Digital snippets: Alexander Wang, Warby Parker, Gucci, Nars, Ray Ban, J Crew + more

It’s been a little while since one of these round-up posts on other interesting fashion and digital stories sourced from around the web, so there’s far more than usual. Each of them is however, of course, as interesting and relevant as ever…

• Alexander Wang teams up with Samsung for crowdsourced handbag (as above) [Mashable]

• Google reportedly in talks with Warby Parker to design stylish Google Glass frames [Techcrunch]

• Gucci ups mobile conversion 70% via optimised site [Luxury Daily]

• Nars tests Pinterest’s selling potential [Mashable]

• Ray Ban launches real-life ambermatic lens app installation [DigitalBuzzBlog]

• This is personal: J Crew debuts an in-store styling app [Refinery29]

• How John Lewis uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ [Econsultancy]

• Lizzy Caplan’s Viva Vena fashion film is one of the best satirical ads you’ll ever see [Slate]

• The business of blogging: Garance Doré [BoF]

• Shopping in the future: Glasses.com’s augmented reality fitting-room app [AllThingsD]

• Will Apple’s plans for an iWatch herald a new era of wearable tech? [The Observer]

• Farfetch fashion hub: meet the curator of curators [Wired]

• Business Of Fashion gets $2.1m seed funding from Index, LVMH and more for its no-nonsense B2B fashion blog [Techcrunch]

• How your tweets during fashion shows are driving sales [Fashionista]

• Fashion buys into social tools [NY Times]

• Online upstarts explore a new model for fashion media [BoF]

• Why retailers are pinning hopes on Pinterest [Reuters]

• 10 great uses of Vine during fashion week [The Cut]

• And just on the off-chance that you didn’t see it already, here is Google’s How it Feels Through Glass video

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]

A pick of the best fashion films for holiday 2012

In the fast-paced run up to Christmas madness, here’s a little Friday respite with a highlight of 10 of the best festive fashion, retail and luxury films:

1. Topshop: Winter Wonderland

 

2. Barneys: Electric Holiday

 

3. adidas: The Cautionary Tale of Ebenezer Snoop

 

4. Warehouse: Christmas SOS

 

5. Selfridges: Not Your Usual Christmas

 

6. Cartier: Winter Tale

 

7. Debenhams: Christmas Made Fabulous

 

8. Macy’s: Another Miracle on 34th Street

 

9. Gap: Love Comes in Every Shade

 

10. John Lewis: The Journey

 

Social media isn’t a 9-to-5 job in retail, especially at Christmas

That title should be quite an obvious statement to most, but a number of stores seem to need reminding of it in the busy run up to the holidays this year.

At a time when capturing consumer attention is fraught with more noise than ever, any sort of social activity that has the ability to cut through should not be restricted to the standard Monday to Friday routine. Yet many of them are…

Not to pick on John Lewis, but in this instance it’s the most obvious example. The UK department store has been running an advent calendar competition via Twitter with the hashtag #JLChristmas.

A nice incentive-based initiative (and no doubt a traffic driver), it invites @johnlewisretail followers to guess what festive treat is behind the door of its advent house to be in with a chance of winning it.

Every day between 10am and 3pm, it tweets out clues. At 4pm it then reveals the answer as well as a winner. Every day except Saturday and Sunday that is.

As the press release reads: “We won’t be running our competition on Saturdays or Sundays, but that means we’ll be giving away three lovely prizes instead of just one each Monday so there are even more chances for you to win.”

You could argue it’s because Mondays are the strongest selling days for e-commerce over the holidays, which would be fair. But in this case, that’s thoroughly illogical. If the aim was to increase traffic on a Monday you could still up the content on those days while maintaining the usual over the weekend too. For the record, eBay UK expected Sunday, December 2 to be its busiest online shopping day of the year.

So the simple answer, of course, is resources. Retail marketing is not a 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday job. It hasn’t been for a very long time. It certainly isn’t now, yet with social it’s frequently still seen like it is.

Customer service departments are a lot better at working around the clock (M&S has doubled the number of those in its e-commerce call centre), but enormous marketing opportunities are being lost by brands who only focus on pushing out messages at the times they’re also sat in the office. How many of the individuals on such teams then go home and browse through Facebook, or better yet do a spot of online shopping themselves I wonder?

And that’s exactly the point.

As Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, famously said: “If you don’t come to work on Saturdays, don’t bother to come in on Sunday.” Not a bad takeaway for Christmas traders…

Digital snippets: Diesel, Wrangler, John Lewis, Covetique, Daily Mail, Grazia

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

• Diesel’s pre-internet shoe experience challenges consumers to go offline for three days [Creativity Online]

• Wrangler video reveals new Leipzig store design process [Checkland Kindleysides]

• John Lewis seeking to make social media a ‘more integrated’ part of its business [Marketing Magazine]

• Asos invests in luxury resale site Covetique [Telegraph Fashion]

• Daily Mail group launches fashion sharing website [Media Week]

• Grazia magazine launches on the iPad [Grazia]

• In a click, a vivid fashion garden: how technology is enabling a new genre of prints (as pictured) [NY Times]

• Everything you need to know about how mobile wallets work [Business Insider]

• Five ways to assess fashion / tech start-ups [Fashion's Collective]

Christmas 2011: the best fashion videos

From Bergdorf’s pups, to Harvey Nichols’ walk of shame, here are my top ads from across the fashion space for the festive season…

Bergdorf Goodman’s Unleashed – a tale of true doggy heaven, and perhaps the cutest take on Christmas ever:

Kate Spade’s Give Colorfully – a fun spot based on gift wrapping all shapes and size:

Tommy Hilfiger’s House Par-tay – festive fun at home with The Hilfigers, which despite being on repeat play in the back of every New York taxi cab for the past month, is still enjoyable to watch:

Harvey Nichols’ Turn a Walk of Shame into a Stride of Pride – an amusing twist on Britain’s booze culture:

Tiffany & Co’s Some Holidays Are Unforgettable – a celebration of true love featuring Nat King Cole’s The Very Thought of You:

And finally, I couldn’t help but add in Apple’s festive spot for the iPhone 4S, featuring Santa and his new pal Siri:

Be sure to also check out the ones from John Lewis, Loewe, Harrods and Macy’s.

Merry Christmas all!

Digital snippets: Christmas 2011 special

The fashion industry has been celebrating the festive season with all manner of digital initiatives. Here’s a look at some of the things they’ve been doing:

• Ralph Lauren transforms online catalog into holiday greeting cards (as pictured) [Mashable]

• Coach launches New York-themed gift tags campaign featuring eight animated videos, e-cards and Facebook application [WWD]

• Marc Jacobs invites fans to upload their family holiday snaps with ‘MarcFam’ campaign [StyleCaster]

• Calvin Klein partners with Shazam for interactive in-store displays and unique holiday song [L2 Blog]

• Burberry sends festive cheer with interactive music videos [Burberry]

• Tiffany & Co unveils digital storybook, ‘The Winter Carousel’, to tie in with store windows [Luxury Daily]

• Macy’s extends annual Believe campaign with augmented reality app [Macy's]

• John Lewis launches window display featuring its ‘Top 30 favorite things for Christmas’, allowing shoppers to buy directly via QR codes [PSFK]

• JC Penney invites consumers to personalise their gifts with ‘Santa Tags’; QR codes that host voice recordings [JC Penney]

• Alexander Wang compiles 12 days of Christmas gift guide [Global Grind]

• Uniqlo UK offers shoppers the chance to win their Christmas wishlist [Uniqlo]

• Esprit partners with Yvan Rodic of FaceHunter as part of Make Your Wish holiday campaign [PR Newswire]

• Gap gives shoppers head start on holiday shopping with Shop Yourself Social initiative [RIS News]

Related posts:

Video: Merry Lanvin Christmas!

Love magazine unveils ‘saucy’ online advent calendar

Barney’s Gaga Workshop incorporates interactive Twitter windows

Making of: John Lewis 2011 Christmas ad

Digital snippets: Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Coach, Madewell, Hermès, Gucci, John Lewis

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

• How social media helped Kate Spade become a global brand [Mashable]

• How digital marketing fuelled fashion label Tory Burch’s global expansion [Mashable]

• Coach releases Facebook app encouraging users to create animations from handbag tags (as pictured) [FashionablyMarketing.me]

• Madewell launches fun fashion choose-your-adventure video [T magazine]

• Hermès’ Paris Mon Ami campaign to run online with interactive ‘Scarf In the City’ game [Trendhunter]

• Gucci most searched fashion brand on Bing [The New Age]

• John Lewis launches 24-hour virtual shop [PSFK]

• GQ partners with new menswear site Park & Bond for pop-up shop in New York [WWD]

• Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next rank top in m-commerce sites [NewMediaAge]

Making of: John Lewis 2011 Christmas ad

Looks like John Lewis has done it again – a Christmas TV ad that tugs on the heartstrings and becomes an instant viral hit.

Created by Adam & Eve, “The Long Wait” tells the story of a young boy impatiently counting down to Christmas. It launched in the UK on Friday (November 11), and has already racked up over 1m views on Facebook. It follows in the footsteps of last year’s For those who care about showing they care, featuring Ellie Goulding’s version of Your Song.

Here’s a look at how the £5m spot was made, with thoughts from John Lewis’ Craig Inglis, director of marketing, and Lloyd Page, head of brand marketing, as well as Adam & Eve creative director Ben Priest, alongside John Long and Matt Gay from the creative team:

 

And watch the ad itself, below: