“If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.“ ~ Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
In case you’ve missed it, feast your eyes on this year’s holiday ad campaign from Tiffany & Co., starring Victoria Secret Angel Doutzen Kroes.
Check out the video with Doutzen here.
Photo credit: Tiffany & Co. Facebook
This post is the fourth and final installment of a four-part weekly guest post series from mobi.luxe, a blog covering mobile trends in luxury retail. Hope you all enjoyed the series!
The recent launch of French Connection UK’s (FCUK) v-commerce offering “YouTique” represents a very powerful opportunity for luxury retailers to mass broadcast style guide thought leadership and further strengthen loyalists’ affinity for brands. What is particularly compelling about this approach (although not currently leveraged by FCUK) is the mobile commerce implication. Experience has shown us the inherent value of video content over long-form text from the perspective of a powerful mobile use case. Through the production of this editorial style guide content that focuses less on particular pieces in an apparel brand’s collection and gives more emphasis on how best to apply the pieces to everyday events, FCUK’s “YouTique” offering provides utility, entertainment, and education as key drivers of increased brand loyalty.
I was very honored to speak at the recent Luxury Institute event at The London Hotel in New York City on the topic of Mobile 2.0 and how luxury brands can leverage mobile rich applications as facilitators of the brands’ clienteling initiatives. While the topic of my presentation focused more on the potential positive implications of rich apps for enhancing the customer in-store experience, I urged the brands in attendance, including Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Moet Hennessy, Tiffany & Co., among others to create mobile moments that are in keeping with the essence of the brand and the customer experience that is at the core of what defines them luxurious. For a heavily lifestyle-driven brand like FCUK, the “YouTique” offering accomplishes exactly that goal of providing utility to its brand fanatics while remaining true to the essence of their brand. To embed this type utility with the framework of a robust mobile rich application is a goal all luxury apparel brands should aspire to deliver for these fanatics to further increase brand loyalty.
This merits a brief discussion on the advantages of rich applications over mobile web as it pertains to providing a deeper level of engagement with brand advocates and peripheral shoppers. The mindset of the typical mobile web shopper and rich application shopper is entirely different in focus. The mobile web shopper is very utilitarian by nature, wanting to find a mobile-optimized site offered by a retailer, search for what they are looking for, and proceed through the checkout path as efficiently and quickly as possible, given the time-sensitivity of the engagement. The rich application shopper, we can conclude, feels a deeper sense of affinity with the brand in question, given the act of downloading the app to their device, and looks for the brand’s guidance as style guide experts. Thus, the rich application shopper is more engaged by nature and is the prime target for this “YouTique” concept.
Fundamentally, the point here being that there are two primary use cases that retailers need to solve for to create a truly comprehensive mobile strategy. First, retailers must solve for the “busy” use case, which is solved well by an efficiently designed mobile web site. The second use case to solve for in a comprehensive mobile strategy is solving for the “engaged” shopper. This is best accomplished through a well-thought rich application strategy that incorporates the type of style guide content so perfectly exemplified by the “YouTique” example. The shopper that takes the time to download an iPhone app, for example, is a shopper who again feels that deep level of affinity with the brand and, as such, will tend to produce higher average order values (AOV) and increased frequency of purchase.
The FCUK “YouTique” offering represents a tremendous rich application solution for mobile customers. The deep level of engagement garnered by the brand further increases their position as style guide experts for their legion of loyalists, with over 375,000 total upload views since its launch in April. I expect to see this concept trend considerably upward, especially given the ubiquity of YouTube as a broadcast medium to bring style guide and lookbook content to life, with full transactional capability.
After attending a panel discussion entitled The Rise of Luxury Brands Online (which featured Maureen Mullen of L2 Think Tank, the great minds behind the L2 Digital IQ Index) presented by Fashion 2.0 earlier this week, I was inspired to continue on my analysis of the social media of The World’s 10 Most Powerful Luxury Brands with Cartier.
Cartier S.A., the French luxury jewelery, leather goods, watch and fragrance manufacturer, dates back to 1847. Cartier is an iconic symbol of elegance, rich history and, of course, extreme luxury with individual items selling for tens of thousands of dollars (such as the Cartier Large Americaine Tank LM Alligator Watch, pictured right).
However, this elegance hasn’t transferred completely smoothly online. For instance, the L2 Digital IQ Index: Luxury ranks Cartier at #44, stating “one of the biggest missed opportunities in digital.”
Yikes.
Let’s dive in!
The Cartier Twitter page is a huge missed opportunity. Having not tweeted since March 2010, @Cartier has just more than 1,000 followers (a dismal number, considering the brand’s overall power).
At least the page is fairly well-branded?
As the L2 Digital IQ Index notes, “Facebook page is more than 30,000 strong but no fan engagement.” Currently, the Cartier Facebook fan page boasts more than 50,000 fans, but still maintains very little engagement. The fan page appears to be updated approximately once a month (more so recently due to the Cartier Winter Tale promotion), which is definitely not enough.
Cartier appears to only update the Facebook with its promotional images and messages. Because the brand has very deep roots in tradition and elegance, it would not be appropriate for the Cartier community manager to maintain a Starbucks-like presence online.
However, Cartier is missing some big opportunities.
Like many French luxury brands, Cartier has done excellent work creating beautiful flash websites that create a luxury experience online. To translate this experience to Facebook, a far more interactive platform, Cartier needs to take small bits of content from their websites to “tease” their Facebook audience.
By using small bits of content, such as videos, images or even a unique Facebook tab on the page that changes with every promotion, Facebook fans will feel like they’re getting an exclusive preview into the brand.
Also, instead of just throwing up all the images and videos at one time, slowly rolling the content out over time will help keep fans engaged.
Futher, as I’ve said time and time again: integration, integration, integration! Why doesn’t the Facebook page even link to Cartier’s YouTube channel or Twitter page, or more prominently feature the current campaign?
YouTube
I actually really like Cartier’s YouTube channel. It’s extremely well-branded and interesting to peruse, while maintaining the overall Cartier online aesthetic.
Cartier clearly spends a lot of money creating their video campaigns, so their YouTube channel is an important asset to showcase this element of the brand. However, videos only date back six months, when I know for a fact Cartier has maintained a YouTube presence for MUCH longer (Cartier joined YouTube in 2006, according to the channel).
Where’d the other videos go??
Overall, Cartier should feel too bad about it’s social media presence.
Yeah, it isn’t good… BUT, as the L2 Digital IQ Index notes, the watch and jewelry sector pretty much blows at social media.
Hear that, Cartier?
There’s an opportunity to beat the competition!
What do you think of Cartier’s social media work? Was I too harsh? Also, how cute is the Winter Tale campaign?
This post is the third of a four-part weekly guest post series from mobi.luxe, an excellent blog covering mobile trends in luxury retail. Check back next Wednesday for the final installment!
The historical hesitance among many Luxury brands to delve into the realm of e-commerce and, more importantly, where the medium has fallen short for brands is most obviously evidenced in its inherent disconnectedness from the essence of the luxury experience – the exclusivity and uniqueness of the brand and the tactile, sensual in-boutique experience. E-commerce, by its very nature and definition is all-inclusive – a world wide web of accessibility to brands that heretofore were accessible to only a select few. According to The Journal of Brand Management, Luxury as a concept is defined:
“…within the scope of socio-psychology as a result of its connection to a culture, state of being and lifestyle, whether it is personal or collective. When linked to brands, it is characterized by a recognizable style, strong identity, high awareness, and enhanced emotional and symbolic associations. It evokes uniqueness and exclusivity, and is interpreted in products through high quality, controlled distribution and premium pricing.“
Through the course of economic downturn and an on-going trend toward mass appeal branding among luxury brands (need we go any further than Vera Wang’s “Simply Vera Wang” collection carried by Kohl’s department stores?), much of the exclusivity of luxury brands has been diluted. Couple this perception dilution with “flash sale” members-only models popularized by Gilt Group, and luxury brands are currently engaged in an all-out war not only with themselves, but with internet technology and its model of complete accessibility.
Given all these factors, where does a medium like mobile fit into the equation for luxury retailers?
One of the inherent values of the mobile medium for marketers is the very personal nature of the smartphone device itself. From personal photos to address books, from personal calendars to the applications that users select to download to the device, the mobile medium, unlike the “mass-clusive” nature of the internet, is inextricably tied to the individual. This creates a plethora of unique engagement opportunities for luxury brands to paint from a palette of time-sensitive exclusivity and re-create the feeling of uniqueness historically inherent in shoppers’ experience with the brand.
An excellent palette of time-sensitive exclusivity was Burberry’s “Retail Theatre” application that leveraged the Apple iPad as a content delivery mechanism. During the British label’s spring/summer 2011 show, which occurred on September 21 – 25 , Burberry boutiques around the globe streamed the London Fashion Week runway show live for customers. If viewers saw anything they liked on the screen, they could order the item immediately via iPad. Merchandise was then shipped out to arrive in a matter of a few weeks rather than having to wait the usual four to six months for spring 2011 orders to arrive.
What Burberry was effectively able to accomplish via this campaign was directly aligned with the essence of the brand, an exclusive behind the scenes look at the upcoming collection to a select few viewers who, in turn, enjoyed access to product before release to the general public.
This example is an excellent representation of working from a palette of time-sensitive exclusivity and provides an excellent framework for a concept I have long been an avid proponent of: the concept of pop-up mobile for luxury brands. Imagine an invitation-only, time-sensitive event promoted to a limited audience of a brand’s most influential customers that offers access to pre-release product and behind the scenes video content to further endear this valuable customer subset to the brand.
This pop-up concept is certainly a familiar one in the retail arena in terms of temporal physical storefronts designed to build buzz around a new product launch, but the concept has been effectively used in the wired world as well. In September 2009, Jones Apparel launched an extremely successful pop-up store on Facebook for its Rachel Rachel Roy brand, offering exclusive, limited release product for its fans. Leveraging the Facebook social platform, the Rachel Rachel Roy pop-up sold out of the exclusive product mix in only six hours.
Rachel Rachel Roy was seeking to offer their fans a truly special experience. Explains Rachel Rachel Roy Senior Vice President of Marketing Amy Rapawy,
“when you interact with a brand you love, you want to feel like it is a more personal, deeper connection and brand experience than you would find on a website or in an ad. It was important to us that our fans have VIP access to shop the collection before it hit stores.”
Trendwatching.com terms this trend Massclusivity. The site first introduced the concept in October of 2003, hailing it as a trend to watch and defining it as follows:
This ‘exclusivity for the masses’, or Massclusivity, can be an instant add-on and revenue booster for many services in the public domain. Massclusivity is NOT about exclusively opening up Harrods or Macy’s late Sunday night for a Hollywood super-celeb looking for a last-minute party dress, but rather about setting up special in-store coffee lounges or luxurious fitting rooms for members only. Respect and privilege are scarce nowadays. Reason enough to add them to your offerings.
This is exactly the example set by both Burberry and Rachel Rachel Roy in the studies illustrated. Leveraging technologies in a considered and strategic manner, with the essence of the brand and its constituency in mind, both brands effectively worked from a palette of time-sensitive exclusivity and created unique experiences for their most valued customers. These examples serve to illustrate that, by adopting a hybrid approach of exclusivity and time-sensitivity, luxury retailers have a unique opportunity to provide respect and privilege to their best customers and, in turn, drive traffic to boutiques, cater in a very personal manner to their best customers, and leverage time-sensitivity to further accentuate the uniqueness of the experience.
This post is the second of a four-part weekly guest post series from mobi.luxe, an excellent blog covering mobile trends in luxury retail. Check back next Wednesday for the next post!
Since the dawn of commerce in the bazaars of Istanbul, consumer word of mouth has always been the most powerful form of retail advertising. There has been much buzz stemming from the October 16th Wall Street Journal article, “Luxe Lowdown: Tony Sites Begin to Invite Buyer Reviews,” concerning the long-standing debate of whether consumer generated content in the form of product reviews should have a place in a Luxury retailer’s online lexicon.
Debate rages on both sides as to whether reviews are contrary to definition of a luxury brand. One side argues that brands such as Cartier or Hermes are “five star” in and of themselves, thus it is counter to the brand to open up their product catalogs to any degree of public scrutiny. The other will argue that this form of consumer word-of-mouth is being shared daily around the world and that reviews captured on a retailer’s site provide a degree of brand authenticity and aids in instilling consumer confidence in products and brands based on the opinions and experiences of real people, without the influence of advertising.
Regardless of where you stand in the debate, one thing is certain – for those attainable luxury retailers such as Saks and Nordstrom or brands like Brooks Brothers or La Mer, customer reviews have been adopted on their e-commerce sites based firmly on the realization that customers want the ability to take shopping advice from their peers. As the WSJ article quotes Denise Incandela, President of Saks Inc.’s Saks Direct:
I realize that this topic revolves entirely around social media marketing as opposed to my primary focus on mobile, but I felt this topic too important not to address with the interest of Luxury retailers in mind. The purpose of today’s posting is not to weigh the inherent value (or lack thereof) of consumer generated content for luxury brands but, rather, how brands can capture consumer sentiment in a manner that remains true to the essence of the luxury brand experience, yet provide the authenticity and openness that consumers have come to expect from brands in this (r)evolution to a C2B retail paradigm.
As brands begin investigating how best to capture consumer sentiment in a manner that remains true to the essence of the luxury brand experience, it is important to distinguish between two very different forms of consumer generated content: product level content and brand level content. The examples cited in the WSJ article focus entirely on product level content, primarily in the form of customer reviews. It is precisely this content, spoken directly from the mouths of consumers, that has always been the barrier to entry for consumer generated content on luxury brand sites. The statement from a Chanel representative reached for comment by the reporter speaks volumes – “We will not comment on this topic.”
Scott Galloway, founder of L2, a think tank that specializes in prestige brands, accurately surmises, “The notion of having a user saying that Chanel No. 5 smells like Brooklyn is so scary that [luxury brands] were literally paralyzed.” Note Galloway’s choice of words – literally paralyzed. Luxury brands have always existed as arbiters of fashion, defining stylistic trends for a global audience based on the brand’s view of the fashion universe. This paradigm, however, is steadily shifting as the C2B (r)evolution continues to gain momentum. Shoppers are armed with previously inconceivable access to information, opinions, and accessibility to brands than ever before. At some point in the not-too-distant future there will be a forced assimilation to engage consumers in open dialogue and those brands which ardently refuse to engage risk relevancy extinction. The question remains, how to best engage in open dialogue with customers and offer freedom of speech while maintaining the veil of mystery that luxury brands inherently possess.
Let’s turn our attention for a moment to brand level content. As luxury marketers shift strategies to adopt a more lifestyle-driven approach to market, brand level consumer generated content is uniquely capable of providing the level of authenticity and transparency that consumers are craving. Imagine a brand like Cartier running a campaign soliciting love stories from their customers, curating those they feel most representative of the brand essence, and leveraging this authentic branding exercise to position them as purveyors not only of fine jewelry, but as purveyors of love. That strategy has potential, no?
The underlying advantage of brand level consumer generated content is that it does not require the same degree of transparency as product level content. At a product level, regardless of whether a review is overwhelmingly five star positive or underwhelmingly two star, that content requires display in order for consumers to glean from others’ experiences and provide that level of authenticity and transparency. Brand level content does not require the same degree of transparency. A brand can curate only that content that they feel is most representative of the essence of the brand and the values it represents. In this manner, a luxury brand can solicit content from customers, which could be limited to those in the appropriate demographic, customer value category, etc., that allows real people to tell inspiring stories with the brand at the apex of the experience.
The cosmetics brand Philosophy has continuously provided excellent examples of this type of brand level content campaign strategy. Although this campaign has concluded, Philosophy developed a campaign around the launch of their Unconditional Love product line that solicited content from its brand loyalists about their stories of unconditional love.
Through this campaign, Philosophy effectively positioned itself as a social brand that encourages its loyalists to share stories about topics that are important to them while promoting a brand image that is not about beauty product but, rather, about love.
Authenticity and transparency are the new black for luxury retail brands, however careful consideration must be given to how to engage customers in dialogue that is authentic while maintaining the essence of the luxury brand experience.
This post is the first of a four-part weekly guest post series from mobi.luxe, an excellent blog covering mobile trends in luxury retail. Check back next Wednesday for the next post!
“The most beautiful make-up on a woman is passion, but cosmetics are easier to buy.” - Yves Saint Laurent
In a September 7th Wall Street Journal article, “Estée Lauder’s Counter Makeover,” an investigation into the venerable beauty brand’s revised department store strategy reveals a significant shift in in-store shopper engagement that directly correlates with the on-going (r)evolution in Luxury retail from a traditional B2C model, complete with hidden price tags, aggressive consultants, and out of reach glass cases, to a revised C2B retail paradigm, where shoppers are armed with previously inconceivable access to information, opinions, and accessibility to brands than ever before:
Walking through Clinique’s new counter in Bloomingdale’s New York flagship, Lynne Greene, president of Estée Lauder’s Clinique, Origins and Ojon brands, demonstrated the new ways women can now shop for the brand’s cosmetics: An express line for consumers who already know what they want, areas to browse on their own, and seats for those who want a full consultation.
As more beauty brands begin to follow suit, offering store shoppers far greater flexibility and far less pressure in terms of how they engage with the brand, the mobile channel is posed to serve as an augmentative medium to further enhance the in-store experience. As I have preached ad nauseum in prior posts, those brands that view mobile as simply a scaled down one to one extension of their e-commerce presence on the small screen are severely limiting the capabilities of their mobile strategy and further exposing the inherent disconnect between the online and in-store customer experience, which is at the core of Luxury retail’s oft-maligned reluctance to engage the online channel:
The historical hesitance among many Luxury brands to delve into the realm of e-commerce and, more importantly, where the medium has fallen short for brands is most obviously evidenced in its inherent disconnectedness from the essence of the luxury experience – the exclusivity and uniqueness of the brand and the tactile, sensual in-boutique experience. E-commerce, by its very nature and definition is all-inclusive – a world wide web of accessibility to brands that heretofore were accessible to only a select few.
Mobile, as a medium and an “always-on” channel, has the unique ability to serve as a galvanizing force behind multi-channel unification, uniting online, boutique, and catalog channels in a highly targeted and personally relevant manner through a device that is always within arms reach. Given the example of Estée Lauder’s revised counter strategy that puts more control in the hands of shoppers and engages them on their own terms, how can mobile solutions offer extended functional capabilities designed to enhance the shopper in-store experience and provide a deep level of engagement with the brand’s legions of loyalists – while increasing brand loyalty among those shoppers who typically choose from a wide portfolio of beauty brands – by providing a differentiated, utility-driven mobile experience in the store?
John Demsey, group president of several Estée Lauder brands, unknowingly, but effectively articulates the need for this type of solution:
“People today are looking for real know-how, but they want to be served in the way they choose.”
Conceive for a moment a mobile application construct that serves as a “Mobile Beauty Counter,” combining information, utility, education, consultation, social shopping, and location awareness all within the palm of your hand:
The “Mobile Beauty Counter” provides a complete view of the brand’s product catalog, complete with rich displays and enhanced navigational capabilities, allowing shoppers to access descriptions of product and, in the case of Estée Lauder, access customer reviews that provide transparent consumer insights in the store to provide additional levels of confidence in considered purchases. Tapping into the immense power of a global bazaar, where word of mouth about the quality of product is given additional relevance by allowing shoppers to sort consumer-generated content based on attributes or applications of product important to them, such sort by usage by “skin type” or “skin tone,” creates an immensely powerful and influential application of mobile as a research mechanism.
Integration of video tutorials on device allows shoppers who wish to forego the time- intensive in-chair consultation with a beauty consultant to access branded tips and tricks usage of application videos that educate them on how best to use the product while standing near the display counter. The incorporation of shopper “wish lists,” that allow shoppers to add selected items to their “Mobile Beauty Counter” for fully-integrated social sharing on Facebook and Twitter to consult with beauty experts within their social network, wraps a tremendously-influential element of social shopping to the solution and provides shoppers with the ability to glean expertise and experiences from their social networks to positively influence purchase behavior. Lastly, support for GPS or cell tower triangulation for location determination and store location functions can serve as a powerful driver of traffic into stores and support for click to call functionality allows shoppers to contact stores in their vicinity immediately to check inventory availability and arrange for in-store pick-up at the shopper’s convenience.
As Luxury beauty brands continue to formulate comprehensive mobile strategies, a targeted focus on application utility, speed, and simplicity – leveraging the ubiquitous mobile web platform and its efficiencies as an “always on” delivery medium – can and will yield a significantly enhanced in-store shopper experience that serves to increase brand loyalty among the brand’s legion of loyalists and those peripheral shoppers searching for brands who actively seek to engage them on their own terms.
It has been *way* too long since I last updated The World’s 10 Most Powerful Luxury Brands: Social Media, so I figured after a weekend of celebrating the weekend, I’d kick off the week with the next brand in our series, Moët & Chandon.
For as much as I enjoy a celebration with a bit of bubbly, I was completely underwhelmed to find the Moët & Chandon social media efforts falling a far flatter than a flute of the delish beverage.
Moët & Chandon’s (apparent) Twitter page commits a cardinal sin for brands in social media: the page is locked.
That’s right, you have to REQUEST to follow @MOET on Twitter. Although marrying exclusivity with social media is a never-ending battle with luxury brands, locking the brand Twitter page is not the right way to do it.
Period.
My “request to follow” wasn’t granted by the time this post went up, so I can’t even tell you if what they’re doing behind their locked page is any good.
Sadly, the M&C Facebook Fan Page is almost just as messy as its Twitter situation. With 46,182 people who like the M&C page, you would think the brand would be all about leveraging their Facebook Fan Page as a part of their communication strategy.
Instead, the page lies dormant, with the Wall locked and the last fan post on November 27, 2009. Fans are still allowed to comment and like old posts, so there is some weak conversation on these old threads. However, this activity obviously falls far short of the page’s potential.
I was briefly enticed by a tab on the fan page called “My Moët,” which displays a banner about creating a customized bottle of Moët & Chandon. Unfortunately, the banner links www.mymoet.com, a domain which expired two weeks ago. [Woh wohhh]
… and that appears to be in for Moët & Chandon in social media! Definitely disappointing for a brand related to Louis Vuitton and after seeing some of the other social media marketing efforts of the world’s most powerful luxury brands.
Maybe Moët & Chandon will shape up soon! In the meantime, you can always enjoy your Moët while playing on social media with me! Check me out on Twitter, Facebook and (most recently) tumblr!
xoxo
Ok, so I’m not going to lie, I’ve found myself somewhat uninspired as of late when it comes to sartorial subjects about which I can discuss for all of you wonderful Haute and the City readers. I’ve been dreadfully busy with work and arranging things for Fashion Fights Cancer.
Because of my recent dearth of creativity, I decided to move ahead with the social media examples of the world’s most powerful luxury brands. I was a bit surprised with what I found while examining Rolex, the next example.
I searched Facebook.
I searched Twitter.
I searched YouTube.
I look on the Rolex website, and…
There’s nothing. Not a drop of Rolex brand presence in the ocean of social media.
My first thought: WTF!
How is it possible that there is ANY brand out there, especially one as omnipresent and iconic as Rolex, that doesn’t have any kind of social media presence??
This day in age, we are taught that your importance is measured by your ranking in Google. It is of the highest importance that you control what people see when they investigate you, whether you are a plumber in Michigan or the 6th most powerful luxury brand in the world.
But if I’m one of the most important companies in the world, why waste my time on social media?
This sentiment is exactly what Adam Kmiec postulates in his blog post, 5 Brands Succeeding Without Social Media. He makes a good point, there are simply some brands out there who don’t need print/TV ads, direct mail or social media!
Well, maybe not the social media. Why?
When you google “Rolex,” four websites with “fake Rolex” in the title appear.
Four. Out of six. 40% of the Rolex search results are not only irrelevant, but promote the purchase of knock-offs.
Now, I know luxury brands love to fight social media tooth-and-nail with the “exclusivity” excuse: “If we do social media, we aren’t being exclusive.”
Well, look at Chanel.
Chanel has done an amazing good job of creating a portal of content that belongs solely to them; no one else. People have to come straight to Chanel if they want to experience Chanel.That seems pretty exclusive to me!
Granted, there are two “Fake Chanel” sites that pop up on the first page of Google, but its fewer than four!
In summary: Maybe you don’t need a full-blown social media program, Rolex, but perhaps it’s time to think about a strategy to make your presence online as refined as your brand.
P.S. I will work on the whole “inspiration” thing. I’m reading a lot. If you have any advice, let me know! 
I don’t usually write about contests and stuff, but in the spirit of this week’s giveaway (and because I am so excited for Fashion’s Night Out this year), I thought I would share something of interest to my non-New York readers!
For those of you who are feeling like you’re missing out on the best buzzed shopping experience you’ll ever have, CBS & Fashion’s Night Out have partnered to create a nationwide contest called “Fashion’s Number One Fan,” in which users upload a 30- to 90-second video of themselves on CBS.com explaining why they love fashion for the chance to win a trip to New York for this year’s Fashion’s Night Out.
CBS will choose the Top 10 video entries to be posted on CBS.com for one week (Aug. 24 – Aug. 31) during which users can to vote for their favorite entry and help narrow it down to the five finalists. A panel of representatives from CBS, Vogue, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and New York City & Company will choose one of the five finalists as “Fashion’s Number One Fan” on Sept. 3.
What’s the appeal of spending 90 seconds talking about fashion and trying to become “Fashion’s Number One Fan,” I pondered?
Sweet contest, guys!
First of all, the prizes rock (okay, except for maybe the makeup… mostly because I don’t wear it!).
Second, the publicists behind this should be proud of themselves for coming up with a campaign that is so engaging online. You know those top ten contestants are going to promote the hell out of their videos to get votes, especially online (which generates extra buzz for FNO). I’m interested to see how sharable they make this contest (i.e. Can contestants embed the videos on their Facebook pages and blogs to spread the word? Will there be widgets to drive users to the voting page? Etc.).
The only issue I worry about is that it looks like you will have to log in to CBS.com (aka register) in order to vote, and that’s going to immediately turn a lot of people off.
So, are any of you guys and girls going to enter (let me know if you do – I’ll help you get votes!)? Is everyone as excited as I am about FNO?
Everybody who tweets knows about Follow Friday (or #FollowFriday). It’s a fun thing we Twitterati do each Friday to help each other find great Tweeps! All you have to do is suggest a great person you follow on Twitter, share their Twitter handle with “#followfriday” in a tweet and voila! You’ve #followfriday-ed!
Well, a few weeks back, some of my favorite Tweeps and I were tweeting back and forth about a new concept for Fridays:
#FashionFriday is for all of us fashion Tweeps to connect with each other. Basically, you follow the same rules as #FollowFriday, but list your favorite fashion Tweeps!
BUT
Don’t be annoying like people are with #FollowFriday. No one cares about a list of Twitter handles in a row. Tell us WHY you’re suggesting a Tweep for #FashionFriday. Do they make you laugh? Smile? Cry?
So TELL it. Make #FashionFriday valuable!!
Tip: Limit yourself to five (5) #FashionFriday tweets. That way, you’ll make you’re 140 characters really count! 
To get you started on #FashionFriday, I’ve compiled a little list of great fashion Tweeps for you to follow!
Fashion brands:
@DKNY
@Bergdorfs
@Bloomingdales
@MarcJacobsIntl
@JohnBartlett8
@GucciOfficial
@SwatchUS
@LouisVuitton_US
@Peter_Som
@fabrikboutique
@InsideDVF
Fashion Professionals:
@FashionOffice
@danielle_L2
@fashmarketing
@bellamodaent
@PR_Couture
@Lauren_at_L2
@YuliZ
@OscarPRGirl
@TamarStar
@LuxuryPRGal
@KristinaLibby
@atlfashionweek
@TierraFilhiol
@Pink_Prez
@FashionWeekNYC
@lorenridinger
Fashion Publications:
@hauteandthecity – That’s right! We’re live!
@womensweardaily
@PixelMags
@Cutblog
@StyleRepublic
@TandCMag
@CoolHunting
Fashion Media Tweeps:
@jimshi809
@DetailsMatt
@TheRealAdamSays
@SashaCharnin
@HillaO
Fashion Bloggers:
@TylerHWilliams – guess who this is?
@AdentroStyle
@kristyelena
@josephinelipp
@fashionfoiegras
@cubiclechicblog
@corporette
Fashion Charity:
@FashionFightsC
@fashioncares
I know I’ve left a ton of great people off - this list is meant to grow! If you have any suggestions for this list, please leave a comment telling me who I should add and why!
