Although I have been blogging before about how useful facebook can be for companies, i have found some research that is claiming the opposite. Brand Republic - a market-leading website for the online advertising, marketing, media and PR sectors - has recently done some street interviews in the UK asking people about their opinion and experience with fan sites on facebook.
These are the snapshots of the interviews:
According to this study people seem not to be really interested in becoming a fan of brands on facebook. These interviews were of course only made with a small group of selected people, so that one might argue that the results are not representative. Nevertheless, it seems to me that a majority of Facebook users (including me) don't see the benefit of becoming a fan of most of the brands on Facebook. This issue goes back to one of my previous postings about Victoria's Secret and Facebook. Facebook is only an effective marketing tool if the company finds a way to differentiate itself from its competitors on Facebook and clearly shows its customers the benefits of being their 'Facebook fan'.
But aren't companies dealing with the same issues in the offline marketing world too??! I think that with some creativity there are many ways to use Facebook to your advantage!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Saturday, December 5, 2009
YouTube's biggest showoffs....
A new fashion-related viral video trend are haul videos that are mainly posted on Youtube. People (predominantly teenage girls) talk in more or less short videos about where they just went shopping and show what they bought there. Some of them even mentioned prices of every single piece.
Fashion companies have been following the individuals that are showing off their merchandise. The industry is sceptical on using haul videos for advertising purposes. Although these videos can be used to gather some feedback from customers and fans, I think (and I hope) this tool will not make it into the tool mix of e-marketers in fashion companies.
Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about have to see this video:
Fashion companies have been following the individuals that are showing off their merchandise. The industry is sceptical on using haul videos for advertising purposes. Although these videos can be used to gather some feedback from customers and fans, I think (and I hope) this tool will not make it into the tool mix of e-marketers in fashion companies.
Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about have to see this video:
Friday, November 27, 2009
GAP sets benchmark for mobile marketing
Since we have been discussing the possibilities of mobile marketing in our last e-marketing class, I was curious to see if there is a fashion company that makes use of this promising marketing tool. The company that I stumbled upon first was the Gap, which ended up being a pretty interesting story.
The fashion retailer launched a competition this summer asking people to come up with ideas about what GAP could be doing with the iPhone. The winner who was announced in August 2009 was a company called IntuApps whose ideas were later used for the development of an app called Gap StyleMixer. This is a short demo of the app IntuApps developed:
The final version of the social shopping app enables users to mix and matches clothes, find inspiration, get advice and more. StyleMixer can help the user to organize outfits that can be shared on Facebook to get feedback from friends. Users can even integrated clothes from their own closets. But the most revolutionary part of the app is the fact that the app unlocks special denim discounts when users are near a Gap store by using GPS technology.
And this is how the app and a discount look like:
I think Gap has done a great job in incorporating mobile technology into its e-marketing strategy. Gap fans can discover new trends and items and share it right away with their friends. However, many users have complained about the lack of items in this app. There is obviously no point in putting together outfits if there are not enough items to choose from. Especially with the store discount function, this app shows great potential for Gap. Nevertheless, the retailer has to make sure that a better selection of merchandise is included so that Gap fans can use it to its full extent.
Found via Mobile Marketer
The fashion retailer launched a competition this summer asking people to come up with ideas about what GAP could be doing with the iPhone. The winner who was announced in August 2009 was a company called IntuApps whose ideas were later used for the development of an app called Gap StyleMixer. This is a short demo of the app IntuApps developed:
The final version of the social shopping app enables users to mix and matches clothes, find inspiration, get advice and more. StyleMixer can help the user to organize outfits that can be shared on Facebook to get feedback from friends. Users can even integrated clothes from their own closets. But the most revolutionary part of the app is the fact that the app unlocks special denim discounts when users are near a Gap store by using GPS technology.
And this is how the app and a discount look like:
I think Gap has done a great job in incorporating mobile technology into its e-marketing strategy. Gap fans can discover new trends and items and share it right away with their friends. However, many users have complained about the lack of items in this app. There is obviously no point in putting together outfits if there are not enough items to choose from. Especially with the store discount function, this app shows great potential for Gap. Nevertheless, the retailer has to make sure that a better selection of merchandise is included so that Gap fans can use it to its full extent.
Found via Mobile Marketer
Thursday, November 19, 2009
From Couture to Conversation
In my last post I have been blogging about a study that rated the digital competence of 109 luxury brands, some of them being fashion companies. The fashion company with the third highest rating (rank #11) was Gucci and today I totally understand why.
Gucci introduced its latest line of eyewear with a viral ad campaign by launching a website called guccieyeweb.com. This site lets visitors upload their own party pictures of which some of them will be chosen by Gucci and displayed on the website as if they were reflections in the various new eyewear styles. And this is how it looks like:
Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s president, sees this initiative as a "tactical web promotion." According to him, guccieyeweb.com is a component of an integrated marketing plan for the launch of Gucci’s new youth-oriented sunglass collection. As social networking is an important activity for this target demographic today, this component has been the heart of the marketing plan. He also elaborates on the fact that the investment in building and maintaining this site equals to a handful pages in a traditional marketing campaign. Given that this site can be reached internationally, this investment can be highly efficient.
This is another example how companies step away from traditional marketing communication to more conversational marketing. This campaign is entirely build on customer involvement and would not work without customers' willingness to share their personal pictures. I am not sure if this campaign will be a success. What I am sure though is that Gucci will be able to easily track the conversion rate as each site of guccieyeweb.com shows the direct link to the online shop.
I could not hold off myself to test this website and to upload some of my pictures. Let’s see if I get picked by Gucci… I’ll keep you posted!
Found via The New York Times
Gucci introduced its latest line of eyewear with a viral ad campaign by launching a website called guccieyeweb.com. This site lets visitors upload their own party pictures of which some of them will be chosen by Gucci and displayed on the website as if they were reflections in the various new eyewear styles. And this is how it looks like:
Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s president, sees this initiative as a "tactical web promotion." According to him, guccieyeweb.com is a component of an integrated marketing plan for the launch of Gucci’s new youth-oriented sunglass collection. As social networking is an important activity for this target demographic today, this component has been the heart of the marketing plan. He also elaborates on the fact that the investment in building and maintaining this site equals to a handful pages in a traditional marketing campaign. Given that this site can be reached internationally, this investment can be highly efficient.
This is another example how companies step away from traditional marketing communication to more conversational marketing. This campaign is entirely build on customer involvement and would not work without customers' willingness to share their personal pictures. I am not sure if this campaign will be a success. What I am sure though is that Gucci will be able to easily track the conversion rate as each site of guccieyeweb.com shows the direct link to the online shop.
I could not hold off myself to test this website and to upload some of my pictures. Let’s see if I get picked by Gucci… I’ll keep you posted!
Found via The New York Times
Monday, November 16, 2009
Digital IQ Rating of Luxury Brands
Trying to find the fashion companies who are doing a good job of exploiting e-commerce and social media opportunities, I have stumbled across a very interesting study done by NYU's Stern School of Business. This study rates the digital competence of 109 luxury brands in 11 categories grouped into four criteria:
1. Search Engine Optimization
2. Brand Translation
3. Leveraging the Medium
4. Social Media
The following table shows how fashion brands were ranked among other luxury brands:
Only Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren made it in the Top 10 of luxury brands that were rated in this study. I was not surprised that consumer electronics such as Apple (rank #1) are doing a better job in exploiting the Internet opportunities. But should automotive companies such as BMW (rank #2) and Audi (rank #4) perform better than fashion companies? Would we not expect fashion companies who are supposed to be the masters of image creation to rank higher?
The comment on Marc Jacobs online appearance: “no e-commerce capacity; site is little more than a digital runway show” was relatively brutal. I think that all the low ranked high-end fashion companies should definitely look into this study and try to benchmark and compare themselves with competitors inside and outside the fashion industry.
1. Search Engine Optimization
2. Brand Translation
3. Leveraging the Medium
4. Social Media
The following table shows how fashion brands were ranked among other luxury brands:
Only Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren made it in the Top 10 of luxury brands that were rated in this study. I was not surprised that consumer electronics such as Apple (rank #1) are doing a better job in exploiting the Internet opportunities. But should automotive companies such as BMW (rank #2) and Audi (rank #4) perform better than fashion companies? Would we not expect fashion companies who are supposed to be the masters of image creation to rank higher?
The comment on Marc Jacobs online appearance: “no e-commerce capacity; site is little more than a digital runway show” was relatively brutal. I think that all the low ranked high-end fashion companies should definitely look into this study and try to benchmark and compare themselves with competitors inside and outside the fashion industry.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Marc Jacobs: Viral marketing in Fashion
Marc Jacobs is a highly successful American fashion designer. Being the head designer for Marc Jacobs and the diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs, the designer is currently the Creative Director of the French design house Louis Vuitton. Last year Marc Jacobs used social media smartly to launch a viral marketing campaign. He decided to name a bag after a fashion blogger called Bryanboy after the blogger made this amusing documentary about the designer:
Once the bag was lauched, ad for the ostrich bag was built around Bryanboy:
This step has not only helped Bryanboy to become a star, who is now being invited to almost every fashion show but more importantly helped Marc Jacobs to have a free avalanche of publicity in the world of fashion. I think it was a brilliant idea to choose a controversial fashion blogger who is often described as the "gay version of Paris Hilton." I can clearly see a trend where companies tend to choose their best and most influential customers to use them for their ad campaigns. In my post about American Apparel using Chictopia to find models we could see a similar strategy. Social media is really changing the marketing world!
Once the bag was lauched, ad for the ostrich bag was built around Bryanboy:
This step has not only helped Bryanboy to become a star, who is now being invited to almost every fashion show but more importantly helped Marc Jacobs to have a free avalanche of publicity in the world of fashion. I think it was a brilliant idea to choose a controversial fashion blogger who is often described as the "gay version of Paris Hilton." I can clearly see a trend where companies tend to choose their best and most influential customers to use them for their ad campaigns. In my post about American Apparel using Chictopia to find models we could see a similar strategy. Social media is really changing the marketing world!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Book Report: Do It Wrong Quickly – How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules
Mike Moran’s book ‘Do It Wrong Quickly’ is not just another book about Internet marketing. The title of the book might lead the reader to think initially this book is about mistakes that can be done in Internet marketing. However, the book describes how companies should not get caught up in having to do it right the first time. Rather than trying to do it right the first time and spending significant amounts of money on planning, Moran suggests doing small and quick experiments because doing something wrong quickly is far better than doing something right slowly.
Compared to other E-marketing books, Moran’s approach to Internet marketing is pioneering and simple at the same time. Instead of creating an annual marketing plan, Moran suggests to do quick experiments. In order to decide whether an experiment was successful or not, the company has to make sure that accurate measurement is set in place. If the metrics show that this approach was wrong, the book clarifies that this is not a disaster, as something new can be tested very quickly the next day. By experimenting on a daily basis, a company can gradually fine-tune its marketing to have the highest possible outcome. This approach might change the entire world of an E-marketer, who is used to plan ahead of time in order to make it right the first time. This implies a flexible and open company culture. If this is not the case, e-marketers might have to overcome obstacles to persuade their leaders to ‘do things wrong quickly’.
Compared to other E-marketing books, Moran’s approach to Internet marketing is pioneering and simple at the same time. Instead of creating an annual marketing plan, Moran suggests to do quick experiments. In order to decide whether an experiment was successful or not, the company has to make sure that accurate measurement is set in place. If the metrics show that this approach was wrong, the book clarifies that this is not a disaster, as something new can be tested very quickly the next day. By experimenting on a daily basis, a company can gradually fine-tune its marketing to have the highest possible outcome. This approach might change the entire world of an E-marketer, who is used to plan ahead of time in order to make it right the first time. This implies a flexible and open company culture. If this is not the case, e-marketers might have to overcome obstacles to persuade their leaders to ‘do things wrong quickly’.
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