Why and how fashion brands should be on Vine: Meagan Cignoli creative interview

We just can't stop watching our #vine #stopmotion #fashion @vineapp vine.co/v/bFdTKHrUTMw—
French Connection (@FCUK) April 16, 2013

 

When Vine, Twitter’s six-second, video-sharing app, launched earlier this year, a flurry of fashion content followed from brands as varied as Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein and Burberry. Jump forwards a couple of months (and out of fashion week season), and content from those same designers has gone somewhat quiet – 78 days, 32 days and 20 days since they posted respectively.

What’s left however is a collection of brands that are working out how to use it more effectively. When the hype of a new platform inevitably subdues, sometimes it’s those that stick around and keep with it that end up the most successful, even if their path to get there is somewhat bumpier. Of course for fashion, the disconnect has been the distinct lack of control they are afforded in the app; Vine videos often look far more raw than the usual slick creative seen in the industry, and the logistics of posting is quite restricted.

Meagan Cignoli, a New York-based photographer who has made a name for herself for the stop motion work she is doing on the platform, says it’s for this exact reason however, that fashion should get stuck in. “[Brands] needs to let go a little and enjoy apps like Vine for what they are rather than trying to control the creative to such an extent that it loses its momentum,” she says.

She’s already been hired to create beautifully captivating Vines for big names including Puma, French Connection, Macy’s, Benefit Cosmetics, eBay Now and home stores like Lowe’s. I caught up with her to hear a little more about her thoughts on the platform and its application for this industry…

Your stop motion work on Vine is beautiful, how did it come about?

“Actually I’d never done it before. I shoot still, but I realised doing this on Vine is like shooting many many stills consecutively to create movement, so it was a very natural leap. Most of my inspiration comes from a still moment as a result. I think about something being really beautiful and then I make it move. I see a picture of a place, or a setting at a table, or a dress, and I think I can make that look really really cool if I move it around in a series of photos. It’s just a matter of readjusting them as you go, which is what photography is anyway really.

I get up to about 100-120 frames in each Vine I do, but I use my finger. You can apparently get up to 140-160 if you use a mouse or stylus.”

How did your brand partnerships first begin?

“I just started experimenting on Vine initially, and only a few months ago, but within the first week I got a call from Lowe’s. A lot of publicity followed that work, in Advertising Age and in The Wall Street Journal for instance. Since then I’ve had a different brand getting in touch with me every other day and wanting me to work on this advertising for them.

It’s a total dream come true because I’m given so much creative freedom. I’m not just coming up with the concepts but directing and shooting the Vines too. Every project is so different and that’s why it’s so fun right now.

French Connection’s PR team in London asked me to do it as a trial with just three Vines to begin, and people went crazy for it. It was a big learning experience for me – I’m used to working with a huge team and a big studio with stylists and the like, but with this I had to go and pick up the clothes from the store myself. I then had to shoot the thing alone as well. When I do my own Vines it’s a tiny space I’m operating in, using my own hands to adjust things. But once it gets bigger with items of clothing, I need the extra help. I quickly realised it was necessary to get a stylist and an assistant.”

Do you think all of the fashion industry should be thinking about Vine?

“I’m always so shocked that more companies aren’t doing it. They have accounts but they haven’t pushed it. It’s an incredible form of advertising and method of getting out there, so why wouldn’t you?

It’s so new and it’s rapidly moving – there are 2,500 Vines being uploaded per hour, and the people on it are just scrolling through it all day. The first minute I post I get 50 likes, that’s amazing to me. If your post becomes popular enough and gets picked up on Vine’s featured page, it’s like having a commercial all day that essentially you’re not paying for. There are roughly 40,000 people looking at that page every day at a minimum, I would say. And the content doesn’t change on it for 13 hours, so you just stay up there.

The issue is that it does take a level of commitment to do it properly – you need to be getting content out every week if not every day. French Connection and Puma are weekly deals for me. Other brands are just doing short campaigns, so a lot of content in a short amount of time and there’s a level of benefit to that too. But if you think about it, a TV commercial would run over and over and over; a Vine only has a span of half a day, so I can’t help thinking there’s more benefit in being in front of this audience on a daily basis.”

What do you think the restriction is for the fashion industry, how would you tell them to approach it?

“These brands have gone so long with everything having to be approved, checked and made sure it’s on-brand, it’s much harder for them to push out content on a daily basis. The way Vine is set up you have to upload immediately too, so that makes it more complicated.

They just need to let go a little and enjoy the app for what it is, the quickness and easiness of it. If they can find a way to do that, it’s going to be much more beneficial even if what’s going out isn’t always the most amazing piece of content.

Urban Outfitters for instance, doesn’t have the best, but they’re always doing them and it’s worked for them. Gap in comparison does beautiful Vines but you never see them because they’re not doing them enough. If they’re gorgeous but not so often, then they’re hidden away.”

How do you go about posting in a logistical sense considering Vine doesn’t allow you to save and publish at a later date?

“I shoot it on airplane mode, write the caption and save it to my photo gallery. I then send the file to whoever is my contact at the agency or brand. If they’re happy with it, I then switch back on and post it from there.

French Connection has been pretty good about me just uploading it. Puma is also incredible, saying I can just post as many as I want. Lowe’s in contrast flies in and every single one is approved. I then hold it on airplane mode and post the content a week later. I have five iPhones here as result, if I’m shooting multiple in one day then I have to have.”

Would you want them to change aspects of Vine to make this all easier then?  

“If you could choose what to upload when, that would be great. So if I could shoot five at a time, then stagger when they post; because no one wants them to all go at once.

But I think it’s great that you can’t upload what you didn’t create in the app. These sort of strict guidelines as to what you can do is great, it’s like a game, you have to work against the rules. It’s hard if you’re not on Vine to understand what is a good Vine. Once you use it yourself and know how difficult it is, that it can crash or that you can’t edit it, then it becomes all the more challenging and more fun to do.”

Meagan is hosting an online class from May 29 with Skillshare, which will provide tips for others on how to create compelling stop motion work on Vine. The challenge will be focused on “animating your wardrobe”.

Below is a continued selection of both her own Vine posts and those for numerous brands, as well as a video of several of them tied together. Be sure to look out for more of her work for French Connection and Puma going live on Vine throughout this week too.

Holiday beach vacation time! vine.co/v/bEB1J1VHT2W—
French Connection (@FCUK) May 14, 2013

Don't forget! Here's a reminder to send #YourMom flowers from @MeaganCignoli vine.co/v/b0e1vzh510H—
Vine (@vineapp) May 11, 2013

Easily organize scarves with shower curtain rings and a hanger. #lowesfixinsix #lifehack vine.co/v/bUr3JaQF2ww—
Lowe's (@Lowes) May 04, 2013

Stand out this season in head to toe monochrome. vine.co/v/bEuqQzTageV—
French Connection (@FCUK) May 14, 2013

Make your mom one happy lady this #mothersday with special @benefitbeauty gift sets through #ebaynow. (cc. … vine.co/v/b0eDWATHrjJ—
eBay Now NY (@eBayNowNY) May 11, 2013

Infographic: wearable tech and the significant lack of fashion brand presence

There was a great piece on The Business of Fashion last week looking at the lack of fashion brands in the wearable technology space and calling for them to start taking it more seriously.

This is an industry that’s estimated to be worth $10bn by 2016, making those in the fashion business at risk of “losing highly lucrative real estate on the emerging battleground of the human body”, it highlights.

“People only have two wrists and one face. And personal accessories are where fashion and luxury brands make a sizable chunk of their revenues,” it continues. “As young technology companies slowly but surely start to develop wearables with more evolved aesthetics, will consumers still have room for bracelets, watches and sunglasses that may look good, but lack appealing functionality?”

Footwear retailer Brantano meanwhile, has just released an infographic via Mashable detailing some of the devices that are either on the market already, in prototype or rumoured to be coming. Laid out from head to toe, it includes the likes of Google Glass, of course, followed by the Pebble smart watch, the Lumoback posture belt and a Kinect jacket called Woven.

If it does anything, however, it’s to support the BoF piece – there is next to zero fashion brands present in the list. Will we get to the point where this shifts?

Net-a-Porter’s Massenet uses Instagram to share her life story

The coverage of Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massanet’s talk at last weekend’s Vogue Festival might have been largely focused on her juggling motherhood and business, but for those that didn’t spot it, one of the most interesting things about her delivery was its accompanying digital component.

Massenet used Instagram – a platform she’s already very familiar with – to share images from her life. A digital autobiography if you will at nataporter_mystorysofar. It features over 120 shots, some of them photographs of her past, others quotes or captions, as well as titles marking off the chapters of her career. Each one is accompanied by a caption that explains its significance.

As Susie Bubble wrote: “It recounts her life, from her early years to studying at UCLA, to dabbling in modelling, film production and then moving into fashion journalism at WWD and Tatler to finally starting up Net-a-Porter in 2000.”

Do check it out here – it sparks some beautiful ideas on the way brands could have a little fun with the platform too.  As Bubble says: “You can’t peruse this Instagram autobiography and NOT be inspired and motivated to do something, anything.”

Start-up spotlight: Stylyt

Greater consumer participation in today’s brands is a trend that shows no sign of abating. In fashion of course, that’s a huge opportunity, meaning it comes as no surprise to hear there are a number of start-ups exploring the co-creation space. Stylyt, is one such example, a brand new launch that stands out for the fact it’s already working with known designers like Timo Weiland in its offering to consumers.

Founded by Nina Cherny and Jenny Wu, this “collaborative design” site enables its members to explore certain design templates offered from the upcoming collections of designers like Weiland, and customise their colour, print or fabric.

Better yet, however, they can also then potentially own them. Everyone’s submitted designs are pitched against each other in a series of galleries online (as pictured below) from which they can be voted for by the community. The ‘winning’ style from each collection is then made into limited edition pieces and sold exclusively on the Stylyt site.

As the tagline reads: “Play fashion designer for your favourite brands.”

Weiland for instance is offering up a basic backpack shape (as pictured), to which users can adjust the colour of the canvas, the colour of the leather straps and flaps, and even the colour of the ponyskin on the front pocket.

Alongside Weiland’s bags so far, are also summer dresses by Lovers+Friends, wallets and clutch bags by Hayden-Harnett and a series of dresses and tops by Torn by Ronny Kobo. New collaborations are set to open every week.

“By giving consumers a voice in the creative process, brands get to promote their collection to fans who feel involved and appreciated, leading to higher loyalty and meaningful sales,” said Wu.

I chatted to her to find out a bit more information:

How did you establish the relationships you have with each of the designers?

“Our fantastic brand partners either come through our industry connections or traditional routes, such as trade shows and showroom visits. These digitally-savvy, forward-thinking brands understand that by embracing customer input, they can gain loyal customers for life. Timo Weiland, one of our anchor brands, is quoted in our press release as saying ‘We’re obsessed with the technology behind [Stylyt], so this will be a great exercise for us’.”

Customisation often gets complicated once it comes to the manufacturing side. How are you handling this?

“Once winners go on sale, we place a custom wholesale order with each brand. We act as any other e-tailer here, except we sell exclusive, limited-edition pieces from the brand’s upcoming collection. The brands love this because we are not discounting past season’s merchandise, so we’re not diluting their brand.”

Such a system must also provide you with a lot of data. Might this be used to help inform design in the long-run?

“After each collaborations ends, we provide brands with campaign metrics that include trend data from our designs and voting results. For example, we’ll be able to show which colors or combinations were the most popular with which demographic, etc. Our voting model is set up in a way to detect trend patterns over time.”

What are your long-terms plans for scaling?

“We see Stylyt as THE platform for branded collaborations. We plan to expand to new verticals that are design-driven (i.e. home decor, beauty), as well as increase the scale of our collaborations. Soon, you’ll see entire capsule collections designed on Stylyt, or perhaps see Stylyt powering the next fashion reality show. Either way, we’re enabling brands and consumers to connect more directly, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down!”

Digital snippets: Peter Som, Bergdorfs, Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier, American Eagle

There’s been a lot happening in the fashion and technology space over the past couple of weeks, ranging from Proenza Schouler’s new site to Net-a-Porter moving into the beauty space. News of Pinterest’s new analytics platform and Facebook’s planned integration of the hashtag have also hit. Here are the rest of the highlights sourced from around the web…

Don’t forget to check out this wrap-up report from SXSW Interactive as it applies to the fashion industry too.

 

• Behind Peter Som’s 3.3 million Pinterest followers [BoF]

• Insider Access: Q&A with Cannon Hodge, Bergdorf Goodman [Fashion’s Collective]

• Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola made a Prada film (as per above trailer) [Fashionista]

• Jean Paul Gaultier launches responsive web design [Web&Luxe]

• American Eagle spoof video pokes fun at skinny jeans trend [NY Daily News]

• Neiman Marcus launches fashion contest on Pinterest [WWD]

• Justin Bieber plays drums in adidas NEO interactive lookbook [MTV Style]

• Aeropostale launching new tech for teens [Business Insider]

• Puma seeks to celebrate individuality with Worn My Way lifestyle campaign [Marketing magazine]

• 3D printing clothes at home could be reality by 2050 [PSFK]

• Google Glass app identifies you by your fashion sense [NewScientist]

• Zalando concept car spots fashions, transforms into changing room [Gizmag]

• China entering e-commerce and mobile “golden age”. So why are fashion brands lagging? [Jing Daily]

• What real-time branding means for luxury brands [Luxury Daily]

Infographic: #Oscars best-dressed according to Twitter sentiment

There’s nothing quite like the live commentary you get over Twitter when the #Oscars takes place, as everyone and anyone has some sort of say on the looks hitting the red carpet.

Fortunately then, there’s an infographic just landed (as below) from social media monitoring service, Sysomos, that sums up the sentiment of the evening when it came to the fashion.

Over 400,000 tweets were posted during the live arrivals of the Hollywood crowd, with Silver Linings Playbook stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper winning the titles of best dressed female and male for their respective Christian Dior Couture and Tom Ford looks at these 85th Academy Awards.

Lawrence, who went on to win best actress for her role (tripping up the stairs as she did so, which was instantly made a GIF of course), is also highlighted as the viewers’ favourite from the night with over 32,000 tweets. Anne Hathaway, who was wearing Prada, was labelled worst dressed by the tweeting public, despite stealing the number one spot on Vogue.com’s list.

The infographic also highlights US fashion brands deemed particularly “good at social media” (outside of the Oscars) by Sysomos, including Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Rachel Zoe, DKNY and Oscar de la Renta.

When it came to the big designers from tonight’s awards, however, there’s no doubt that winners lay in Dior, as already mentioned, but also worn beautifully by Charlize Theron, as well as Armani Privé who dressed best actress nominees Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts. Nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis also wore Giorgio Armani.

Versace was another noteworthy label worn by Halle Berry as well as Jane Fonda, who presented on stage with Michael Douglas. But it was perhaps Naeem Khan who truly stole the night, not for the stunning AW13 column dress seen on Stacy Keibler, but for that of First Lady Michelle Obama, who was the suprise presenter of the best picture award live from the White House.

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.

Givenchy launches short graphic film for new lipstick

 

Parfums Givenchy has released a short film called Le Rouge for the launch of its new lipstick of the same name.

Created by design studio Hellohikimori, the spot sees model Mariacarla Boscono wearing a leather dress interspersed with geometrical and graphic shots of the product.

The aim was to mirror the design of the lipstick, which in turn, with its leather casing and metallic mechanic inspired by the ‘stud’, captures the couture spirit of the Givenchy brand. It’s a “visual extension of artistic director Riccardo Tisci’s dark poetic universe”, reads the write-up.

David Ronhel, co-founder of Hellohikimori said: “We wanted to bring ‘Le Rouge’ alive by staging it in the dark atmosphere it brings out. We focused on the texture sets, graphic lines and colorimetry in this movie.”

Facebook Graph Search will prove key for local retailers

Facebook Graph Search in action, as seen on Mashable

The web is abuzz today with discussion around Facebook’s Graph Search, its new in-built social search system based on the data it’s been able to gather from all us users over the past eight years.

Safe to say, it marks an interesting move for the platform, and one that’s likely to impact significantly on all businesses alike, but particularly such consumer-facing ones as fashion brands and retailers.

If you’re a local boutique for instance, there’s no time like the present to make sure all your info is up-to-date, you’re doing everything you can to increase your following, and you’re thinking more than ever about how to stand out from the competition. It seems those who interact and engage with their fans the most, will be the ones that appear at the top of search results.

Here’s a good synopsis of what it’s about from Mashable: Facebook Graph Search could be its greatest innovation

And some nice comments from various industry experts over at Econsultancy: Facebook’s Graph Search: what does it mean for marketers?

Velocity revisited: key quotes from Stefan Olander and Ajaz Ahmed for brand marketers in 2013

I recently rediscovered my copy of Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital, written by Ajaz Ahmed of AKQA and Stefan Olander of Nike, and published last summer.

In it are dozens of tabs bookmarking pages with my favourite quotes on, so I thought I’d share some of them here. It’s one of the most valuable books I’ve read regarding the movement of digital communications for brand marketers, and highly applicable to the fashion industry just as much throughout.

If you haven’t already, do pick up a copy – I defy you to get through it without likewise picking up the highlighter pen…

Stefan: “Without a platform to manage and nurture every interaction with its consumer, a company has no spine.”

Ajaz: “We’re in the age of connectedness. The solution is to create work that people want to share. Ideas that define culture rather than follow it.”

Stefan: “Belief in your ideas and an environment that encourages risk taking is incredibly important to create acceleration.”

Ajaz: “The philosophy has to be: let’s use the technology to make this the best way to do something, or let’s not bother doing it at all. The goal has to be about making a new experience an order of magnitude better than the existing way.”

Stefan: “People will usually thank you for taking the responsibility to curate their choices, for making things simpler for them, for doing the truly inconvenient stuff on their behalf. This means editing down product lines and ramping up product benefit.”

Ajaz: “Brands that have authentic, believable values use the spirit and energy of those convictions to ease effortlessly into any new environment. Even with a pre-digital heritage, they’ve found interesting methods and ideas to express their stories.”

Stefan: “We’re not chasing eyeballs. The goal is to create connections with our customers and earn their loyalty by serving them. The better the service, the stronger the connection.”

These two guests comments also stood out:

Trevor Edwards, VP of brand and categories at Nike: “The single biggest opportunity today is that buying a product or service marks the beginning of the consumer relationship.”

And in the intro by Richard Branson: “We’re living through a time of big and little changes in the way we do just about everything and the only people and organisations guaranteed to make fools of themselves are the ones who think they have got it all figured out.”

Now there’s something to consider for the year ahead…