics and martial arts skill, and extreme sports showmanship”.

It continues: “It’s like parkour without the cityscape, or half-pipe skateboarding without the board (or the pipe, for that matter). In tricking, the emphasis is on motion and creativity — and the more emphatically they’re delivered, the better.”

What better way to show off a new collection?

Dior focuses on savoir faire with documentary look at J’adore fragrance

Dior has released a 20-minute online film showcasing the creation of its J’adore perfume.

“Le Parfum – The Film”, as it’s called, documents everything from the sourcing of the scent’s raw materials to the blowing of its glass bottle. To do so it travels from Paris to Murano via Provence and India.

All the while, the Parfumeur Créateur of the Maison Dior, François Demachy, carries the story – albeit in French (a three-minute subtitled version lives on jadore.com).

The write-up reads: “This wayfaring film demonstrates that the birth of a perfume is due as much to the talent of its creator, as to the quality of its raw materials.”

It continues: “Timeless images show the expert techniques of those who cultivate and harvest. Astonishing moments reveal the know-how of those who obtain essences and absolutes from the rarest flowers. This beautiful escapade takes us into the splendour of regal, generous and respected nature.”

Claude Martinez, president and CEO of Parfums Christian Dior, told WWD: “For us, the wish was to [have people] really rediscover the art of perfume and creative passion that animates all the creators working around a fragrance. In a world where fragrances seem to be more and more marketed, more and more ephemeral, I think it’s important to have generations and future generations rediscover that perfume is a true savoir faire. It is a métier of art, a métier of artisans and it’s not recipes from a computer. But it’s voyages, it’s people who grow flowers, it’s people who mix them after, glassmakers.”

The documentary is complemented by a 60-second spot narrated by J’adore face, Charlize Theron. Released on TV in the US on Saturday, it has already received nearly five million views on YouTube.

According to WWD, it is slated to roll out on TV globally through December, as well as in cinemas in France and China. The Jadore.com microsite also hosts more information about the flowers, the creators and the bottle.

Watch both the 60-second and 20-minute version of the film, below:

 

Louis Vuitton invites viewers on a journey through the Louvre in debut TV ad

 

Louis Vuitton headed to the Louvre in Paris to film its first ever television ad, L’Invitation au Voyage.

Directed by photography duo, Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the cinematic spot sees model Arizona Muse discreetly working her way through different rooms in the museum, surrounded by its famous paintings including the Mona Lisa. With a key spotted around her neck from the beginning, her quest is to unlock a secret that’s been hidden inside a legendary LV travel trunk for more than 150 years.

“For centuries, the most wonderful intrigues have been woven in the Louvre, a haven of culture and history. An intrepid young woman enters this universal temple and unwinds the skein of time,” reads the write-up.

A hot-air balloon whisks her away above the Cour Carrée (the courtyard of the museum) with the letter containing the secret in her hand, all the while the man that’s been following her throughout looks on from the ground.

The film launched exclusively on Facebook yesterday, before appearing on TV screens worldwide last night. The multimedia campaign will also comprise print and digital ads, and appear in cinemas from next week. A longer two-and-a-half-minute director’s cut of the film is shown on the Louis Vuitton website.

Yet to be seduced by shoppable advertising

There’s an interesting debate about shoppable videos in this week’s issue of Marketing Magazine in the UK. In it, I comment on why I’m not yet sold on the idea in its entirety.

Read the full story here – Branded content: watch before you buy – or see below for my extract…

Click-to-buy videos have grabbed the headlines as the industry tries to cash in on the growing appetite for highly creative and beautiful films, but I am unconvinced.

Most consumers do not want to watch a video, especially those any longer than 30-60 seconds, if they are trying to get something out of it. There’s a disconnection between viewing for entertainment and for purpose.

Shoppable content aims to capture consumers at the point of inspiration and the moment of intent, but to do so, it has to work – and easily.

This is not always the case, as one luxury brand learned last year when its shoppable ad simply didn’t work – there was not enough time for the user to move the cursor to click on the item being advertised before the frame changed.

Perhaps Target’s short-film series, Falling for You, provides a better example of where this trend is going to go. Its column running alongside the content featuring items from its collection is like a digital update on product placement.

The concept of the shoppable film is novel, but to work in the long run, it has to be fast, seamless and closer to the nature of online behaviour to have true and lasting cut-through.