New Digital Strategies

I think its very interesting in such times to view how magazines are coping with this online digital expanding market. Just like in the .com years back in the 90s now in 2010 there is such opportunity for innovation and new market penetration ideas to take place.

My favourite new development is what W magazine has done this month. It has intergrated e-commernce along with standard editorial format. With a bit of help through a celebrity endorsement (still a method that is working wonders!), Jennifer Aniston to be precise, readers can look at the clothes she is wearing and through numbered bulletings they can locate extrenal shopping guides of whereto buy them. No need to try and trace it themselves. I think its all linking very well with trendwatching.com's NOWISM trend. You see it, you want it, you buy it - right now.

Source:W magazine

“We firmly believe that commerce should be an integral element of a digital content site that features new fashion products, trends and designers every hour. Commerce and community also belong together. Whoever does not embrace the two will lose out in the long run.” - Borries of Refinery29 magazine.

Lady Gaga, the designer??

An incredible collaboration between Lady Gaga and Linda Farrow is going to take place with Gaga herself, voted most influential figure in fashion 2009, to design a range of sunglasses. Eventhough no fashion background to Gaga, she has created an amazing (and expensive) brand identity that has made fashion listen and take notice, rather than branding her as just another fashion victim.

Are we all going to be wearing these come S/S 2010?

picture:http://gagadaily.com/fashion/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/lady-gaga-sunglasses-special.jpg

Trendwatching.com Presents...

...Brand Butlers

With the slogan "why serving is the new selling" trendwatching.com has identified a new consumer trend this month. Their definition of the trend is that it focus on convenience loving consumers who enjoy instant access to ever-growing number of services. Therefore brands need to assist consumers to make the most of their daily lifes.

Its is all about a lifestyle not an identity, as it was before

A great example I chose to show from this is the Transparency and In the Know Brand Butler example:

and more specifically the Van Cleef & Arpels App, from a Parisian jeweller. The app allows users to have "a day in Paris" it guides users to the most romantic places in Paris. All about providing people with interesting and above all usefull information that they can actually use.

image source:http://www.marquesetfilles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/vancleefappli3.jpg

Today Vogue is Wearing...

Alexa Chung did it first last month when she featured on the front cover of British Vogue, and encouraged us all to go onto the website and view what she was wearing every little day for a month. What a clever little idea..securing that Alexa Chung fans(and she has lots of them) get a daily fashion fix from what she has pulled together to wear during her busy life and of course once you are there they have got you! "take a quiz, view the new exclusive interview, what did people wear to this party, what about that one, and so an hour long session on Vogue.com began.

The whole thing was so successful that model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took over the spot in March. And today she is wearing...

Source:

http://www.vogue.co.uk/photo-blogs/rosie-huntington-whiteley/100324-rosie-huntingtonwhiteley-day-24.aspx

The Return of Direct Marketing?

According to marketingweek.com a direct marketing approach is on its way back. Direct marketing always being pushed to the side by the latest online and mobile marketing innovations is now encourage to meet halfway with technology in order to deliver a more personalised message to the consumer. (will be noting that down for my own project.)

Augmented Reality is the new thing that involves a piece of paper with black and white squares on it that when viewed through a webcam and mobile camera-phones the interactive brands experience begins....for the ultimate 3D experience.

Ford recently used this method for their FIND IT campaign, the whole thing was an exciting treasure hunt.

Ford Campaign:

Oh I love it, I love it!

Grazia goes 3D! This weeks Grazia allows viewers to watch Florence Welsh perform a little private concert just for us. I just watched it, with a little help from my webcam but it can also be downloaded straight onto the iPhone.

With the recent stories about the magazine industry having a crisis with the recent boom on the digital environment I though Grazia did an excelent job of combining the tow medias for the advantage. I bought the magazine that mentioned the online 3D experience and I have introduced myself to their online little world.

Care for an online fight...

I funny but also sad story I came across today while reading nytimes.com

Couples not being able to contain themselves and talk face to face to resolve issues are taking it out online, on Facebook, for all their friends, family and now strangers to see.

The delightful coverstaion went like this:

- “How is it my birthday is only one day, but my woman’s last a whole damn week?”

- “GET OVER IT!!! UGH!!!!!!”

"Mr. Gower replied by calling his fiancée a name that can’t be printed here, until the exchange became the social networking equivalent of shattered china at a dinner party. "

It is quite amazing that people are chosing to share even the most private of moments, that really should be shared behind closed doors online. And the couple are not alone with many others separating and giving them(and the world) a piece of their mind  through their mean status updates.

Do we predict relationships staring, progessing and loving ending online...

It Made Me Think...

A great piece of news on biz-report.com made me think long and hard about my own personal project and how I need to consider that people keep coming back to it again and again. The online source talks about how tweeting news and sending out information isnt going to ensure that a whole community is build around a company. They need to focus on creating a modern and efficient brand identity that creates a loyal community.

"Ullman sees too many brands treating social marketing like display ads, counting clicks rather than collaborating with the consumer. To get a different response, Ullman suggests treating social platforms differently and offering consumers more than a daily deal or coupon." - biz-report.com (Ullman is senior vice president of marketing with social media company Ripple)

I have to make sure that the users of my project are benefited accordingly and add value, while feeling valued themselves.

A great example of an online community that I love:

http://www.womanity.co.uk/.

I love it because it gets women together, they offer their advice, opinions and its a safe online place to unite.

Stealth Shopping Continued...

I remember reading all about stealth shopping in ViewPoint magazine last year and wondering how long it would last. How long until even the people hiding behind their computer screens, in Starbucks, with black Chanel glasses and their blackberry on one hand will finaly also run out of money and stop sneaking around and spending money online - thinking we can't see them, and therefore can't judge.

Online luxury goods market leader - Net-a-Porter

The woman behind Net-a-Porter has spent her recent career targeting to these women so she knows they are going nowhere, especially on a rainy Monday lunch time when they would rather stay indoors and shop than ruin the suede Prada shoe. To everyones amazement online spending in going up again, last month online luxury goods had a 15% increase compared to last years figures.

I'm Finally Listening to Tavi

I haven't been quite sure what to make of now globally famous blogger Tavi. Yes she has some interesting and sometimes amusing points of view of fashion and designers, yes she is charming and I am fond of her innocence but a 13 year old little girl suddenly an expert on fashion and prediting trends, not-so-famous editors being pushed back a row to let room for he and her massive bow - oh remember the bow? -

The Bow - businessoffashion.com

I dont think so. But reading about the latest Fashion Blog Conference I am beginning to understand her a bit more. The conference took place in New York and guests including Tavi, BryanBoy, Fashionista, Susie Bubble and Streetpeeper. The main point that was interesting, was that in the future we can wave goodbye to bloggers whose only wish is to be invited front row at fashion shows and be sent freebies, but for the bloggers who actually care, as Tavi nicely put it...

“The same way teenagers can start a Flickr account and be noticed by a magazine, or a band can start a MySpace and be picked up by a label, blogs will act as jumping-off platforms for people that want to work in the industry.”

She is growing on me

Ralph Lauren the New Innovator

I always thought of Ralph Lauren as quite a classic, timeless brand and I have to say I thought they would be one of the last luxury brands to take risks and create new innovations online. But now on the website http://www.ralphlauren.com/, not only can you watch a virtual presentation by Ralph Lauren and not only do major industry journalists watch it with you (Avril Graham from Harper's Bazaar is one of them!), but you can buy the collection straight off the catwalk, no-one waits 3 months anymore, its all about having what we want now. In a time of recessions it quite genious really, as usually by the time clothes come into the store, we have already seen the collection in countless magazines and on celebritie's backs we are kinda over the clothes but now: we see the, we lust over them, we buy them.

Clearly...never underestimate Ralph.