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”.

Shopping tool Hukkster hits Time Inc’s top 10 NYC start-up list for 2013

Time Inc has revealed its third annual list of the 10 start-ups to watch in New York City, and… there’s a fashion name in there again.

Hukkster, as it’s called, follows in the footsteps of Fab.com and Warby Parker (in 2012 and 2011 respectively) – highlighted by the Time Inc group as one of the most promising companies to transform the shopping space.

In this instance, it’s a tool that notifies shoppers when the products they want go on sale. Hukkster tracks more than 1,000 popular online stores, allowing any user to add its bookmarklet to their browser and then hit “Hukk It” when there’s an item they want to keep tabs on.

Once the price drops you get an email, a text or push notifications. You can also opt to only find out when it goes down by at least 25% or at least 50%.

According to WSJ’s profile on the start-up in 2012, and its founders Erica Bell and Katie Finnegan, each time a user buys an item they’ve been watching, Hukkster collects a fee for lead generation, using a third-party service that has relationships with more than 18,000 retailers. Its top revenue drivers, back when the piece was written, were J.Crew, Amazon.com’s Shopbop and Macy’s.

Furthermore, in November 2012, the Winklevoss twins led a $750,000 investment in it.

Hukkster appears in Time Inc’s list this year alongside nine other start-ups from a variety of fields. Included in them are ArchetypeMe, Custora, FiftyThree, Fitocracy, Grouper, IMRSV, Klooff, Qwiki and Upworthy.

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.

Digital snippets: Burberry, Uniqlo, Jaeger, Rebecca Minkoff, Reebok, Asos, Target

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

• Burberry fetes digital at Chicago flagship opening (as pictured) [Mashable]

• Uniqlo partners with GIF artists for holiday campaign [PSFK]

• Jaeger’s new website let down by drab colour scheme [Econsultancy]

• Rebecca Minkoff unveils new site [WWD]

• Reebok edits and refines its social media footprint [AdAge]

• Asos maintains heady rate of sales growth, Q1 up 30% to £165.8m [Reuters]

• Target CMO: content and mobile matters more than campaigns [BrandChannel]

• How eBay became a fast-fashion graveyard [The Cut]

• Five years in and profitable, Gilt refocuses on new leadership, an IPO in 2013 and more [TechCrunch]

• Co-creation: the real social media revolution [Harvard Business Review]