jstanle | PR|luxe

Fashion Brand Chanel vs. Retail Giant Bergdorf Goodman: Twitter Strategies in the Luxury Retailing Industry

Last week, Jamie Waugh Luke, a columnist for Luxury Daily, posted an article about two well-known giants in the luxury retailing industry (Chanel and Bergdorf Goodman) and their different strategies on Twitter. The article, titled “Chanel vs. Bergdorf Goodman: Twitter personas and the perception of luxury,” examined both company’s Twitter pages and came to some conclusions about using Twitter in the luxury fashion industry. In this blog, I’m going to dissect the article and give specific examples to some of the conclusions that Luke came to.

First of all, the author believes that Bergdorf Goodman could take some pointers from Chanel’s social media strategy.

“Though it is inherently risky to compare brand to retailer, and though Bergdorf’s tweets read like a wink and a toast at best, it is nevertheless revealing of how the luxury retailer could learn from the writing and the strategy behind Chanel’s tweets.”

1) Chanel follows no one

Luke believes that following people on Twitter is one of the key ingredients in building an engaged audience; however, this is not the case for Chanel.

“Listening does not appear to be Chanel’s bag, and I would bet the followers do not care. They do not love Chanel because it is chatty: They love Chanel because associating with the brand offers rich club membership”

2) Bergdorf Goodman utilizes a “Twitter Persona”

Bergdorf tweets from a persona, a fun and fashionable girl, who tweets about her daily life and fashion.

“The problem with Bergdorf ’s tweets: you are often forgetting you are reading about Bergdorf… Instead, it offers the reader retweeted conversations with ordinary strangers out there who do not particularly have much to say.”

The Bergdorf Goodman Twitter has also been utilizing the hashtag #GetScattered, to promote a new documentary about the retailer debuting May 3^rd.

“And the brand retweets fashionista after fashionista excited that the Bergdorf documentary is coming. The fact that Bergdorf is giddy that it is giddy casts a shadow on Bergdorf’s aura.”

3) Chanel uses a simplistic style when composing their tweets

Chanel uses simple tweets and lets the products do all talking

“The content keeps the Chanel aficionado informed of the glamorous intrigue they want to know… I f the reader has not bought Chanel yet, there is enough emotive content here to make her ready to leap at the first chance.”

Luke believes that Bergdorf Goodman is not completely failing. The “elevated” and “polite humor” that BG uses in its tweets is relatable to the 175 thousand+ followers.

However, brand voice is still the central idea that all fashion PR specialists should keep at the front of the brain when managing a brand or retailer’s social media outlets.

“THERE IS something to be said for using social media to integrate a brand into a person’s lifestyle. But when that means forgetting about the brand’s life itself, the message gets lost –and perhaps customers do as well.”

New Social Media App, Vine, Could be the Next Big Thing For Fashion Brands and Blogs

Vine is a new social media app that was released by Twitter in January. Three months later, the video mobile app is number one on the U.S.’s list of free iPhone apps.

Vine allows users to create six-second videos and share them with their followers. Many people think of Vine as the “video Instagram.”

The giant increase in popularity for the app should be an indicator of a huge opportunity for companies –luxury retailers and fashion brands especially.

Two weeks ago, I discussed the importance of using Instagram for luxury brands. These companies can engage with their customers and allow them to be a part of their social media campaigns. Like Instagram, Vine allows brands to engage with their consumers and allow them connect on a more intimate level. Vine has the advantage of video and sounds that Instagram doesn’t have and because of this, there are much more creative opportunities.

“And if anything, Vine is even better at capturing “the now” than Instagram.” – Chris Taylor from Mashable

Check out this Vine post from luxury brand, Michael Kors:

Vine’s popularity is increasing every day, and fashion brands need to take notice and start creating content that Vine users can engage with. Through video and audio, these companies can create beautiful six second videos of their products that customers can understand easier than a simple photo like on Instagram.

Vine has recently begun allowing users to add hashtags to their videos (thanks to their parent company, Twitter) so users can explore videos much more easily.

What do you think about this new app? Do you use Vine? Is Vine the next big thing? Will it ever have more active users than Instagram (which has about 90 million current active users)?

You can follow me on Vine through my twitter account @JacksonStanley

Increasing Your Social Media Presence on Instagram: Tips for Fashion Bloggers

Last week, I posted a blog about three luxury-retailing brands (Michael Kors, Urban Outfitters, and David Yurman) who are utilizing the mobile app Instagram for their social media campaigns.

The popular fashion blogging website, Independent Fashion Bloggers, posted a blog about Instagram called “The Instagram Habits of Mega-Popular Fashion Bloggers.” The post, written by blogger Taylor Davies, presents six fashion bloggers and their Instagrams and discusses what the secret to Instagram fame is.

First, let’s take a look at these six users:

1) Aimee Song, @songofstyle

2) Jessica Stein, @tuulavintage

3) Nicole Warne, @garypeppergirl

4) Leandra Medine, @manrepeller

5) Julie Sarinana, @sincerelyjules

6) Jamie Beck, @_frommetoyou

The article goes on to give some pointers on how to maximize your social media presence on Instagram:

1. Post frequently! These bloggers are all posting at least twice a day, if not five times a day. Consistency like this keeps your followers engaged.

2. Pay attention to your captions – they make a difference. Mention brands, use appropriate hashtags and add humor or emotion whenever you can!

3. See the beauty in wherever you are. Keep your creative eye on your surroundings, look for history, color, nature, and character all around you. Get creative – there are gorgeous locations from Cleveland to Canada, the biggest cities to the smallest towns.

4. Showcase your style. Instagram users love to see your fashion, so embrace the #OOTD hashtag and share your personal style with your followers all the time. Try different angles, have a friend snap a quick picture for you, and embrace fancy mirrors.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any additional tips that Instagram users can use to increase their presence and create engaging content?

You can follow me on Instagram at @jacksonstanley

How Fashion Brands are Using Instagram to Connect to Customers and Promote Brand Image

Fashion brands are looking for new ways to connect with customers more than ever. Across the industry, brands are focusing more on increasing their digital and social media presence. One of the ways these brands are doing this is through the mobile app, Instagram. The app’s website says this about who they are and what Instagram is:

“Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever. We’re building Instagram to allow you to experience moments in your friends’ lives through pictures as they happen. We imagine a world more connected through photos.”

Brands like Michael Kors, Urban Outfitters, and David Yurman are utilizing Instagram and using the app to connect with customers, promote their brand image, and allow their customers to be a part of their content creation.

The luxury accessories and apparel brand, Michael Kors, has one of the largest Instagram following of any retail brand. With over 640 thousand followers, the brand has a giant opportunity to engage with this large following while promoting brand image.

In February, Michael Kors launched a new mobile campaign called “falling in love.” The campaign allowed Instagram users to take a picture of their favorite Michael Kors products with the hashtag #fallinginlovewith.

Urban Outfitters also took a similar approach and focused its Instagram campaign on the customer. Urban Outfitters told Instagram users that by uploading a photo with their favorite looks from the store with the hashtag #UOonYou they could be featured on the company’s website.

Luxury jewelry brand, David Yurman, is also increasing their attention on Instagram. With the hashtag #showyourcolors, David Yurman asks customers to show them in David Yurman spring 2013 products (which are very colorful) for a chance to be a part of the campaign.

Instagram is extremely valuable, especially for luxury apparel brands, whose success rely on trends and style. By connecting and engaging with customers on a personal level, customers are the ones who are building brand image.

House of DIFFA: Collection 2013 Social Event and Fashion Show

Last night, I attended the 2013 DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) event “House of DIFFA: Collection 2o13.” This black-tie event attracts the wealthiest philanthropists and social elite of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area into one very chic ballroom. This year, DIFFA was held at the Hilton Anatole in downtown Dallas on March 23rd.

From DIFFA’s website:

“The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) is the oldest and one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS service and education programs in the U.S. Since its founding in 1984, DIFFA has mobilized the immense resources of the design communities to provide over $38 million to hundreds of AIDS organizations nationwide Starting with volunteers from fashion, interior design, furnishings and architecture, supporters of DIFFA now come from every field associated with fine design.”

This year’s event began with a silent auction and champagne while giving partygoers a chance to mingle and network. The silent auction gave bidders a chance to win items ranging from skincare baskets to fine art pieces and fine furniture, to items of clothing from the event’s runway shows.

The dinner was a delicious three-course meal of a simple salad with balsamic vinaigrette, filet mignon and asparagus, and finished with a delicious lemon cheesecake tower garnished with a raspberry and raspberry sauce.

Ron Corning, morning anchor at Dallas-based news outlet WFAA, hosted the event alongside actress and honorary chair Linda Gray, who plays Sue Ellen Ewing on TNT’s hit show “Dallas.”

During the dinner, a live-auction was held auctioning off fabulous trips to destinations around the world. Partygoers dropped major cash all around the room for a good cause. These trips ranged from a trip for two to California’s Napa Valley to a trip to Amsterdam for Amsterdam’s gay pride parade.

After the live-auction, the House of DIFFA collection was showcased, comprised of numerous runway shows. These fabulous fashion shows presented Dallas’ elite with high-fashion trends and an opportunity to purchase the designer’s pieces at the event.

Austin designer and style guru, Stephen Moser, was honored at the event by being presented the Best Newcomer award. Moser writes a column for the Austin Chronicle and also designed several pieces for the runway show.

Of course the event wouldn’t be complete without performances by well-known Dallas drag queens (including Krystal Summers) and international dance team Kazaky (best known for their role in Madonna’s music video for “Girl Gone Wild”).

Throughout the event, DIFFA’s twitter page (@DIFFADallas) was updated and encouraged tweeters to use the hashtag #HouseofDIFFA.

It is safe to say that this year’s DIFFA event was an absolutely incredible experience full of great food, conversation, and fabulous fashion.

DIFFA has set the bar very high and I have faith they will raise it even higher at next year’s event!

Check out photos from the event:

Luxury Fashion Brand DKNY in Copyright Controversy with Popular NYC Blog

Last week, luxury retailing brand DKNY got themselves in a bit of a pickle.

Here’s what went down:

DKNY approached well-known blogger, Brandon Stanton, to discuss using his photographs for promotion in their stores. Stanton runs the popular art blog, Humans of New York, which chronicles the diverse cultures of New York City and its eccentric residents through photographs.

DKNY offered Stanton $15,000 for the rights to use 300 of his photographs in their retail stores around the world. Stanton believed that $50 per photo was not enough and declined their offer.

Then things went south.

On February 25^th, Stanton updated the Humans of New York Facebook page with a photo attached. Here is what the status read:

“I am a street photographer in New York City. Several months ago, I was approached by a representative of DKNY who asked to purchase 300 of my photos to hang in their store windows “around the world.” They offered me $15,000. A friend in the industry told me that $50 per photo was not nearly enough to receive from a company with hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. So I asked for more money. They said “no.”

Today, a fan sent me a photo from a DKNY store in Bangkok. The window is full of my photos. These photos were used without my knowledge, and without compensation.

I don’t want any money. But please SHARE this post if you think that DKNY should donate $100,000 on my behalf to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. That donation would sure help a lot of deserving kids go to summer camp. I’ll let you guys know if it happens.”

Within four hours, DKNY posted this response on their Facebook page:

DKNY's Response — DKNY’s response to Humans of New York

Soon after, Stanton responded back on the Humans of New York page

Stanton Responds to DKNY's apology — Humans of New York’s response to DKNY’s apology

How do you think DKNY handled this situation? Would you have done anything differently?

The Fashion Industry in the 21st Century: The Crossroads of Exclusivity and Accessibility

As the fashion industry wraps up the 2013 New York Fashion Week, the impact of social media during the event is beginning to surface. I recently posted a blog post on how social media is an enormous opportunity for New York Fashion Week.

Mashable recently published a Fashion Week Infographic, which contained information on social media during the 2013 Fashion Week.

The infographic showed a graph that tracked the daily twitter mentions between two fashion week hashtags: #MBFW (Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week) and #NYFW (New York Fashion Week). The chart shows that throughout the event, a total of 370,872 tweets contained the hashtage #NYFW and 43,679 tweets contained #MBFW.

The infographic also tracked data on the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Facebook page. Over the past month, 25,829 people were talking about the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and the page had over 307 thousand “likes.”

Traditionally, the fashion industry relied on exclusivity to create brand image; however, with the advent of social media, the demand for fashion designers and labels to increase accessibility and engagement to the masses has put the industry at the crossroad of accessibility and exclusivity. In a previous blog post, I talk about PR and social media’s opportunity to increase accessibility of the fashion industry to the masses.

Blogger Elizabeth Canon writes in her post “Redefining Luxury”:

“As luxury brands, we have been exclusive and premier in all respects. From prestigious store locations (Via Condotti, 5th Avenue) to store décor, merchandising, fabrics and price points, there is a sense of selection that does not welcome the masses. Events and fashion show invites are in high demand because the experience is so awe-inspiring and the accessibility so limited. Even in traditional print advertising, the imagery conveys a lifestyle that is not representative of the general public, but rather of a select group.”

To convey luxury through social media, where much of the audience being engaged is more aspirational consumers than realistic consumers, becomes a challenge. Canon offers the solution to redefine exclusivity. Instead of exclusivity of clientele, “it should instead be the experience the brand conveys.“

It will be interesting to see how designers in the industry tackle this issue.

John Galliano: A PR Representative’s Worst Nightmare

We all know John Galliano as the outspoken and flamboyant designer who was fired from Christian Dior in 2011 for a quarrel in a Paris café where Galliano insulted a group seated next to him by hurling anti-Semitic insults. As if the news of this wasn’t enough, the incident was actually caught on camera.

In response to this outburst, on February 25, 2011, Dior announced the dismissal of John Galliano following the news of his arrest.

This incident has been a heated talk in the fashion world. Natalie Portman is a Jewish actress born in Jerusalem and has relatives who died at the Aushwitz concentration camp. Portman had an endorsement deal with one of Dior’s fragrances, Miss Dior Cherie, and was not pleased with Galliano’s anti-Semitic remarks. She released a statement in response to the incident, saying:

“I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the video of John Galliano’s comments that surfaced today. In light of this video, and as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way. I hope at the very least, these terrible comments remind us to reflect and act upon combating these still-existing prejudices that are the opposite of all that is beautiful.”

John Galliano continued sparking controversy over this subject this week during New York Fashion Week. Galliano made quite the fashion statement in his wardrobe choice for designer and friend Oscar de la Renta’s fashion show at New York Fashion Week.

The designer sported an outfit that can be described as an adaption of traditional Hasidic Jewish attire. The designer wore a long coat, black top hat, and hair curled resembling Peyos, or long curled side-locks that demonstrate dedication to the Jewish faith.

John Galliano’s actions are a PR specialist’s nightmare. The crisis communication necessary to clean up Galliano’s image as an anti-Semitist would be extensive and perhaps a lost cause.

The best way to clean up this mess: reinforce Galliano’s image of flamboyance and theatrics. The fashion industry is extremely open-minded and accepting. Galliano’s talents are irreplaceable—and the industry realizes this. Reinforcing the designer’s love of the theater may help counter the actions. Pair this reinforcement with celebrity endorsements of the designer, and this crisis will go from an anti-Semitic disaster to an outburst of latent creativity from an outspoken designer.

Galliano’s story went viral within the fashion industry because of social media. This illustrates how social media can be a PR specialist’s best friend as well as their enemy.

How Social Media Has Transformed New York Fashion Week

The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, which runs February 7-14, is in full swing in New York City. This event is an excellent opportunity for brands to increase their social media presence.

The website for the week long event has a twitter feed that displays all tweets from @mbfashionweek. The twitter account has over 6,000 tweets and over 170,000 followers. The event also has an Instagram account with the same username, mbfashionweek. The Instagram account has over 900 photos from various fashion shows.

One particular fashion brand that is using social media during the fashion week is Kenneth Cole. On February 9^th, Kenneth Cole (@KennethCole) tweeted that for every retweet, the brand would donate $1 dollar to AIDS research.

This is an excellent example of how brands can engage their followers while also increasing brand equity. Philanthropy is always a great way to increase positive feelings for brands.

The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week’s website also has an area for viewers to watch events live. Recently, New York Fashion Week has transformed into a pop culture event. This increase in interest has influenced the demand for immediacy of coverage of fashion week events. Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week has utilized social media to deliver coverage of the fashion week events. They have accounts on several social media sites including, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week’s YouTube account posts videos of label’s fashion shows and their Facebook account updates over 300,000 people on what is happening at the event with photos and status updates.

Social media is extremely valuable, especially during large events like New York Fashion Week. Brands can utilize the power of social media and deliver immediate coverage of the shows to eager viewers. New York Fashion Week has traditionally only been enjoyed by those attending the event but thanks to social media, fashion week can be viewed and enjoyed by more people. Brands can take this opportunity and use it to increase their following and engage followers.

PR and Social Media’s Opportunity to Improve Accessibility to Fashion

In the January 2013 issue of W Magazine, (one of the leading luxury-fashion magazines in the world) editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi wrote in his editor’s letter:

“At W, we believe that art and fashion are two of the most important contemporary cultural forces.”

Fashion has a large influence on society and culture; however, fashion is often dismissed as frivolous or obnoxious.

In the fashion documentary The September Issue, Anna Wintour (editor-in-chief of Vogue) said

“ I think what I often see is that people are frightened of fashion. Because it scares them or makes them feel insecure—they put it down. On the whole people that say, demeaning things about our world I think that’s usually because they feel, in some ways, excluded or, you know, not a part of ‘the cool group’ so as a result they just mock it.”

Anna Wintour is correct, unfortunately. The fashion industry has historically been extremely exclusive. Only a margin of the population can enjoy fashion and have access to it.

This is where PR and social media have a huge opportunity. Fashion is such a giant cultural force, but few in our society have access to enjoy it and this margin dominates the industry.

PR and social media in the luxury-retailing world face a dilemma: to focus on this margin and continue the exclusivity of the industry, or, utilize the power of PR and social media and make fashion more accessible to the rest of society.

Social media is extremely important for the fashion industry. Data aggregator website, Starcount, collects information on social media engagement about celebrities, sports teams, brands, and others topics of interest. During the week of January 28^th – February 3^rd 2013, fashion brands Michael Kors, Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel were all in the top 10 of trending brands.

Social media allows a brand to engage with consumers and become more personable. PR professionals can utilize this strength to remove the exclusivity of fashion to consumers and increase consumer interest.

In The September Issue, Anna Wintour also said: “There is something about fashion that can make people really nervous.”

PR and social media have the ability to challenge this idea and create more positive brand equity for fashion labels and luxury-retailers.