Tag: blogger

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digital snippets e-commerce Editor's pick product social media technology

Digital snippets: Mid-tier blogger power, the robotics opportunity, Alibaba’s anti-counterfeiting feud

midtierbloggers

After a week refreshing the mind and the soul at Futuro in Ibiza (an awe-inspiring experience), we’re back with a round-up of everything you might have missed in fashion and technology news (and beyond) over the past fortnight or so. Read on for highlights from mid-tier bloggers and robots to Alibaba, Victoria’s Secret, Levi’s, WeChat and more…

  • The power of the mid-tier blogger [Racked]
  • How robots can help fashion companies drive business efficiencies [BoF]
  • Inside Alibaba’s anti-counterfeiting feud [Associated Press]
  • Why Victoria’s Secret won’t be mailing out any more catalogues [AdWeek]
  • Aerie refused to Photoshop its ads for two years and sales spiked [Mashable]
  • Project Jacquard: Google and Levi’s launch the first ‘smart’ jean jacket for urban cyclists [Forbes]
  • Fashion shake-ups go beyond designers to the C-suite [NY Times]
  • Fashion industry faces disruption from outside — and from within [FT]
  • Why lux brands love Line [Glossy]
  • With 92% of luxury brands on WeChat, here’s how they can step up their game [Jing Daily]
  • How four creative directors are using Snapchat [Glossy]
  • How Instagram’s new feed will impact brands and influencers [BoF]
  • With subscription beauty boxes, rules of e-commerce don’t apply [WSJ]
  • Why buy buttons on Pinterest and Instagram haven’t taken off for retailers [Digiday]
  • Brands want to predict your behaviour by mining your face from YouTube videos [Motherboard]
  • Chatbots won’t solve everything [BoF]
  • For the first time, Google is bringing retail ads to image search [AdWeek]
  • Shoptalk: Pondering the store’s future in an age of web buying [Associated Press]
  • Keep calm and keep shopping – how elections impact retail sales [The Conversation]
  • Why dynamic pricing just doesn’t work for fashion retailers [LinkedIn]
  • I tested Rent The Runway’s new Unlimited service. My satisfaction was… limited [Pando]
  • What does ‘innovation’ in retail look like? 8 leaders weigh in [Retail Dive]
  • Online retailers should care more about the post-purchase experience [HBR]
  • Does Kendall and Kylie’s game actually sell clothes? [Racked]
  • EasyJet’s new smart shoes guide travellers as they wander through new cities [JWT Intelligence]
  • MIT researchers create 3D-printed fur, opening up “a new design space” [Dezeen]
Categories
e-commerce film

Amazon loves Chiara Ferragni and airs free daily fashion show

amazon

Amazon’s going all out to boost its fashion credentials at the moment with a new daily TV show and a collab with Chiara Ferragni.

In the US, it aired its first live show for its streaming video service this week, and it’s all about fashion. The half hour daily Style Code Live show will be free to all viewers and gives them “a first-of-its-kind daily style and entertainment experience”, said executive producer Terence Noonan.

It’s an interactive show with live chats and offers fashion and beauty each weeknight with guest experts, celebrities, and viewer tips. It’s hosted by ABC TV correspondent Rachel Smith, MTV host Lyndsey Rodrigues and actor Frankie Grande.

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Meanwhile in Europe, Amazon has just launched its SS16 campaign starring blogger-turned-brand Chiara Ferragni of TheBlondeSalad.com.

Shot at the company’s giant Shoreditch studio by photographer Cass Bird, she’s seen wearing a number of key pieces from the spring offer.

Juliet Warkentin, who’s Amazon Fashion Europe’s director of brand and creative, said: “Chiara is a smart business woman with a strong sense of personal style and is a great advocate for our ‘Don’t look like me, look like you’ campaign.”

Find out more at www.amazon.co.uk/chiara.

This post first appeared on Trendwalk.net, a style-meets-business blog by journalist, trends specialist and business analyst, Sandra Halliday

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Blocks Comment social media

Seven ways big-time bloggers are changing

Chiara Ferragni The Blonde Salad

It goes without saying that the digital landscape and where fashion brands fit into it, is evolving around us. Simultaneously, so are the influencers that are increasingly helping those stories get told and products get seen.

Here are seven predictions from Morgan Kaye, VP of community at Bloglovin’, about what all is happening, and what to expect from some of the biggest names this fashion week season:

Bloggers launching more brands than ever before

As bloggers become even more influential, they evolve as entrepreneurs. Emily Weiss’ Glossier, Julie Sarinana’s Sincerely Jules Clothing Line and Michelle Phan’s ipsy are just a few examples of bloggers who have successfully launched their own brand. We’ll likely see more fashion bloggers announce their own brands and lines at shows and events during this year’s fashion week! For more on this trend, check out Bloglovin’s recent post: 8 girl bosses killing it in the fashion industry.

Emily Weiss Glossier

Big-time bloggers shifting their focus

Many of us have watched bloggers go through personal milestones from brand launches and website redesigns, to engagements and babies. With that said, many of our them are also shifting gears and branching out either to new categories and/or focusing their attention on being lifestyle experts. Lindsey Calla and Hannah Bronfman are just two girls leaving their fashion and lifestyle posts behind to rebrand themselves as fitness experts. This fashion week, we’ll see their expertise called on more than ever before as athleisure continues as a key trend.

Real time content and pulling the curtain back

While precisely planned and staged content still holds worth, the move for real-time/behind-the-scenes content is gaining momentum and receives unprecedented engagement. With the rise of Snapchat and Periscope, our favourite bloggers are lifting the hood to allow their audience to see them in real-time and real life. These platforms will be huge during this fashion week season. As we saw Tommy Hilfiger and Vera Wang embrace its use in September, we can only expect more fashion designers and bloggers to hop on the bandwagon. Behind-the-scenes fashion week content, outtakes, and personal experiences are superseding perfectly planned outfit posts.

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Call me an influencer

The debate continues – how do bloggers want to be identified? It seems we have landed on the term “Influencer” for the time being, which is a much broader term than blogger or content creator and that’s why it works. During fashion week season, we’ll see a TON of influencers – such as twins Cailli & Sam Beckerman of Beckerman Blog, Chriselle Lim of The Chriselle Factor and Courtney Trop of Always Judging – in attendance at the hottest shows.  As Influencers grow their businesses and grow their audiences on different platforms, it’s important to associate them with a name that can evolve and expand as quickly as this industry itself.

Mid-form content with embedded media

This fashion week, it’s all about words AND images. Bloggers are gearing back toward mid-form and longer form content – even Twitter is getting on board with additional character counts. The key to making their content super engaging is including embedded media. No fashion week post will be complete without a photo, video or gif.

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Time for an upgrade

Have you noticed everyone’s shiny new websites? Everyone is stepping up their game this year. Blog formats are a thing of the past and new website designs with a magazine feel are taking over – ultimately raising the bar for new and emerging influencers. Specifically, we love what our friends at Man Repeller and MiniMode have done with their sites. These new layouts coincide with the trend for more diverse content and revenue opportunities such as influencer shops popping up.

Audience is everywhere

Now is a perfect time to get discovered. Never before has there been such a well-rounded variety of platforms to discover content and new influencers. Bloglovin’, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube allow people of all demographics to engage digitally and discover new influencers and inspiration. Influencers now find it easier than ever to gain new audiences. This fashion week, we’ll see influencers engage their audiences via a combination of all these platforms. Although these audiences may be fragmented, the ability to reach engaged consumers online is highly accessible.

Categories
Blocks business film

New YouTube Space running #NYFW bootcamp

YTSNY_10

YouTube launched a creative facility in New York two months ago that is now opening its doors to those in the fashion industry with a dedicated bootcamp ahead of the A/W 15/16 catwalk shows this season.

The YouTube Space New York, as it’s officially called, is a 20,000-square-foot combination of both pre-staged studio sets and production rooms on the sixth floor of Chelsea Market (see images below). It is free to book for so-called “YouTube Creators”, so long as they have over 5,000 subscribers.

During the first week of February, it will also become a destination for those interested in the fashion industry to come in and learn how to improve their YouTube strategy.

“YouTube Creators, Bloggers, Instagrammers and other industry influencers are invited to come learn the basics of creative strategy, audience development and tentpole programming within the Fashion & Beauty verticals. You’ll walk away with the tools to start designing your YouTube strategy and effectively leverage Fashion Week as a tentpole event for your channel,” reads the invite.

This fits with YouTube’s focus on also using the space as a place for learning. The New York version is the fourth of such collaborative facilities opened by YouTube around the world, following Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. Another is due to follow in South America.

The fashion events in New York will include workshops on building creative strategies for the channel, growing audiences and how to become comfortable and conversational on camera. There will also be a panel conversation from leading influencers in the industry discussing how to navigate and cover fashion week.

“People think of YouTube as a West Coast company, but we’re here because New York is at the intersection of many creative communities — fashion, film, big media companies and of course, Madison Avenue,” Lance Podell, the global head of YouTube Spaces, told The New York Times ahead of launch.

The space itself otherwise consists of both empty studio rooms for creators to bring in their own sets and props, as well as some pre-staged ones. Those are currently comprised of the likes of a diner, boardroom and hipster apartment, as well as the original bar and stage from New York’s infamous 1970s club, CBGB; on loan for just another two weeks. Next up will be a New York Subway car. Even the bathrooms are bookable within the space, and accordingly designed to look like the inside of a club.

There are also state-of-the-art post-production facilities available for use, not to mention the equipment including cameras, lights, boom microphones and more. The aim, according to YouTube, is to provide the “resources, tools and guidance to unleash innovation and encourage experimentation”.

Right in the middle of the space is a Google BrandLab, where brands and agencies are invited in to play with the latest digital tools, and learn about things as detailed as how to do a meme. The idea is to place the brands right in the middle of the chaos and the creative vibe and see what sort of collaborations might follow.

While brands are not discouraged from using the studios or production facilities otherwise, the general rule is that they’re not for creating commercials. It’s on that note, the YouTube Creators maintain their lead, and of course, their creativity.

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Categories
digital snippets e-commerce Editor's pick social media technology

All the digital activity (outside of live streaming) happening this #NYFW

If watching dozens of Hyperlapse videos from day one of New York Fashion Week is already starting to grate, here are some of the other digitally-enabled or tech-themed plans that might appeal instead…

OpeningCeremony_Intel

  • For those in New York looking to explore what else wearables currently offer, it’s worth checking out Chelsea concept store, Story’s new Style.tech installation in partnership with Intel. There’s everything from Ringly to Cute Circuit pieces on show, as well as 3D-printed heels from Continuum and more. It’s open until October 5
  • Back to Rebecca Minkoff, and social media is helping with decision making for tomorrow’s show. The designer posted an Instagram shot featuring two looks from the spring 2015 collection – a printed or an indigo pair of dungarees. The one that got the most likes will walk down the catwalk
  • Tommy Hilfiger is also focusing on social with the announcement of an initiative called First Timers, which will bring together “a diverse group of digital influencers from different fields and areas of expertise outside the fashion industry to document the unique experience of viewing a fashion show for the first time”. More details are reportedly set to follow on that soon
  • BCBG Max Azria meanwhile partnered up with Liketoknow.it to make its new collection shoppable instantly via Instagram today. Followers were encouraged to first sign up to Liketoknow.it and then to ‘like’ any image featuring the LTK link in the caption to receive an email with details of how to buy said piece online. This initiative came together in the end, but was a little confusing initially – reports around the campaign didn’t make it entirely clear the images wouldn’t be posted on the BCBG account but on that of a series of influencers involved. Finding them wasn’t therefore as straightforward as it could have been, although a significant number of them are now all featured on the @liketktit page as well
  • Michael Kors is expanding its All Access Kors social program this season – with behind-the-scenes photographs, in-depth stories on design inspirations and videos of the show all featured on Destination Kors. New for SS15 however is also the announcement of a campaign specific to China-based platforms Weixin and WeChat. Here users will be able to personalise a range of All Access Kors imagery – adding their name or uploading a photo that then becomes a bold silhouette against the New York City skyline. Shaking the phone or swiping the screen then reveals a different silhouette or city angle
  • Last but not least, here’s a particularly fab reminder from Véronique Hyland at The Cut for editors to spare us the typically poor fashion week images on Instagram. “The blurry runway photo is not really, strictly speaking, a picture — anyone who wants to can see better photos instantaneously online. No, the blurry runway shot is a trophy. It says, ‘I came, I saw, I sat front row, within 100 feet of Vanessa Hudgens’,” she writes.
Categories
e-commerce social media

Tod’s aims to rejuvenate iconic Gommino shoes with Dots to Life blogger campaign

todsgommino

Avid fashion blog followers may have noticed several high-calibre bloggers have simultaneously started wearing and drawing attention to Tod’s footwear of late. This is not down to coincidence – earlier this month the quintessential Italian brand launched a social influencer campaign to create buzz around its signature Gommino shoes.

On the campaign website, customers can check out the various style leaders who have been coveting the style, as well as submit their own photos.

Bloggers from all over the world have taken part in the so-called ‘Dots to Life’ campaign, including Italy’s Chiara Ferragni of The Blonde Salad, Switzerland’s Kristina Bazan of Kayture, and Shanghai-based Han Huohuo.

And it’s not just bloggers that have jumped on board – industry heavyweights such as Anna Dello Russo are also featured on site. The result: a showcase of the worldwide popularity of the Gommino, highlighting the shoe’s versatility and serving as outfit styling inspiration alongside.

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The move for Tod’s to predominantly use bloggers over celebrities is a smart one in today’s online world. These stars – many of them now enjoying a level of celebrity status themselves – serve as influencers through their connection to existing customers and those highly engaged in fashion, but also yield influence over a much younger crowd who may not be as aware of the understated brand.

The endorsement should emphasise the brand’s heritage, reduce the ‘old person’s shoe’ stigma around the Gomminos, and boost its popularity among potential future customers. It’s helping the brand get it’s ‘cool’ back among the younger, digitally-savvy generation, effectively.

Tod’s is making the blogger campaign all the more social by inviting its Facebook fans to upload their own images to the campaign website. The post on its Facebook page has received over 22,800 likes so far. Participation through Instagram is also possible – with the tags #todsgommino and #dotsoflife.

This is a great example of an influencer campaign leveraging the power of social media as a means of inspiration and conversation. As with many campaigns, the site is curated and not all fan images are published. As with Burberry’s Art of the Trench, this creates a more exclusive feel and may inspire fans to put more creative thought into their snaps.

Tod’s is also pushing content over social related to the FIFA World Cup – recent posts have referenced the theme, I Cheer For My Colors. Working with bloggers seems to have yielded positive results for the brand in the past too. In February, for instance, it partnered with Ferragni of The Blonde Salad to promote its Touch handbag.

By Anna Abrell

Categories
digital snippets e-commerce social media

Digital snippets: Tumblr, Versace, Club Monaco, Chanel, Abercrombie, McQueen

A round-up of recent stories from around the web surrounding all things fashion and digital:

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  • Is a Yahoo-owned Tumblr more attractive to brands? [AdAge]
  • Versace transforms Versus line into a ‘digital brand’ (as pictured) [Fmag]
  • Club Monaco creates all-blogger look book (and launches it on Tumblr) [DisneyRollerGirl]
  • Keira Knightley stars as Coco Chanel for new Karl Lagerfeld film, Once Upon a Time [Fashionologie]
  • Video takes aim at Abercrombie & Fitch for “exclusionary” policy, spurs homeless campaign [Hollywood Reporter]
  • Alexander McQueen and McQ websites get new look [WWD]
  • Why Victoria’s Secret and Burberry win in social media — and other fashion brands fail [Business Insider]
  • The seven species of social commerce [Mashable]
  • YouTube jumps into retail with shoppable videos for brand channels, first client is Unilever’s Tresemmé [BrandChannel]
  • Wearable technology market set to explode, could reach $50 billion, says Credit Suisse [BoF]
Categories
film Uncategorized

Diana Vreeland documentary can teach the fashion industry something about marketing too

In the new Diana Vreeland documentary, The Eye Has to Travel, designer Diane von Furstenberg refers to the memos written by the late editor and museum curator, as being like a blog. “[Vreeland] was, in fact, the first blogger,” she jokes.

The wit, precision and bite-sized content of those memos however, makes that idea, albeit in analog form, not too hard to imagine playing out successfully online.

Vreeland wasn’t of course around to witness the explosion of the social web, but had she been a part of it, she most definitely would have done it better than anyone else.

The film itself, is truly incredible. As the write-up reads: “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel is an intimate portrait and a vibrant celebration of one of the most influential women of the twentieth century, an enduring icon who has had a strong influence on the course of fashion, beauty, publishing and culture.”

It continues: “During her fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion”… [she invited] us to join her on a voyage of perpetual reinvention and take part in the adventure of life. Through her trained and diligent eye, she opened the door of our minds and gave us the freedom to imagine. Her images and accomplishments are as fresh and relevant now as they were then, and her spirit is just as vibrant and relevant today.”

Part way through the film, one of the many high profile old colleagues, friends and family members (from Richard Avedon and Lauren Bacall to Hubert de Givenchy) featured, says: “She was about ideas, the magic of fashion.”

And it’s that that resonates.

It reminds us once again why the fashion industry can be so incredibly good at marketing: it’s all about storytelling and imagination. Or as Vreeland so aptly says in the film: “We live through our dreams and our imagination. That’s the only reality we ever really know…”

Most definitely something there to be learnt in how to approach digital strategy.

Go watch the film.

 

Categories
digital snippets e-commerce film Uncategorized

Digital snippets: Isaac Mizrahi, Lanvin, Helmut Lang, Lady Gaga, Vogue

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

 

  • Isaac Mizrahi to sell fashion line exclusively on LivingSocial [Mashable]
  • Lanvin reveals new campaign film starring real models from print ads (as above) [Fashionista]
  • Helmut Lang launches guest blogging series [WWD]
  • How to make a perfume ad go viral: just be Lady Gaga [AdAge]
  • Product videos nudge apparel shoppers toward register [eMarketer]
  • Vogue mines intel from 2,000 fashion-focused females with virtual focus group, Style Society [AdWeek]
  • Le Book selects fashion videos for New York Film Festival next spring [Vogue.co.uk]
  • Infographic: for brand engagament, visuals rule [Mashable]
Categories
Uncategorized

Calvin Klein unveils new Tumblr, launches partnership with blogger Hanneli

Calvin Klein revealed its first foray into the world of Tumblr this morning, with a new blog designed to give fans an editorial view of the brand.

CalvinKlein.tumblr.com will host current and archival advertising campaigns as well as inspiring visuals from the brand’s intersection with the worlds of art, architecture, style and music.

The launch is being fronted by a partnership with blogger Hanneli Mustaparta who will contribute content in her own #Hanneli tagged category.

She will be given behind-the-scenes access to the brand’s new collections, which she’s expected to review, style and photograph. She will also post about her interactions with the company’s creative directors and models, and her attendance at events in New York and abroad as a guest of the house.

The move follows Mustaparta’s role tweeting for the brand during New York Fashion Week in February.

The blog was announced by Calvin Klein’s EVP and chief creative officer, Melisa Goldie, during a talk at the Decoded Fashion conference in New York yesterday.

“We think that Tumblr is a perfect platform for us to explore the personality of the brand and accentuate our iconic imagery, and all of us at Calvin Klein are grateful to [Tumblr’s founder] David Karp for helping us to make our vision on Tumblr a reality.”

She confessed to being somewhat late to the Tumblr party, but insisted it was down to ensuring they had the ability to connect fans with the classic Calvin experience. “When you visit us on Tumblr, I think you’ll find we’ve done exactly that,” she added.

She also outlined the company has increased its financial commitment to online marketing from 1% in 2009, to 23% in 2012. “This will allow us to take maximum advantage of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, using each platform in a way that makes the most sense for our brand.”