fashionhodgepodge

As Oscar De La Renta said last week, “Online media is increasingly influential in fashion“. This past weekend in Santa Monica, CA FashionCampLA proved just that, as industry professionals gathered to discuss online digital media tactics such as augmented reality, QR code campaigns, fashion technology in design and clothes, digital fashion PR, digital look books, and digital fashion laws.

It was amazingly organized and moderated by Mashable and FashionablyMarketing.me contributor, Macala Wright Lee who lined up digital media experts such as Crosby Noricks from PR Couture and Phillip Warbasse of Warbasse Design. I wanted to gather and share just a few of my footnotes and findings from some of my favorite topics.

Ralph Lauren QR Code Campaign Poster

QR Codes in Fashion Campaigns (Phillip Warbasse – Warbasse Design)

1) Testing new technology can be scary, but rewarding. Brands such as Ralph Lauren recognize and value the importance of being first in the industry. Ralph Lauren’s leap of faith paved the path to start a QR code campaign that gained newsworthy PR coverage. The PR coverage from using the new QR Code tactic, generated mentions and press coverage worth $200 million in ad sales.

2) QR Codes aren’t a stand alone tactic. Its a piece of an integrated marketing plan and strategy that can combine both online and offline initiatives. It involves intricate planning from the mobile landing page to messaging and incentives. Brands that understand the important of brand awareness will adopt QR codes as they have been in use in other markets around the world for the past 5 years.

3) QR Codes could lessen the gap of drop off of in-store customers. If the brick and mortar store doesn’t have a customer size, Lucky Brand has been using QR codes on the clothing tags that when scanned, take consumers to order their size online and purchase on their mobile device or allows them to pay at the in-store cashier with a 20% off discount. This type of interactive shopping that lets the consumer purchase an item they would not have had that day without the QR code incentive.

Augmented Reality Makes Shopping Personal (Matt Szymczyk – Zugara)

Fashionista Augmented Reality

1) Augmented reality is becoming easier for brands to adapt, since image recognition technology eliminates the need to make augmented reality codes. But do not just execute AR because you think its cool. Like all tactics it needs to have strategy and be part of an integrated approach since augmented reality can be use in conjunction with print publications, web, TV, and mobile apps.

2) The current online shopping experience is solo, but augmented reality allows online shoppers to see how color, patterns, and design look on their actual body without having to go to a brick and mortar store. It makes the online shopping experience interactive and personal mocking an in-store shopping trip.

The New Rules of Fashion PR – Digital Style (Crosby Noricks – PR Couture)

1) Whether you are a brand or a blogger, provide tips on your site and actionable recommendations to engage with users and generate buzz.

2) Bloggers are an essential piece to fashion PR these days, but don’t treat them like they are old school with boring pitches and uneventful press releases. Bloggers need to be given a unique experience that can help them create unique and valuable content about your brand. Don’t just ask them to do a review or write up. Give them something to write about that is worthy and interesting, different and unique and fits that blogger’s network of readers and fans.

Forever 21 Fashion Blogger Influence Campaign

3)Retailers are becoming publishers and publishers are becoming retailers. The relationship with your retailer and publications will become more valuable to nurture as both are integrating blogger spotlights and offering ecommerce directly through their own channels. Both H&M and Forever 21

Forever 21 Digital Fashion Magazine

are good examples of how retailers have branched out into publishing and feature bloggers to sell products.  Publications have incorporated popular bloggers in its magazine pages, and Nylon Magazine is working on enhancing its iPad app to include ecommerce purchasing options for items in the magazine.

4) Your relationship with your consumers will become even more valuable as fans are publishing their outfits of your brand online. Other fans like to see how their peers style your brand and has become popular on sites such as Lookbook.nu, Chictopia.com, and Flickr. American Apparel has leveraged this relationship with its online fans and uses consumer influence from Lookbook.nu and made a real look book with real consumers in American Apparel clothes.

Adidas Facebook Fan Page Is Tailored To Promote Local Events

5) Think globally, act locally. While your brand is a global entity, consumers like and need personalization. That’s where local PR and local marketing comes into play. Adidas’ Facebook Page is all things Adidas, but has a geographic factor. On the application tab, fans can tailor Adidas news to their specific geographic location by city allowing them to access personal local results and get the skinny on local Adidas events and promotions.

6) Don’t be afraid to dabble with fashion films. PR is about spreading your brand story. Fashion films are another way to tell your brand’s story and express your vision. They don’t have to be a big budget production, just effectively tell and show your brand through film.

Not only did FashionCampLA have a lot of great thought leaders, but it was also a ton of fun getting to meet people in person that I have interacted on Twitter with over the past two years. FashionCampLA united Tweeps,  encouraged collaboration, and promoted team work in the industry. But the Sprinkles cupcakes didnt hurt either! I look forward to more FashionCamps in the future and learning more about my industry peers and emerging technology. Thanks to everyone involved!

Marie Claire’s Twitter Strategy and Fashion PR Pitch Tips

from Crosby at PRCouture | April 14, 2009 to read the full article visit PRCouture.com

The Marie Claire Twitter account not only participates regularly on Twitter but actually (gasp!) engages directly with their following, has been known to look for writers  from their Twitter community, and even recently charted, or is that tweeted, a blind date in real time.

PR Couture was lucky enough to get some time with Senior Web Editor Ashley Parrish and Web Associate Diana Vilibert to learn more about Marie Claire’s Twitter Strategy as well as some Marie Claire pitching tips for fashion PR’s on Twitter. For more information on Twitter strategy, check out the recent PR Couture post, “5 Tips for a Successful Twit Pitch” in addition to our list of fashion aficionados on Twitter in the comments for “Fashion PR Agencies, Designers and Bloggers.”

PR: One of the things I thought was great was using Twitter to mine for potential stories and writers, do you plan on continuing to do this?

MC: We definitely plan on doing this more! There’s a community for everyone on Twitter, and it’s such a great resource to tap into for potential stories, writers, and PR contacts that we might not necessarily have connected with otherwise.

PR: What are the key components of a successful Twitter strategy?
MC: For us, it’s a combination of providing information and engaging in conversation. We aim to post links to articles on our site that appeal to both the largest range of users (like topical/newsworthy articles and blogs or career/job-related articles), and also articles that might appeal to smaller niches in the Twitter community. I think this kind of targeting is why we’ve been so successful–even if you’re just posting a link, editorializing how you present it or asking a question will engage more people than using your Twitter account as an RSS feed. But aside from being informative and interesting, Twitter is not the place to go to talk AT your readers, so it’s equally important to start and join conversations, to answer questions, and to retweet our followers when they post something interesting or relevant.

PR: How does Twitter integrate or support additional MC online tactics? What are some of the other ways Marie Claire is involved in Social Media? Why is it important for print magazines to embrace the online space?
MC: Print magazines don’t exist in a vacuum, and neither do their websites or Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace accounts, so all of those components need to work together. We go where our readers are, and our readers are flipping through the magazine at home, they’re reading our blogs and articles on marieclaire.com, and they’re talking about it on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Print magazines now have an online presence whether they want one or not–if you’re not using social media to promote and talk about your brand, your readers will still be talking about it without you, so it’s in your best interest to join the conversation.

PR: How are you measuring and reporting your Twitter success? Do you monitor for brand mentions?
MC: We measure by referrals from Twitter. Referrals increase as we got more involved with the platform. We had 21.8K referrals from Twitter in March, compared to 5.7K in February. We also search for mentions of Marie Claire (vs @ replies to @marieclaire) by people that might not necessarily know we’re on Twitter and address their comments–like pointing them to an article they remember seeing in an old issue or looking up where they can buy a product they like.

PR: Do you accept “twit-pitches?” what is the best way for someone to submit something for potential coverage on MarieClaire.com?
MC: Yes, twit-pitches are welcome. We tweet an email address to reach us at whenever we’re looking for tips or info from our followers, but tweeple are also always welcome to @ or DM us and ask a question, or to ask for an email address to send a longer pitch too.

To view the full interview with the Marie Claire Twitter crew visit PR Couture

Six Social Sites Every Fashion Marketer Should Know (via AdAge.com)

AdAge.com covers an important topic for the fashion industry – social media. Yes, its a buzz word that every other person is throwing around, but its a very big topic in fashion retail as its changing the way retailers and designers do business. Holding very true to the article’s testaments, at this month’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week I witnessed many people twittering live inside the tents posting TwitPics and Tweets about their favorite designer looks. Albeit very distracting when I was trying to focus on the runway, it was evolutionary to see on my Twitter stream how important it was for others to be able to get up-to-the-minute news on their favorite designer shows.

Although New York Fashion Week is a private event meant only for select media, retail buyers, and VIP guests – live feeds, live streaming, and behind-the-scenes looks and opinions were being shared in real-time with the mass public. Thus, making fashion critics’ opinions not the “end all be all” deciding factor of who’s collection will be successful or not. Its now open to the consumer to voice his or her opinion before clothes are even considered to be bought and sold into their local retail store. But ultimately its up to fashion brands to take the iniative to listen and interact with what’s going on online.

As AdAge simply puts it:

“Social media has deconstructed the traditional means of communication between retailers and consumers by adding new channels for discussion. A designer can communicate with her audience on a moment-to-moment basis through sponsored Facebook groups and fan pages, online chats, Twitter feeds, Flickr, YouTube and new social shopping channels that facilitate two-way conversations. Meanwhile, the fashion industry’s main source of advertising, the monthly glossy, is experiencing sharp declines in ad sales this year — some down 47 % for the famed September issue, according to Forbes. If designers want to stay relevant, they need to drastically diversify their traditional communication patterns and join the online conversation.”

The above statement is so true. I think the key statement is “if designers want to stay relevant”. Fashion is all about change, progress, and innovative new looks. Why shouldn’t fashion marketing follow the same path? With new social media tools its become imperative for fashion brands to be participating in the online conversation and learn what their consumer likes and dislikes, not just throwing out some “monthly glossy” print ads in a magazine (although I do love some of those ads). Knowing what consumers want to see next, or like best in a collection could be the ticket for increased purchased items and company expansion or even better, having less items end up in a department store’s 75% off clearance rack.

The AdAge article highlights designer Tory Burch ‘s avid use of Twitter to outreach to followers and use online contests Polyvore.com to give fans a chance to show of their visual merchandising skills for Tory Burch products. This type of social interaction is what will help fashion retailers evolve their brand to not just be brand recongizable but develop a relationship with consumers and create brand advocates.

Definitely check out the full fashion social media article here but the six fashion sites AdAge highlights should definitely be on fashion marketer’s watch list as they are changing and molding the way fashion brands do business.

Here are AdAge.com’s Six Social Fashion Sites that every marketer worth her Prada handbag should be familiar with:

Shopflick
Shopflick combines videos and shopping to create a truly unique online fashion and shopping experience and social community. The site draws from a strong network of indie and up and coming designers to provide shoppers the ability to find cutting edge, unique items and to helps brand touch base and engage with current and new customers through branded online stores, video commerce widgets and much more.

Us Trendy
UsTrendy is a place where designers can post their portfolios, fans can judge them and then each season a collection is chosen using the most popular styles. Its tag line is, “…today’s inspiration… tomorrow’s trend…” UsTrendy produces the popular clothes and hosts events. They provide interaction and showcasing opportunities to designers, artists, models and fans through galleries, industry exposure, events and social networking connections. The site is a mash-up of Etsy.com and Linkedin.com.

StyleCaster
StyleCaster is looking to become the future site of online fashion through optimized fashion advice that is targeted to each user. This is the Amazon of fashion sites, where with every click they get to know you personal preference and taste, thereby giving you educated advice and marketing. This site is a mash-up of social network, editorial content and shopping and has just been given 4 million in funding.

Sense of Fashion
Sense of Fashion is the marketplace for upstart fashion designers, fashion lovers and sellers. It has an eBay-like capability for people to sell their fashion, shop or interact in their social network. Fans can show off their individual styles, favorite brands or even do e-commerce. Their goal is to connect designers with the very people who may inspire them, to also provide a platform for users to show off and sell their merchandise.

Est.Today
Est.Today is a fashion site for tweens that gives young girls the ability to design, display and purchase their own clothes. With personal creativity being the most stylish accessory this season, and now that young girls are paving the way for many new trends today according to a recent article in British Elle, this site capitalizes a the younger generations need for individual creativity.

Style Hop
StyleHop combines fashion and gaming to provide users with a fun rating system to decide on the popularity of branded styles. It incorporates yelp-like functionality to provide viewers information on popular sweaters and shoes for certain cities. Brands are given visibility though outfits, and users are able to comment on each picture with the ability to share the pictures on their other networks.

This time of year is the perfect opportunity for designers to dynamically and creatively encourage and join this discussion. Fashion fans are chomping at the bit for content from their favorite designers — which is why fashion sites are thriving. These sites and indie fashion bloggers may not have Anna Wintour’s bully pulpit (yet), but they are creating the future of the monthly glossy, and the future of the fashion Marcom system.

Step one is listening and engaging with your customers via social media channels, step two is to create social shopping opportunities and provide easy paths to purchase via social media channels. While designers may be apprehensive in giving up control, social media tools are actually launching pads for designers to strengthen their customer base and ultimately, grow their sales. (via AdAge.com)

FashionHodgePodge - Fashion Blog

Welcome to FashionHodgePodge.com.  Where all things fashion come to a hub. Fashion isnt just about consumerism or luxury, nor is it just about the people who wear it.

Fashion is a hodge podge of those things and so much more. Its luxury items, brand powerhouses, boutique clothing shops, modern art, designers, vintage pieces, advertising campaigns, models, runways and showrooms.  Fashion is derived from the buildings, sky, and trees. The list can go on and on where fashion lives, how it is created, and who it inspires.

That is why we are here. Fashion is art. Its a hodge podge of ideas, inspiration, and innovation. Trends come and go. Fads fade and shine. But style lives forever on FashionHodgePodge.com, so please feel free to comment, add your opinons, favorite fashion items, and help contribute to the ever-evolving world of fashion.