To say today’s consumer is connected is a vast understatement. Technology enables people to be instantly and constantly connected to experiences, information, other people, to brand stories, and to products. What’s more, their expectations of how businesses and brands can, and should, leverage technology are dramatically rising. Clearly, this is impacting the retail environment and we have already seen multiple brands respond by incorporating digital to the store experience in various ways (some successfully, others less so).
SxSW is Just the Beginning…
Internally at FC, we are closing out SxSW. The preparation is over; the event has come and gone. Our Fashion Brain Bar is in the past, as are all of the panels and presentations attended. Our inner circle dinner party in Austin, which took place for a small group of industry friends and leaders at our beautiful rental house, is now but a memory of great fun, great wine and great dialogue. We even brought the lessons of SxSW back to NYC and taught a workshop last week on the most critical insights, some of which are presented below in this article. However, as much as we may have SxSW fatigue, and are closing the chapter on this year’s festival, we can’t help but feel that the opposite is more attuned with reality; much more than an ending, this represents many beginnings. What will our industry do with the knowledge and insights that were presented? How will new advances in technology impact our culture over the next year or few years?
Recapping Pitti: How Digital Can Aid the Tradeshow Experience
Again this year, Pitti gathered hundreds of brands to showcase their collections to the industry’s top merchants. But along with regular attendees like buyers from Barney’s and Bergdorfs, and street style photographers like Scott Schuman, this year’s Pitti brought something else…the intense heat. Temperatures soared to nearly 100°F, by my iphone’s measure. Taking a stroll through Pitti with fellow Fashion’s Collective contributor Ceci Guicciardi was anything but leisurely. And, while Pitti doesn’t discount digital as part of the experience (it’s digital platform e-Pitti is a repository of information published at the discretion of each vendor), there are certainly opportunities to improve one’s encounter. At times of severe discomfort, (scouring hundreds of vendors in Sahara-like conditions while under time constraints, trying to look chic and act professionally, for example), anything to ease the experience is both welcomed and necessary.
Should Brands Get Tangled Up in Vine?
The newest social media craze is Vine, an application that allows users to create mini movies by holding their iOS device steady in three separate shots. The in-app camera then loops the three shots together into one quick, 6 second video clip which is shared with the Vine community (and can also be shared on Twitter and Facebook).
New Instagram Technology Unveiled at FNO
For New York retailers participating in Fashion’s Night Out, the typical minimum spend for in-store festivities is $20,000, and budgets tend to head much further north from there with some retail giants spending in the six figures. Though intentionally established to drive sales in a depressed economy, FNO has become more about driving exposure than revenue. As many retailers now write FNO into their annual budgets, even the best parties need to show some sort of return on investment.
How Michael Kors Drives Engagement thru Mobile-friendly Facebook Apps
Did you know that over 425 million people access Facebook from a mobile device every month? As a brand, capitalizing on your Facebook fan base through applications is a strategy employed by a vast majority, yet almost none are designed to be compatible with mobile devices. One of the first brands to overcome this challenge is Michael Kors, with the launch of their recent Mother’s Day campaign, “What She Wants.”
