On your reading list: Influencer Marketing

If you’re anything like me you constantly have a backlog of links saved in a ‘to read’ folder in your inbox, in an app on your iPhone and in a variety of reader tools on your web browser. I even have word documents with multiples of them pasted in for when I can’t get online during a flight, and numerous printouts just in case I get caught out some other how and can use the time to finally catch-up with what’s going on in this ever-evolving world.

The good news is I just had a great occasion all to myself to do so (namely a long haul journey during waking hours). While you likely won’t appreciate me adding to your own reading list, there’s a couple I had to share on the off-chance you haven’t yet got to them yourself. The first is this story on dispensing with the division of church and state, or editorial and advertising in the fashion media business, written by Jeremy Langmead of Mr Porter in a guest post for The Business of Fashion. This one on Facebook’s shifting marketing strategy – a mega read from Vanity Fair – is another example.

But if I can implore you to read any, it’s this one about influencer marketing by Macala Wright, published on PSFK in March. The title reads: “Why influencer marketing is failing in retail”, which is actually a little misleading. This piece isn’t so much of a downer on why the retail industry isn’t nailing its strategic partnerships with today’s bloggers, but a fabulous insight into how to go about getting it right for your brand specifically.

It was written soon after Suzy Menkes’ piece on The Circus of Fashion Week – a story that sparked a boatload of comment from other heavyweights in the space. But it takes a more strategic route, stepping beyond debates on ‘gifting’ for instance, and looking directly at “redefining and compartmentalising how to leverage influencers in long-term brand and marketing strategies”.  It points out basic, but all-important arguments on quality (smaller people or influencers with cult followers) versus quantity (number of followers, views, and impressions), and rounds-up with nine key points to consider for success.

Check them out here: Why influencer marketing is failing in retail

Digital snippets: Steve Jobs, Lagerfeld, Saks, Macy’s, Anya Hindmarch, Club Monaco

It’s been a mega busy couple of weeks in the fashion and digital space, so here’s a (larger than usual) round up of some of the best stories:

• Steve Jobs: fashion inspiration [FT.com]

• Karl Lagerfeld to launch accessible womenswear line exclusively with Net-a-Porter [Reuters]

• Saks Fifth Avenue unveils shoe-themed Tumblr blog based on “floor so big that it has its own zip code” (as pictured), partners with The Man Repeller [Tumblr]

• Macy’s mBlog offers insider access to fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle news and trends [WWD]

• Anya Hindmarch launching bespoke website, allowing customers to personalise leather goods, diaries and handbags [L2 Blog]

• Jonathan Saunders and Richard Nicoll join Twitter [Vogue.com]

• Club Monaco Facebook app creates kick ass fan experience [FashionablyMarketing.me]

• British Vogue and Net-a-Porter team up on dedicated autumn/winter 2011/12 microsite [Vogue.com]

• Italian Vogue releasing its own version of Wikipedia, Vogue Encyclo [The Cut]

• Interview: A Shaded View on Fashion Film Grand Prize winner, Elisha Leverock-Smith [Dazed Digital]

• Start-up Pose raises $3m; launches on Andriod, gives users widgets [FashionablyMarketing.me]

• How trade shows are adapting to the digital age [The Business of Fashion]

Gareth Pugh on preserving concept through the art of fashion film

In a recent interview with Dazed & Confused magazine, Gareth Pugh talked about fashion film as an add-on to a collection rather than a substitute. I love his thoughts around how it can capture concept and box up emotion beyond the existence of the line itself:

I think to have both is what I want to do next [published before his weekend showing in Paris] – so you’re communicating with an audience through a live show, and you have a film that is more about the world in which those clothes exist, which can be seen anywhere online. Show images exist online forever, but the idea that went behind that show is lost, and at the end of the day it’s bar-coded, it’s shipped out and it’s available to everybody. With the film, an emotion can live on forever.

His spring/summer 2012 film, created with Ruth Hogben and starring Crystal Renn, was shown in Paris this weekend, fused with the live catwalk show. Watch it here:

 

In the same interview, he also touched upon information-overload in the digital age:

I already feel quite separated from the generation below us because of things like Facebook, Twitter and blogging, which we didn’t have as teens. I don’t really get it. I think it’s too much, it’s an overload, and I don’t like that aspect of it. It means the way we live now is so much faster than it used to be. Before, with monthly magazines, a magazine would define what that month was. That’s the great thing about magazines – they are little bookmarks in time, whereas now, there’s no time to bookmark anything because it’s all happening in real time. But now you have so much choice, so much information – there’s so much to absorb. You just have to look at someone like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber – it’s just a phenomenon of the world in which we live, and it would have never happened before, but it’s amazing that things like that can happen at all. It’s like that stupid video on YouTube with that little kid biting that other kid’s finger – funnily enough, I was watching that video the other day, it has over 350 million hits. It bothers me that that can happen, but that’s just the way it is.

Digital snippets: Neiman Marcus and Foursquare, blogging, vlogging and the tablet at retail

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

• Neiman Marcus to give away handbags in Foursquare hunt [Mashable]

• Haul videos: marketing to teens through teens [FT]

• Retailers focus on tablets [WSJ]

• How street style changed the frontier of fashion photography [The Cut]

• Fashion bloggers and their agents [NYTimes]

Benetton’s new global blog

Thanks to WGSN’s homebuildlife (HBL) for flagging up this new site from Benetton in its ‘blog of the week’ feature today.

United Blogs of Benetton, which launched in June, plays host to content fed in from established bloggers from nine countries around the world. Between them they cover such subjects as fashion, technology, culture, and youth.

HBL says it loves: “the breadth of coverage combined with the informal, chatty tone of voice. At its best, the blog feels like a catch-up with an informed, international group of friends.” Lovely.

Digital snippets: Eva Mendes, Mugler, Lady Gaga, MAC, Chanel, Select Models

There’s been a wealth of great stories surrounding all things fashion and digital over the past couple of weeks I’ve been away, so here’s somewhat of an edited list:

 

• Eva Mendes sings for Angel by Mugler (as above), behind-the-scenes footage released [KARLISMYUNKLE]

• Nicola Formichetti unveils racy new Mugler menswear video, Brothers of Arcadia [Stylecaster]

• Lady Gaga and MAC Cosmetics team up on social project that will see dress created out of biggest fans’ faces [Mashable]

• Chanel pushes new eyewear collection via Claudia Schiffer-fronted digital campaign [Luxury Daily]

• Select Models launches model scouting app [Vogue.co.uk]

• Signature9 launches list of most influential style and beauty blogs [Signature9]

• How commercial content is changing editorial [The Business of Fashion]

• Start-up Wheretoget.it uses crowdsourcing to help shoppers find the perfect outfit [Mashable]

Anything I’ve missed, please send my way!

DKNY PR Girl joins Tumblr

DKNY is the latest in a line of fashion brands to join blogging platform Tumblr.

From the voice of the award-winning @DKNY PR Girl Twitter feed, the blog is said to be about “what’s current and her stream of consciousness”.

As the strapline reads, it’s for “when 140 characters aren’t enough”.

“I’m your well-placed fashion source bringing you behind-the-scenes scoop from inside Donna Karan New York and DKNY and my life as a PR Girl living in NYC,” explains the bio. “Go ahead, take a chance and RSS me (that means kiss me in Digital),” she adds in her first post.

Included is a quirky to do list, which links in a personalised manner to each of the DKNY branded assets, including the Facebook page and e-commerce websites. There is also an embedded Twitter widget, and link to download the Donna Karan and DKNY apps.

Read more about fashion brands flocking to Tumblr, here.

And keep an eye out for more about Tumblr’s relationship with the fashion industry over the next couple of weeks when I find time to post about my interview with the site’s fashion director Rich Tong.

Social media’s role at luxury t-shirt label LnA

I recently interviewed Lauren Alexander, co-founder and creative director of luxury t-shirt label LnA.

The piece was based on the role of celebrity in driving sales for new labels (LnA, established in 2007, now counts among its fans everyone from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, to the Beckhams and the Kardashians), but Alexander also had a couple of interesting points to make about digital.

In what could now be referred to as a heavily crowded market, finding any success with social media comes down to doing something that stands out, she said.

“Social media is so important to us, it has become a huge part of what we do… but I think now you kind of have to be creative with it. There’s so many people involved in social media, so many brands… you have to be to stay at the forefront of it.”

Along with partner April Leight, her initiatives include the likes of “How do you wear LnA” contests, where people send in their photographs, or competitions on Twitter such as offering prizes for the first people to name five celebrities who wear the brand’s zipper pocket tee.

Both the Twitter feed and the blog are otherwise designed to share the inner workings of the company with its fans. “Our twitter is a platform for people to find out what we’re wearing today or what we’re doing in the office. It gives them an inside look of what’s going on here,” said Alexander.

“And then we have our blog. It’s an inspirational blog, so [people] can get a peek at what we’re listening to, what music do we like, who’s inspiring us, what bloggers do we like, who’s dressed well and kind of get a peek inside our heads creatively, like what’s driving this.”

“We get so much great responses to our blog and to Twitter, and it’s cool because they’re very different, you get two totally different sides of us, but they serve the same purpose,” she added.

While celebrity remains at the root of the brand’s marketing, social media then helps further drive sales, she explained. With nearly 15,000 followers on Twitter, Alexander says the effect of posting news of a celebrity wearing a certain item, for example, is huge.

“If Kim Kardashian gets photographed wearing something, it will sell out on our website. We put it on Twitter and it’s instantaneous.”

The company is also embarking on branded content through traditional media with news of a reality television show currently being filmed.

Expected to air at the end of the summer, it will follow Alexander and Leight through the design process, from the idea for a collection to the shooting of its look-book, and the press preview in New York.

“It’s a peek inside the inner workings of an actual company, and the struggles that we go through as designers and owners. As long as we can stay true to what is actually happening here and not miss the plot, then it could be something really special and really cool,” she said.

Juicy Couture launches on Tumblr

Juicy Couture is the latest in a long line of fashion brands taken to using blogging site Tumblr.

Aiming to connect to its fans more than ever before, the launch will see behind-the-scenes access to the company, as well as insights into the inspirations and favourite things of the brand.

“We are thrilled to announce that Juicy Couture has joined the Tumblr world. Our blog is your VIP, All Access ticket to the Juicy Couture show. It will feature snippets of inspiration, behind the scenes glimpses of photo shoots and daily intel of an insider’s life at Juicy,” the brand’s president and chief creative office LeAnn Nealz told WWD.

The brand has also signed a number of “Guest Couturists”, otherwise known as contributing bloggers, including Karla’s Closet, The Clothes Whisperer, My Style Pill and The Man Repeller. They will create original content such as styling posts, or responses to the company’s “21 Juicy Questions” series.

Rag & Bone relaunches blog

The all-new Rag & Bone blog

Rag & Bone is aiming for a more personal connection with consumers through the relaunch of its blog.

Combining posts from those within the company headquarters as well as from a series of guest editors and contributors, rag-bone.com/blog will provide a look at life surrounding the New York brand.

Subjects will range from art and literature, to film, fashion, city guides and reviews, with regular features such as “stuff we love” and “can’t miss”.

“The blog is another outlet to connect with our consumer on a personal level, and offer them additional insight into the lifestyle of our brand,” designer David Neville told WWD.

Accordingly, the first new post provides readers with an insight into co-designer Marcus Wainright’s desk space.

Expected contributors include Fashion Toast’s Rumi Neely and Andrew Bevan of Teen Vogue, among others.