Burberry Reaps Benefits of Facebook Collaboration

Last year Time magazine listed the British brand Burberry as the number one fashion house on Facebook with 1,509,167 fans. As of today, that number has reached over 4,651,907. This strong following is most likely a result of Burberry’s 2009 collaboration with Facebook.

According to Reuters, Luxury goods group Burberry has hooked up with social networking company Facebook to launch a Web site celebrating its trench coat, becoming the latest retailer to use social media in a bid to boost its brand. The Web site, artofthetrench.com, will allow members connected via Facebook to submit images and stories about Burberry trench coats and share them with one other. First designed by Burberry founder Thomas Burberry for British army offices in 1914, the trench coat is still one of the company's top-selling garments.

Burberry also uses their Facebook page to showcase everyday people using their products as well as promote up-and-coming Indie bands.

According to Time magazine, “It's style with substance: those efforts are helping the firm court hip young things who will grow into tomorrow's luxury consumers.”

Burberry is now reaping the benefits of using Facebook in order to reach a new demographic of consumers. They continue to do a great job connecting to consumers using various social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. They are a great example of how even the biggest companies can connect to loyal customers and engage in one-on-one conversations.

Derek Lam's eBay Collection

Derek Lam had a special treat this Spring for his eBay devotees. The designer created a sixteen dress collection for fans to vote on, as many times as they want, on his eBay site. The top five pieces were announced March 1st and will be available for purchase in May.

The inspiration for the project? The designer’s greatest hits.

"I went back to my archive and said what seems to keep popping up?" Lam told StyleList. "There was a T-shirtdress, the peplum, a bohemian look... It was really a spontaneous project. There was no market research."

And the designer's favorite? "If I had to choose, I love the dramatic long gowns."

Lam recognized his avid eBay followers and marketed a project directly to them. The audience generated feedback is a great way for shoppers to get excited about the new line. Letting fans vote also worked in Lam’s favor by building media hype around the new line. Not only will potential customers view the line to place their vote, but they will also return to his eBay store to view the winners and possibly return again in May to purchase the dress they voted for.

I think this project is an excellent way to build great public relations. The project helped Lam build a mutual relationship with his customers. He not only recognized his loyal customers, but also let them participate in choosing the pieces for his new line.

The project is a fun, fresh and clever way to engage customers and build interest in new products.

DKNY Utilizes Streaming Technology

Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and blogs have all successfully been used by fashion designers to communicate with consumers, but some designers are looking for the next big thing.

According to Mashable, DKNY, Donna Karan’s bridge collection, partnered with BigLive, a new streaming/chat room technology, to bring viewers a preview of the spring collection that would be debuting in stores shortly. Certain items featured in the live fashioncast were already available on dkny.com for purchase during the show. Just over 1,200 viewers actively participated in the DKNY fashioncast hosted by DKNY’s Twitter persona, DKNY PR Girl.

With the endless possibilities of social media and the competitive world of fashion, I think DKNY is proving to be a top competitor by exploring new technology. It was also ingenious to offer some of the pieces for purchase during the show, as well as building hype over pieces coming soon.

Having the even hosted by their Twitter persona was also a clever idea. If viewers were not already avid Twitter users and DKNY followers before the fashioncast, the likelihood of them being so afterward would be increased after building a relationship with the DKNY PR Girl.

In an interview, Mashable asked DKNY, “BigLive is a relatively new technology, why did you choose to use it?”

BigLive was a way for DKNY to connect with a range of customers across its different brands. By using social media tools, they were able to speak in a way that made the most sense for their clientele, said Patti Cohen, EVP of global marketing and communications for Donna Karan International. Thrilled with the results, Cohen said they’d be looking for more ways to use BigLive and reach out through digital tools.

DKNY won’t be the only ones looking for more ways to use BigLive in the future. I think Fashioncasts will be utilized on runways worldwide in the near future.

Fashion Week via Twitter

It’s no surprise with fashion’s use of social media that New York Fashion Week would take over Twitter.   According to social media measurement platform Trendrr, which produced the infographs below, more than 165,000 tweets pertaining to Fashion Week were posted between Thursday, September 9 and Thursday, September 16. Friday, September 10 was the biggest day at 34,000 tweets; hashtag #nyfw also became a trending topic on Twitter that day. Of the tweets delivered during that period, 70% came from female users, 50% were positive and 17% were negative in sentiment.

Twitter is a great way to increase coverage and followers for designers. The key to being successful, as with other social media platforms is to be active! Encouraging customers who can’t attend Fashion Week to still actively participate can generate substantially more positive reviews.

The conversation generated a number of benefits for brands who were active during the week, most of which received a healthy increase in followers. Diane von Furstenberg led the way with an increase of 3,000 followers, whose show garnered positive reviews both in print and online. Betsey Johnson and Michael Kors both netted around 2,000 additional followers, the latter of whom received positive feedback in 65% of the tweets posted during and after the show.

I would consider myself an average consumer when it comes to fashion products, far from a “fashion elite.” So, why should designers care if I can follow their fashion week shows with live updates? Not only does letting everyone participate generate positivity around designers, but it also leads consumers like me to buy fashion magazines featuring their clothes and shop at stores carrying their products. I may not be buying designs “off the runway,” but I can afford shopping their department store lines.