MOST INNOVATIVE
COMPANIES 2015
4. Instagram
FOR
ITS BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FASHION INDUSTRY.
BY EMMA
WHITFORD
Back in 2011, when Oscar de la Renta and his peers were
Instagramming backstage at Fashion Week, the platform’s involvement was pure
luck. But now it actively positions itself as the fashion world’s infinitely
scrolling newsreel, one sign of how it stokes its hypergrowth and is creating a
premium product inside Facebook. Instagram develops partnerships in the fashion
industry with the help of a fashion and art community leader: advertising
agency vet Kristen Joy Watts, who had previously co-launched Lens, the New York
Times’s photo blog. Watts spotlights the most creative fashion houses, off-duty
models, professional photographers, bloggers, and tastemakers, in order to
inspire others to see Instagram as having the power to transform their
popularity. In tandem, a team led by Sara Wilson manages Instagram's fashion
and lifestyle partnerships.
Instagram’s growing fashion clout has also influenced the
features it develops. "Explore" once pulled up random posts popular
across the entire network, but it wasn’t a hit. Last year, it relaunched as a
tailored survey of user interests—handbags if you follow Rebecca Minkoff,
couture gowns if you follow Dior. Last August, Instagram introduced a new app,
Hyperlapse, which generates time-lapse videos. Runner-up for Apple’s 2014 App
of the Year award, it’s another gift to the fashion world—ideal for a makeup
artist applying eyeshadow, say, or the final adjustments to a photo-shoot
tableau.
Now fashion companies are seeing Instagram as not just a place
to promote their wares, but to advertise them as well. Instagram’s first ad
launched in November 2013; it was with Michael Kors, and subsequent campaigns
have been with the likes of Levi’s, Macy’s, and Burberry. Users are liking and
sharing the ads just as they do with other content, and that’s proved
Instagram’s worth in a big way: It made a deal last spring in which global ad
giant Omnicom promised to buy a reported $40 million in advertising, and the
photo-sharing app is a major component in Facebook’s multiyear ad deal with
Publicis Groupe. And with that, Instagram’s fashion partnerships come into full
focus: The industry brought intrigue to the platform, and now it’s going to
bring the revenue, too.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3039614/most-innovative-companies-2015/
No comments:
Post a Comment