Miss Vogue and Chanel Chance launch cute digital fortune cookie for style tips

Miss Vogue has introduced an interactive feature online sponsored by Chanel Chance designed to help “inspire fashion-forward personal style choices in moments of wardrobe fatigue”.

The Miss Vogue Fashion Fortune Cookie – which lives on the Vogue.co.uk site – invites users to enter their name and date of birth to get style advice and tips on what to wear each day.

Dolly Jones, editor of Vogue.co.uk, said: “It’s a little reminder every day of what fashion contributes to life: fun, style, humour and beauty. We’ve so enjoyed creating it – I hope our users will love it as much as we do.”

The resulting advice includes such things as: “Today is the day to face your fears. Be brave and wear that statement piece you’ve been holding on to.” And: “Wear a shirt to match your eyes and watch the compliments pour in.”

Each fashion fortune is then shareable on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ with the strapline: “My Miss Vogue #FFC today is…” Quirky but appropriate for the younger reader it is targeting – presumably the date of birth request will help to measure that too.

The initiative will be followed by a physical rendition on June 12 when readers of the biannual Miss Vogue supplement will be invited to an event at the Chanel Butterfly Garden at Selfridges in London.

French Connection launches in-store #selfie campaign

French Connection is launching the “ultimate selfie challenge” in the UK this spring.

Kickstarting officially in London on April 24, the retailer is introducing a campaign called #canthelpmyselfie, inviting shoppers to snap pictures of themselves to create a live display of its seasonal collection in store windows.

Fans are invited to book an appointment via the website for a variety of stores around the country (starting in Regent Street this week before touring to five other cities including Manchester and Newcastle through May) – once there they will select their favourite pieces from the line to wear, indulge in  a mini makeover session and then jump into an interactive selfie booth to snap their photo for the whole high street to see.

Jon Carney, creative partner at digital agency Somewhat, which collaborated on the project, said: “Mobile and social channels are an essential part of how millennial consumers interact with brands, and especially how they can experience fashion brands. As consumers’ physical and digital worlds are increasingly converging and colliding, brands need to respond with campaigns that bridge both worlds seamlessly.”

The real-time “phy-gital” initiative, as its being referred to, simultaneously employs live engagement with passersby by inviting them to ‘vote’ for their favourite look by placing their hand in front of sensors in the windows. The best selfies selected will be in with a chance of winning a £1,000 shopping spree.

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]

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

Colette hosts Art Drive-Thru at Art Basel Miami

Parisian retailer Colette hosted an ‘Art Drive-Thru’ as part of Art Basel Miami last week, open 24/7 and complete with shoppable digital screens.

A partnership with local concept boutique, Alchemist, the initiative was inspired by retro American drive-thrus of the 50s. Far from typical burgers and fries, however, the menu offered everything from a $27,500 Bamford x Rolex watch to a $6,500 set of Damien Hirst skateboards (both sold out by the way). There were multiple other big names on sale including Jeff Koons, Kenzo, Thom Browne, Karl Lagerfeld, Zaha Hadid, Kitsune, Longchamp and of course Colette.

It was hosted at 1111 Lincoln Road on level five of the car park. Drivers could pull up to one of three kiosks reminiscent of pinball machines and use iPad size screens to order their items. Those pieces would then be delivered by girls on roller skates.

The temporary space, in place from December 2 to 8, was created by René Gonzales Architect.

 Additional photography by shelasher.com

Saks unveils interactive holiday windows, offers Makerbot 3D-printed snowflakes

Consumers are invited to flick personalised digital snowflakes onto the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store in New York this Holiday season.

The initiative, developed in partnership with creative digital agency, The Science Project, and sponsored by MasterCard, is part of the retailer’s wider focus on the legendary Yeti rumoured to reside on its roof making snow during the festive period, this year.

The Yeti Snow Workshop as this particular window is called, invites passersby to visit saks.com/snow on their mobiles where they can find out their own Yeti name, add it to a snowflake design and then flick it from their device to instantly see it gently falling down the window.

In-store those who spend over $150 or more with their MasterCard, can then receive a 3D-printed snowflake created by the MakerBot. Harry Cunningham, senior VP-store planning and visual at Saks, also told AdAge: “3D printing has been a big of late, so some of the figures in our window this year are actually 3D printed. As technology advances and as things move forward, we’re looking for opportunities to inject that into our process.”

Six of the other store windows depict different scenes of the Yeti’s life, from being “an under-appreciated snowmaker in Siberia to his starring role as a true snowflake artist in New York”. Each also features the hashtag #SaksYeti.

They were unveiled last week with a 3D light show mapped onto the façade of the store created by Iris Worldwide (as in the YouTube video below). It runs every seven minutes each night from 5-11pm over the Holiday season.

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. 

 

“Which Hilfiger are you?” asks digital Tommy pod in NJ mall

Tommy Hilfiger opened a new store in the Garden State Plaza mall in New Jersey last week, and with it introduced a ‘digital pod’ tied to its autumn/winter 2013/14 campaign.

Hosted near the AMC theatre at one end of the shopping centre, the pod invites shoppers to take a quiz to determine which member of the Hilfiger family they are. The resulting character is showcased on a digital card that offers the option to add a tagline from a series of keywords.

It then asks the user for their email address to receive a copy of it in their inbox (from which they can share on Facebook), before posting it on the other side of the pod for others to see. The whole initiative is tied to the hashtag #tommyxgsp.

It will be in place through the end of December 2013.

Giant digital installation anchors Phillip Lim for Target NYFW event

Target hosted an event at New York Fashion Week last night to celebrate the forthcoming launch (September 15) of its 3.1 Phillip Lim line.

Hosted at the new Spring Studios, the party centred around an enormous digital installation – the Stylescape, which is the longest-ever created cinemagraph in fact, comprised of multiple interactive components.

You could blow on a pin-wheel to make a gust of wind breeze across various components on the screen, pull on a cord to see fireworks light up the sky or a string of fairy lights illuminate, and even jump on a spot to get Phillip Lim to turn round from a park bench and smile for your picture. Other sections saw the crowd dancing with one of the virtual models, or giggling as a dog appeared behind a counter.

The initiative took over four months to produce, Refinery29 reported. It was created across six cities, representing a full day-to-night span from one end to the other. It kickstarts with early morning in LA, crossing through Dallas, Toronto, Chicago, and Miami, and wrapping up with a 5am cab in NYC.