Spreading the word

I'm currently researching the dynamics of social media and the fashion industry. One of the most interesting insights was how social media is re-shaping the consumer behavior and shaping trends.

One of the most interesting observations is how fashion bloggers and PR agencies are using social media to publish photos and commentary of new fashion brands ‘look books’ and samples 6-18 months prior to launch. Whilst there is nothing particularly new here, en-masse this structured and organised behaviour is shaping contemporary fashion trends and the financial performance of brands. A typical example of this pattern came from Steve Monaghan from Sane Communications. He described how he would visit a number of major trade shows and industry events every year, then subsequently send his favorite look books, photos of their samples and supporting commentary to his network of 400 bloggers globally who then edit their favorites and share with their communities.

What's more, it's now an established career direction for a generation of fashion writers who previously would have entered into conventional journalism. Now aspiring media types are building their own social media platform to communicate and connect with their audience, leveraging their influence for commercial gains.

Reflecting on my previous post about Social Media Analysis which described how you can start to measure and quantify this information. Herein lies the opportunity! The brands that build capabilities to evaluate and respond to the wealth of 'social data' will be best positioned to create the most desirable products. This intelligence and insights becomes a critical input into any design process which is validated and lead by fact-based insights not intuition.