The Business Of Fashion and McKinsey & Company have just released their new edition of “The State of Fashion”. A future that is full of gloomy uncertainties that the report does not hide: “Global Fashion Index (MGFI) forecasts that global fashion industry growth will slow further — down to 3 to 4 percent”. But uncertainties very often come with new opportunities for brands that will decide to shake things up. Here are some forecasts, focusing on social media and what we can expect in the coming months.
Digital winners of yesterday, losers of today
After years of fuss for digital pure players and digitally advanced brands, the report proves that there’s no one-trick when it comes to long-lasting success:
“Digital pure players that pioneer new business models may prove exciting as new paths to profitability emerge, but other tech players will begin to falter. And as industry-wide digitization progresses, the need for reinvention has even reached showrooms and trade fairs.”
Taken from Business of Fashion’s The State of Fashion 2020
Think about Victoria’s Secret: in 2011, it was considered as “Genius” in the L2 ranking, truly innovating in various fields, from CRM to live broadcast experience:
“Victoria’s Secret, the women’s apparel specialist, hit 145 points, having enabled shoppers to complete gift card purchases on Facebook, where it has 14m “likes”, and built an iPad app offering premium material.”
Taken from Business of Fashion’s The State of Fashion 2020
A humble reminder that when it comes to marketing, the only KPIs are the ones that focus on what consumers think and make of the brands in the long-term.
Established brands are now catching up with stakeholders that used to be at the forefront of innovation. It is, therefore, getting more and more difficult to start from scratch and promise disruptive models whereas the surviving brands are themselves disrupted and disrupting.
The power of subcultures and niche interests
The report focuses on the importance of narrowing down both brand offers…and their communication strategy to reach precise groups of people.
There are many “locals” worldwide: consequences for social networks
It is a fact: many brands are still focusing their efforts on China, and are also trying to find the right marketing approach to tap into this opportunity. But looking forward, many markets provide amazing grounds for fashion – and luxury – brands. UAE & Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, South East Asia, and India will represent more than 1.2Bn people aged 30 or below.
It is true that when an HQ is in Paris, London, Milan or NYC, these markets are still a bit under the radar, not in terms of sales but in terms of what should be done, and where the organization should start. Regarding social media, VKontakte is a good example: despite millions of Russians on it, we still haven’t seen or read many case studies handled by European or American brands about it.
For sure, it is a big challenge for lean organizations; very small marketing teams can barely handle zillions of cultural nuances and digital campaigns; when they’re in charge of various brands, time gets very scarce. However, business priorities might slightly change as a local approach becomes more and more important:
“for success at scale, fashion players need to retain the flexibility to cater to local needs. That may mean being prepared to take tough decisions on where they are most likely to find traction and establishing a tailored strategy for each country.”
Taken from Business of Fashion’s The State of Fashion 2020
Global concerns, local issues
Greta Thunberg was no accident when we look at respondents’ choices regarding the top three themes impacting their business. There are obviously underlying technological issues, but “getting woke”, “now or never” mentality opens the discussion about the purpose of their companies. And why it could still be relevant for specific groups of consumers at a very local level.
In an era of “radical transparency”, proof needs to be tangibly perceived by consumers, in their daily lives. Again, brands which dedicate important efforts to be meaningful at the local level can steal the show.
Less GRP, more relevance
Chief brand officer Marc Pritchard had already explained in the Wall Street Journal that to truly engage consumers, brands need to avoid any SPAM effects. Some good tips, whereas a lot of conversation arose about retargeting, programmatic, and that several media agencies keep pushing for GRP, and GRP only.
“We’re trying to reduce the amount of times we reach the same person over and over again.”
Marketing week
In other words, all interviewees share the same feeling: it’s not by overwhelming a consumer that he/she is going to purchase a product. A trend which was already affirmed more than 10 years ago, with TNS Digital Life editions: it’s not natural to talk to a brand, even if the device and messenger habits might seem a way to make the conversations more and more flawless.
“Overall, in light of consumers’ growing apathy — and sometimes antipathy — towards traditional social media advertising models, we expect fashion brands in 2020 to significantly re-evaluate their strategies in a quest for meaningful returns.”
Taken from Business of Fashion’s The State of Fashion 2020
Fragmented usages
Another challenge: it’s no longer just Facebook vs Twitter vs Google. Leaders are now challenged by thousands of apps, platforms, networks, which promise niche or purpose-driven values. Something we tend to notice: the smartphone becomes the main social login, and as its interface is more and more sophisticated, apps provide a progressive experience which can be very complementary to the smartphone owner.
Indeed, Facebook influence seems to be decreasing in its core markets: in France, for the very first time, the number of users has decreased by 1.3% in 2019.
Niche is not… small
With such a plethoric offer, one could consider tapping into the more “mass” networks, hoping to reach consumers where they apparently are…but fortunately enough for creative agencies, that is not how consumers behave.
Most of the platforms reached critical masses of users because of unique interest, ability to become a meeting point for very versatile groups of people. Pinterest was not pushed by high-income and urban people as in 2012, just 25% of users had a bachelor’s degree or higher; TikTok did not provide a full (social) service to its users but focused on 2 or 3 amazing features.
So there’s no doubt that pop culture tries to match social networks engines. If Lady Gaga was a pioneer with her Little Monsters community, it’s now in South Korea that we should focus on:
“South Korean app WeVerse — developed by the entertainment label behind global boy-band phenomenon BTS — allows K-Pop idols to communicate with their fans across the globe. Considering the clout of stars such as Gucci global ambassador Kai (of boy-band EXO), Jisoo and Chanel house ambassador Jennie Kim (of Blackpink), the platform has the potential to become an asset for luxury houses”
Taken from Business of Fashion’s The State of Fashion 2020
5 takeaways for brands
Thanks to this very rich report, we can emphasize five main directions/intuitions for brands when it comes to establishing a social media strategy
1. Local relevancy means managing local communities:
It might sound obvious but how many global brands properly manage their digital properties in local languages? It is a key difference with DTC brands which were generally born in a very niche, local environment and which carefully crafted relationships with core fans before extending their impact.
2. Emerging platforms specialists: a comeback!
Those who started working in the 2000’s can remember job titles like “emerging channels specialists” or “emerging media”. It seems like 2020 is all about emerging communities and usages. No doubt that companies will hire these talents again, to rebuild relevancy where attention is happening.
3. GRP is not enough:
Not to launch another debate about ROI, but it’s about time for brands to monitor not only their social media activities but more importantly how they impact businesses. Not enough brands survey how their social media impacts awareness or consideration for a product; it’s not an easy task but if DTC do it well (and in simple ways), large companies should be able to do it too.
4. Social media is not a channel:
We’ve been saying that since day 1: social media is not just a place where we show content. It’s a place, a culture, a time, and even more. It is, therefore, a complex environment where solutions don’t come overnight.
5. Pervasive social:
Again a tough one, but cultures start spreading beyond borders. It is not always the case but when they do, first movers take all (think about Breitling and K-drama).
