This article will illustrate how Topshop successfully integrated digital channels to its 2013 marketing campaign. By giving customers a voice through the use of interactive marketing communications, Topshop has cemented its position as the most influential brand in the UK.
Considered as a fashion-led trendsetter, Topshop is primarily implemented in the UK, with 319 shops on the British soil, and flagship stores in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Referring to the geographically limited locations of the stores and the success Topshop has encountered in the UK, Chief Marketing Officer, Mr Cook, stated in an interview that: “All we need to do is scale that behaviour, because it’s not a global brand by proxy of the fact that we don’t have the stores “. Determined to connect with a wider audience, the marketer and its predecessors saw in digital marketing a key opportunity to do so.
During Topshop’s 2013 London Fashion Week show, the brand partnered with Google + and demonstrated the win-win relationship that exists between the digital world and marketing practices.
Before the show, Topshop unrolled behind-the-scenes videos of models and creative team on its Youtube Channel, bringing exclusive access to Cara Delevigne, Jourdan Dunn, Rosie Tapner and Ashleigh Good. The models were holding a digital diary, bringing users along the “Road to the runway” from their first fitting to the moment they hit the catwalk. During the show, models were wearing high-definition micro cameras that streamed their point of view live on a screen at the show space, as well as on Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Topshop.com and the London flagship stor.
This live video initiative allowed viewers to ‘Be the model’ while seeing and feeling what the model experienced. Elements of “Shoot the Show” 2012 campaign were maintained such as the ”Customized the Catwalk” initiative and the “Tweet Off” competition.
Centred on the brand’s Fall 2012 London Fashion Week show, “Shoot the Show” was perfectly illustrating the next stage of social integration within a business. Involving a partnership with Facebook, the genius of this campaign was that while joining in on a live fashion show, consumers could “customize the catwalk” and shop the model’s look directly off the runway, from their outfits to their lipstick.
The event attracted 2.1 millions of viewers from 100 countries, stimulating engagement and purchase. In parallel, the company was launching a “Tweet Off” competition where customers reviewed the show in 140 characters. The best content creation was rewarded by the acquisition of VIP tickets for the next Topshop Fashion Show. Linking real-life experiences to online experiences is a key component of the brand’s digital marketing strategy. Ultimately, the digital action generated precious data that enabled Topshop to measure the effectiveness and ROI in actual sales
The last component of the 2013 e-marketing action was the creation of a custom Google+ Hangout application: “Be the Buyer”. This app gave consumers the opportunity to design and share their own look boards with pieces from the runway collection. By using this Google+ Hangout app., Topshop fans “ get to influence the buying decision” explained Cristian Cussen, Google+’s European head of marketing . Indeed the collected data helped Topshop’ buyers to decide what they were going to bring to retail (Vince, 2013). This process perfectly illustrates the notion of “prosumer”. Prosumes are consumers involved in the creation of the products and services they purchase, shifting the balance of power from producer to consumer.
Today, customers are demanding to be more engaged with the companies that affect their lives. This tendency reflects the changes social web promotes and the challenge marketers have to face. By seizing the opportunity to jump in and be part of this historical transition in terms of marketing communication, Topshop proved to have successfully embraced the digital revolution! by seizing the opportunity to jump in and be part of this historical transition in terms of marketing communications
