“We’re publishing content in an authentic way, and if it’s increasing our brand awareness, then it could be defined as advertising. It’s a new way of communicating with consumers,” Miki Berardelli, chief marketing officer at Tory Burch, said of the changing definition of advertising. “It’s taking an editorial approach to telling your brand story, and the social-media space just lends itself so beautifully to that combination.”

Editorial-style content from brands is nothing new — it’s just become a more integral part of marketing in the social era and a fresh way for a company to position itself. And, as magazines cut staff or shutter altogether, the new editorial focus of fashion brands is providing a soft — and sometimes lucrative — landing spot for journalists and editors.

There’s only one hitch: branded editorial content from the likes of Ralph Lauren, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Nowness, A|X Armani Exchange, Diane von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, Donna Karan and Juicy Couture — as well as retailers such as Gilt Groupe, Club Monaco, Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue, Topshop, Net-a-Porter and Urban Outfitters — is, naturally, branded. The more fashion firms and retailers push into “editorial,” the greater the debate gets over that age-old dilemma: what is the line between editorial, advertising and advertorial?

Read the full story at WWD

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged an anti-fur protest on clothing brand DKNY’s Facebook Page Monday morning.

Thirteen different users changed their Facebook profiles photos to block letters and posted in quick succession on the DKNY’s Page to spell out the words “DK Bunny Butcher” in protest of the brand’s use of rabbit fur (screenshot below). Dozens of supporters have since taken to the Page to voice their disdain for the LVMH-owned company’s practices, reaching many of the Page’s 200,000+ fans in the process.

Full story at Mashable

The affinity for traditional commerce and marketing channels is strong among many purveyors of luxury goods, both in the fashion sector and elsewhere. In an international survey of 178 premium and luxury firms in 2008, Forrester Research found that only one-third of them actively sold online, though eight out of every 10 affluent consumers uses the Internet to actively research and purchase luxury goods and services on a daily basis.

That number has risen significantly since 2008, but is still strikingly low. Yoox founder and CEO Federico Marchetti estimates that half of luxury brands now sell directly online, though several we spoke with suggested that the percentage is higher, due largely to recession pressures.

Yet many brands, particularly European manufacturers of high-end wristwatches and other luxury goods, refuse to set up shop online.

Full story at Mashable

Christian Louboutin, Dancer In A Daydream

Luxury brands are growing confidence in their take up of social media marketing. Increasingly, rather than perceiving social networks as relinquishing control of their carefully branded environments, luxury brands are rapidly getting to grips with the idea of consumers as a key distribution channel in themselves. Luxury brands such as Dior are now investing their marketing efforts into the creation of fun and beautiful digital content that extends the story and messaging of their brand.

Check out a shortlist compiled by The Business of Fashion, showcasing a range of such fashion films from Chanel’s cinematic take on the sophisticated dancefloors of St Tropez, through to Christian Louboutin’s playful and quirky illustration of a creative daydream.

Click here to view

Consumers as your distribution channel

Social networks are set up as a perfect channel for luxury marketers to harness the power of word of mouth marketing. In a time where consumer scepticism is at an all time high, survey by PR firm, Edelman (2006) found that 67% of consumer goods sold as a result of word of mouth, by a three to one margin people are far more likely to trust “average people like me”.

As the authors over at Fashion’s Collective blog write “having a loyal customer take hold of a brand piece and share it with their circle via word of mouth is pure. solid. gold.”   See full article here

Fashion marketers are now taking this one step further and engaging with consumers by providing or in some cases even co-creating content with their audience.  This is the future currency that will build consumer advocacy for their fashion brand and products. “People on social networks love to share. Find the people who are passionate about your industry, your brand and your products, reward them with valuable information and content, and then watch as they put all of their passion, zeal and social media acumen to work promoting your brand to the rest of their social network.” (Ryan & Jones, 2009).

What does this mean for 2010 and beyond?

In a study by Outsell Inc (cited at LuxurySociety.com) digital spending is expected to eclipse print ad spending this year for the first time ever. With a further study by the Society of Digital Agencies showing a continued upward surge in digital media investment for 2010. 81% of brand executives surveyed expected to increase their digital projects in 2010, and 50% will be moving cash from traditional to digital budgets.  See more

A marketer’s ability to identify and reward influential and loyal consumer brand ambassadors will most certainly reshape the traditional value chain as they themselves become an essential and highly effective distribution channel. The key challenge now for luxury brands is in creating such a network of well-aligned marketing partners – from social media fan communities who are powered by aspiration and desire for conversation around the brand, through to influential bloggers, and even traditional media partners such as Vogue, who, with the recent announcement of the launch of their iPad app, appear to be quickly adapting their publishing strategy to the needs of the luxury advertising sector and its increasing consumer demand for inspiring, lustworthy digital content.

This week see’s the launch of Styleite, a new website dedicated to providing its readers with the latest and greatest in fashion and beauty news, insight, and commentary. Styleite also hosts what they claim to be the web’s most innovative and interactive photo community, Style Sheets.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the site is what they call the “Power Grid”, a statistical analytics tool that sources the web in realtime to reveal which fashion industry icons are being spoken about the most. The tool objectively ranks people based on a number of different metrics,  including anything and everything from blog mentions to circulation, Twitter followers to Google buzz depending on the category.

Styleite is certainly causing a bit of a stir amongst industry pundits and is definitely one we’ll be keeping an eye on.