Instagram to celebrate creativity at Cannes Lions, calls for exhibition content

Instagram is inviting brands and consumers alike to submit their most creative images for potential inclusion in a gallery space at next month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

La Galerie d’Instagram will showcase a small collection of the best photos pulled from the Instagram community, for festival-goers to enjoy from June 15-21. Those who tag (up to three of) their shots by June 13 with #instagramcannes could be included in the exhibition. Winners will be selected based on the “originality, technical execution, and subject matter” of their submission.

“Both Instagram and Cannes Lions celebrate the world’s best visual imagery, so we’re planning to bring that connection to life at the festival,” it said Instagram in a blogpost.

Cannes Lions is an annual gathering honouring the best work in advertising and visual communications. As reported last year, it’s slowly becoming a space for the fashion industry to both be seen and recognised in too.

That’s looking set to also be the case this year, with speakers on the agenda including Melisa Goldie, CCO of Calvin Klein; Raphael Elicha founder of The Kooples; actress Sarah Jessica Parker with Cosmopolitan editor Joanna Coles ; and supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

Highlight names otherwise include Ralph Fiennes, Sheryl Sandberg, Aaron Sorkin, Sir Patrick Stewart, Spike Jonze, Sir John Hegarty and more.

Digital snippets: Burberry, L’Oréal, Macy’s, Adidas, Uniqlo, Google Glass

A round-up of the latest stories to know about surrounding all things fashion and tech:

• How Burberry has fared in its first days on Tmall [Jing Daily]

• L’Oréal launches virtual try-on make-up app [NY Times]

• Macy’s is the first retailer to run Facebook’s auto-play video ads [Adweek]

• Adidas app to print Instagram snaps on your shoes [CNET]

• Uniqlo lets consumers design their own t-shirts [WSJ – Japan Real Time]

• Google’s new fashion-savvy exec can’t fix Glass’ biggest flaw [Wired]

• Burberry cites integrated marketing activity for revenue growth as EasyJet CEO joins the board [The Drum]

• CFDA to give out Instagram award [Telegraph Fashion]

• Op-ed: Why fashion is the next big thing in venture capital [BoF]

• Why are fashion brands shying away from Tumblr? [Tumblr]

Digital snippets: Fabergé, Dior, Gucci, Marc by Marc Jacobs, H&M, J.Crew and Kate Spade

A round-up of the latest stories to know about surrounding all things fashion and tech:

 

• Fabergé’s NYC Easter egg hunt marks the largest Beacon deployment ever in the US [Fashionista]

• Dior explores global flower sourcing with interactive map [Luxury Daily]

• James Franco directs video for Gucci (as above) [WWD]

• Marc by Marc Jacobs line crowdsources models with #castmemarc campaign on social [Vogue.co.uk]

• YouTube fashion viral: Miranda Kerr is selfie obsessed in H&M’s spring 2014 campaign [Fashionotes]

• J.Crew and Kate Spade to foster the next big fashion tech start-ups through new accelerator program [Co.Design]

• IMG Fashion’s partnership with Tencent aims to boost Fashion Week China exposure  [JingDaily] bit.ly/1ltgJFZ

• Fashion in the age of Instagram [NY Times]

• How iBeacon and similar technology will change retail [eMarketer]

• Five examples of how marketers are using iBeacons [Econsultancy]

• ‘Showrooming’ hits luxury fashion – lack of e-commerce presence means clients buying elsewhere online [WSJ]

• Luxury brands are stupid to snub the internet [BusinessWeek]

• Decoded Fashion founder: ‘Designers need to launch like start-ups’ [The Guardian]

• New app, Think Dirty, tracks the nasty chemicals in the beauty products you put on your face [Co.Exist]

• The camera-wielding boyfriends behind fashion’s most famous bloggers [Fashionista]

• How LiketoKnow.it is changing Instagram by monetising your photos [Pinetop Group]

• Op-ed: The companies with the best software will lead fashion [BoF]

Digital snippets: Burberry, Calvin Klein, Moschino, Saks, M&S, Primark

A round-up of all the latest stories surrounding fashion and tech…

 

• Burberry reveals ‘digital innovation’ partnership with WeChat to strengthen social presence in China [The Drum]

• Calvin Klein asks fans to snap selfies in their skivvies for #MyCalvins campaign [BrandChannel]

• Fast-fashion: Moschino offers fans the ability to shop its McDonald’s-themed show live [Dazed Digital]

• Saks recreates in-store beauty tutorials with six-second videos on Vine [LuxuryDaily]

• Marks & Spencer launches new website to replace Amazon platform, after three years in the making [The Telegraph]

• How Primark achieved 1.7m Facebook Likes in just six months [Econsultancy]

• Former GQ editor Lauren Bans comes out as @CondeElevator Tweeter [Fashionista]

• New privacy website lets you opt out of tracking in retail stores [AdAge]

• Ebay buys virtual fitting room start-up PhiSix Fashion Labs [PC Mag]

2013: a designer meets digital year in review

What a busy year it’s been…

From 3D printing taking its first trip down the New York Fashion Week catwalk, to the launch of Vine and Instagram videos, not to mention the continuing debate about the role of bloggers as influencers, the increased focus on the potential market size of wearables, and Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year as ‘selfie’, one thing after another has rapidly impacted the role of innovation in this niche fashion x digital space.

Below then, are 10 of the posts you loved the most on F&M this year. It’s an interesting collection, nodding to familiar ideas like storytelling and crowdsourcing, as well as higher quality content, and a general reassessment of what it is that actually works in this space. Video content does of course also have its place, as does the continuing power of celebrity.

Thank you for reading and see you in 2014!

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

• Press may have pushed “tech” angle of new H&M store, but less than a week since launch, nothing seems to be working

• Literal window shopping with Kate Spade Saturday’s digital, touchscreen storefronts

• Latest Topshop innovation will see #LFW content shared via sound

• Robert Pattinson’s Dior Homme film storms in 24-hours, #diorrob hashtag takes off

• Net-a-Porter calls for shopper content with #TheNETSet social campaign

• Burberry and Google bring emotion to digital with virtual kissing campaign

• Dolce & Gabbana: #MFW’s social media winner

• All the interactive elements accompanying John Lewis’ #bearandhare Christmas ad

• Live streaming fashion week: is it worth the cost?

• And a bonus post as a thought-starter for the New Year: An inspirational note, fashion needs to take risk

Digital snippets: Holiday retail round-up special

Given it’s the day before Thanksgiving in the US – meaning retailers are about to go all out on heavy promotions – here’s a special round-up of all the ways they’re using social and digital to help lure the seasonal shopper and start converting those all-important Holiday sales…

• eBay debuts shoppable touchscreens and digital storefronts for Sony, Toms And Rebecca Minkoff in San Francisco (as pictured) [TechCrunch]

• Target launches “most digitally enabled campaign” in its history, pins hopes on Pinterest this holiday season [Co.Create]

• Macy’s Santa mail campaign invites mobile users to submit images [Mobile Commerce Daily]

• Topshop partners with Pinterest for online and offline Holiday campaign [Fashion&Mash]

• JC Penney launches first Holiday campaign under new marketing head, includes crowdsourcing initiative inviting users to upload videos of themselves singing ‘Silent Night’ [AdAge]

• ‘Reserve in Store’ service rolling out to all Banana Republic stores across the US, 200 Gap [CNBC]

• Jingle all the way at Kmart with #showyourjoe Christmas ad [Fashion&Mash]

• Kohl’s adds emotional brand spots to Holiday mix [AdAge]

• Hollister teases Black Friday deals on YouTube [ClickZ]

• All the interactive elements accompanying John Lewis’ #bearandhare Christmas ad [Fashion&Mash]

• Cath Kidston, Bauble Bar driving traffic with Christmas treasure hunt campaigns [Fashion&Mash]

• Michaels offers interactive Holiday help with live elf available through streaming video [Chain Store Age]

• M&S teases Christmas #magicandsparkle campaign over social [Fashion&Mash]

• Louis Vuitton highlights gift ideas on interactive goose game [Luxury Daily]

• HSN taps SMS, push notifications to drive mobile-only holiday sales [Mobile Commerce Daily]

• Tillys runs ugly Christmas sweater contest over Instagram [Tillys]

• Neiman Marcus teams up with Shapeways to offer 3D printed holiday capsule collection [PSFK]

All the interactive elements accompanying John Lewis’ #bearandhare Christmas ad

Hopefully by now you will have all seen, or at least heard about, John Lewis’ epic £7 million Christmas ad: The Bear and The Hare, created by adam&eve DDB.

The hand-animated tale has received an enormous 8.7 million views on YouTube since launch on November 8, and according to reports, helped drive sales of £101.45 million in the British department store in the week that followed, up 10.7% on 2012.

Despite the fact the spot premiered on TV in the UK during The X-Factor (played as an entire two-minute ad break), this campaign lives well beyond its traditional format. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more interactive ways how: 

• An accompanying e-book called ‘The Bear who had never seen Christmas’ has been introduced for iPad, iPhone and Android. It features a series of touch-to-activate features, including a treasure hunt throughout the pages of the story in order to decorate a Christmas tree at the end, and a musical component for kids to tap their screens along to  

• As with last year’s snowmen, the two main characters, Bear and Hare, each have their own Twitter profiles. Following them reveals all sorts of insights into their friendship: Hare planning to tickle Bear in his sleep, and Bear snoozing through the majority of it only waking briefly now and again to tweet out a line of Zzzzzzzzz’s

• John Lewis has also just announced its “ReWorked” initiative for the ad – calling all unsigned singers or bands in the UK to re-record Lily Allen’s cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know. Keane is helping to judge the winner, who will then be featured on the soundtrack for the ad on TV on Christmas Day. A page on the brand’s YouTube channel plays hosts to a note of good luck from Lily Allen as well as all the entries so far

• A Christmas card maker allows consumers to create their own personalised e-cards too. A selection of templates featuring the different woodland animals can be selected from first, then a personal picture uploaded or chosen by connecting with Facebook. Lastly, a message can be added before sharing it over social, downloading it to send via email or print out, and/or adding it to the online gallery

• In the physical space meanwhile, 11 John Lewis stores around the UK have special ‘caves’ for children to visit and have their photo taken with the Bear and the Hare. The Oxford Street and Peter Jones London stores are particularly worth visiting for the windows too, where a total of 188 animal sculptures have been made from over 7,000 everyday products, like a reindeer from Dyson vacuums, a polar bear from Nintendo Wiis and a turkey from a series of rolled up towels. Creative consultancy Chameleon Visual and production company Setsquare Staging spent a year developing them, as the below making-of video demonstrates. 

 

Digital snippets: Michael Kors, Banana Republic, Macy’s, Kate Spade, John Lewis, L’Oréal, Juicy Couture, Sephora

A short break here means there’s a stack of content to catch up on. Below are the top links for stories surrounding fashion and digital during my recent fortnight of travels. Hours of fun…

• Michael Kors’ widely hated Instagram ad was actually a massive success; received almost four times as many likes as the average post [Business Insider] 

• John Lewis 2013 Christmas ad beats 2012 ad total YouTube views within days of release [The Drum]

• Banana Republic, CNNMoney and CNBC among top Twitter accounts during TWTR IPO [TechCrunch]

• Macy’s Santa mail campaign invites mobile users to submit images [Mobile Commerce Daily]

• Like what you see? Kate Spade video ad designed for instant shopping [Mashable]

• L’Oréal Paris launches make-up vending machines in NYC subway [Fashionista] 

• Juicy Couture to be first brand to advertise using Snapchat Stories [The Drum]

• At Sephora, mobile-first means ‘connecting’ the customer’s experiences [eMarketer]

• Neiman Marcus teams up with Shapeways to offer 3D printed holiday capsule collection [PSFK] 

• Printemps sets e-commerce strategy [WWD] 

• Cartier North America CEO stresses importance of carefully curated digital presence [Luxury Daily]

• How can retailers make it easier to buy jeans online? [Econsultancy]

• Engineering the perfect big-data bra [Fast Company]

• On the same theme: This app can find your true bra size by taking two selfies of your breasts [Business Insider] 

• Vanessa Traina launches new curated e-commerce venture The Line [BoF]

• Fashion bloggers see a missed opportunity to monetise Instagram posts – why aren’t links allowed? [AdWeek] 

Warehouse fans go #knitbombing in recent social campaign

As mentioned in a recent post about the #topmansprayonjeans campaign, there’s a big focus on user-generated content being seen from a multitude of retailers of late.

One of the others referenced in that same story was Warehouse. The UK retailer launched a campaign in late September focused on #knitbombing, a street art craze involving knitted items being placed to decorate public spaces – think trees, bollards even bikes. It’s not a new phenomenon, but it’s one that hasn’t been claimed by a fashion brand before (to my knowledge).

In a nice example of physical meets digital, Warehouse invited its followers to snap photos of their knit-bombing attempts and upload them to Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag. The best would go on to win a £250 gift card.

To help facilitate the campaign, it offered shoppers free knit-bombing kits in-store when they bought certain knitwear items. It also posted a series of inspirational woolly shots of its own across its Facebook and Pinterest pages (a couple of which are above and below).

Read its blogpost about the initiative: “Knit-bombing groups have been springing up everywhere – warming the soul of grey urban spaces with colourful knitted artwork or ‘graffitti’. Obviously we had to share this amazing phenomenon with you.” It also called for participants to “flex some creative muscle; remember the city is your playground.”

According to @Editd, the campaign saw Warehouse’s fanbase grow 10%.

Topman pulls in consumer content with #topmansprayonjeans campaign

 

User-generated content might be somewhat of an old phrase in the digital space these days, but there’s a phenomenal amount happening around it of late.

From #thenetset at Net-a-Porter to #framesofyou from Armani, as well as multiple other examples via Warehouse, Estée Lauder, Kate Spade and more, everyone is getting in on the act.

The latest is Topman. The men’s arm of the Brit retailer has been pushing its new spray on jeans for the last few weeks using the hashtag #topmansprayonjeans.

Taking full advantage of the #selfie phenomenon, it’s been calling for consumers to send images of themselves wearing the super tight skinny jeans over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with the best looks winning Premium Spotify accounts daily.

A series of short videos were released as inspiration for fans on how to get the look. Meanwhile, another fun video was posted today (as below) demonstrating the speed with which it’s possible to put the jeans on.

Reads the write up: “We’ve listened to your feedback and some of you have struggled to get our Spray On Jeans on quickly. We got ours on in 7 secs, how quick can you get yours on?”