The front row seats at New York Fashion Week this year weren’t filled with the usual suspects. A new generation of style bloggers and influential social media gurus are gaining access to the coveted front row as the world of fashion marketing is going digital.
Just ask Andrei Najjar, a Medill IMC graduate and founder of Atelier Collective, who spoke at Medill about how new media is transforming the fashion and luxury goods scene. According to Najjar, “fashion marketing is moving into new media marketing more aggressively than ever. Designers are realizing that tools like Facebook, Twitter, mobile apps and YouTube are increasing ways to dimensionalize their brands, dramatically increase their audiences, and communicate more directly with their fans.”
Fashion houses, retailers and designers are joining the social media phenomenon, which is reshaping consumer dialog and how apparel, accessories and beauty products are marketed and sold. The Internet provides a platform for a new generation of style arbiters to blog or tweet about new trends from their living rooms, and designers are joining the conversation.
Even the most elite designers are starting to model an approach all marketers should mimic—direct engagement with their customers. From Diane Von Furstenberg to Gucci, brands are using Twitter to directly converse with customers. Other labels such as Burberry are streaming their shows in live 3-D, bringing the runway straight to potential buyers.
With instant media tools consumers don’t have to wait for next month’s Vogue to know what’s hot. The fashion industry is learning how to engage with consumers on real-time global platforms, integrating their communications strategy in a way that will never go out of style.
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Megan O'Malley is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a graduate student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University's Medill School. She thinks online shopping is more dangerous than living close to Michigan Avenue. She can be reached at meganomalley2010@u.northwestern.edu
