“We have this time to get rid of everything that doesn’t paint and update it with things it paints,” Phillip Bodenham, a fashion and marketing communication specialist based in London and Los Angeles, said in a phone interview. of the fashion industry and, in particular, of its industry. “When did the world have the time to reflect and perceive this?It’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. “
The founder of the venerable luxury communications agency, SPRING, has a career that began with him as an industry prodigy handling Tom Ford’s British communications for YSL at the age of 21. These days, she practices what COVID preaches and uses as an opportunity to lead the evolution of public relations and fashion marketing in the Corona era.
“I see customers and I hear the industry talk about migrating media spending to 70% and more to the Internet because we have to stick to the customer and they’re all glued to their phone. Do you read a published name or online platform, or do you get data about the social media logo, VIPs and influencers? bodenham asks aloud.
“It’s simple to say that a magazine’s reader is very targeted at his client, however, I wonder how much it matters, because big consumers are turning to streetstyle, virtual grocery shopping and Instagram, like everyone else. I also heard that buyers don’t read more Reviews of Vogue to locate new brands, they observed what urban style women wear. It’s a new world. “
What you are talking about is a very different situation from the one in which the industry has been operating since the days when the Pret-a-Porter became widespread in the 1920s and 1930s, the latest serious fashion disruption before the most recent fashion turmoil. the virtual age.
“In the past, the logo showed the collection on a catwalk, the collection went to the advertising agency, the garments were photographed through the magazines that consumers read and then went to the outlets to buy what they saw. Bodenham says.
“This disappeared with the advent of digital, which is a smart thing to do because it made things more egalitarian and democratic. We now have multiple cards to play across all channels and this gives our consumers more opportunities to cut their way. You just want careful handling that only comes from experience.
Now the industry is facing another disruption due to COVID and Bodenham believes it is much more vital than anything noticed in recent history, with the prospect of absolutely replacing the way the industry works in what it predicts will be a complete reorganization.
“What do the 4 fashion cities offer?” Question.
By 4 fashion cities, it refers to New York, London, Milan and Paris, each of which fills a different type of artistic production. New York is lifestyle city, known for its sportswear, fresh collections and outstanding clothing district. the arts center where the world’s leading talents emerge, an honor at the world’s first fashion school, Central Saint Martins, which is there. “Many talented designers come from London and many fashion houses have talented groups with knowledge in London,” he explains. Milan is founded on textiles and production, while Paris is the house of haute couture, haute couture and pr.
Bodenham believes that beyond provoking the fashion cycle and creating valuable e-commerce reports, things that are still hot topics, fashion in the United States is destined to change drastically. Arrangement on the left coast of the country.
“New York Fashion Week in February doesn’t make sense. Making an exhibition at a time when the logo seeks to draw attention is illogical. Move to Los Angeles to coincide with the awards season when everyone is in town and participates in exhibitions and occasions. “It would generate massive social and online traction thanks to influencers with more than one million subscribers and skill with more than 6 million. It makes more sense,” he says.
“We live in a world obsessed with content and VIPs, and Los Angeles is a production city where the global skill industry is based. Combine this with the technological innovation and justice emanating from California and the west coast force becomes transparent for brands to spread their messages globally. This is how I anticipate that smart brands will be reorganized in the long run and that’s a strategy we’re discussing with our customers. “
Bodenham’s not far away. Increasingly, the industry has noticed the display of giant collections in Los Angeles. Dior has exhibited his cruise collection there more than once and Hedi Slimane has transferred YSL’s artistic operations to Los Angeles while he was in charge. America, Tom Ford, was founded in Los Angeles for some time, while Rodarte was also founded in California. Added to this is the number of A-list talents followed through social media in the millions that new cars have to create the brand’s enthusiasm. as well as clothing production facilities, and California has the assets for the next fashion center in the United States.
“We live in a world obsessed with the way of life, and California is the most marketable way of life in line with the times. Light, palm trees, sea, mountains, desert, fitness and glamour,” Bodenham says.
“The brutality of a February fashion week in a tough city like New York seems like a bygone era, as well as a ’90s lifestyle that other people aspired to. Today, other people are interested in fitness and wellness. They want to attend, a yoga or spinning class, exercise in cool sportswear, buy nice things online and live a life in shape. We want to move to where the influence and way of life that other people aspire to is. It’s California.
All of this refers to the industry’s desire for radical use of virtual generation and how (and where) to optimize it better, especially since fashion has not yet fully maximized the use of online platforms. Many luxury brands are not yet required to shop online. , while online social purchasing strategies for groceries that recreate the social dynamics of in-person fun, such as live shopping or food organization in the Far East that kept fashion afloat during closing, are not yet equivalent, are starting to be used in the West.
“The market is highly fragmented and segmented, so there has to be a highly coordinated omnichannel, a combination of new concepts tried and tested to stand out,” Bodenham says.
Although it is reluctant to percentage of the exclusive mix it uses to bring good fortune to its customers, “I often do things for my customers instinctively, with additional experience,” he says, continuing with that, “At the center of What I do begins with a thorough investigation of the brand’s position, competition and market; then I draw a vision of what good fortune is like, how we can more productively differentiate ourselves from the competition, and then I create step by step methods to get there through my skills and my network of contacts for this to happen.
Bodenham is willing to share, however, that a strategic combination of virtual communications, influencer and VIP logo activations, content campaigns, special projects, virtual marketing, and CRM formula control are key tools.
“How do the logos they have joined speak to them? How do they announce their loyalty, make them unofficial logo ambassadors, and organically bring their fans into verbal exchange? That’s what interests me,” he says. the verbal exchange from ongoing consumer acquisition to loyalty and visitor loyalty is powerful. “
Bodenham also provides high-level personal consulting for determined partners, where he addresses issues and provides senior recommendations to CEOs and designers through PB.
It was a great success in resurrecting Hussein Chalayan’s logo for 6 years. An influential designer and influencer known for his experimental, intellectual, artistic and avant-garde work, Bodenham took it when the logo had lost its position in the air of the time.
“I love running with marks where there’s a lot to do and I laughed a lot moving chess pieces to put Hussein’s crown where he is, in his head,” he says. “I had enormous satisfaction in taking him where he was. “Be, like being photographed with Balenciaga in Vogue China or bringing all vital fashion personalities to their fashion shows in Paris.
“Ultimately, it’s a numbers game and our job as a marketing specialist and meddling in other people is to draw attention to a brand. And there’s no quick fix. I think it’s art as much as science, very competent and experienced public relations know that,” he says.
“That’s why I think with so many equipment to use, there needs to be other experienced people who know how to paint this painting. It’s a watercolor, not a sketch. “
I’m an editor who writes for heritage magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. My specialty is profile journalism,
I’m a fashion and fashion editor who writes for heritage magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. My specialty is fashion journalism profiles, emerging designers and emerging markets, the demanding situations facing the industry, fashion has been in the middle of my career. canopy culture and design for Forbes. com and other publications and lately I am editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar (India) and VOGUE (Russia). I grew up in the world but was born locally, I have lived and prospered in New York for the most part of my life and consider London to be a time at home. I’ve been living in Los Angeles lately, my favorite task is the mummy of my golden mini-doodle, Aiko. Follow me on Instagram @rebeccasuhrawardi.