Launchmetrics releases its second annual Data on the Runway report

The Changing Reality of Fashion Weeks Today & the Power of Voice

Who spoke louder at SS19 FWs: Chiara or Versace? Hedi Slimane or Phoebe Philo? Victoria Beckham or Burberry?

Launchmetrics releases its second annual  Data on the Runway report, benchmarking the four main international Fashion Weeks — New York, London, Milan and Paris — for the S/S 2019 season through an intensive online and social analysis of influencers, media and brands and responds. 

NEW YORK (February 13, 2019) – Launchmetrics, the leading marketing platform and analytics solution for the Fashion, Luxury and Cosmetic (FLC) industries, releases today its second annual report entitled Data on the Runway.  This report has been prepared by Launchmetrics’ Data Lab applying Launchmetrics’ Voice approach to analyze the Media Impact Value™ (MIV™) generated by the top four International fashion weeks: New York, London, Milan and Paris, with editorial commentary from WGSN, the authority on consumer and design trends.

Among the top winners was the widely publicized, anniversary show by Ralph Lauren ranks first amongst the brands, with the highest Media Impact Value generated over the fashion weeks at $38M USD, with Coach ($27M), Dior ($22.6M) and Gucci ($19.4M) following.  

Once again, Chiara Ferragni has topped the charts as the top influencer Voice leading with a total of $18.3M in Media Impact Value; to put that into perspective, she nearly reached the same MIV as the brand Versace ($18.7M) did for their SS19 show —  which proves that influencers are by no means a thing of the past  Placing first for celebrity Voice is Nicki Minaj, who generated a total of $11.3M Media Impact Value over the SS19 season.

Ultimately, the success of these events comes down to the strategic approach taken when organizing one’s communication directives.  Last season was full of exciting celebrations and changes which left many of us wondering if the brands picked the winning strategy, whether it was with a 360° campaign to celebrate #RL50, a rebranding at Celine under Hedi Slimane or Gucci’s change of city to show at Paris Fashion Week, in lieu of Milan.  What made these brands stand out and was it all worth it? 

360º campaigns have proven to be winning strategies for diversifying and amplifying the reach and impact of brands that present their collections during fashion week.  Ralph Lauren took full advantage of the momentous occasion to boost their brand. They activated some of the most influential international voices (ranging from politicians and celebrities such as Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Robert De Niro, to fashion industry leaders Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Anna Wintour), and by hosting an extravagant collection presentation and post-show dinner party. When looking at the voice split, we can see that influencers garnered enormous buzz for the brand taking 46.2% of the pie, followed by Ralph Lauren’s owned media channels at 29.7%, media at 17% and finally celebrities at 7%. Social media proves imperative for fashion brands, once again. Thanks to posts shared by celebrities and influencers, social channels represent an impressive 89% of the buzz compared to 11% by online media.  

While the rebranding process entails a series of risks for any brand, it also brings many opportunities. Revamping the image of a brand can be of great value when it comes to focusing on a new target audience, for instance.  We’ve taken a close look at how the rebranding choices have influenced the Voices behind the impact, and the repercussion that these choices have had on the Media Impact Value generated in one season versus another.

When comparing to Burberry, Celine saw much greater impact from its rebranding than the English luxury house. Celine’s change in logo, creative direction and increased activity on online and social media channels, have translated into $8.5M in MIV, more than doubling its MIV when comparing to the SS18 season ($3.3M).

Despite the controversy around Hedi Slimane’s debut at Celine for SS19, placements around his name doubled that of Phoebe Philo’s SS18 show, garnering an MIV of $3M vs. 1.6M respectively. However, it’s also interesting to note that mentions of Philo garnered $1.2M in MIV during Slimane’s presentation, indicating that, regardless of the change in creative direction, the Voices still talked about the previous designer.

Switching Fashion Week location, at times represents a change towards a more international strategy, while in other instances has more to do with the essence of the collection.  

We’ve taken a closer look at Gucci, the Kering-owned Italian luxury brand, which abandoned its home country for the SS19 show and opted for Paris.  A switch in fashion week location is not necessarily aimed at increasing overall MIV, yet can be a strategic choice when looking to target a new audience. As the report notes, when looking at “The Geographical Impact”, the majority of MIV generated during Milan Fashion Week came from Italy, whereas Paris Fashion Week sparked attention in United States as well as France. Therefore, Gucci’s change in location resulted in accessing a new audience. 

To read more about Data on the Runway and see what brands and influencers are in the top rankings, download the full report here.

Press Contact:

Katherine KNIGHT
Corporate Communications Director 
Email: Katherine.knight@launchmetrics.com

About Launchmetrics

Launchmetrics is a Marketing Platform and Analytics Solution to help Fashion, Luxury and Cosmetics professionals discover, activate and measure the voices that matter for their brands. It is the most essential and trusted platform in the industry, yielding an unrivalled market penetration to the top seventy fashion and luxury brands worldwide including Dior, Fendi, NET-A-PORTER, Topshop and more.

Founded in NYC with operating headquarters in Paris, and offices in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Madrid, Girona (Spain) and Munich (Germany) and support in five languages; the company works with over 1,000 brands as well as partners like IMG, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the British Fashion Council, Pitti Immagine, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and Google, to accelerate their business and build lasting exposure. The company’s industry communities GPS Radar & Style Coalition bring together over 50,000 influencers, editors, buyers and more to share content, events, news, images and more.

To learn more about Launchmetrics, please visit launchmetrics.com and follow us @launchmetrics

 

About MIV™

Launchmetrics’ proprietary audience-driven Media Impact Value™ (MIV™) algorithm measures the impact of relevant media placements on all channels (online, social, print), inclusive of paid, owned, earned mediums in order to derive a quantitative number for performance outcomes.

The algorithm has been finely tuned to specificities of the Fashion, Luxury and Cosmetics (FLC) industries, relying on historical data to create a more accurate way of measurement. It also takes into account both media and content quality to provide a higher value for content posted by more influential voices or content that includes powerful images or videos. 

About The Voices

The “Voice centric” approach places an emphasis on the Voices speaking in order to cross-compare performance. 5 main Voices are identified: traditional media, two Voices from influential individuals (influencers and celebrities) and two Voices coming from entities (partners and owned media). This reflects the real investments and organizational decisions that surround marketing and communications strategies, and allows brands to craft the perfect “Voice mix” across various channels, media types and regions.