Keen Eye

I came across this really cool business, that drew my attention immediately. Fabricly, is one of the latest fashion start-ups and has lofty goals; Fabricly wants to reverse and improve the current model of manufacturing and product production that is present in the fashion industry.

Fabricly  uses crowdsourcing-  a voting process to determine what apparel it will manufacture. What makes Fabricly different from the many other sites that are currently using the crowdsourcing model? It focuses on high end apparel production.

How does Fabricly work?

1) Designers submit product ideas to the website

2) The designs will either become a part of a competition in which website visitors can vote on the item they

like best, or it will directly go into the pre-order stage.

3) When shoppers place a pre-orders, the site will store their credit card information and see if the  pre-0rder production number is met. If the product requirement is met, Fabricly will have the product manufactured. If this threshold is not met, then the order will be canceled, no charges to the shopper’s credit card.

How does Fabricly earn their revenue?

Fabricly uses a commission-based fee structure.  Each time a designer’s item is purchased, the sites receives a 5-15% commission.

Take a look at their website: http://www.fabricly.com/shop

After seeing Tommy’s blog in class, I decided to take a look at it myself and came across this amazing post about music.

I think the use of music in marketing, especially advertising has been talked about a lot, so I am going to look at the use of music in the shopping experience. Most products and services are consumed and easily forgotten. However, experiences are not. Retailers understand this concept and do everything they can to turn otherwise ordinary purchases into memorable shopping experiences that connect customers with the store’s brand and keep them coming back for more.

How are retailers accomplishing this? They are using music, an invisible yet powerful tool, in their overall branding and marketing strategy.

Music can create an environment to which customers feel physiologically, psychologically and emotionally connected. We all have songs that create an emotional response, reminding us of a loved one, a first date, fun times with old friends. By tapping into the emotions evoked by music, retailers can differentiate their brand and distinguish themselves from competitors.

Businesses must understand the personality of their business, what lifestyle characteristics their customers have and how much music will be a part of the shopping experience. Looking as these aspects, businesses can come up with a sensory experience that intrigues customers.

I decided to just switch it up a little bit today and blog about music instead of fashion! This campaign really caught my eye and I haven’t seen anything like it been done before.

Bing and Jay-Z have launched a creative marketing campaign that spans internationally to promote Jay-Z’s new book “Decoded”, which is is an exploration into his life and lyrics. The game is complex and involves 300 pages of the book being physically hid all over the world, for fans to find.

His book launched today and the campaign began last month, giving fans private access to the book and building hype before the book hits shelves.

Here’s how it works: Pages from the book will be physically placed around the world with a majority in the New York area, in locations related to specific content featured on Bing— specifically Bing Maps and Bing Entertainment. Five to 10 new pages from the book will be revealed each day. Locations vary from large public areas, like billboards to specific swimming pools and pool tables!

Once players locate a page, they will get credit for it online. If they find it in a physical location, they will be able to text a unique game code from the page. Players can win signed copies of the book and are eligible to enter the competition for the grand prize- two tickets to see Jay-Z and Coldplay in concert at Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.

I think that this idea was a great way to way to raise buzz about Jay-Z’s book, while also potentially introducing Bing to a new audience.

Bulgari’s launch of their latest collection, B.zero1 jewels, was debuted with an interactive web campaign.

This campaign revolved around a 3d video that lets users travel through the B.zero1 world, while at the same time viewing artist, Anish Kapoor’s latest collection. While on the website users can also download the iPhone app and other features like screensavers and wallpapers.

In an area called “The Experience”, Bulgari fans are able to leave messages for the future which can be shares with friends using facebook and other social media websites. With each new message, a point of light is added to a digital sculpture. The evolution of this collaborative sculpture, along with all wishes, may be seen on the website.

Initially I thought that by falling on the social media train, as we’ve seen many other brands do, might reduce their “high quality” status in the eyes of their consumers, however I think that this campaign allows the company to expand their client base. Brand ambassadors and existing customers would also use the website, due to the increasing time that is being spent on mobile phones.

The company wanted to create a greater level of brand engagement and interaction with people using all their available communication channels, including facebook, youtube and twitter.

Personally, I love the entire “experience” of the Bulgari campaign, especially their iPhone app. It is much more engaging and “social” when compared to other luxury brands’ attempts. It shows the brand to be approachable and yet aspirational without dropping everything else that comes with being a luxury brand.

Personalized shopping experiences. Everyones heard of it and it seems to be a growing trend but some companies are taking this to another level.

I just read an article on the RFID journal taking about how an organic clothing store, Clothing for a better Earth, located in New York, is using the help of Ipod’s along with RFID, in their store (the picture below). When customers enter the store they are given an Ipod touch that has an RFID tag embedded into its case. The customers are explained how the technology works and also told to input their age and gender into the ipod. This is the basic level of information they need to input into the ipod, which provides them with age and gender-specific content.

If the customers feels like, the are able to input more detailed preferences, which tailors the information provided to them. The customers movements, along with the items that they viewed in the store, are all stored in the store database which can be accessed from home.

I personally really love the use of technology in clothing stores. It provides a completely different shopping experience and enhances the “wow” factor of the store. I am sure that many other brands have or will start implementing ideas like this. It definitely gives them a competitive edge, and also provides a value-added service to customers by forming personal relationships with each of them. This is just the beginning and it will be something that becomes much more common in the future.

Everyone’s heard of Bodyshop for their ethics in the production of their cosmetic products. Their strict policies against animal testing and their environmentally friendly production techniques make them stand out in what would otherwise be a relatively similar market. Lush is a similar company, offering a similar competitive advantage. They serve similar clients and also have a strong social reponsibility.

The aspect that differentiates the two companies is their involvement in social media. Both firms use different approaches to reaching out to their customers, which (according to the numbers) seem to be working for one company and not the other. Body Shops strategy is using facebook to communicate their corporate ideas to the users and hence their page is quite boring and dry. On the other hand, Lush uses social media in a much more fun and entertaining way. Their tone is much more conversational and they are actually committed to improving their social media engagement.

The response to Body Shops facebook page has been mediocre compare to Lush- with the latter having much more fan posts and likes. I read somewhere that you become a “friend of lush” but a “customer of bodyshop”. I think this hits the nail on the head.

I’m sure everyone has heard of TOMS shoes, but did you know that the name is actually derived from the word “tomorrow” and is not named after the creator of the shoes??

Their entire business structure is based on “buy one” and “give one”, which I have not seen any other business do. For every pair of TOMS that you purchase, they donate a pair. This has so far been extremely successful, with TOMS having reached celebrities like Brad Pitt and Bono.

Watch one of their “shoe drops” in the video below.

TOMS adopts simple, but extremely effective and focused cause-related marketing. It is built into everything that they do and does not seem like a marketing stunt, that many companies are recently doing. I agree completely with all the reasons that are talked about in Ryan’s blog, but I also would like to include another. I feel that TOMS “word of mouth” advertising, has benefited them greatly and their name has caught on like wildfire. They are not advertised on television and print media, like most other shoes, and their stories are passed on from one customer to the next.

I love when business and social cause are combined in a truthful and effective way. TOMS does this. The shoes have been flying off the counters and I think their story is just going to get bigger and bigger!

Alexander McQueen’s 2010 spring adverts are a definite feast for the eyes.

It takes a moment for your eyes to get past all the creepy crawly snakes and actually see the beautiful Raquel Zimmerman. Finally once you decipher where her body begins and ends, you see the shoes!

These infamous shoes have been seen on Lady Gaga, who is often dressed in Alexander McQueen to her events. Lady Gaga has received immense publicity for her outfits!

The ad itself is extremely creative and innovative. Reptiles have been used in a variety of other campaigns, be it with David Bekham in Motrolla to Monica Belluci for Dior but the bright colours of this ad draw my attention and differentiates this advert from the rest.

Even though I love the advert, there is no way that I will go and buy these shoes!! It’s definitely not aimed at the general masses and is more to promote the label than the specific shoes. I wonder if any ordinary person has purchased these shoes. Imagine them walking down Robson!!

RIP Alexander McQueen. We really will miss your craziness!

Diesel’s latest ad campaign urges people to go against conventional thinking and “be stupid”.

Personally, I didn’t get the ad’s when I first saw them in print. The tag line, “Be stupid” stuck with me and after watching the entire advert, I finally understood it.

I’m really liking Diesel’s message of trying to free people from the societal pressures of being smart and living (what they call) a “regret free life”. But their use of  graphic images that ooze sexuality just seems like a way too desperate call for attention.

Is Diesel`s campaign smart or just a poor attempt at grabbing their audience? What do you think?