BRANDGOOD

CONSUMERS HAVE THE FIRST SAY

The Art of User Generated Content in Fashion E-Commerce

Back in 2009, Burberry launched a fresh, innovative initiative in its online digital space. The Art of the Trench is an external site where customers can share photos of themselves wearing their Burberry trench coats, allowing other customers to admire their sense of style. Not only did the site appeal to Burberry product owners, but also to “aspirational” future consumers who had the ability to comment on and “like” their favorite style shots. To kick off the site, Burberry hosted pictures by acclaimed fashion blogger and photographer Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist, setting the tone for the site. “Rather than explicitly market the Trench, Burberry opted to rely largely on public relations and word of mouth generated through The Sartorialist and users sharing their submissions on Facebook and Twitter”. (1)

tags: Featured UGC Free People Burberry ASOS Digital Levi's Trends Consumer Advertising Marketing

HOW VIDEOS CAN WIN ‘EM ALL

Creative Video Content Takes Fashion Advertising to Another Level

As we are always the most capricious of consumers, today in the fashion industry, the pressure is on for brands to hold our wandering gaze and grasp our attention. The ones that do have it locked down are those who recognize the new necessity of video content. Fashion houses and up and coming designers are dabbling with the idea of creating a more dynamic platform to shout their brand message from. Brands are finding the power in a new kind of creative content with digital storytelling through video. Over 4 billion hours of video is watched each month on Youtube, and now it’s the brand’s responsibility to position itself on the “new TV” and gain airtime.

tags: featured social trends commerce fashion advertising freepeople katespade jcrew topshop vine calvinklein netaporter

STYLE CYCLES

Bringing Innovation and Shelf Life to Fashion Companies

Long-loved brands can easily find themselves held back by a sell-by date. A brand once popular in its youth can just as quickly lose steam as it matures, getting stuck in a grey zone that can negatively affect sales. When brands face this challenging time, often the easy way out is to come up with short-term solutions to alleviate the toll; price cuts to boost immediate sales for example. While this may help in the short-term, in the long run your brand is looking ahead at more deep-rooted issues such as consumer and investor trust and brand following.

tags: Trends Commerce Fashion Consumer Featured Tory Burch Michael Kors Ugg juicy couture

VISUAL STORYTELLING

Build Emotional Connections Through Lookbooks

Toth is always exploring the power of intuitive site design. In a previous post, we delved into the beautiful aesthetics and functionality of renowned sites, such as Zara and Kenzo. Undeniably, visual elements for brand sites play a prominent role delivering a desired brand image and influencing the consumer’s purchase decisions.

tags: Featured Social Trends Lookbook Branding Fashion Roxy NastyGal

SPOTLIGHT: HUKKSTER

Meet Erica Bell and Katie Finnegan, Co-Founders of Hukkster

If you ask what the hottest start-up is right now, the answer is undoubtedly Hukkster. There has been an onslaught of publicity for the new retail service start-up, especially after they announced that the famous Winklevoss Twins led a $750,000 investment in the business.

tags: ecommerce fashion hukkster online shopping social spotlight trends commerce

MOBILE FRIENDLY

Create Effective Mobile Solutions

The number of smartphone users in the world topped 1 billion (1), and smartphone penetration is at 47 percent in the U.S.; therefore, the pressure on marketers to develop mobile solutions is constantly increasing.

tags: mobile trends social featured smartphone

#HASHTAGS4BRANDS

Complete Guide to Hashtag Campaign

Back in 2009, many people considered one of the most complex features of Twitter to be the hashtag. Three years later, hashtags are not just a ubiquitous part of Twitter’s features, but rather, have evolved as conversation aggregators supported by social media channels including Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

tags: Burberry Hashtag Twitter Fashion Social Featured Levi's MarcJacobs MarcFam Trend

DESIGN TO SELL

Power of Remarkable Site Design

It is not rare to come across a fashion brand website that is beautifully designed, but extremely disappointing in terms of its functionality and ease of use. While there are a significant number of retail sites that do have renowned functionality and notable user interfaces, they are often lacking in their content and overall site design. Creating a balance between having a top-notch user interface and delivering a strong brand message is important to any successful website.

tags: E-commerce commerce featured trends

BUY INTO TRENDS

Inspire Customers Through Editorial Content

Vogue’s 120th Anniversary issue made its debut on newsstands just a few days ago. In the Letter from the Editor, Anna Wintour celebrates the magazine’s birthday by sending special thanks to the Vogue’s many editors. The magazine industry has always been one of the most important pillars holding up the fashion industry. In addition to fashion designers and businessmen who move the industry forward, what editors contribute to the world of fashion is significant. Recently, fashion bloggers have joined this revered category as heavy influencers of fashion businesses.

tags: Featured Blog Editor Vogue Magazine Branding Social Trends

SPOTLIGHT: RUE LA LA

Discussion with Apar Kothari, VP and Head of Business Development

Everyday at 11 AM, fashion and tech-savvy girls alike become excited over the irresistible discounts on Rue La La. Private sale businesses have become extremely popular over the past few years and the flash-sales industry has average revenue growth of almost 50 percent per year. (1)

tags: Commerce Featured Flash Sales Rue La La Social Trends Spotlight