Catwalk momentum: how brands create hype long before showtime

It used to be that a catwalk presentation was the definitive source of the
new fashion season to come. Images from presentations would be circulated
to media and industry and large, which saw fashion editors and journalists
decipher the codes and trends and inform consumers what to expect once the
collections became available in stores. Oh how those days have changed.

Even with the advent of social media, the fashion season is no longer about
‘just’ catwalk presentations for new collections. In fact the platform of a
runway seems almost an accessory to the larger marketing plan of luxury
brands when so much of what is to come for next season is being
communicated weeks before brands actually show collections on the runway.

Take for example French luxury house Celine, who in the run-up to its Paris
catwalk show on 28 September debuted a new logo nearly a month before, on
September 2nd, to be exact. Incoming Artistic Director Hedi Slimane
demanded a clear slate, deleting the brand’s Instagram history, website
data and all images reminiscent of his predecessor Phoebe Philo. Since
September 2nd the brand has been drip-feeding content, such as unveiling
its latest ad campaign (seen on buses, posted on September 6th) and
billboards (posted on September 13th.)

But it slyly began last month when it introduced its new classic bag on the
arm of Lady Gaga at the Venice Film Festival on August 30th. It was only
two weeks later, on 14 September, that the house of Celine confirmed the
bag was indeed ‘theirs’ by formally introducing it on Instagram as Celine
16, named after the address of its Paris headquarters.

Burberry has been busy, too, sharing selective content ahead of its London
Fashion Week show on Monday, 17 September. In the build-up to new Creative
Director Riccardo Tisci’s first collection the house debuted a new monogram
and logo designed by Peter Saville on August 2nd: the start of a ‘new era’
wrote Tisci on his Instagram page. Then followed a bespoke gown for Beyonce
for a performance on August 4th and the rollout of its new campaign and
monogram, as seen on parasols on Suset Beach in New York on August 31st,
busses in Hong Kong on September 2nd, and an announcement it would drop the
first of its B Series collection on Instagram and We Chat on the day of its
show (a post on 10 September).

So why are brands drip marketing content via social media and not their
catwalk shows?

Because they will get greater publicity instead of flooding all the
information at once. For those in the industry, it is a recognisable
marketing technique that starts by hinting of what is to come: be it a new
product, a campaign image or an announcement of a collaboration for
example. That can be further followed by a release date, sharing more
details and finally when/where to buy, pricing, all leading up to the
actual event.

Everything we see on Instagram is marketing

In this way news items that once were revealed less strategically, are now
segmented into timed posts as part of a wider campaign. Rest assured all
the updates we are reading have been scheduled from a considered marketing
calendar. These are not spontaneous uploads of a brand sharing its new logo
identity on the day it was created.

Interestingly, research by Bazaarvoice found that consumers are catching on
to marketing techniques, especially the repetitive nature of content and
the dipping quality around influencer marketing. 62 percent of consumers
now feel that influencer content takes advantage of impressionable
audiences by being too materialistic (55 percent) and misrepresenting real
life (54 percent).

“Not only is content suffering, but with advertiser pressure to create more
content, reach more people and at a higher frequency, there are an
increasing number of headlines uncovering the extent of the ‘fake
followers’ phenomenon” said Keith Weed, Chief Marketing & Communications
Officer at Unilever, in Bazaarvoice’s press release of “Content Called Out.”

While social media, especially Instagram, is a key source of B2C
communication, let’s see how consumers respond to the authenticity of their
drip marketing techniques.

Photo credit: Burberry website, Celine website

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