How fashion got marketing right in 2020 - Vogue Business

After a year like no other, marketing executives are analysing the learnings for the future. The fashion sector has embraced digital and moved ever-closer to the consumer – with benefits that will extend into 2021.

The shift of advertising from physical to digital, a process already in progress pre-pandemic, has sped up. Advertising in printed newspapers and magazines saw the steepest declines this year, followed by outdoor billboards, radio and TV, according to a report from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC). That said, global marketing budgets for digital advertising also fell for the first time since WARC started tracking spend in 2012. The International Advertising Bureau found that 60 per cent of major companies pulled back on ad spend this year.

During 2020, there’s been a tension between lower funnel, often digital, marketing tactics that lead to immediate conversion and longer-term transformations that build brand value through relationships and experiences, according to Jay Pattisall, Forrester's principal analyst focused on advertising and digital marketing. During the prolonged lockdowns of 2020, Forrester’s clients were thinking less about marketing projects that generate revenue and more about the long-term.

In an ultra-tough market, a strong connection with customers has become essential for survival. Customer-led businesses that have built strong digital engagement with their audiences hold all the cards. “There has been a big psychological shift,” says Mark Sinnock, Havas group chief strategy officer for Europe. The result, he explains, is an increased use of incentives, loyalty and advocacy. “Brands are building up engagement strategies to access individuals and incentivise them to shop with them over longer periods of time as opposed to a specific moment.”

Fashion gets political

Beyond the pandemic, cultural and political change dominated the agenda of 2020 from the long-term impacts of Black Lives Matter protests, a divisive US presidential election and a looming Brexit. But for many fashion brands, a neutral stance has not been an option.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez carrying a Telfar bag.

A move to encourage working with Black-owned businesses gathered momentum. The 15 Percent Pledge called on US retailers to match their representation of Black business owners to the Black population of America. Clothing with political slogans made a comeback as “a new generation of culturally woke US citizens” prepared to vote, notes Lyst’s data editor Morgane Le Caer.

Consumers are increasingly shopping with companies whose values align with theirs, says Havas Group’s Sinnock. The signs are that it is good for business: brands that consumers perceive as making a positive impact grow at twice the rate of other brands, according to 2020 data from Kantar. But brands also need to be wary of using purpose as a gimmick and should tread cautiously, Sinnock advises.

Short-form and shoppable videos

TikTok reached out to fashion and luxury in 2020 with some success. The video-sharing platform champions short-form videos of 15 to 30 seconds, appealing to younger consumers. Burberry, Dior and Ralph Lauren all sponsored their own ‘challenges’ on TikTok. JW Anderson and Gucci benefited from the power of organic virality thanks to the #HarryStylesCardigan, which accumulated more than 45 million views, and #GucciModelChallenge. The #FurlaDance challenge by Furla resulted in half a billion views. Success is driven by “the openness of Gen Z and millennials, a commitment to real and unfiltered storytelling and the convergence of high and low culture”, says Kristina Karassoulis, TikTok's luxury brand partnerships lead for Europe.

Social media has also given a voice to underserved communities in fashion, such as plus-size advocates and sustainability activists. “TikTok has become a democratised tool, both for users and brands to create content but also to become part of an ongoing dialogue and discussion, says Brian Mandler, co-founder of The Network Effect, a digital agency focused on short-form content. “What we’ve learned very quickly is that instead of just liking and engaging with posts, people who are active on these platforms really have a voice.”

Short-form video applications help marketers engage with younger audiences not accessible through traditional media outlets and social networks. It’s also a new way of thinking about video, moving away from the repetitiveness of traditional film-based advertising. Mandler says the new emphasis is on fast-moving original branded content that helps to promote conversations, improve information gathering and lift the likelihood of purchase.

In the West, expect greater convergence of social video and commerce in 2021, catching up with a trend already well established in China and the Asia-Pacific region. “That’s really going to take off in the US in 2021,” says Forrester’s Pattisall. He notes that Amazon and Facebook have already made significant strides in live shopping, adding commerce functionalities to their sites. “For fashion, it’s going to be really important to connect the dots between content creation, engagement and the ability to purchase directly,” adds Mandler.

Cass Russell, fashion brand partnerships lead for Europe at TikTok, says to keep an eye on TikTok's partnership with Shopify, which is scheduled to debut in early 2021 in Europe and the UK after launching in the US in October. The goal, she says, is to help brands connect with, and be discovered by, the TikTok community.

Fashion week becomes entertainment

Fashion weeks are undergoing seismic change. Marketers believe their future is less about selling to an industry audience and more about exploiting an interactive marketing opportunity.

The pace of innovation has been thrilling. In September, Burberry became the first luxury fashion brand to partner with Twitch, enabling viewers of its Spring/Summer 2021 show to interact in chat rooms. In the same month, Prada hosted a virtual show that encouraged audience participation, asking in advance for questions for co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. In November, Gucci staged a virtual fashion film festival, dubbed GucciFest, that premiered its new collection: the brand committed to seasonless events back in May.

Burberry’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection presented via Twitch.

“In the past, there was a sense in the industry that digital was not luxury, but it is now an ingrained customer behaviour, and it is a way for brands to connect with audiences and express creativity,” says Rod Manley, chief marketing officer at Burberry. He adds that digital and show streaming have been a part of Burberry’s DNA for over a decade, but new platforms like Twitch offered “an interactive experience” for guests to connect with both Burberry and each other.

Burberry’s event clocked 118 million views across all platforms. GucciFest generated nearly 25 per cent more media impact value (measuring the total impact of media placements on online channels, inclusive of paid, owned and earned mentions) than the brand’s previous SS20 show.

Particular focus on China has also paid off. Prada staged screenings of its virtual show in Shanghai, as well as live streams on its Weibo and Douyin accounts, which engaged more than 48 million users, according to the company. A dedicated hashtag #PradaSS21 on Weibo generated one-day views of 170 million. On the day of its show, Burberry was featured on Alibaba’s Super Brand Day on Tmall, which led to a record-high daily transaction volume. Burberry estimates put its total customer reach on that day in the tens of millions.

The promise of gaming

Luxury brands have been exploring the potential of gaming as a means to connect with younger audiences. In December, Balenciaga made a bold move with the launch of its AW21 collection within a video game, Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow. Users were invited to explore the game’s various zones at their own pace and discover creative director Demna Gvasalia’s new designs in a real-world environment.

Other luxury initiatives have included an avatar version of Donatella Versace at virtual festival Complexland, where attendees could buy a new Versace Trigreca sneaker, and an immersive game Collina Land, by American fashion brand Collina Strada, aired as part of GucciFest. Meanwhile, eco-friendly sweats brand Pangaia created a virtual gamified experience on top of a glacier to promote the launch of its new down alternative, Flwrdwn.

“The audience size, engagement, rate of innovation and production quality you see in gaming today rivals many traditional sports and entertainment,” says Naz Aletaha, head of global esports partnerships and business development at Riot Games. In December 2019, her company teamed up with Louis Vuitton for skins for avatars as well as a Louis Vuitton x League of Legends capsule collection, the first-ever collaboration between a gaming firm and luxury house.

More collaborations are likely. “Brands want to be where their audiences are,” says Aletaha. “For decades, brands have affiliated with film, television and music to do just that — to be part of the culture and the conversation, and to connect with audiences through their passions.”

The year 2021 will likely see even more integrations and a focus on shared experiences such as virtual trade shows, exclusive in-game drops and virtual try-on hauls. “Brands are understanding that it’s not only about getting in front of the largest number of eyes but tailoring campaigns to the audience that is most receptive and valuable for their message,” says Gina Chung Lee, vice president of marketing and creative at Gen.G, a gaming organisation that recently hired designer Heron Preston as executive brand advisor.

A renewed interest in sports marketing

With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for July 2021, real-life sports stars will be a big focus of the year ahead. The streetwear boom and rising demand for wellness-themed products have encouraged luxury brands to deepen their commercial relationships with sports stars. Back in January, Louis Vuitton announced a multi-year partnership with the NBA including an annual capsule collection of apparel and accessories designed by Virgil Abloh, artistic director of menswear.

The deal marked Louis Vuitton’s first partnership with a major North American sports league and followed LVMH sister brand Loewe’s new Autumn/Winter 2020 campaign featuring Megan Rapinoe, World Cup-winning co-captain of the US women’s national football team. Footballer Hector Bellerin also walked Louis Vuitton's men's fashion show in the summer.

Glossier’s Body Hero campaign featuring WNBA players.

Even beauty brands are getting in on the trend. In October, Glossier featured members of the WNBA in its Body Hero campaign. “As a community-centric brand, we're always looking to build new and meaningful relationships with people that inspire us,” says Ali Weiss, senior vice president of marketing at Glossier. It's a continuation of the company’s focus on selling on “aspirational realness”.

Deals with individual sports stars are costly. For the biggest names, luxury brands are competing with well-funded sportswear giants like Nike, says John Collard, chief executive of Sports Impact, a consultancy. But unlike conventional marketing channels, these deals can help brands widen their reach to consumers who buy into the most accessible product categories, such as perfumes and accessories, that drive most luxury house profits.

The sports influence on fashion continues to grow. The NPD Group forecasts that sports shoes will be confirmed as the largest footwear category in the US this year, beating out “fashion” footwear, which includes shoes, boots, sandals and slippers. Collard of Sports Impact thinks 2021 will be a big year for fashion and sport: “I see the relationship between fashion, beauty and sports evolving even more quickly in 2021, as brands realise the potential to reach core target groups with endorsement from sporting influencers who really do influence.”

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