The new wave in fashion branding- Over the past few years there has been a dramatic shift among the hierarchy in the exclusive fraternity of high fashion brands. Historically, fashion labels managed the public image of their brands through the utilization of traditional public relations in tandem with stunning visuals in advertising campaigns and all of these methods were governed internally, with no exposure or input, from the prying eyes of outside counsel. The reasoning could be largely attributed to general media advertising agencies direct conflict in methodology, to that of the need of these fashion labels to preserve their exclusivity. The “dog whistle” approach, was and still is, paramount; in only reaching your intended target and not the masses that would eventually erode the potency of the brand over the long term.

Well, I can attest that those days are long behind us, with the increasing importance in the role of social and digital media, even the largest and oldest in the fashion game can ill afford to ignore the arrival of a totally different platform of communication to both their consumer, loyalist, what ever you prefer to call it and most importantly the new brand ambassadors in training. These “newbie's” are waiting in the wings, growing up with the internet on their pdas, laptops, I-pad,I-phones. Now the fashion brand giants, (I.E Cartier, Giorgio Armani, LVMH,Prada, RL, Etc,Etc,) all have to work much harder to prevent fading into obscurity in the years to come . They must listen to this fresh generation and create a two-way conversation that includes the consumer in the decision making process of the brand, employing a sort of virtual transparency in the hope that their audience feels that they have a stake in the brand and perhaps even ownership of it. This is the only way that these old school players will survive, much less thrive, and now they are finally coming to this realization, even if perhaps too late in some cases. At the BRPR Group we have seen these dramatic changes on the ground and can testify, it is not just academic, this sudden receptiveness to looking towards the outside to blow the whistle and call home their followers, but it is very real and substantive. At our little firm, we think of ourselves as sort of  a wild band of pied pipers for the spouses that we represent. I have had the distinct pleasure of taking on art direction responsibilities for fashion editorial in everything from Harpers Bazaar En Espanol, Level Magazine, to Complot Magazine and upcoming with Men's Vogue LatinAmerica and in turn; the phone rings from many of the aforementioned fashion brands(I don’t kiss and tell so please don’t ask ) requesting that BRPR Group create the same magic for them, as we do for some of these magazines but the difference is the added component of social and digital media on a very aggressive scale. This is no longer the wave of the future it is the wave of now. This is my little insight for the IFW readers for this week and yeah we do call it “Brand Management” like the rest of them but the difference is we continue in our ongoing effort to re-define stale definitions.


For more information on BRPR visit www.br-prmiami.com