Digital Analytics of Luxury Brands Online Today. Best Practices & Digital Marketing Plan for Missoni by laura belsley

Digital Analytics of Luxury Brands Online Today Best Practices & Digital Marketing Plan for Missoni

March 2013 Â

Polimoda International Institute of Fashion and Design Master Luxury Management Class of 2013 Final thesis Sponsored by Unmetric Laura Belsley – Mina Bishop – Juliana Calvo

#TABLE OF CONTENT

Executive Summary p. 5 Introduction p. 23 Research & Methodology p. 35 Phase 1: Selection of brands for research p. 39 Phase 2: Digital Analytics p. 43 Social Media Analysis p. 44 Website Analysis p. 130 Mobile & Tablet Analysis p. 142 Digital Analytics Summary p. 150 Missoni Digital Weakness Analysis p. 153 Phase #3 Missoni Digital Marketing Strategy p. 161 About Missoni p. 162 Digital Marketing Strategy p. 173 Prospective Budget p. 202 Conclusion p. 206

#EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “Luxury brands have long had a love hate relationship with social media, many found the concept of an online store front or presence too pedestrian as recently as 2010. That has begun to change in recent times” (Forbes, 2012).

#Introduction @Objective The purpose of this study was to complete an in-‐depth best practice analysis of nine luxury fashion brands digital performances at present. The nine brands represent an assortment of “High Luxury”, “Middle Luxury” and “Low Luxury” brands as determined through a preliminary unaided survey. They include: Hermes, Chanel, Dior, Armani, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Missoni. After looking across the board at how each of these nine brands choose to customize their website, social media and mobile and tablet strategies in order to grow the interest of their followers, the overall weakest performing brand was selected to further analyze.

Missoni was discovered to consistently possess the weakest performing practices throughout all platforms used including their website, mobile/tablet apps and social media accounts. Analysts then worked to create an improved and re-‐ energized digital strategy for Missoni with the objectives of increasing their global brand awareness and their online traffic.

@Analysts A team of three graduate students in Luxury Management from Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence (Italy), Class of 2013, partnered with New York-‐based social media benchmarking firm, Unmetric, to evaluate the digital analytics corresponding with all nine luxury brands.

@Digital & Social Media Environment Background In general, luxury fashion brands have been slow to adopt and embrace the new wave of digital and social media platforms that have emerged and grown immensely in power and influence since the early 2000s. As the initial resistance to these changes have softened, luxury brands must now determine how to best navigate through the world of digital marketing without compromising their prestige. Growth of Social Media The world continues to become more involved and dependent with social media each year. As of November 2012, “There are over 1 billion Facebook users, 500 million Twitter users, 4 billion photos on Instagram, 400 million Google+ users, and the list continues on. Just about every major popular social networking company has over 100 million registered users. YouTube receives over 4 billion views every day” (Savitt, 2012). |6

#Executive Summary

Social Media Platforms The following social media platforms were analyzed for all brands including; LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+. Financial Gain of Social Media Social media was initially used to build brand awareness and a “community” that was devoted to a brand. With the growth and demand of both e-‐commerce and m-‐commerce, social media is becoming a necessary factor in connecting followers with targeted links to online shopping channels. Social Media Ethics As social media use among luxury brands advances, so does the frequency in which these brands are reaching out to their audiences. In order to engage consumers through these channels, brands should not forget the importance of using social media to build trust with their current and prospective brand advocates. Future of Social Media While the luxury market is learning how to gain its hold on social media, individuals who rely on social networking are starting to wonder what will come next. Perhaps brands will begin to develop more complex social networks that focus on servicing VIP customers. It is also speculated whether or not brands will be required to pay for opening and using social media profiles that are presently free to open for all.

Future of E-‐commerce According to a Goldman & Sachs study in October 2012, Global e-‐commerce sales are growing more than 19% each year. Worldwide retail web sales are predicted to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2013. Looking ahead to the near future, the e-‐ commerce winners will be those luxury brands that find a balance between communicating their heritage and prestige while embracing fast-‐moving digital selling platforms. Future of M-‐commerce Tablet commerce is predicted to reach $24 billion in 2013 and make up for more than 9% of all online sales as revealed by Mist Media in February 2013. Mobile commerce now accounts for 10% of Internet usage worldwide (this has doubled over the last 18 months) as reported by e-‐Marketer in January 2013. With a growing demand, m-‐commerce is the rising star of the e-‐commerce sphere. Brands place themselves in the best position to take advantage of all m-‐commerce has to offer by understanding and keeping tabs on where it’s going. Emerging Markets: Focus on China’s Buying Power In light of the rapidly accelerating consumer spending power present in China, brands both in and out of the luxury world are having to craft social media strategies that take into consideration the present day communication barriers created by the Chinese government. More than 300 million Chinese use “spin-‐off” social media networks, from blogs to social-‐ networking sites, to microblogs and other online communities.

Luxury brands that choose to work past these communication barriers, will find a competitive advantage that serves to successfully grow their global revenues.

#Research & Methodology @Phase I: Selection of Brands for Research Analysts prepared an unaided perception survey that showcased 29 luxury brands as considered by a variety of influential experts and tastemakers within the fashion world. A thirtieth answer space was also offered for survey applicants to add additional fashion brands that they considered to be “luxury”. One hundred participants were asked to label each given brand, and or additional submitted brands, as “High Luxury”, “Middle Luxury” or “Low Luxury” based upon the individual’s personal perception of that particular brand name. Compiling results, all responses were placed in a pivot table to determine which brands fell under each of the three various luxury categories. The top three brands that emerged under

#Executive Summary

each luxury category were used to compile the final list of luxury brands to observe in this digital analytics study.

@Phase 2: Digital Analytics After the initial elimination process of luxury brands, the remaining nine brands were further evaluated by using digital analytics retrieved through a partnership with Unmetric. This data, including statistics, demonstrated luxury brands behaviors on social media platforms and enabled analysts to better understand how luxury brands are currently engaging their consumers through these means. In addition, this data revealed which brands are currently leading the way of social media best practices. Unmetric, however, did not monitor the social media platforms of Instagram, Tumblr, Google+ or LinkedIn. The analysts further researched these brands by visiting each luxury brand’s social media page and evaluated the number of followers that each brand currently has, the content and frequency of postings, the basic day-‐to-‐day comments, and the average “Likes” from daily and weekly posts. Additionally, analysts reviewed each brand’s website and mobile/tablet applications to further asses their intended digital marketing strategies.

#Executive Summary

The in-‐depth analysis helped analysts determine best practices for each platform and draw a list of the strongest and weakest performing brands based upon number of followers and quality of content posted. Results demonstrated that Missoni was the weakest performing brand in the area of social media and digital marketing among the nine luxury fashion brands evaluated.

@Phase 3: Digital Marketing Strategy for Missoni Analysts created a digital marketing plan to reenergize all digital platforms presently used by Missoni. The two main objectives are represented below: 1. Increase Missoni’s brand awareness… o …among the general public through promotion of the brand history. o …among the fashion community through a “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” collaboration. o …among the contemporary art community through a corporate social responsibility program promoting young artists. 2. Increase Missoni’s online traffic… o …through a redesigned website that incorporates e-‐ commerce. o …through improved social media practices on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube,

Google+, Tumblr and other alternative Chinese social media platforms. o …through redesigned and improved use of mobile and tablet devices that incorporate m-‐commerce.

#Digital Analytics @Social Media Snapshot Summary Total “Followers” listed for each brand’s social media platform was used as one of the main key performance indicators to assess the brand’s ability to engage, lead and attract fans per social media account. Combining the total number of “Followers” under each brand’s social media platforms offers additional insight as to which of the nine brands carries the largest and least percentage of “Social Media Market Share” in comparison against one another. Leading with the most number of “Followers” in the majority of social media platforms, Burberry holds 29.6% of the Total Social Media Market Share out of the nine brands examined. Dior has the largest number of “Followers” under Twitter,

while Michael Kors was found to have the most “Followers” under Pinterest. In contrast, Missoni was found to have the least number of “Followers” in all social media platforms except LinkedIn, for which they do not have a present account. They hold 0.1% Total Social Media Market Share in comparison against the eight other luxury brands. Although the number of “Followers” is a key performance indicator used to evaluate the success and strength of a brand’s overall social media performance, it is also important to consider the quality of content found within each brand’s social media profiles. This helped analysts further evaluate and determine which luxury brand leads in best practices for each particular social media platform reviewed. Based upon content observed for each brand’s interpretation, the below list was compiled to represent examples of overall best practices in social media. Facebook: Tory Burch Twitter: Burberry Instagram: Tory Burch YouTube: Burberry Pinterest: Hermes Google+: Burberry LinkedIn: Burberry Tumblr: Dior

#Executive Summary

Most Followers: Least Followers: Followers Facebook

Hermes 966,490

Chanel

Dior

8,422,628 11,212,360

Armani

Burberry

Dolce & Gabbana

Michael Kors

Tory Burch

Missoni

4,078,665

14,770,159

6,358,472

4,084,480

607,553

63,742

Twitter

None

1,327,634

1,630,067

162,781

1,590,737

549,959

1,076,327

204,873

5,679

Instagram

None

87,000

664,000

199,000

482,000

183,000

342

YouTube

4,687

68,229

41,501

11,985

56,165

26,699

4,418

979

480

5,885

None

21,373

5,106

33,019

9,901

80,123

59,078

212

Google+

77,242

78,145

425,496

526,421

2,139,574

600,941

45,143

598,037

42,142

9,672

None

48,897

15,915

12,162

6,841

None

9,938,778 13,340,469

4,871,958

19,302,551

7,760,887

5,784,653

1,660,361

70,476

9.7%

29.6%

11.9%

8.9%

2.5%

0.1%

LinkedIn Total Followers Total Percentage

None 1,054,304 1.6%

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#Executive Summary

15.2%

20.5%

@Website Content Analysis Web rank is another key performance indicator in evaluating the effective and efficient efforts of each brand’s website in connection with support promotion built through their social media and mobile/tablet platforms. Highest rank: Lowest rank:

Note: Due to the inverse relations of Alexa.com rankings (Lower Number Equals Higher Web Search/Visit Rank), analysts composed a chart to show which brand carries the highest web ranking.

Alexa Rank

The higher the ranking, the more number of visits the site is receiving. This ranking as researched through web analytics company, Alexa.com, offers additional insight to help determine if any correlation exists between a site’s ranking and the strength of their social media and mobile/tablet platforms.

Hermes Chanel 13,813

9,733

Dior 17,706

Armani 20,094

Burberry 8,549

Dolce & Gabbana 289,470

Michael Kors 11,566

Tory Burch 14,047

Missoni 358,635

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This weighted rank graph serves to highlight the existing correlations between number of social media followers per brand against where that particular brand sits in their web search ranking through Alexa.com. A scale of 1-‐9 was used to evaluate each brand’s Alexa.com rating and total number of social media followers’ performances. The chart suggests that a correlation exists between web rank and the total number of social media followers for Chanel, Burberry, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Missoni. Hermes remains an elite brand in this study and appears to intentionally implement a less involved social media strategy, although they remain highly seated in web searches. Dior, Armani and Dolce & Gabbana have an inverted correlation with their web rank and social media followers. This leads analysts to believe that the content on their platforms may be less engaging to build a larger fan base to promote their line and increase web traffic to their respective home sites. Perhaps they do not refer and direct followers to their homepages as frequently as the other positive correlation brands have created.

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#Executive Summary

@Mobile & Tablet Analysis Mobile commerce is emerging as the new leader of the online shopping world. The consumer mobile experience has begun to surpass the benefits of those offered by the desktop experience. As retailers continue to search for best practices in offering online shoppers more complete e-‐commerce experiences, they must also pay close attention to the numerous opportunities available in m-‐commerce platforms. Portability remains the competitive advantage of m-‐commerce. Both mobile and tablet devices provide users with even greater access to instant information at all times of the day. The consumer is becoming smarter and carries higher expectations of who, what, how will entertain and engage them the most in the competitive battle of digital marketing. As users become more dependent and familiar with navigating through their mobile devices, retailers will need to focus on further developing the offerings listed on these platforms.

Some interesting facts from Mist Media (mistmedia.com) reveal the following about the growing importance of video and digital marketing: • Mobile now accounts for 10% of Internet usage worldwide (this has doubled over the last 18 months) • There was 103% growth in website traffic from smart phones from 2011-‐2012 • Tablet shoppers will spend $24 billion in 2013, almost double that in 2015 NOTE: The information observed below is only in regards to discoveries found for i-‐Phone and i-‐Pad products using iOS. Analysts did not look to app options made available on other operating systems such as Android or Blackberry.

@Digital Analytics Summary Based upon all data collected and reviewed, Burberry has emerged as the most digitally competent luxury brand in this study. They offer seamlessly-‐blended strategies to connect and unite all of their digital efforts in web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms. They remain focused and targeted in their online efforts to attract and connect with their audience.

#Executive Summary

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Burberry showcases how luxury brands should be building brand affiliation and awareness with their fans and followers. Their online campaigns remain creative and attractive. They have developed content that encourages followers to dream, desire and aspire for the Burberry lifestyle, creating emotional affinity with the brand and its unique offered experiences. Their consistent message and frequent activity across all channels gives them an edge in e-‐commerce sales. Based upon all data collected and reviewed, it appears that Missoni has been late in embracing and joining the digital world and thus found to be the weakest performing brand in this study. They do not offer a clear path of flow for content generated across multiple digital channels. In every category assessed from web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms, Missoni does not present its brand in a clear and cohesive direction. Despite carrying an incredibly rich heritage and lasting imprint in the fashion world, Missoni does not articulate this message to followers in a lasting and memorable manner. The number of Total Followers in comparison to all other eight brands in this study, show significantly less market share in number of Total Followers acquired. They were found to be weakest performing in the majority of categories assessed.

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#Executive Summary

The third phase of the study will be devoted to improving Missoni’s present digital media strategies and generate new methods to cultivate and promote a successful digital campaign that will help strengthen Missoni’s presence in the virtual landscape that is crucial for luxury brands to navigate today.

@Missoni Digital Weaknesses The below information was compiled to specifically site weaknesses found within Missoni’s present digital media strategies according to data observed from their web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms. A variety of factors influenced the classification of weaknesses discovered including: • Web ranking as noted on web benchmarking site Alexa.com • Overall quality of content used to engage and inform users • Level of use of tools provided by the social media platforms • Number of followers • Level of aesthetic customization devoted to each platform Facebook • Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study.

“About” bio section does not offer updated information to reflect the present. • Do not make use of “History by Year” timeline under “Basic Info” section. • Do not make use of “Product” description section under “Basic Info” section. • Confusing link to Missoni.it/Mobile/ listed under “Company” and “Contact Info-‐Website” sections. • Do not show links for all Missoni social media platforms under “Contact Info-‐Websites”. Currently only shows links for Missoni.com, Missoni.it/Mobile/, YouTube and Twitter. • Do not take advantage of the tab space next to company info. Only show tabs for “Photos” and “Likes”. • Do not offer “Facebook Shop” application tab as component of main page. • Do not offer “Location” application tab as component of main page. • Do not offer “Events” application tab as component of main page. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. • Do not show all Missoni videos made available through counterpart on YouTube. Twitter • Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. •

• • •

Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. Segmented Twitter accounts (@Missoni, @MissoniUSA, @MissoniUK). USA account is completely inactive.

YouTube • Significantly lower number of “Subscribers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. • Do not have a custom-‐designed wallpaper. • Do not have a “Home” tab. • Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. • Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. • Do not organize videos in more specific categories that help users better navigate through the content. Pinterest • During the initial analytics phase of this study (February 2013), Missoni had not yet opened a Pinterest account. It was discovered that an official Missoni page was launched in early March 2013.

#Executive Summary

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Instagram • Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. • Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. • “Following” list is too small. • Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. LinkedIn • Do not have a LinkedIn account. Google+ • Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. • Weak and incomplete content featured in “About”, “Photos” and “Video” sections. • Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. • Do not provide links to Missoni’s other social media platforms. • “Circle” list of who Missoni follows is too small. Tumblr • Do not have a Tumblr account.

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#Executive Summary

Website • Low-‐positioned “Alexa” ranking. • Site only available on Italian or English. • Content takes abnormal time to download when initially waiting for home page to upload and navigate through the additional content on the site. • Distracting music automatically plays when visiting the site. • Content and selected imagery is overall underwhelming and arranged in distracting designs that do not offer users the most maximum methods to easily navigate through the site. • Do not include links to all other Missoni social media platforms. Only show link for Facebook and YouTube. • Do not provide links to promote Missoni children’s collection. • Facebook and YouTube links are not located in a prominent and easy-‐accessible location. • Missoni Home and Hotel Missoni links are not located in a prominent and easy-‐accessible location. • Do not offer direct e-‐commerce shopping cart platform. Instead they direct interested buyers to visit www.net-‐a-‐ porter.com to purchase Missoni products. • Do not provide “Search” button option to locate specific info that web visitor may be seeking to find. • Difficult to locate section that details where consumers may find Missoni product to purchase around the world.

• •

•

Content displayed under “Gallery” appears misplaced and disconnected. Website should include more info surrounding the 60th anniversary celebration throughout 2013. The “History” section presently shares the Missoni “Biography” and “50th Anniversary”. Text under “Fragrance” section is overwhelming in contrast to thumbnail images of product and ads.

Mobile/Tablets • Do not have m-‐commerce app. • Do not offer free downloadable Missoni printed wallpapers for smart phones and tablets. • Missoni Art app appears as a duplicate entry available in the app store. • Some apps are only available on iOS, not also on AnrdoidOS, WindowsOS and BlackberryOS.

#Missoni Digital Marketing Plan

@About Missoni Uniquely defined by their signature knits and zig-‐zag stripes, Missoni possesses a history dating back 60 years. At the heart of this Italian fashion dynasty is a close-‐knit family, Ottavio Missoni and his wife Rosita who founded Missoni in 1953. The brand produces a wide range of products including: apparel, bags, footwear, accessories, swimwear, fragrances, home

decor and boutique hotels. Early on, Missoni earned worldwide attention for its knit dresses, coats and sweaters. The brand began producing the finest knits and the Missoni repertory developed over time to include pullovers, long coats, chemises, trousers and skirts. Today, Ottavio and Rosita’s continue into making the Missoni brand an established legacy as the company deals with the recent passing of one of its pillars, Vittorio, family member and top management of the company.

@Brand Inspiration “Our philosophy since we went into business has been that a piece of clothing should be like a work of art. It should not be bought for a special occasion or because it’s in fashion, but because a woman likes it…and feels she could wear it forever.” –Rosita Missosni The Missonis have always turned to various arts, ethnicities and cultural interests as the common lasting thread supporting their colorful inspirations. Their designs are imagined by both the natural environment and their own collection of art from Europe's Modernist era. Their love and use of colorful geometric patterns and knits can be seen through the works of painters Tancredi, Sonia Delaunay, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini.

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@Missoni Retail & Financials

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#Executive Summary

@Missoni SWOT

@Strengths Strong brand heritage: Family, Art, Craftsmanship (Made In Italy) Visually distinctive product line. Strong identifier (Zigzag signature) Timeless brand/product line Devotion to the arts: Costume Design for Teatro alla Scala, Worldwide Exhibitions and Galleries Successful partnerships (Target, San Pellegrino, Converse, Hotel Missoni)

o o o o o

@Weaknesses o

o o o o o

Social media strategy: Low social media interaction and results across the board (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.). Underdeveloped content strategy. Weak designed website: Unfriendly navigation. Lack of social media promotion. Lack of available languages. Lack of product collection. Lack of SEO/SEM optimization. Low rank on Alexa.com. Loss of potential profit. No direct operating e-‐commerce platform. Do not take advantage of communicating strong brand history. Not in full control of what is being shared about Missoni brand. Uncertainty as to how to “replace” Vittorio Missoni’s role.

@Opportunities Social media is close to a blank slate. Free to shape, develop, create from scratch. Cultivate new partnerships with other leading/more progressive tastemakers in art and fashion worlds. Strong increase in luxury consumption in Chinese markets. Strong growth in m-‐commerce and and e-‐commerce. Carrying on the legacy thanks to new Missoni generation “Margherita Missoni”. Moving from a Missoni family to a Missoni community.

o o o o o o

@Threats o o o

Losing voice/reputation. General public holds opinions without Missoni leading conversation about them. Losing brand relevance. Competitors carry larger social media shares. Losing design relevance. Perceived as an “old-‐fashioned” brand stuck in the 70s.

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@Digital Marketing Plan

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#Executive Summary

@Digital Marketing Plan Summary Using all available data harvested from Unmetric about the nine brand’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, along with data individually retrieved about their other social media platforms including LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Instagram, analysts determined that Missoni was consistently the weakest performing luxury brand in every social media platform evaluated in terms of number of followers and quality of content posted. The key to engaging on social media platforms is to have something to say. Presence without content is not a win-‐win situation neither for the brand nor for the consumer. It appears therefore that Missoni’s lack of performance may not only be due to its low participation on social media platforms but also more generally to a lack of content, meaning both: 1/ the brand does not take full advantage of communicating its existing attributes, 2/ the brand needs to create new occasions and reasons to talk, i.e. create new content. Analysts therefore created a digital marketing strategy for Missoni focused on improving its brand identity through focused efforts which in tern will lead to new online content to be shared, and secondly focused on re-‐energized digital marketing practices to increase online traffic.

1. Increase Missoni’s brand awareness… o …among the general public through promotion of the brand history. o …among the fashion community through a “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” collaboration. o …among the contemporary art community through a corporate social responsibility program promoting young artist o 2. Increase Missoni’s online traffic… o …through a redesigned website that incorporates e-‐ commerce. o …through improved social media practices on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr and other alternative Chinese social media platforms. o …through redesigned and improved use of mobile and tablet devices that incorporate m-‐commerce. It is believed that the strategies presented in this study will serve to increase the online visibility of Missoni for both their website and social media platforms. It will also serve to engage consumers in a more positive and lasting method to ultimately boost Missoni’s e-‐commerce and m-‐commerce sales.

#Executive Summary

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@The Digital Marketing Plan Budget The total budget allocated for Missoni’s digital marketing plan is estimated to cost € 383,550. The expenses of this campaign are anticipated to be absorbed over a three-‐year period.

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#Executive Summary

#INTRODUCTION

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@OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to complete an in-‐depth best practice analysis of nine luxury fashion brands digital performances at present. The nine brands represent an assortment of “High Luxury”, “Middle Luxury” and “Low Luxury” brands as determined through a preliminary survey. They include: Hermes, Chanel, Dior, Armani, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Missoni. After looking across the board at how each of these nine brands choose to customize their website, social media and mobile and tablet strategies in order to grow the interest of their followers, the overall weakest performing brand was selected to further analyze. Missoni was discovered to consistently possess the weakest performing practices throughout all platforms used including their website, mobile/tablet apps, and social media accounts. Analysts then worked to create an improved and re-‐energized digital strategy for Missoni with the objectives of increasing their global brand awareness and their online traffic.

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@ANALYSTS A team of three graduate students in Luxury Management from Polimoda International Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence (Italy), Class of 2013, partnered with New York-‐based social media benchmarking firm, Unmetric, to evaluate the digital analytics corresponding with all nine luxury brands.

@DIGITAL & SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENT

“Background” In general, luxury fashion brands have been slow to adopt and embrace the new wave of social media platforms that have emerged and grown immensely in power and influence since the early 2000s. It is believed that luxury brands were hesitant to initially enter the social media sphere because they feared it could lower their brand status and diminish the level of their prestige by connecting with mass audiences through such extremely public communication networks. Additionally, luxury brands’

initial resistance to engage in social media is thought to be a lack of understanding as to how exactly to fit into this new arena for digital marketing and consumer interaction. The resistance has softened since and luxury brands have started to embrace social media, while also trying to hold themselves in a different light, apart from the others, to a certain extent.

“Growth of social media: personal vs commercial” The Internet has a profound influence on people across the globe and it appears that every year, more people and companies are getting involved in social media. As of November 2012, “There are over 1 billion Facebook users, 500 million Twitter users, 4 billion photos on Instagram, 400 million Google+ users, and the list continues on. Just about every major popular social networking company has over 100 million registered users. YouTube receives over 4 billion views every day” (Savitt, 2012). The world continues to get more involved and dependent on social media each year. Clearly, social media has become one of the fastest growing beneficial tools within technology today.

The remarkable growth of these online network giants reflects a compelling desire within individuals to connect with each other around common interests. The astounding growth also presents a new paradigm for companies to communicate and sell their products online. We are in an era of greater transparency and authenticity, and social media is rapidly delivering a new standard of person-‐to-‐ person communication. Not long ago, businesses were limited in how they could connect with their consumers. Social media offers relationship building opportunities that are virtually limitless and, not to mention, practically free. Providing virtually instant access to information across the globe, the Internet and social media platforms give businesses the ability to share news about their products and services with consumers who were once out of reach. The world is truly global, and the luxury sector reflects this, as brands based in geographic boundaries can now reach consumers all over the world.

“Social Media Platforms” Among the growing options for companies to choose from within the sphere of social media, there are stand-‐outs among the rest. The leaders in social media include: LinkedIn, #Introduction

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Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+. LinkedIn (Launched May 2003) www.linkedin.com LinkedIn is a professional social network and a platform for recruitment. LinkedIn has over 187 million members from 200 countries, and there are currently more than 2,600,000 company pages. 65 percent of LinkedIn users are male, with the biggest percentage of users falling between the ages of 35-‐44 years old. LinkedIn is becoming a prominent leader in the business sector and a visible networking front-‐runner among professionals. Companies seeking to recruit young talents often use LinkedIn, as do the talents looking for top positions. 63 percent of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States, and is evolving into an important brand among corporations (Website-‐Monitoring, 2012). Facebook (Launched February 2004) www.facebook.com Facebook is the most popular social network in most every country in the world. Facebook has more than 900 million active users, and adds over one-‐half million new users per day. More than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day, and more than 488 active users access Facebook using mobile devices,

making it the world’s biggest social media platform (The Telegraph, 2013). YouTube (Launched February 2005) www.youtube.com YouTube is a free video hosting platform that influences people’s lives like nothing before. YouTube gets more than 2 billion visits per day, and its front page sees an average of 45 million hits every day. YouTube is one of the fastest growing websites in the world and is ranked 10th in overall popularity of websites. An average of 100 million video clips are seen on YouTube each day and almost 65,000 new videos are added daily, making it a very powerful phenomenon and platform (“7 Amazing Facts About YouTube,” 2013). Twitter (Launched July 2006) www.twitter.com Twitter has become one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet, with over 500 million users. Twitter users generate over 340 million “tweets” daily and make over 1.6 billion search queries per day (Jordan, 2012). Individuals respond almost instantly to popular or world events, broadcasting their opinions and feelings out to the world. Twitter has become one of the most powerful tools available to advance causes, share opinions and make connections.

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#Introduction

Instagram (Launched October 2010) www.instagram.com Instagram is a free photo-‐sharing application that allows users to take pictures with their smart phones, while applying an optional filter to the image, and share it with their friends via Facebook or Twitter. Instagram was first launched as an iPhone app in Apple’s App Store. Instagram has seen steady growth and today has over 80 million users. Instagram gains an average of 1 new user every second and almost 58 photographs uploaded each second (“8 Facts About Instagram,” 2013).

Tumblr (Launched April 2007) www.tumblr.com Tumblr is a “microblogging” platform and social networking website. Tumblr allows users to post multimedia or other content to a short-‐form blog. Tumblr users can follow other users' blogs, as well as make their own blogs private. Tumblr has over 77 million blogs and an average growth of 75,000 users (Mashable, 2012).

Pinterest (March 2010) www.pinterest.com Pinterest launched nearly two years ago, and has taken the Internet by surprise with its image-‐heavy, clean, organized appearance and interface. This social networking darling uses an image “pinning” model, on which Pinterest is based, and recently reached 10 billion hits. Pinterest appears to hold users' attention longer than Facebook. Pinterest users spend an average of 15.8 minutes on the site, while Facebook users will only average 12.1 minutes. Pinterest users are an interesting group, with almost 70 percent being female and the largest age demographic represented on the site are people between the ages of 25 and 34. Pinterest also drives more referral traffic than Google, YouTube and LinkedIn combined (Palis, 2012).

Google+ (Launched July 2011) www.plus.google.com Google+ is a multilingual social networking and identity service owned and operated by Google Inc. As of December 2012, it has a total of 500 million registered users of whom 235 million are active on a monthly basis. Unlike other conventional social networks which are generally accessed through a single website, Google has described Google+ as a "social layer" consisting of not just a single site, but rather an overarching "layer" which covers many of its online properties (Wikipedia.com, 2013) #Introduction

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Other Social Media Platforms (Chinese focused): Douban (Launched March 2005) www.douban.com Douban is a Chinese Social Networking Service website allowing registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music and recent events and activities in Chinese cities. Douban also owns an Internet radio station, which ranks No.1 in iOS app store as of 2012. Youku (Launched June 2006 ) www.youku.com Youku is a Chinese video hosting service based in China. It’s the second largest video site in the world with an Alexa ranking just after YouTube. The company initially emphasized user-‐generated content but has since shifted its focus to professionally produced videos licensed from over 1,500 content partners. Weibo (Launched May 2007 ) www.weibo.com Weibo is the Chinese word for “microblog”. It refers to mini-‐blogging services in China, including social chat sites and platform sharing. Weibo uses a format similar to its American counterpart Twitter with a key differentiator of being almost exclusively used by Chinese language speakers. Internet users can set up real-‐time information sharing communities individually, and upload and update information in 140 character blocks.

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#Introduction

Renren (Launched March 2008) www.renren.com Renren is a Chinese social networking service that exists as the Chinese remake of Facebook. It has been called the Facebook of China, popular amongst college students.

“Financial Gain of Social Media” Social media was initially used to build brand awareness and a “community” that was devoted to a brand. With the growth and demand of both e-‐commerce and m-‐commerce, social media is becoming a necessary factor to connect followers to targeted links to online shopping channels. Smart business executives are seizing the opportunity that is offered to them through the growing number of social networking options. With millions of users on Facebook, Twitter and other networking platforms, there is great potential to reach a very large audience with a small investment. Traditional advertising is limited by location, demographics, money and time, while social media does not have to abide by such baring restrictions.

Social media is a growing force within the marketing arena, and allows brand presence to grow across the web. Businesses seek financial gains, increased visibility and relevant feedback on their products. According to a survey of over 130 worldwide luxury marketing executives, conducted by Worldwide Business Research, 85 percent said they planned to increase their digital marketing spendings in 2013. Social media is a particular area of focus for these businesses. The McKinsey Global Survey found that 39 percent of companies surveyed already used social-‐media services as their primary digital tool to reach customers, and that percentage is expected to rise to 47 percent within the next four years. Mainstream companies are finding a growing list of success stories due to social media because they can engage their client communities and increase their loyalty. It was found that 73 percent of companies use social media to market their products, and 25 percent of business page likes on Facebook are to obtain a promotional deal (“Luxury Marketers Investing More in Digital,” 2013). Being able to identify exactly how, when, and where social media influences consumers helps executives to craft marketing strategies that take advantage of social media’s

unique ability to engage with customers. That information will, in turn, help leaders develop, launch and demonstrate the financial impact of employing social media campaigns to drive their future e-‐commerce revenues.

“Social Media Ethics” In the race to have a strong social media presence and appear more trustworthy, there has been an increasing trend among companies of cheating the system by buying “Likes” through third-‐party agencies. Facebook has had a growing problem with fake profiles or “bots”, set up by marketing companies. These bots aren’t real people, but are automatically generated and randomized profiles that are used by marketers for purposes ranging from posting advertising messages to befriending real people in order to access their profile information and conduct marketing research. As social media use among luxury brands advances, so does the frequency in which these brands are reaching out to their audiences. In order to engage consumers through these channels, these brands should not forget the importance of using social media to build trust with their current and prospective brand advocates.

#Introduction

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“Future of Social Media” While the luxury market is learning how to gain its hold on social media, individuals who rely on social networking are starting to wonder what will come next. Millions of people are still hooked to using social media, but networking on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are becoming too commonplace. There have only been a few changes in social networking, and individuals often get tired of the same people posting the same content. People will continue to use social networking platforms, but the familiar postings of family and friends are becoming ordinary. Social media networks are a business, and as such, they are constantly seeking ways to take consumers in with the latest gimmicks and gratification strategies that will have individuals logging in more often, staying on their sites longer and sharing more information. Looking to the future, one can speculate if social media platforms are going to require companies to pay a fee in order to represent their brands on specific platforms. It seems inevitable that free advertising cannot exist in such a competitive market, but one will have to wait and see. Perhaps companies will create exclusive VIP tabs on pages with extra content to encourage more interactions or meet

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#Introduction

the desires of their preferred clients. The possibilities are endless and the opportunities for luxury brands to tap into the great potential of social media remain great.

“Future of E-commerce” According to Mist Media (mistmedia.com) in February 2013: o Visits to E-‐commerce websites have increased 109%. o Page views have increased by 116%. o Conversions have increased 30%. o Online sales have increased by 171%. According to Goldman Sachs (goldmansachs.com) in October 2012: o Global e-‐commerce sales are growing more than 19% a year. o Worldwide retail web sales are predicted to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2013. These numbers prove that, “Digital growth is now crucial. Its growth rate is three times higher than the total luxury market, with online sales reaching €6.2 billion in 2011.” (How Social Media & Luxury Brand Websites Are Impacting ecommerce, LuxurySociety.com, February 2013).

“Recent statistics claim that 98% of affluent consumers are shopping online. Over the next 12 months, the luxury e-‐ commerce winners will be those that ensure they maintain their allure and integrity in a world that has become price-‐led and driven by unsustainable short-‐term gain, the opposite of what luxury should stand for: long-‐term brand value, heritage and rarity.” (Luxury Brands, Retailers & Evolution of E-‐ commerce, LuxurySociety.com, January 2013). Luxury consumption is different from day-‐to-‐day purchases because they are motivated by emotion instead of necessity. By nature, luxury shopping is a very sensory experience. The smells, sounds, visuals and heritage are part of the attraction. Products have high aesthetic values that need to be esteemed. While personal choice is an essential force behind luxury sales, online challenges become present when sorting how to shape a dream around the product before the actual sales process starts. The future of e-‐commerce relies on incorporating the mix of appropriate product placement with enticing visuals, emotional connection and personalized storytelling to offset the limitations presented from lack of physical contact with the product.

“Future of M-commerce (Mobile and Tablets)” According to Mist Media (mistmedia.com) in February 2013: o Mobile commerce now accounts for 10% of Internet usage worldwide (this has doubled over the last 18 months). o There was a 103% growth in website traffic providing from smart phones between 2011-‐2012. According to eMarketer (emarketer.com) in January 2013: o 55% of tablet owners use their tablets for online shopping, whereas only 28% of smart phone owners shop on that device. o Studies showed that in 2012, about 29% of adults owned a tablet, compared to 13% in 2011. o Tablet commerce is predicted to reach $24 billion in 2013 and make up for more than 9% of all online sales. With a growing demand, m-‐commerce is the rising star of the e-‐commerce sphere. Brands place themselves in the best position to take advantage of all m-‐commerce has to offer by understanding and keeping tabs on where it’s going. Luxury brands have complicated demands when it involves engaging with customers in omni-‐channel environments. Many marketers fail to properly respond to this problem and

#Introduction

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still view mobile as a disconnected channel unrelated to the full digital marketing spectrum. Additional complications arise for luxury marketers as they determine how to offer dynamic content through mobile devices. Many companies are still not using mobile to its full earning potential. Moving brands online to e-‐commerce is essential. The next extension of that channel is offering consumers the option to continue shopping online via their smart phone equipped with m-‐commerce. According to Forrester Consulting Group, annual m-‐commerce sales are predicted to quadruple to $31 billion in the next five years. M-‐commerce serves as a new way to enhance a brand, increase sales and compete with competitors. A large part of m-‐commerce’s appeal is convenience, but if convenience comes with a lack of information, customers tend to look elsewhere. Trends indicate that consumers desire more information on mobile websites. Studies reveal that 80% of smart phone users want more product information when shopping on their mobile devices. The rise of tablet commerce has also greatly increased over the last few years. Tablets allow shoppers to shop with greater ease due to their larger screens and similar mobile portability.

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#Introduction

“Emerging Markets: A Focus on China’s Buying Power” Social media shows moderate growth in the U.S. and European markets, along with strong performance in Latin America. Social media also plays a key role in Chinese consumers’ knowledge and decisions about the luxury products that they have come to desire in recent years, as a result of their growing wealth. The growth of luxury consumption is expected to grow dramatically in Asia over the next 15 years, with a large part of it coming from China. According to the Global Web Index, 69 percent of Chinese consumers either purchase or consider purchasing products after they look up the brands online (Ko, 2012). Understanding those purchasing tendencies is vitally important for anyone trying to engage Chinese consumers. Social media is a larger phenomenon in China, the world’s second-‐biggest economy, than it is in other countries, including the United States. Chinese consumers follow the same decision-‐making journey as their peers in other countries, and the basic rules for engaging with them effectively are familiar. China not only has the world’s biggest Internet user base — 513 million people,

more than double the 245 million users in the United States — China also has the world’s most active environment for social media. More than 300 million Chinese use social media networks, from blogs to social-‐networking sites, to microblogs and other online communities. In addition, China’s online users spend more than 40 percent of their time online using social media, a figure that continues to rise rapidly (Chiu and Ip, 2012). In light of the rapidly accelerating consumer spending power present in China, brands both in and out of the luxury world are having to craft social media strategies that take into

consideration the present day communication barriers created by the Chinese government. Without offering their citizens access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other globally mainstream networks, China has developed many spin-‐off networks exclusive to the Chinese market including Renren (similar to Facebook), Weibo (similar to Facebook and Twitter), Youku (similar to YouTube) and Douban (similar to Google+). Brands must now consider developing accounts under each of these alternative social network sites to further reach into and penetrate the disposable income held by Chinese consumers.

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#RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

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@Phase 1: Selection of Brands for Research Analysts prepared an unaided perception survey that showcased 29 luxury brands as considered by a variety of influential experts and tastemakers within the fashion world. A thirtieth answer space was also offered for survey applicants to add additional fashion brands that they considered to be “luxury”. One hundred participants were asked to label each given brand, and or additional submitted brands, as “High Luxury”, “Middle Luxury” or “Low Luxury” based upon the individual’s personal perception of that particular brand name. Compiling results, all responses were placed in a pivot table to determine which brands fell under each of the three various luxury categories. The top three brands that emerged under each luxury category were used to compile the final list of luxury brands to observe in this digital analytics study.

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@Phase 2: Digital Analytics After the initial elimination process of luxury brands, the remaining nine brands were further evaluated by using digital analytics retrieved through a partnership with Unmetric. Unmetric is a “social media benchmarking company for brands” based in New York. Unmetric monitors the daily activities of social media platforms of over 6,000 brands, from over 30 sectors, to provide data of competitors and present a benchmark of brands’ performances. This data, which included statistics, demonstrated corporate behaviors on social media platforms and enabled to analyze and better understand how luxury brands are currently engaging their consumers through these means. In addition, this data revealed which brands are currently leading the way of social media best practices. The social media platforms evaluated by Unmetric include: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest. Analysts monitored and analyzed the following social media content posted by each brand:

o Content and frequency of postings on social media platforms o Consumer reactions including “retweets,” “likes,” “shares,” and “followers” o Consumer sentiments including comments and mentions submitted o Financial information including quarterly and annual revenues of brands Unmetric, however, did not monitor the social media platforms of Instagram, Tumblr, Google+ or LinkedIn. The analysts researched these brands by visiting each luxury brand social media page and evaluated the number of followers that each brand currently has, the content and frequency of postings, the basic day-‐to-‐day comments, and the average “Likes” from daily and weekly posts. Each platform was further evaluated, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each luxury brand. Based on the observation taken from these platforms it was found uncovering customer sentiment dispersed across all the platforms, capturing consumer’s attitudes and opinions. It was also observed the influences within the social media channels and the effect that visuals convey over followers to initiate communication.

Through the web information company Alexa, the analysts were able to retrieve all data on website traffic, including reach, page views and ranking information from a global panel of web users. Also, gathered information on site ranking data for competitor and the ranking sites per visit. As mobile devices and applications (apps) continue to grow, apps are increasingly a new tool for the successful marketer’s toolbox. The analysts were able to use mobile tabs to determine the acquisition, engagement and outcomes that these apps have through m-‐commerce and e-‐commerce practices and strategies. The observations showed the current brands that are up-‐to-‐date and integrating these practices and the ones that are slowly adapting. The results of this analysis allowed to draw best practices for each platform and draw a list of the best and least performing brands in terms of number of followers and quality of content posted. The results demonstrated that Missoni was the weakest performing brand in the area of social media and digital marketing among the nine luxury fashion brands evaluated.

#Research & Methodology

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@Phase 3: Digital Marketing Strategy for Missoni

be shared, and secondly focused on re-‐energized digital marketing practices to increase online traffic.

Using all available data harvested from Unmetric about the nine brand’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, along with data individually retrieved about their other social media platforms including LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Instagram, analysts determined that Missoni was consistently the weakest performing luxury brand in every social media platform evaluated in terms of number of followers and quality of content posted. The key to engaging on social media platforms is to have something to say. Presence without content is not a win-‐win situation neither for the brand nor for the consumer. It appears therefore that Missoni’s lack of performance may no only be due to its low participation on social media platforms but also more generally to a lack of content, meaning both: 1/ the brand does not take full advantage of communicating its existing attributes, 2/ the brand needs to create new occasions and reasons to talk, i.e. create new content. Analysts therefore created a digital marketing strategy for Missoni focused on improving its brand identity through focused efforts which in tern will lead to new online content to

o …among the general public through promotion of the brand history. o …among the fashion community through a “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” collaboration. o …among the contemporary art community through a corporate social responsibility program promoting young artist.

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#Research & Methodology

1. Increase Missoni’s brand awareness…

2. Increase Missoni’s online traffic… o …through a redesigned website that incorporates e-‐ commerce. o …through improved social media practices on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr and other alternative Chinese social media platforms. o …through redesigned and improved use of mobile and tablet devices that incorporate m-‐commerce. It is believed that the strategies presented in this study will serve to increase the online visibility of Missoni for both their website and social media platforms. It will also serve to engage consumers in a more positive and lasting method to ultimately boost Missoni’s e-‐commerce and m-‐commerce sales.

#Phase 1 Selection of Brands for Research

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Defining the word “luxury” presents its challenges. The definition varies with the perception of what a luxury good is from person to person, depending on their background, experiences, etc. However, one could agree there is an emotional level involved that elevates the consumer to great pleasure and satisfaction of consumption. Although luxury fashion brands traditionally equate in origin to the quality craftsmanship of an item, buyers today hold different perspectives on what they personally consider “luxury”. Likewise the range and level of “luxury” varies from person to person. One brand could be considered “High Luxury” to one person, while it may be considered “Middle Luxury” or “Low Luxury” to another person.

|40 #Phase 1: brands for research

Keeping this perception obstacle in mind, an initial survey was compiled to formulate which luxury brands should be the focus of this digital marketing study. Analysts prepared a survey that showcased 29 luxury brands as considered by a variety of influential experts and tastemakers within the fashion world. A thirtieth answer space was offered for survey applicants to add additional fashion brands that they consider to be “luxury”. Survey participants were asked to review the list of brands and mark the phrase “High Luxury”, “Middle Luxury” and “Low Luxury” by each brand. To eliminate biases, participants were not given a formal definition of what is considered “High Luxury, Middle Luxury or Low Luxury”. Analysts wanted to simply observe participants initial perceptions of the listed brands.

Survey Suggested List of Leading Luxury Brands Alexander McQueen Armani Balmain Burberry Chanel Commes des Garcons Dior Dolce & Gabbana Elie Saab Gareth Pugh

Gucci Hermes Isabel Marant Jason Wu Jill Sander Lanvin Louis Vuitton Maison Martin Margiela Marc Jacobs Marni

Michael Kors Missoni Prada Stella McCartney Tom Ford Tory Burch Valentino Versace YSL Other________

Additional Luxury Brands Suggested Under “Other” Category by Survey Participants A. Testoni Alberta Ferretti Balenciaga Bally Bottega Veneta Brioni

Celine Chaumet Chloe D Squared Emilio Pucci Fendi

Givenchy Issac Mizrahi Kenzo Salvatore Ferragamo

#Phase 1: brands for research

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Survey Demographics (100 Participants) Age: 18-‐49 years old Gender: Male-‐15 participants, Female-‐85 participants Nationalities: Belarus Iceland Brazil India Canada Indonesia Columbia Italy France Kenya Germany Lebanon Holland Russia

Singapore Sweden Taiwan Turkey United States

Survey Results Compiling results, all responses were placed in a pivot table to determine which brands fell under each of the three various luxury categories. The top three brands for each luxury category were used to compile the final list of luxury brands to observe in this digital analytics study: High Luxury Middle Luxury Low Luxury 1. Hermes -‐ 98 votes 1. Armani -‐ 60 votes 1. Michael Kors -‐ 61 votes 2. Chanel -‐ 92 votes 2. Burberry -‐ 57 votes 2. Tory Burch -‐ 51 votes 3. Dior -‐ 78 votes 3. Dolce & Gabbana -‐ 56 votes 3. Missoni -‐ 34 votes

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#Phase 1: brands for research

#Phase 2 Digital Analytics

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@Social Media Analysis The escalation of social media platforms is changing the way individuals and companies communicate. Social media connects people and ideas, while expanding virtual communities and often building consensus. Companies are seizing the opportunity to use social media as a tool to connect to consumers and broaden their reach to new audiences. By using social media platforms, companies are developing new relationships with their customers, and have even collaborated with them to solve problems. The functionality and number of platforms available have removed communication barriers, opening new windows of opportunity for companies to reach consumers. Social media allows companies to maintain perceived small-‐scale, one-‐on-‐one customer relationships against the backdrop of large-‐scale corporate efficiency and growth. The analysts chose the following social media platforms for this study: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest,

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Tumblr, Twitter and YouTube. These platforms were chosen due to their popularity, reputation and the fact that they hold the majority of followers and viewers. Marketing studies have shown that these social media platforms are successfully improving brand awareness among the social media community, gaining new consumers, and achieving company goals through positive return on investments (ROI). The eight social media platforms that were selected are leaders in directing movement and growth among users, measured in the numbers of “Followers,” “Likes,” “Pins,” and “Shares,” to name a few. These numbers are important because they often connect viewers to company websites, creating new customers. These social media platforms are performing well and have quickly become important sites for brands to join, among the fashion industry. Embracing social media is unquestionably a key strategy for luxury companies, as it is an effective way to broaden their customer base and strengthen customer relationships, in a contemporary and engaging way.

Facebook is the most widely-‐known and popular social media platform, which gives people the power to share messages and connect with the world. Facebook is a platform in which users can post updates, photos, and video content, while connecting with friends and “Fans” in numerous communities. Companies use Facebook to engage customers by uploading photo albums, posing detailed product updates, and using their profiles as an extension of their websites. Facebook helps companies network with a wide range of consumers easily through applications such as “Facebook Marketplace.” The “Facebook Marketplace” allows companies to easily sell products directly from the site. “Facebook Insights” allows companies to track their page’s activity and gauge what type of content receives the most “Likes” and views. Advertising on Facebook is another way to reach both a business and consumer audience. Facebook ads can target consumers through “Likes” and interests, and is increasingly recommended for engaging consumers and increasing direct sales. According (Shipa Shree January 19, 2013 from Daze info), More than 1 million websites have integrated with Facebook in various ways; this has proved that the platform has become mandatory for most of the website to depend on Facebook. Also, 80% users preferred to connect to brands through Facebook compared to any other social networking site. #Phase 2: digital analytics

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Summary of Facebook followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013)

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Period analyzed: September 21, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 966,490 (on February 8, 2013)

Number of fans talking about Hermes

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Hermes about its brand

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 8,422,628 (on February 8, 2013) Number of fans talking about Chanel

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Chanel about its brand

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 11,212,360 (on February 8, 2013)

Number of fans talking about Dior

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Chanel about its brand

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Number of fans: 4,078,665 (on February 8, 2013) Number of fans talking about Armani

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Armani about its brand

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Number of fans: 14,770,159 (on February 8, 2013) Number of fans talking about Burberry

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Burberry about its brand

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 6,358,472 (on February 8, 2013)

Number of fans talking about Dolce & Gabbana

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Dolce & Gabbana about its brand

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 4,084,480 (on February 8, 2013) Number of fans talking about Michael Kors

Conversation with fans

Type of content posted by Michael Kors about its brand

Average age of fans

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: June 27, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of fans: 607,553 (on February 8, 2013)

Number of fans talking about Tory Burch

Conversation with fans

Type of content posted by Tory Burch about its brand

Average age of fans

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Period analyzed: January 26, 2013 to February 13, 2013 Number of fans: 63, 742 (on February 8, 2013)

Number of fans talking about Missoni

Conversation with fans

Average age of fans

Type of content posted by Missoni about its brand

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Twitter was created in 2006, and has rapidly gained in worldwide popularity,

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

with over 500 million registered users as of 2012. Describing itself as a tool to “instantly connect to what’s most important to you,” Twitter offers a valuable online forum to promote brands and build close relationships through the invitation of real-‐ time dialogue. However, some luxury brands choose to not embrace Twitter, due to its more casual and informal means of communication. Many opportunities exist for those brands that do with to use Twitter. Connecting with customers, branding, customer feedback, marketing, sharing news and special promotions are all great benefits that develop out of Twitter Additionally, it provides a viral platform of communication that helps brands spy on their competition while working to increase their sales and brand loyalty. According to (Shipa Shree January 19, 2013 from Daze info), since the dawn of Twitter, there have been a total of 163 billion tweets with 175 million tweets sent every day in 2012. Twitter now has more than half a billion-‐registered profiles who in average have tweeted tweeted 307 times. Additionally, 56% of customer tweets to companies are being ignored. It’s said that 50% of the consumers give a brand a week of time to reply their question before they stop doing business with them. Additional Twitter statistics provided by Beevolve (Beevolve.com): • 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their Tweets. • 74% of users fall between 15-‐25 years old. • Top 10 countries with highest number of Twitter users: USA, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, France, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland. • Average user has 208 Followers.

Summary of Twitter followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013) Note: Hermes does not have a Twitter profile.

Chanel

Dior

Armani

Burberry

Followers

1,327,634

1,630,067

162,781

1,590,737

Following

101

196

151

Dolce & Gabbana

Michael Kors

Tory Burch

Missoni

549,959

1,076,327

204,873

5,679

401

537

188

178

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 1,327,634 Currently following: 0 (on February 8, 2013)

Content of Tweets posted by Chanel

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Design The Twitter Chanel page includes a quote by Coco Chanel

and link to Chanel.com in their main profile summary section. Additionally, an artistic sketch of the Chanel logo appears as the profile picture against an all-‐black wallpaper.

Content Chanel appears to use their Twitter profile to mostly

promote each season’s latest collection. Almost every post includes a video or photo link directed back to the brand’s main website or other social media platforms. Their tag mentions are directed toward celebrities, magazines and events. Common hashtags generated include #thelittleblackjacket, #forthefirsttime, #ChanelN5 and #CocoMadamoiselle. Unlike all other brands reviewed, Chanel is the only company that chooses not to “follow” any other Twitter subscribers.

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Chanel

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 1,630,067 Currently following: 101 (on February 8, 2013) Content of Tweets posted by Dior

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Design The Dior logo appears as the profile image against a solid

backdrop of infinite roses collaged together. A quote from Christian Dior and a link to Dior.com is included in the profile summary.

Content Dior presently leads with the most number of Followers. The content covers a variety of topics including latest collections, behind-‐the-‐scene teasers, makeup tips and celebrity sightings wearing Dior. Like Chanel, Dior uses Twitter to mostly connect Followers to photo and video links directed toward their website and social media platforms. Dior chooses to follow a list of influential tastemakers including models, celebrities, luxury retailers, fashion bloggers and other fashion and art-‐related editorials. They rarely make mentions and tag other Twitter users in their tweets. Popular hashtags include #Dior and #DiorMag.

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Dior

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed of February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 162,781 Currently following: 196 (on February 8, 2013)

Design The Twitter profile of Armani showcases the main logo

Content of Tweets posted by Armani

with a quote by G iorgio Armani and link to Armani.com. An editorial image of a male model dressed in Armani is positioned as the current backdrop wallpaper of the account.

Content Armani utilizes Twitter to promote product launches, interviews and suggested music playlists. They also provide video and photo links to compliment their live streaming events. Armani rarely makes tag mentions toward other Twitter users however like several of the other brands, Armani chooses to follow various tastemakers in modeling, entertainment, fashion and art. Frequent hashtags include #Armani.

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Armani

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed of February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 1,590,737 Currently following: 151 (on February 8, 2013)

Design Burberry uses their equestrian knight logo as their profile image. They also incorporate their tagline, “A 156 year-‐old global brand with a distinctly British attitude”, in the profile summary with a link to Burberry.com and promotional mention of their 24-‐ hour customer assistance Twitter account @burberryservice. Like Armani they presently use an editorial image of their latest collection as the backdrop wallpaper of the profile.

Content Burberry uses Twitter as a platform extension for

Content of Tweets posted by Burberry

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

promotion of their lifestyle and culture. They have created weekly-‐planned Tweet campaigns such as #MusicMonday where song suggestions are offered by Christopher Bailey their current creative director. Other Tweets promote seasonal collections, behind-‐the-‐scene looks, live streaming events and Burberry’s special project “Burberry Acoustic” that showcases their sponsored up-‐and-‐coming musicians. Tag mentions are generally directed toward models and other celebrities. They follow luxury retailers, fashion bloggers, fashion and art magazines in addition to following a variety of celebrities. Popular hashtags include #MusicMonday and #Burberry. Unique to most other brands, Burberry has intentionally developed region-‐specific Twitter accounts to reach and market to fans across various cultural backgrounds. Examples include: @Burberry_Japan, @Burberry_Turkey, @Burberry_Russia, @Burberry_Mexico and @Burberry_Brazil.

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Burberry

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 549,959 Currently following: 401 (on February 8, 2013)

Content of Tweets posted by Dolce & Gabbana

Design Dolce & Gabbana’s profile image shows the brand’s logo

with a tagline reading “Dolce & Gabbana is the new luxury, authentic and unconventional” with a link to Dolcegabbana.com. They use an editorial ad image from their latest campaign to serve as the profile backdrop wallpaper.

Content Tweets are centered around promoting photos and videos connected to celebrities wearing Dolce & Gabbana, editorial placements and latest collection details. They are very interactive using tag mentions to tweet back and forth across all tastemaker networks including; models, luxury retailers, fashion bloggers, fashion/art magazines and other celebrities. However they are not as consistent in utilizing repetitive hashtags generated by the brand for repetitive use.

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#Phase 2: digital analytics

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Dolce & Gabbana

#Phase 2: digital analytics

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Period analyzed: July 24, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 1,076,327 Currently following: 537 (on February 8, 2013)

Design An picture of Michael Kors appears as the selected profile

Content of Tweets posted by Michael Kors

photo accompanied by the following statement: “The official Twitter page of Michael Kors, a world-‐renowned, award-‐winning designer of luxury accessories and read-‐to-‐wear.” A link to Michaelkors.com and promotion of hashtag #AllAccessKors is also included in the profile summary. The background wallpaper image shows fashion photographers taking pictures at a Michael Kors runway show with the phrase written “All Access. All Angles. #AllAccessKors”.

Content Michael Kors follows the most number of other Twitter

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users in comparison to the other brands reviewed in this study. Their “Following” list includes industry tastemakers in modeling, luxury retailing, fashion blogging, editorial magazines and other high profile celebrities. Content is written from the voice and viewpoint of Michael Kors with a focus on offering followers various fashion styling tips. Other content includes asking questions, offering contests, showing latest collections and promoting the overall essence and lifestyle mentality of the brand. Most tag mentions are focused toward models and other high profile celebrities. Common used hashtags include #AllAccessKors, #CaliforniaDreaming, #JetSetGo and #StyleTip.

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Michael Kors

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Period analyzed: June 27, 2012 to February 1, 2013 Number of followers: 204,873 Currently following: 187 (on February 8, 2013)

Design Similar to Michael Kors, the Twitter account of Tory Burch

Content of Tweets posted by Tory Burch

showcases an image of the designer herself with a link to ToryBurch.com and phrase mention “The Official Tory Burch Tweets” in the profile summary. The background wallpapers shows a collage of frames each highlighting a variety of lifestyle images from the brand including Tory’s travels, editorial ads and look book shots of products.

Content Also like Michael Kors, the Tory Burch Twitter content is created from the voice and viewpoint of Tory herself. Followers get a taste of the “Tory Burch” lifestyle by following Tory on her various travels. Different from other brands, Tory Burch uses Twitter as a platform to share various pop-‐culture news related to women’s issue and advocacy in addition to typical posts connected to the brand’s product and celebrity engagement. Tory Burch follows tastemakers in the fashion world in addition to following different philanthropic organizations and women’s groups. Mentions are targeted toward friends, celebrities, news organizations and specific charitable causes. Hashtags related to just Tory Burch were less evident but general as #ValentinesDay.

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Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Tory Burch

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Period analyzed: January 26, 2013 to February 26, 2013 Number of followers: 5,679 Currently following: 187 (on February 8, 2013)

Content of Tweets posted by Missoni

Design The Missoni profile shows an image of the brand’s logo

with the phrase “Official Page” written under the photo with a link to Missoni.com. The wallpaper background is a collage of editorial shots from the latest collection along with graphics promoting the 60th anniversary campaign “Missoni A Zig Zag in Times 1953-‐2013”.

Content Missoni has the least number of followers out of all nine

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brands reviewed in this study. Most content centers on latest collections with promo teasers of upcoming events and campaigns. Images of celebrity tastemakers are seen and tagged wearing Missoni. Mentions are directed toward magazines, celebrities and various fashion interest groups. Most tweets involve the heavy use of hashtags with links to other visual content. Popular hashtags include #MissoniFeeling, #InRustWeTrust, #Zigzagging and #ZigZagInTime. They have also created two other Missoni accounts for the US and UK markets who however have less followers. The US account has been inactive in generating new content since 2011. Like all other brands, Missoni chooses to follow a group of fashion and style tastemakers.

Fan sentiment

Type of Tweets posted by Missoni

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Incorporating video is becoming a very crucial component of shaping a brand’s digital marketing strategy. As e-‐commerce and m-‐commerce continue to gain leverage as origins of new market share sales, executives must acknowledge the power of these new shopping channels and use video as a means to connect users from all angles possible. Some interesting facts from Mist Media (mistmedia.com) reveal the following about the growing importance of video and digital marketing: o Having video on the landing page of a website makes it 53% more likely to appear on page 1 of Google. o The average consumer spends 88% more time on a website with video. o Video and e-‐mail marketing can increase click-‐through rates by more than 90%. o Customers who watch a video of a product or service are 85% more likely to purchase.

Summary of YouTube followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013)

Hermes

Chanel

Dior

Armani

Burberry

Dolce & Michael Tory Missoni Gabbana Kors Burch Subscribers 4,687 68,229 41,501 11,985 56,165 26,699 4,418 979 480 Videos 40 191 137 195 325 543 76 64 23 Views 1,239,064 29,407,860 72,414,693 10,304,732 22,032,529 16,323,284 1,663,188 390,589 19,415

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Period analyzed: September 21, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 4,687 Videos: 40 Video Views: 1,239,064 Average Video Length: 1 minute 4 seconds The Hermes YouTube channel is custom designed to reveal similar navigation styles of a normal website layout. This said, Hermes does not take advantage of tools offered by YouTube such as the profile section on the right side of the page. Also, there is no snapshot biography of the brand, nor a list of links to their main website and social media outlets in this section. Instead, they’ve chosen to place links for their Twitter and Facebook profiles under each film that plays in a custom-‐ designed tab section of the channel. Like a few of the other YouTube channels assessed, Hermes has chosen to launch a video automatically when visitors arrive to their channel. Video content is mostly comprised of product-‐ focused montages, filmed in a quirky, artistic manner that emulate a tasteful version of animation to compliment the brand’s image and identity. Human subjects are a much less minor focus in their advertising campaigns.

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Period analyzed: July 26, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 68,229 Videos: 191 Video Views: 29,784,985 Average Video Length: 2 minutes 41 seconds Chanel is the leading brand on YouTube in this study with the most number of subscribers, over 68,229. A visit to their channel reveals a custom-‐designed layout that offers strong rotating imagery underneath six dominant categories labeled “Fashion”, “Fragrance”, “Makeup”, “Fine Jewelry”, “Watches” and “Inside Chanel”. The lower right corner of this custom YouTube homepage asks visitors to “Follow Chanel” leading them to links for Chanel’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and chanel.com pages. These suggested links are again offered in YouTube’s “Featured” section of the brand’s page. However, no snapshot bio of the brand is defined in this section. Once visitors click on one of the six leading categories of the homepage, they enter into a visually intensive collage of images and video summaries that help guide guests through films they may wish to see.

Additionally, the layout of the channel changes into the traditional navigation style of websites that share main content links at the top of the page. These new categories include “All”, “Fashion Shows”, “Interviews”, “Making-‐Of”, “Films by Karl Lagerfeld”, “The Little Black Jacket”, “Most Popular” and “Recent”. The overall collection of films seen on their YouTube channel appear to emulate a complete library of topics that serve as an overall lifestyle essence of the brand. The content explores the brand’s identity through a mix of topics including interviews, runway shows, special events and product launches. Production quality of several films reveal characteristics that incorporate a more advanced version of storytelling through cinematic arts. They are directed in a more mature style beyond just obvious product advertisements. #Phase 2: digital analytics |77

Period analyzed: May 29, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 41,501 Videos: 137 Video Views: 80,199,025 Average Video Length: 3 minutes 1 second Although Chanel has the largest number of YouTube subscribers, Dior carries great significance on YouTube with the largest number of video views (80,199,025) out of the nine brands evaluated. The channel has a custom-‐designed wallpaper, but the layout is less modified from the preset designs of YouTube. Also, they do not include a snapshot biography of the brand in the profile section to the right of the page despite suggesting links to visit including Dior’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Diormag.com, Dior.com and BackstageDior.com pages. Like most other channels observed, films include typical content featuring runway collections, advertisement campaigns and interviews. Notably different, Dior shares several films on their menswear and makeup tutorials. Additionally they have composed a cinematic web documentary series called “Lady Dior” that offers episode snippets about the brand’s lifestyle, look and essence and promotion of the brand’s handbag Lady Dior.

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Period analyzed: May 26, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 11,985 Videos: 195 Video Views: 10,304,732 Average Video Length: 3 minutes 44 seconds Armani’s YouTube channel reveals custom wallpaper that showcases an image of two models and the Giorgio Armani logo as the header of the page. Otherwise the channel runs and operates in a less customized manner, using the presets of a typical YouTube channel. Instead of sharing a snapshot bio on the right side of the channel’s profile section, Armani has chosen to place a quote by Giorgio Armani. Below they suggest links to Armani.com, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Viddy. Armani uses their YouTube channel to mix film content from different tiers of the brand including Armani and Emporio Armani. Films mostly focus on runway collections, celebrity interviews and special events.

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Period analyzed: May 29, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 56,165 Videos: 325 Video Views: 22,032,529 Average Video Length: 2 minutes 4 seconds Burberry’s YouTube channel operates in a similar manner to how guests would interact and navigate through a fashion brand’s actual website. When initially visiting the site, viewers see an automatically-‐played ad of Burberry’s “Body Tender” promotion. The custom designed wallpaper layout also offers a strong focal point to see the logo and links to Burberry.com, Facbook and Twitter at the very top of the channel. These same links are suggested again under the section of the channel that promotes corresponding links. In addition, Burberry has chosen to also add links to their Google+ account under this section.

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Besides offering typical runway collection content and ad videos, Burberry has allocated a great deal of time, thought and expense into the production quality of its films. Three more unique features of Burberry’s YouTube content include offering: o Special films created to promote and celebrate holiday messages to their subscribers (Example: Valentine’s Day, New Year’s). o Elaborate video invitations inviting fans to live stream their fashion shows. o Music videos showcasing artists that are being promoted under their long-‐lasting “Burberry Acoustic” program.

Period analyzed: May 26, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 26,699 Videos: 543 Video Views: 16,323,284 Average Video Length: 2 minutes 14 seconds Dolce & Gabbana has taken great efforts to outfit its channel in a custom-‐designed template exclusively representative of the brand. Viewers are initially invited to watch a film that automatically depicts their latest runway collection. Viewers have the option to continue watching the video, share to Facebook, share to Twitter or select the option to skip and visit other component’s of Dolce & Gabbana’s YouTube channel. Similar to Burberry’s YouTube channel layout, Dolce & Gabbana’s channel operates in a close to website format. A scrolling newsfeed of images and featured videos plays at the top while users may further preview other Dolce &

Gabbana films by making selections from the neatly organized categories covering “Collections”, “Campaigns”, “Beauty”, “Accessories”, “Friends and Events”, “Insight” or “E-‐Shop Collection”. Notably, this brand is the only of the nine analyzed to suggest a direct link to the brands E-‐commerce platform. Under the suggested links section, viewers are invited to visit Dolce & Gabbana’s Facebook, Twitter and dolcegabbana.com. Like many of the other brands in the study, Dolce & Gabbana does not take full advantage of sharing links to all of its social media platforms in the YouTube links section.

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Period analyzed: May 29, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 4,418 Videos: 76 Video Views: 2,083,977 Average Video Length: 2 minutes 33 seconds Michael Kors does not take full advantage of promoting its other social media platforms via its YouTube channel. To the right of their hompage, Michael Kors simply chooses to showcase links to its Google+ profile and michaelkors.com. The Michael Kors brand bio also appears in this section of the channel with info being detailed under the Google+ link. Similar to Tory Burch and Missoni, Michael Kors does not incorporate a very elaborate or customized YouTube channel. Depicting a single unidentifiable image as the custom

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wallpaper of the channel, Michael Kors has not designed its YouTube channel to look solely tailored to the brand unlike some of the more elaborately-‐designed stations like Hermes, Chanel and Dior. Video content is comprised of a mix of both runway footage and behind-‐the-‐scene vignettes that promote and explain each new collection. The face, voice and image of Michael Kors serves as a large composite of its YouTube channel, including several lifestyle clips and behind-‐the-‐scenes interviews with Michael Kors himself.

Period analyzed: July 25, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 979 Videos: 64 Video Views: 390,589 Average Video Length: 2 minutes 2 seconds The Tory Burch YouTube page layout is simple in contrast to the other ways the brand uses social media to promote itself. The page’s wallpaper showcases minimal customization and the company’s bio is not provided in any place on their YouTube page. Video content is comprised of a mix of both runway footage and behind-‐the-‐scene vignettes that promote and storyline each new collection.

It is interesting to note that the channel promotes a “Shop Tory Burch” button which actually links to the main website rather than its actual e-‐commerce platform. This is a tactic to promote, encourage and entice visitors to further peek at what the brand has to offer. This phrase takes the initiative on telling customers to do exactly what all brands hope happens when visiting a brand’s website homepage. It acts as a subliminal message that encourages the desired behavior by linking them to the idea that what they watch on the YouTube station is also available to purchase if they simply click on “Shop Tory Burch”.

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Period analyzed: January 26, 2013 to February 14, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 480 Videos: 23 Video Views: 19,546 Average Video Length: 6 minutes 55 seconds Missoni is found to be the weakest performing brand within the YouTube analysis of this study carrying significantly less subscribers, less videos and less video views than any of the other brands. The company’s snapshot bio is not provided in any place on their YouTube page and it is noted that the average video length of Missoni’s YouTube films (6 minutes, 55 seconds) are nearly 2-‐3 times longer than the other brand’s average video lengths. This could potentially pose a barrier that affects user’s interest and likelihood to click and play a film if it is perceived too long to watch in entirety. Also, it is difficult to locate the Missoni channel when initially searching for it in the YouTube search box. All of the competitor brands’ channels immediately appear in the first, second or third position of the search page. A search for

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“Missoni” does not reveal their YouTube channel until a couple scroll downs. Missoni’s YouTube channel does not include a custom wallpaper background or layout like that of its competitors. The Missoni channel mostly shows clips from each season’s runway collection. There is also one video revealing a demo of the knit construction and a few other videos that are ad campaigns. In general, the production quality of these videos are weak in comparison to the digital editing efforts and stories constructed by its competitors. Videos must be produced in a gripping and compelling manner in this age of viral information where consumers play a great role in how a brand’s message is shared.

Pinterest remains a growing force in the world of social media marketing. A relative newcomer to the game, Pinterest is moving beyond its early network adopters of hipsters and moms to include a larger audience that identifies with its visually alluring content and ease of navigation. According to research compiled by Econsultancy.com, leads the social media race in stiff competition against other older platforms like Twitter. A few stats from EConsultancy.com: o 28.1% of Pinterest users have an annual household income of at least $100,000. o 25% of Fortune Global 100 companies have Pinterest accounts. o Pinterest pins with prices get 36% more likes than those without. o 43% of Pinterest members agree that they use Pinterest to “associate with retailers or brands with which I identify”, compared to just 24% of Facebook users who agree to the same use with Facebook. o 69% of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve purchased or wanted to purchase as compared to only 40% of online consumers who visit Facebook (Bizrate Report). o The survey, which interviewed 7,431 online buyers from August 9 to 17 2012, also found that significantly more online consumers agree that Pinterest is a place to “get inspiration on what to buy” and “help keep track of or collect things I like.” (Bizrate Report).

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Summary of Pinterest followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013) Note: Chanel does not have a Pinterest profile. Missoni did not have a Pinterest profile when data was originally retrieved from Unmetric January-‐February 2013, therefore Missoni’s profile stats are incomplete as their account was opened in March 2013. Hermes Dior Armani Burberry Dolce & Michael Kors Tory Burch Missoni Gabbana Followers 6,332 22,431 5,348 31,933 10,443 81,992 60,894 212 Boards 17 10 27 20 24 34 31 8 Pins 317 1,099 871 2,314 545 1,639 2,414 174 Repins 5,134 15,665 4,555 72,680 4,139 125,335 180,018 N/A Comments 48 80 20 182 26 1,186 571 N/A Likes 2,151 6,501 1,956 22,701 1,488 34,502 40,844 N/A

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Period analyzed: January 26, 2013 to February 14, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 6,332 Boards: 17 Pins: 317 Repins: 5,134 Comments: 48 Likes 2,151 • Includes written link to Hermes.com on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo.

Like Hermes’ YouTube channel, most of the content on their Pinterest page focuses on product, lifestyle and accessories. Less emphasis is placed on the models and people buying and wearing the brand. One interesting board called “Hermes Do It Yourself” shows images of how users can make their own paper craft versions of an Hermes clutch and cuff. Other lifestyle boards include content related to architecture and cuisine. A few boards reveal past and present ad campaigns used by the brand throughout a variety of their digital platforms. It’s also interesting to note that Hermes has begun to play with the design matrix pre-‐set by Pinterest and use the adjoining boards to create larger visual campaigns that appear to reflect a greater single image similar to a completed puzzle. See visual reference below.

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Period analyzed: September 2, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 22,431 Boards: 10 Pins: 1,009 Repins: 15,665 Comments: 80 Likes 6,501 • Includes written link to Dior.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Includes quote from Christian Dior on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo.

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Dior uses their Pinterest boards to primarily focus on the promotion of their different product categories. Boards are divided into the following product categories: Dior Woman Fashion, Dior Homme, Dior Makeup, Dior Jewellery & Timepieces, and Baby Dior. They also offer a Dior Fragrances Dior Heritage board and Dior VIP board that share images of high profile people wearing Dior around the world.

Period analyzed: May 26, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 5,348 Boards: 27 Pins: 871 Repins: 4,555 Comments: 20 Likes 1,956 • Includes written link to Armani.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Includes quote from Giorgio Armani on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo.

Like Dior, Armani organizes boards by specific product categories. They also display board of their latest runway collections. Various tiers of the Armani brand are showcased on the same Pinterest platform such as Giorgio Armani, Armani Prive, Emporio Armani, which may be confusing. Several boards focus on collages of photos that visually display the Armani lifestyle essence. They’ve also taken the opportunity to create boards that show their editorial product placements and magazine covers in addition to creating boards that cluster products together in a package for users to review gift guide suggestions.

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Period analyzed: September 2, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 31,933 Boards: 20 Pins: 2,314 Repins: 72,680 Comments: 182 Likes 22,701 • Includes written link to Burberry.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo.

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Burberry uses Pinterest to its maximum capacity by creating boards that offer visual content related to products (clothing, accessories, beauty & fragrance), ad campaigns, runway collections, gift guides, editorial placements, celebrity endorsements, heritage and musician development program “Burberry Acoustic”.

Period analyzed: September 2, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 10,443 Boards: 24 Pins: 545 Repins: 4,139 Comments: 26 Likes 1,488 • Includes icon link to Dolcegabbana.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Includes phrase about brand on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo.

Dolce and Gabbana divides their boards into product focuses categories in addition to highlighting each season’s runway collections. They also provide boards that share their editorial work and magazine covers. Two unique boards exclusive to the Dolce & Gabbana Pinterest profile detail collections from their emerging talents and another board that showcases a variety of fashion illustrations created by fans of the brand.

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Period analyzed: September 2, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 81,992 Boards: 34 Pins: 2,414 Repins: 180,018 Comments: 571 Likes 40,844 • Includes icon link to Michaelkors.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Includes phrase about brand on top banner of page. • Uses image of Michael Kors as cover photo.

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The Michael Kors Pinterest page serves to unite fans in promoting the “Michael Kors” lifestyle of party and travel. Carrying the largest number of Pinterest followers (81,992) in this study, they also have the most vocal fans with over 1,186 comments and growing. Several boards promote the brand’s jet-‐set theme with multiple collages focused on travels around the world. Other boards focus on specific product categories and seasonal runway collections. Michael Kors, himself, also appears to be a very visible identifier still connected to the brand. In addition to offering boards that detail styling tips and gift guides, they have begun to recently title boards in hashtag phrases to encourage and promote the cross-‐ communication of their social media platforms with Twitter and Instagram.

Period analyzed: September 2, 2012 to February 1, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 60,894 Boards: 31 Pins: 2,414 Repins: 180,018 Comments: 57 Likes 40,844 • Includes written link to Toryburch.com and Twitter icon link on top banner of page. • Uses image of Tory Burch as cover photo.

Although Michael Kors has the largest number of Pinterest followers and the most comments made by followers, Tory Burch is the leader in number of Pinterest fan Likes (40,844) and number of image Repins (180,018) and counting. Like Michael Kors, Tory Burch’s Pinterest page is the promotion of a lifestyle that serves to visually connect its audience with Tory Burch, herself. The boards cover an array of topics similar to Burberry’s full-‐coverage of themed-‐ideas. The Tory Burch boards include themes determined by colors, gifts guides, runway collections, travel and home entertainment inspirations.

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Period analyzed: January 26, 2013 to February 14, 2013

Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 212 Boards: 8 Pins: 174 Repins: N/A Comments: N/A Likes N/A • Includes written link to Missoni.com, Twitter icon link and Facebook icon link on top banner of page. • Uses logo as cover photo, denoting “Official Page” under the logo.

Missoni did not have an official Pinterest page when data was first collected by Unmetric in January-‐February 2013 for this study. They launched their page beginning in March 2013. Aware of the growing use and marketing importance of Pinterest, Missoni has acknowledged these factors by launching a Pinterset page. Still in its infancy, Missoni has begun to create boards that reflect categories revolving around runway collections, celebrity sightings, editorial placements and even a board called “Zigzagging”, showcasing images connected with their knitwear heritage. It is to be noted however that Missoni’s Pinterest page is still to date very difficult to find through a basic search engine search but can be accessed easily from a Pinterest Icon on the brand’s YouTube page.

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Instagram began as a hot iPhone startup and has quickly taken over as a favorite photo-‐sharing application. Instagram allows users to take and share photos, add filters to them to make the images look retro, and then share the images on other social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Instagram’s popularity is due to its easy function that does not take much time or effort and connects people visually. Viewers can “Like” or comment on photos and browse various images from either individuals or companies. Instagram offers an opportunity for brands to diversify their content and broaden their online reach. Based on photos, Instagram is a valuable way to communicate and entice consumers with visual images that draw on a fashion brand’s creative abilities. According to (Shipa Shree January 19, 2013 from Daze info), Instagram created a lot of buzz around Instagram after the recent Facebook acquisition, in just 2 years the app has gained more than 50 million users. It generates 575 likes and 81 comments by Instagram users every second. The average Instagram user spent 257 minutes accessing the photo-‐sharing site via mobile devices, the data claims, while the average Twitter user over the same period spent 170 minutes viewing. More than 5 million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day. Nearly 4 billion photos have been shared on Instagram since its beginning.

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Summary of Instagram followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013) Note: Hermes, Chanel and Dior do not have Instagram profiles. However, Hermes has opened an account and noted that they’re profile will soon be active. It is important to note that Missoni has acquired a significant amount of followers since that specific date. Their current profile account now stands at 2, 940 Followers and Following 30 as of March 6, 2013. Armani Burberry Dolce & Michael Kors Tory Burch Missoni Gabbana Followers 87,000 664,000 199,000 482,000 183,000 342 Following 61 64 11 54 123 16

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 109,852 Following: 82 Photos: 618 The Giorgio Armani, Italian lifestyle brand has increased its social media presence through its strong Instagram effort. The brand currently promotes all three of its brands Armani Collezioni, Armani Prive and Emporio Armani, under the same Instagram profile. Armani successfully showcases its numerous product lines, including: fragrances, accessories, shoes, handbags, makeup, apparel and menswear. The brand has an average of 618 photos uploaded, ranging from 9,021 to 17 likes. Armani features celebrities wearing their brand, red carpet events, runway shots, behind-‐the scenes and magazine covers in which it is featured.

Last year’s campaign entitled, “Frames of Your Holiday,” encouraged consumers to connect and be a part of the brand by uploading Instagram images of themselves wearing their favorite Armani eyewear.

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 704,315 Following: 64 Photos: 779 Burberry has retained its reputation of being on the cutting edge of every trend by being social media savvy and notably on Instagram. Burberry joined Instagram early on and has developed a following base of over 704,315 people, with 779 photos uploaded, and an average of likes between 24 and 28,647. Burberry aims to do more then just display their clothing and present their advertising campaigns with interesting filters. Burberry presented a real-‐time photo feed to Instagram followers, getting their photos before they were available anywhere else. The brand’s stream includes iconic photos of London, British weather, and an overall sense of the style of Burberry.

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 228,793 Following: 10 Photos: 200 Dolce & Gabbana’s current practice on Instagram features 200 photos uploaded with an average of 53 to 12,532 likes. Pictures showcase the latest collections, magazine covers, and behind-‐the-‐ scenes images. The brand consistently updates photos, shares exclusive sales and presents backstage/in-‐the-‐making content for their community to enjoy.

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 536,755 Following: 84 Photos: 405 The brand currently has 405 photos uploaded with an average of 84 to 44164 likes, featuring behind-‐the-‐scenes photos, fashion runways, celebrities wearing their clothes, fashion magazine covers, and photos of Michael Kors himself. At present, the brand has 536,755 Followers and is currently following 84 Instagram users. The brand currently features different photos of their entire product line, showing a wide variety of options and styles. Michael Kors’ mobile applications are continually connecting with consumers through daily posts and rich images.

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 205,229 Following: 131 Photos: 187 The Tory Burch brand has an active presence on Instagram, 187 photos uploaded with an average of 54 to 12184 likes, showing behind-‐the-‐scenes pictures, photos of her travels, images of products and pictures of her inspirations. There are currently 205,229 followers and the brand is following 131 Instagram users.

Tory Burch has adopted creative ways to make Instagram engaging, by providing followers with a creative marketing presentation that actively involves them. The brand used the hashtag “#TBFNOLA” (Tory Burch Fashion Night Out LA), which allowed users to upload photos to Instagram on a same platform and print them out at a Tory Burch store. The printed photo encouraged consumers to use the site, hashtags and was an invitation to visit and promote the brand during this special event.

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Snapshot numbers on February 8, 2013: Followers: 2946 Following: 30 Photos: 54 Among the entire social media arena, Instagram is one in which Missoni appears to be the more active. It currently has 2946 followers, is following 30 Instagram users, and has uploaded 54 photos with an average of 16 to 232 likes. The photos uploaded are colorful and hold a strong visual orientation that intends to build brand affinity. The brand posts regularly since its creation 16 weeks ago, providing behind-‐the-‐scenes snapshots, the latest fashion runway shows, fabrics, brand inspirations, model photo shoots, etc. Missoni also features celebrities wearing Mission and photos of some of the Missoni family members together with friends at different events. A differentiating element for Missoni, is their use of personalized photo frames.

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LinkedIn is one of the oldest and most trusted social media platforms for job networking and professional development. Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to serve as one of the dominant sources that companies use to search and recruit new talent. Here are some current statistics generated by Visual.ly: o LinkedIn has over 175,000,000 users. o 12,000 organizations have LinkedIn profiles. It is used by 69 of the top 100 Fortune 500 companies. o It generated 5 billion searches in the last year for 2012. o 10 million endorsements are created daily. o 25% of its usage in 2012 was on mobile devices, up 10% from 2011.

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Summary of LinkedIn followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013) Note: Hermes, Armani and Missoni do not have LinkedIn profiles. Followers Home Products Insight Careers

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Chanel 42,142 • • •

Dior Burberry Dolce & Gabbana 9,672 48,897 15,915 • • • • • • • • • •

#Phase 2: digital analytics

Michael Kors 12,162 • • •

Tory Burch 6,841 • • •

Followers: 42,142 (on February 8, 2013)

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Chanel does not have a “Careers” tab, but they do post openings on their homepage newsfeed. The page includes a detailed snapshot bio of the brand listed under the “About” section of the homepage. There is an additional photo banner on the homepage. There is no content listed under the allocated “Products” section.

Followers: 9,672 (on February 8, 2013)

• •

Dior does not have a “Careers” tab, but they do post openings on their homepage newsfeed. There is detailed snapshot bio of the brand listed under the “About” section of the homepage. There is an additional photo banner shown on homepage. There is no content listed under the allocated “Products” section.

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Followers: 48,897 (on February 8, 2013)

Burberry is the only brand that uses the LinkedIn’s “Careers” tab. There is a detailed snapshot bio of the brand listed under “About” section of the homepage. There is an additional photo banner shown on the homepage. There is no content listed under the allocated “Products” section. The brand uses the homepage newsfeed to post promotional ad videos about Burberry. In comparison, competitors use the newsfeed to detail job openings.

• • • • •

Followers: 15,915 (on February 8, 2013) • • •

•

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Dolce & Gabbana does not offer an additional photo banner on its homepage. The brand does not use the newsfeed on its homepage to share info about job openings or other promotional brand content. The brand makes use of the “Product” section by sharing links and info about the brand. There is no “Careers” tab.

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Followers: 12,162 (on February 8, 2013)

• • • • •

Michael Kors does not have a “Careers” tab. There is a detailed snapshot bio of the brand listed under the “About” section of the homepage. There is an additional photo banner shown on the homepage. There is no content listed under the allocated “Products” section. The brand uses the homepage newsfeed to post promotional ad videos about Michael Kors, in comparison their competitors use the newsfeed to list job openings.

Followers: 6,841 (on February 8, 2013)

• • • •

•

Tory Burch does not have a “Careers” tab. There is a detailed snapshot bio of the brand listed under the “About” section of the homepage. The brand does not have a logo or additional banner photo on homepage. The brand does not list content under allocated “Products” section. The homepage newsfeed is used to post job openings.

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Google+ is still relatively a new platform, the idea behind in much similar to Facebook in that you can interact more dynamically with your social network. G+ allows the community to classify each member by encouraging to create digital "circles" of friends in which aloe to tailor messages to the certain contacts with in the circles. The majority of early adopters are male (63%) compared to female (37%). According to (Shipa Shree January 19, 2013 from Daze info), Google’s social media arm Google+ has seen rapid growth pace as there are over 925,000 new users on Google+ every day. In addition, if the growth fashion continues then Facebook need to reinvent something more interesting and absolutely unique to lead at top position. Additionally, 40% of marketers use Google+, 70% want to learn more about it and 67% plan on increasing Google+ activities. The Google +1 button is used 5 billion times per day. Google+ is favorite among tech industries and engineers.

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Summary of Google+ followers (Numbers retrieved on February 8, 2013)

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Followers: 77,242 (on February 8, 2013)

Under the “About” tab on their Google+ webpage, Hermes opens with the tagline: “Welcome to the world of Hermes.” Hermes currently has 77,242 followers on Google+ and is continually posting new photos and links of products and campaigns, taking full advantage of this digital opportunity in the social media world. The viewer is invited to enjoy other tabs containing “Posts, Photos and Videos,” and they are welcome to learn more about the history and tradition of the brand under the “About” tab. The brand clearly makes an effort to remain up-‐to-‐date

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by displaying new photos of current and past collections and also displaying inspirational images under the section of Hermes’ albums. Twelve videos are posted containing product information and stories of interest, related to the life of Emile Hermes. The posts reflect a fresh approach with a simple, clean look reflecting the brand identity. Fans and viewers are able to post their own comments. Hermes enforces its brand identity throughout the platform, keeps the viewers informed of new activity, and even announced their presence on two new social media platforms.

Followers: 78,145 (on February 8, 2013) Chanel is taking advantage of Google+ by keeping its followers engaged with many photos under the “Albums” tab with photos from posts, Chanel Exhibition photos, fine jewelry displays and Vanity Fair Oscar Party images, for example. Photos posted also show behind-‐the-‐scenes images, Hollywood glamor, red carpet moments, celebrities and related fashion news, makeup trends and runway shots.

However, despite the wide portfolio of photos available, the brand does not provide any video content under the “Videos” tab when videos are actually posted on the wall. Chanel’s posts are regular and mainly brand oriented. Also available to followers are photos and interviews with Karl Lagerfeld, personalizing the brand.

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Followers: 425,496 (on February 8, 2013)

Dior’s uses the tagline, “The House of Christian Dior” on its homepage and introduces viewers to their philosophy, as stated by Christian Dior: “I create so that each and every woman is the most beautiful.” The brand has up-‐to-‐date postings and a wide portfolio of images under the photo album. The brand is continually posting new images on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Representing the face of Dior, Natalie Portman is seen on

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numerous videos and photos, but is now viewed alongside the new face of Dior, Jennifer Lawrence. The majority of the photos and videos that are posted showcase behind-‐the-‐scenes images, the Dior fashion runway, red carpet moments, celebrities and trends in fashion. In addition, the brand makes custom party invitations to invite their followers to view their upcoming shows and promotions.

Followers: 526,421 (on February 8, 2013) The Armani brand presents its tagline with a quote from Giorgio Armani, “Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered.” The brand has a smaller gathering on Google+, with 539,554 followers and a basic, news item feel to its site pages. The brand posts Armani news items; photos of celebrities wearing Armani fashions, links to Armani Instagram photos and videos of fashion show interviews. The

almost daily postings are informative, but sparse and sometimes bare, limiting its artistic and creative message. Three albums are posted under the “Photos” tab, including images from posts, profiles and scrapbook images. The platform uses a minimalist layout, feeling cold and masculine, but also including an invitation link to view a live Fall/Winter runway show.

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Followers: 2,139,574 (on February 8, 2013) Burberry is focused on remaining fresh and vibrant and keeping its 2,173,582 followers engaged. The brand posts daily and has a wide portfolio of images under the photo album. There are four videos to be viewed under the “Videos” tab, including music videos, an introduction to Burberry on Google+ from the brand’s creative director, and an instructional makeup video entitled, “Winter Storms Looks Look.” The platform brings the spirit of Burberry to life with a

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luxurious quality, timeless style and fresh innovative looks. The majority of images present photo shoots and products, such as the Spring/Summer 2013 runway metallic bags and assorted accessories. Runway images show the brand’s iconic trench coats and womenswear, with current styling in detailed posts. Burberry also supports emerging artists by posting music videos, such as the “Music Monday” post of an acoustic session with Paloma Faith.

Followers: 600,941 (on February 8, 2013) Dolce & Gabbana have a modest gathering of 604,130 followers on Google+. The brand uses the tagline, “Dolce&Gabbana is the new luxury, authentic and unconventional.” The brand posts on an almost daily basis, providing content related to new bags and accessories, video of a womenswear fashion show, and the latest makeup campaign featuring Scarlett Johansson. Dolce & Gabbana also

have a wide portfolio of photos in the photo album featuring photo shoots, advertising campaigns and celebrity editorials. The entire platform features the varied content and remains fresh by providing the latest information on new collections, fashion runways and backstage images. All of this content helps to capture its audience, provide interaction and promote the various aspects of the brand.

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Followers: 45,143 (on February 8, 2013) Michael Kors presents a simplified layout on his Google+ webpage and has a small gathering of 45,364 followers. This small number of followers may be a result of the brand posting infrequently, and at times, only once per month. The platform does present postings as if they are being written by Michael Kors himself, connecting followers intimately with the brand and creating a personalized feel. Topics range in postings from the current advertising campaign presenting

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bright colors, to music preferences, photos of Kors and friends, sketches of shoes, interviews with models and celebrities and product information. Photos in the Michael Kors’ album section include images from posts, profile photos of the designer, scrapbook photos and images entitled, “Living the Kors Life,” in an effort to further connect followers with the brand.

Followers: 45,143 (on February 8, 2013) Tory Burch has a modest gathering of 597,315 followers on their Google+ webpages. Consistent weekday posts repeat some images seen on Instagram, but display the brand’s fresh, inviting appeal. Posts include features of specific products, like the Tory Burch Brigitte Blouse, with a video to demonstrate its versatility and timelessness. Magazine features of the brand are also posted, as are photos of celebrities wearing the fashions. Descriptions of products

posted inform followers and engage them in the Tory Burch story, such as the “Akira print” that “is based off a tile pattern Tory saw a few years ago in Istanbul. The brand does a convincing job of keeping this platform fresh and engaging with new posts and detailed descriptions that are current and informative. Images and videos are consistent with Tory Burch’s eclectic styling, use of color and prints, and accessible fashions.

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Followers: 21 (on February 8, 2013)

Missoni’s Google+ page opens with a tagline saying: “Happy Women’s Day”, following by and inspirational photo supporting the line. The current presence on Google+ includes a gathering of 29 followers. Consistent weekly posts include images that are engaging and fresh. Most of the images contain a filter that gives a touch of a vintage feel to most of the photos uploaded. They look very lively, colorful and they hold a strong visual orientation that intends to build brand

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identity. Three albums are posted under the “Photos” tab, including images from posts, profiles and scrapbook images of the brand. The majority of the posts are brand oriented, with a featured, inspirational touch. At the moment no video has been uploaded, however the minimal that's has been displayed is a sign of efforts to further connect followers with the brand.

Tumblr is a newer social media platform that is popular with a

younger demographic. It has been found that 72% of users are under the age of 44, with more women (62%) using the site than men (38%). Tumblr is essentially a simplified blog, whereby individuals or companies can post text, photos, links, and videos, with the added benefit of being able to post from either a phone, browser or e-‐mail. Half of all posts on Tumblr are photos, making it an obvious choice for visually dependent fashion brands. The interface of Tumblr is easily customizable and can creatively become an extension of the brand’s website, making the site a very useful social media tool.

Note: Users are unable to preview how many fans follow a brand’s Tumblr account other than the administrative user of each particular account.

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Hermes organizes its Tumblr feed through themed campaigns. At this time, Hermes has campaigns that asks, “What Knot?”, emphasing on silk scarfs and female followers; “Why Tie?” focused on silk ties and male followers; and finally “Long Live Sport” displaying Hermes products in sporty situations. Hermes’s Tumblr includes a series of Gif animations, pictures, and the possibility to like and share each pictures to other social media platforms including Twitter, despite Hermes not being present on that platform.

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Scrolling over a picture also provides the possibility to “see more” of the same themed series of pictures with a different layout and a list of hashtags. In addition, Hermes’s Tumblr page provides links on the top right to the brand’s Website, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and Youtube platforms. On the top left of the page is a +tags button that opens a list of categories reorganizing the Tumblr’s content by theme rather than chronology as is on the homepage.

Chanel’s Tumblr is a crossword in time of the brands identity. The blog is a patchwork of old and new photographs, ad campaigns, editorials, street style, products, celebrities, Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld and more. Scrolling over a picture gives the viewer the option to share the picture on his own Tumblr account, however unlike Hermes, Chanel does not provide the option to share the photograph on the viewers other social media platforms.

website posts an information note saying the corresponding URL was not found. Chanel’s Tumblr has a plain white backdrop, a painted logo to the top left side and no promotion to the brands other digital platforms. It simply provides the option to follow the brand on Tumblr itself.

Clicking on the picture does not provide many more options beside providing a list of corresponding hashtags which at this point in time do not lead anywhere when clicked as the

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Dior’s Tumbr page provides a menu at the top of the page listing all hashtags corresponding to its content, plus the option to randomly view Dior’s posting or visit its archives. In addition the menu bar gives links for the viewer to follow the brand on its Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and dior.com. Postings are organized weekly with a theme per week. The latests include elements of Dior’s Fall-‐Winter 13 runway show and various Miss Dior campaigns.

Dior brings strong attention to vary the type of content it posts, adopting frequently Gif animations. Scrolling over the images proved the option to reblog or like them on Tumblr, or share on other social media platforms as Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and Twitter. Additionally, each image provides its list of corresponding hashtags which when clicked send to a complete list of images with the same hashtag.

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Armani’s Tumblr opens on two full screen Youtube video of the women’s fall-‐winter 2013 backstage events.

The Armani logo appears in small in the top left of the page over a solid black backdrop.

Scrolling down are further images of the runway show itself, however they appear in a extremely large format making the viewer unable to see the picture in its entirety without clicking on it and opening it in another page.

The top right of the page provides a search bar, an “archive” button and a “about” button which opens a small header giving a quote by Giorgio Armani “Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered.”

Armani does not provide the option to share its pictures, however it provides a list of hashtags corresponding to each image which when click bring the viewer to a regrouping of images linked to the hashtag.

The top right space of the page provides links to Armani’s Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Youtube platforms.

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Burberry’s Tumblr page opens to a header bar which titles “Art of the Trench Tumblr”, explaining the blog is a project to document people wearing the brand’s famous trench coats. It engages the viewers by implicating them in the project, placing them at the same level as some of the most influential taste makers of the fashion industry: “ The project is a collaboration between you, Burberry and some of the world’s leading image makers.” The blog allows the viewer to submit a photo of himself wearing a Burberry trench which would be posted on the blog if selected.

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Scrolling over the pictures, viewers are given the option to reblog to Tumblr or to like each photo, however they are not given the option to share it on other social media platforms. The blog has a simple dark grey backdrop and does not push forward the brand’s logo. The top right of the page suggests links to “Shop trench coats” linking to burberry.com’s USA page, to visit burberry.com or to search the archives.

Dolce & Gabbana’s Tumblr is a series of photos organized by date of posting with arrows guiding the way to previous posts. The content is a series of editorial pictures featuring Dolce & Gabbana products, advertisements, backstage photos and more. Enlarging a photo does provide the option to share or like Dolce & Gabbana pictures on Tumblr or other social media

platforms. However the top left side of the page suggest viewers to follow the brand on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to its RSS feed. The brand Tumblr page has a solid light grey backdrop with three tabs suggesting to view advertisements, archives or dolcegabbana.com.

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Tory Burch’s Tumblr is organized as a classical/old fashioned blog with a scroll down timeline. However the Tumblr is called “Torypedia” listing “people, places and things of interest” to Tory Burch. This page is however apparently not her only blog as a tab promotes a link to visit “The Tory Blog” in addition to her Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and toryburch.com pages.

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Each post contains a picture that is slightly too big to be seen in full on the computer screen and is on a simple white backdrop. Also, there is no option to like or share the pictures posted either on Tumblr or other social media platforms.

#Social media snapshot summary “Followers” summary The number of “Followers” for each brand’s social media platform was used as one of the main key performance indicators to assess the brand’s ability to engage, lead and attract fans per social media account. Combining the total number of “Followers” under each brand’s social media platforms offers additional insight as to which of the nine brands carries the largest and least percentage of “Social Media Market Share”. Leading with the most number of “Followers” in the majority of social media platforms, Burberry holds 29.6% of the Total Social Media Market Share out of the nine brands examined. Dior has the largest number of “Followers” under the Twitter,

while Michael Kors was found to have the most “Followers” under the Pinterest. In contrast, Missoni was found to have the least number of “Followers” in all social media platforms except LinkedIn, for which they do not have a present account. They currently hold 0.1% Total Social Media Market Share.

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Most Followers: Least Followers:

Followers Facebook

Hermes

Dior

Burberry

Dolce & Gabbana

Michael Kors

Tory Burch

Missoni

4,078,665

14,770,159

6,358,472

4,084,480

607,553

63,742

None

1,327,634

1,630,067

162,781

1,590,737

549,959

1,076,327

204,873

5,679

Instagram

None

87,000

664,000

199,000

482,000

183,000

342

YouTube

4,687

68,229

41,501

11,985

56,165

26,699

4,418

979

480

5,885

None

21,373

5,106

33,019

9,901

80,123

59,078

212

Google+

77,242

78,145

425,496

526,421

2,139,574

600,941

45,143

598,037

None

42,142

9,672

None

48,897

15,915

12,162

6,841

None

9,938,778 13,340,469

4,871,958

19,302,551

7,760,887

5,784,653

1,660,361

70,476

9.7%

29.6%

11.9%

8.9%

2.5%

0.1%

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1,054,304 1.6%

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8,422,628 11,212,360

Armani

Twitter

Total Followers Total Percentage

966,490

Chanel

15.2%

20.5%

Quality of content summary Although the number of “Followers” is a key performance indicator used to evaluate the success and strength of a brand’s overall social media performance, it is also important to consider the quality of content found within each brand’s social media profiles. This helped analysts further evaluate and determine which luxury brand leads in

Facebook: Tory Burch Twitter: Burberry Instagram: Tory Burch YouTube: Burberry Pinterest: Hermes Google+: Burberry LinkedIn: Burberry Tumblr: Dior

best practices for each particular social media platform reviewed. Based upon content observed for each brand’s interpretation and use of social media, it appears that the following brands have reached the overall best practices in the following platforms:

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@Website analysis Some interesting facts from Mist Media (mistmedia.com) reveal the following about the growing importance of video and digital marketing: • Every second $272,00 is spent online. • Online revenues are forecast to increase 8.6% per year for the next 5 years.

#Website Content Analysis

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The homepage of Hermes displays an animated rendering of the logo with interactive animation and applause sounds when scrolling the word “Hermes”. Atypical to most navigation panels, Hermes has chosen to place their navigation tabs in a variety of rows and categories that stair step under one another. Using a majority of white space to create contrast between the site’s text and images, Hermes has chosen to include multiple font styles throughout their navigation panel. They have designed a strong e-‐commerce site that appears to sell all Hermes merchandise except items from some of their more exclusive collections, like the Kelley and Birkin bags. The navigation on various pages can be a challenge. Hermes offers an orange-‐colored questions mark in the upper left corner of the pages as a tutorial guide to help users move throughout the site if they are uncertain how to navigate. Remaining absent from the page are links or tabs devoted to “Careers”, “Search” box and “Contact” information. The site is available in a multitude of languages which offer a detailed shop locator and promote links to their Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube accounts.

Chanel’s homepage leads with a large video space devoted to auto-‐playing the unveiling of their latest runway collection. The clean, minimal layout invites users to navigate and explore the site in an uncomplicated self-‐minded manner, which is available in numerous languages. Following the lead video, users are invited to learn more about: Coco Chanel and the history of the brand, present Chanel news and updates from the brand’s current “The Little Black Jacket” exhibition. The secondary navigation panels are used to clearly articulate the different product categories offered by Chanel including: fashion, accessories, fragrance, makeup, skincare, fine jewelry and watches. They have not made e-‐ commerce available at present. Chanel has chosen to promote Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and the Chanel newsletter through their website. They have included a “Contact” section, although they do not promote “Career” or a “Search” box anywhere throughout the site.

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Like Chanel, Dior’s website is presented in a clean and minimal layout that showcases rotating images on the homepage with center page placement of their navigation bar. This panel is the only initial text seen on their site. The Dior site is offered in many languages and topics may be further explored by scrolling over the home page navigation categories. They promote a “Careers” and “Search” tab option. Limited e-‐commerce is available on select goods. Content focus revolves around sharing issues from the “DiorMag”, brand history, fashion & accessories, fragrance & beauty and jewelry. Social media links may be found for Dior’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr accounts.

Armani.com is used to unite and promote all of the various brands under the Armani umbrella. These brands include: Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, EA7, Armani Collezioni, Armani Jeans, Armani Junior, Armani Casa and Giorgio Armani Beauty. Armani presents their site in multiple languages, while offering guest the option to purchase online gift cards and browse their store locators. They promote a “Careers” and “Contact” section in addition to promoting their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+ and Viddy profiles. They have created a fully-‐integrated e-‐commerce site that promotes and sells almost all of their products under all diffusion tiers of the brand.

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Burberry offers complete e-‐commerce for all product categories. A strong emphasis is placed on shopping when visiting the initial homepage. All homepage ad images are used as a navigation tools to further invite users into the main shopping platform. The main navigation panel in words is positioned to the left side of the site. Burberry promotes their social media platforms in a way very different from all other brands observed in this study. They do no place buttons promoting their social media in a general area of the site for visitors to “Like” and “Follow”. Rather they suggest users promote individual Burberry products using a “share” button linked to visitor’s Facebook or Twitter accounts. Twenty-‐four hour customer service offered in multiple languages is a core emphasis of the shopping network built on the Burberry site. They have also created a “My Burberry” account that lets customers personalize their shopping tastes and preferences. Additionally they promote a “Careers” and “Search” section. They also promote the brand heritage and running “Burberry Acoustic” campaign spotlighting new up-‐and-‐coming musicians profiled in Burberry attire.

Interesting to note, Dolce & Gabbana is the only visible brand that has begun to embrace the use of Chinese social media platforms, like Weibo, to promote their brand in the emerging markets. Likewise they promote social media buttons for all of the other mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Viewers may note that they also post fan follower tweets in the upper corner of the homepage. Like many other brands, Dolce & Gabbana offers their site in a multitude of languages. Their homepage presents multiples images for users to scroll over and access additional product category information visible under each section. Similar to Burberry, they offer a complete e-‐commerce collection. Visitors may purchase all items throughout the entire spectrum of the brand, from clothing to fragrances. They do not share links to a “Careers” or “Search” box section but do provide a store locator section.

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Looking closely at the Michael Kors website, users will notice that its main purpose is to advocate online shopping through the brand’s detailed e-‐commerce. Users must make extra effort to learn more about the brand and it’s seasonal news by selecting the “Destination Kors” link in the main navigation panel. Otherwise, all panel links are focused on shopping categories. Available in multiple languages, visitors see a rotating image between a Michael Kors ad campaign and a collage board showcasing items for sale from that particular ad picture. Social media links are provided to their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest in addition to providing users the ability to preview their “Careers”, “Store Locator” and “Search” box section. Site visitors may also custom build a product “wish list”. The use of videos appear absent from the main site, while Michael Kors himself is used as the anchor and essence of the brand.

Like Michael Kors, the Tory Burch website is e-‐commerce focused and she is positioned as the visual identity and voice of the brand. Offered in multiple languages, the site features two opportunities to connect with the brand’s social media platforms. The buttons are placed both at the top and bottom of every page on the site. Links are included for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Tumblr. Editorial photography of the season’s current collection is used as the main design element of the homepage. Video is not featured anywhere besides traveling to the brand’s social media platforms. Gift cards and the “Store Locator” are included on the main site. Like Kors, visitors may also create their own Tory Burch “Wish List” and sign-‐up for fan news e-‐mails.

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Music automatically plays when users visit the Missoni homepage. The overall layout showcases a left sided navigation panel against a background of changing colors and geometric lines and shapes. A gallery of rotating newsfeed images plays atop the homepage. Each frame relates to a different section of the website. The navigation panel is categorized by collections, history, news, info and gallery topics. Sometimes the navigation path is unclear when browsing through the various listed sections and sub-‐ categories. Missoni’s website is only available in Italian or English languages. They do not presently offer e-‐commerce. When visiting the online shopping section of the site, users are redirected to Net-‐A-‐ Porter.com to purchase Missoni products. Only Facebook and YouTube links are promoted on the site. They also place links to Missoni Home and Hotel Missoni at the bottom of the site. Missoni does not make mention of a “Careers” or “Search” box section. Additionally, it is hard to initially find the “Store Locator” section.

#Webrank analysis Web rank is another key performance indicator in evaluating the effective and efficient efforts of each brand’s website in connection with support promotion built through their social media and mobile/tablet platforms. The higher the ranking, the more number of visits the site is receiving. This ranking as researched through web analytics

company, Alexa.com, offers additional insight to help determine if any correlation exists between a site’s ranking and the strength of their social media and mobile/tablet platforms.

Alexa rank

Hermes

Chanel

Dior

Armani

Alexa 13,813 9,733 17,706 20,094 Data was collected from Rank Alexa.com to determine which brand had the highest web ranking. The lower the number, the higher the ranking a brand receives. Burberry had the strongest web ranking with a position of 591,451. Missoni Highest rank: had the weakest web ranking Lowest rank: with a position of 241,365.

Burberry 8,549

Dolce & Gabbana 289,470

Michael Kors 11,566

Tory Burch 14,047

Missoni 358,635

Note: Due to the inverse relations of Alexa.com rankings (Lower Number Equals Higher Web Search/Visit Rank), analysts composed a chart to show which b rand carries the highest web ranking. #Phase 2: digital analytics

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Weighted rank This weighted rank graph serves to highlight the existing correlations between number of social media followers per brand against where that particular brand sits in their web search ranking through Alexa.com. A scale of 1-‐9 was used to evaluate each brand’s Alexa.com rating and total number of social media followers’ performances. The chart suggests that a correlation exists between web rank and the total number of social media followers for Chanel, Burberry, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Missoni. Hermes remains an elite brand in this study and appears to intentionally implement a less involved social media strategy, although they remain highly seated in web searches. Dior,

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Armani and Dolce & Gabbana have an inverted correlation with their web rank and social media followers. This leads analysts to believe that the content on their platforms may be less engaging to build a larger fan base to promote their line and increase web traffic to their respective home sites. Perhaps they do not refer and direct followers to their homepages as frequently as the other positive correlation brands have created.

#Website content snapshot summary Dior appears as the strongest designed website out of the nine brands assessed in terms of layout, function and intention. Although, Chanel offers a competitively well-‐designed layout, they don’t presently offer e-‐commerce shopping. Other brands like Michael Kors and Tory Burch over-‐emphasize e-‐ commerce as the purpose for their website.

Dior has created a good balance of keeping their website prestigious and exclusive in appearance, while offering users a clear path to navigate and entertain e-‐commerce shopping on selective items should they have interest.

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@Mobile & Tablet analysis them the most in the competitive battle of digital marketing. Mobile commerce is emerging as the new leader of the online As users become more dependent and familiar with navigating shopping world. The consumer mobile experience has begun through their mobile devices, retailers will need to focus on to surpass the benefits of those offered by the desktop further developing the offerings listed on these platforms. experience. As retailers continue to search for best practices in offering Some interesting facts from Mist Media (mistmedia.com) reveal the following about the growing importance of video online shoppers more complete e-‐commerce experiences, they must also pay close attention to the numerous and digital marketing: opportunities available in m-‐commerce platforms. • Mobile now accounts for 10% of Internet usage worldwide Portability remains the competitive advantage of m-‐commerce. (this has doubled over the last 18 months) Both mobile and tablet devices provide users with even • There was 103% growth in website traffic from smart greater access to instant information at all times of the day. phones from 2011-‐2012 • Tablet shoppers will spend $24 billion in 2013, almost The consumer is becoming smarter and carries higher double that in 2015 expectations of who, what, how will entertain and engage NOTE: Hermes, Burberry and Michael Kors do not offer mobile or tablet apps. The information observed below is only in regards to discoveries found for i-‐Phone and i-‐Pad products using iOS. Analysts did not look to app options made available on other operating systems such as Android or Blackberry.

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@Mobile

Chanel offers two apps called “Chanel” and “Chanel J12”. The first app is a mobile replication of Chanel.com. They provide users with the option to access information under four categories: News, Show Videos, Show Photos and Store Locator. The second app is used to specifically promote the Chanel J12 watch.

@Tablet For tablets, Chanel offers only the “Chanel J12” app.

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@Mobile

Dior has created two apps called “DiorMag” and “Dior Addict”. The first app is available in English, French and Chinese. It is used to showcase Dior’s online editorial project that functions as a magazine all about the Dior brand. The second app is used more as a form of amusement. Users shake the phone and rotating images appear that offer different quotes from Christian Dior, .gif files, French-‐themed music files and Dior Make-‐ up tips.

@Tablet For tablets, Dior only offer the “DiorMag” app.

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@Mobile Armani has created several apps representative of their other diffusion lines. The first is called “A|X Stylepad”. This allows users to create fun, colorful pop art by importing personal photos to decorate using tools offered by the app. Users can then share on their own social media accounts as a way to promote the brand. A second app called “Armani Code” requires users to placed the phone camera on a stationary object in order to receive some sort of return dictated message. App did not appear to be functioning properly at time of test use. The “Acqua di Gio” app is used to simply promote the fragrance and its ingredients. Lastly, Armani has an app called “EA7” that promotes famous athletes wearing the EA7 collection and sharing their exercise, diet, lifestyle tips.

@Tablet For tablets, Armani offers the EAPP7+ and A|X Style Pad apps.

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@Mobile Dolce & Gabbana offers two mobile apps. The first called “Dolce & Gabbana” is a mobile replication of DolceGabbana.com. It offers information about the Mens, Womens, Stores and News of the brand. The second app “D&G watches” operates as a custom i-‐Phone clock, stopwatch, timer and alarm. Images of D&G watches may be selected as the wallpaper behind the time functions.

@Tablet Dolce & Gabbana do not offer tablet apps.

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@Mobile The “Tory Daily” mobile app is a replicated of Tory Burch’s Facebook Shop app. Users can shop on m-‐commerce app by connecting to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

@Tablet

The same app is offered on tablet.

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@Mobile Missoni has three mobile apps. The first called “Missoni Art” allows users to upload images of their choice and then tap a button that converts the photo into an image reflective of Missoni zigzag prints. The second app “Missoni” displays collections, advertising, press, video and store locator information about the brand. The app has not been updated as of March 2013. It currently only displays images from the 2012 collections. “Advertising” and “collections” are the only two working tabs on the app. Lastly, “Hotel Missoni” is available for guests staying at Missoni Edinburgh. The app serves as a mini-‐hotel consierge service. Guests can make requests through their phone regarding Missoni product purchases, concierge and guest services information, housekeeping and room service requests. They may also inquire about local nightlife, spa and scheduled meetings through the app.

@Tablet Missoni offers the “Missoni Art” and “My Hotel Missoni” apps on tablet format.

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#Mobile & Tablet snapshot summary Tory Burch was selected as the luxury brand that is best utilizing the mobile/tablet sector for digital marketing. Both their mobile and tablet applications are completely devoted to promoting the brand with a direct emphasis on mobile commerce. This early adoption of m-‐commerce gives Tory Burch a leading opportunity to grow their audience and gain sales against competitors that still predominantly rely on brick-‐and-‐mortar sales and newer e-‐commerce sales from desktops shoppers. However, it is to be noted that other brands despite not engaging in m-‐commerce tend to take the opportunity of mobile and tablet tools to push forward their brand culture and identity.

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@Digital analytics summary #Best performing brands per digital platform

Facebook: Tory Burch Twitter: Burberry Instagram: Tory Burch YouTube: Burberry Pinterest: Hermes

Google+: Burberry LinkedIn: Burberry Tumblr: Dior Website: Dior Mobile & Tablet: Tory Burch

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Based upon all data collected and reviewed, Burberry has emerged as the most digitally competent luxury brand in this study. Evaluations were created through assessing a combination of factors surrounding both number of “Followers” per social media platform and content use & strategy found within each platform. Additionally, analysts looked at how each brand chose to represent themselves on their personal website and mobile/tablet channels.

Burberry offers seamlessly-‐blended strategies to connect and unite all of their digital efforts in web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms. They remain focused and targeted in their online efforts to attract and connect with their audience. Burberry showcases how luxury brands should be building brand affiliation and awareness with their fans and followers. Their online campaigns appear creative and attractive. They have developed content that encourages followers to dream, desire and aspire for the Burberry lifestyle, creating emotional affinity with the brand and its unique offered experiences. Their consistent message and frequent activity across all channels gives them an edge in e-‐commerce sales. Dior and Tory Burch also competed for top performances in overall digital marketing. Dior was top ranked for their website and Tumblr profile. Tory Burch was best performing in Facebook, Instagram and Mobile/Tablet platforms. Their brand did the best job embracing the present e-‐commerce and future m-‐ commerce trends.

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Based upon all data collected and reviewed, it appears that Missoni has been late in embracing and joining the digital world and thus found to be the weakest performing brand in this study. They do not offer a clear path of flow for content generated across multiple digital channels. In every category assessed from web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms, Missoni does not present its brand in a clear and cohesive direction. Despite carrying an incredibly rich heritage and lasting imprint in the fashion world, Missoni does not articulate this message to followers in a lasting and memorable manner. The number of Total Followers in comparison to all other eight brands in this study show significantly less market share in number of Total Followers acquired. They were found to be weakest performing in the majority of categories assessed.

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@Missoni Digital Weakness Analysis The below information was compiled to specifically site weaknesses found within Missoni’s present digital media strategies according to data observed from their web, social media and mobile/tablet platforms. A variety of factors influenced the classification of weaknesses discovered including: • Web ranking as noted on web benchmarking site Alexa.com • Overall quality of content used to engage and inform users • Level of use of tools provided by the social media platforms • Number of followers • Level of aesthetic customization devoted to each platform

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#Social media • • • • • • • • • • • •

Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. “About” bio section does not offer updated information to reflect the present. Do not make use of “History by Year” timeline under “Basic Info” section. Do not make use of “Product” description section under “Basic Info” section. Confusing link to Missoni.it/Mobile/ listed under “Company” and “Contact Info-‐Website” sections. Do not show links for all Missoni social media platforms under “Contact Info-‐Websites”. Currently only shows links for Missoni.com, Missoni.it/Mobile/, YouTube and Twitter. Do not take advantage of the tab space next to company info. Only show tabs for “Photos” and “Likes”. Do not offer “Facebook Shop” application tab as component of main page. Do not offer “Location” application tab as component of main page. Do not offer “Events” application tab as component of main page. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. Do not show all Missoni videos made available through counterpart on YouTube.

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• • • •

Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. Segmented Twitter accounts (@Missoni, @MissoniUSA, @MissoniUK). USA account is completely inactive.

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• • • • • •

Significantly lower number of “Subscribers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. Do not have a custom-‐designed wallpaper. Do not have a “Home” tab. Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. Do not organize videos in more specific categories that help users better navigate through the content.

•

During the initial analytics phase of this study (February 2013), Missoni had not yet opened a Pinterest account. It was discovered that an official Missoni page was launched in early March 2013.

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• • • •

Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. Do not offer additional content under “About Missoni” section. “Following” list is too small. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily.

•

Do not have a LinkedIn account.

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Significantly lower number of “Followers” in comparison to the other eight brands evaluated in this study. Weak and incomplete content featured in “About”, “Photos” and “Video” sections. Profile image shows Missoni logo with “Official Page” written under logo unnecessarily. Do not provide links to Missoni’s other social media platforms. “Circle” list of who Missoni follows is too small. Missoni’s Google + page is close to unfindable through a basic Google search. It can be accessed when linked from the YouTube page.

• • • • • •

•

Do not have a Tumblr account.

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“Other” Chinese Social Media • • • •

Do not have a Renren account. Do not have Weibo account. Do not have Youku account. Do not have Douban account.

#Mobile and tablet analysis • • • •

Do not have m-‐commerce app. Do not offer free downloadable Missoni printed wallpapers for smart phones and tablets. Missoni Art app appears as a duplicate entry available in the app store. Some apps are only available on iOS, and not also on AnrdoidOS, WindowsOS and BlackberryOS.

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#Website analysis • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Low-‐positioned “Alexa” ranking. Site only available on Italian or English. Content takes abnormal time to download when initially waiting for home page to upload and navigate through the additional content on the site. Distracting music automatically plays when visiting the site. Content and selected imagery is overall underwhelming and arranged in distracting designs that do not offer users the most maximum methods to easily navigate through the site. Do not include links to all other Missoni social media platforms. Only show link for Facebook and YouTube. Do not provide links to promote Missoni children’s collection. Facebook and YouTube links are not located in a prominent and easy-‐accessible location. Missoni Home and Hotel Missoni links are not located in a prominent and easy-‐accessible location. Do not offer direct e-‐commerce shopping cart platform. Instead they direct interested buyers to visit www.net-‐a-‐porter.com to purchase Missoni products. Do not provide “Search” button option to locate specific info that web visitor may be seeking to find. Difficult to locate section that details where consumers may find Missoni product to purchase around the world. Content displayed under “Gallery” appears misplaced and disconnected. Website should include more info surrounding the 60th anniversary celebration throughout 2013. The “History” section presently shares the Missoni “Biography” and “50th Anniversary”. Text under “Fragrance” section is overwhelming in contrast to thumbnail images of product and ads.

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@About Missoni

#Missoni: The Brand and its Products Missoni’s has a wide range of products including: apparel, bags, footwear, accessories, swimwear, fragrances, home decor and boutique hotels. Early on, Missoni earned worldwide attention for its knit dresses, coats and sweaters. The brand

began by producing the finest knits and the Missoni repertory developed over time to include pullovers, long coats, chemises, trousers and skirts.

Accessories Apparel

Bags

Fragrances Shoes Swimwear

#Brand history Uniquely defined by their signature knits and zig-‐zag stripes, Missoni possesses a distinct history spanning 60 years. At the heart of this Italian fashion dynasty is a close-‐knit family. Missoni was formed by Ottavio “Tai” Missoni and his wife Rosita in 1953. Tai was born (1921) in Dubrovnik, Italy. His father, Vittorio, was an Italian sea captain. His mother, Teresa, was Countess of Capocesto and Ragosniza.

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During WWII, Tai was a captured by the English while he served as an Italian soldier in Africa. He returned to Italy in 1946 after spending four years as a prisoner of war in Egypt. Upon returning to Italy, Tai began a knitwear company with his friend Girogio Oberweger. Pairing Tai’s love for competitive running with their knitwear line, they created wool tracksuits for athletes to wear during practice.

By 1948, Tai and Giorgio had been selected to design track suits for the Italian Olympic team. Tai also participated in these Olympic games where he qualified for the 400m hurdle race. It was at these games where Tai met his future wife, Rosita Jelmini, whom was studying in London. Rosita was from an Italian family of shawl and embroidered fabric producers. The couple was married (1953) in Gallarate, Italy where they settled and continued working in the knitwear workshop that Tai had originally started with Giorgio. All three Missoni children, who grew-‐up to play an active role in the future of the company, were born from 1954-‐1958 (Vittorio b.1954, Luca b.1956, Angela b.1958). Missoni began to work with Biki Boutique in Milan where the brand was officially launched in 1955. By 1958, Rosita was innovatively producing knits in meters, as if it were fabric, and using vertical rather than horizontal stripes – revolutionary at the time. Working with Louis Hildago with whom they made popular collections for La Rinascente, Missoni created their first collection for La Rinascente (Milan)

called “Milano-‐Simpathy”. This was Missoni’s crossover moment from sportswear to fashion. Growing in popularity for their famous knit dresses, coats and jumpers; Missoni moved their operations from Gallarate to Sumirago, Italy near the Monte Rosa mountains where they remain at present day. The creation of their signature zig-‐zag motif evolved in 1962 when Rosita experimented with viscose-‐rayon on their Raschel knitting machine to create bright-‐colored knits that were also light in weight. In 1965, Anna Piaggi, then fashion editor of Arianna Magazine, was the first internationally regarded journalist to take notice of Missoni and help catapult them into the lime light. Missoni created an unexpected buzz in 1967 when Rosita made a last minute request for the models to remove their bras right before their fashion show at Palazzo PItti in Florence, Italy. Their "see-‐ through" fashion made international headlines – almost a year before Yves Saint Laurent presented the "nude look" in Paris.

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The 1970s marked a peak era for the Missoni brand as they continued to gain worldwide recognition, influence and adoration while expanding into new global locations. They played a major role in boosting the ranks and superiority of Milan Fashion Week during this timeframe. Missoni also received the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1973. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 1978, Missoni starred in a retrospective exhibition at Rotonda di Vita Besana in Milan. The success of this exhibition further traveled to the Whitney Museum in New York. The Missoni menswear collection launched in 1979, just before their first fragrance launch in 1981. Continuing to diversify their brand portfolio, Missoni launched a home collection in 1983. Missoni also debuted as fine arts costume designers in 1983, creating more than one hundred costumes for Donizetti’s opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ at the ‘La Scala Theater’ in Milan.

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Continuing to be praised, the brand received the International Design Award in 1990 for creating a style that had major impact on the textile and fashion design industries. Following in the footsteps of their love for the arts, Missoni published Ottavio and Rosita’s story and opened a new Missoni art exhibit at MAGA in Gallarte in 1995. Their “Opera” exhibit opened in 1996 at the Sezon Museume of Modern Art in Tokyo. The next year, Missoni received the title of “Honorary Royal Designer” in London for their encouragement of celebrating the arts. M Missoni, Missoni’s diffusion line, launched for men and women in 1998. Today, over 1,110 points of sale offer this second-‐tiered collection of clothing and accessories. Tai and Ottavio began to turn the company hands over to their children in 1998. Angela started to oversee creative direction, Vittorio focused on marketing and Luca supervised knitwear research and menswear design. Acquiring new accolades in 1999, Missoni received the Dallas Historical Society’s Stanley Award and Honory Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and Central Saint Martins in London.

Missoni started to embrace the digital era with the launch of their website in the early 2000s. That decade served as a strong period of growth and refurbishment of their lifestyle brand. Angela cites her work with famed-‐photographer Mario Testino in the 90s, as a turning point, that helped reinforce the brand’s trademark style: young, fresh and easy-‐chic. Contemporary Missoni campaigns still push boundaries. Gripping documentary-‐style portrait ads were generated in 2009, which featured several members of the Missoni family relaxing as actual models within the photos. Photographer Juergen Teller shot the SS11 campaign inside the Museum of Everything in London. Gripping documentary-‐ style portrait ads were also generated in 2009. In light of their 50th Anniversary, Missoni hosted a special Spring Summer ’04 fashion show in 2003 that included flash back looks from their boom era in the 70s. The show was followed by a retrospective presentation of over 100 archive pieces from the company’s rich history. Progressing forward with new alliances and developing additional licensing agreements, Missoni signed with Rezidor Hotel group in 2005 to begin creating and building a new

collection of lifestyle hotels named ‘Hotel Missoni’. Now with two locations in Edinburgh (opened 2009) and Kuwait (opened 2011), Hotel Missoni is rumored to introduce future locations in Dubai, London, Paris, Miami and Kiev. Adding to the list of new licensing partners, Missoni collaborated with San Pellegrino and Converse in 2009 to debut Missoni-‐labeled water for San Pellegrino and Missoni-‐designed sneakers for Converse. Brand collaborations, such as 2011's Missoni for Target collection, have captivated the fashion press and proved to be a great success. Missoni also continues to work on separate licensing projects with Havaianas shoes and Bugaboo baby gear. This present year marks the 60th anniversary year of the Missoni brand. Most recently reported in early January 2013, Vittorio Missoni, son of Tai and Rosita, and his wife and friends have gone missing in a small private plane off the coast of Venezuela during their holiday vacation. Vittorio serves as the company’s marketing director. This tragic news marks an uncertain moment for the house of Missoni, as the family remains devoted to engaging all search efforts needed to receive answers on their whereabouts. #Phase 3: Missoni digital marketing

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The Missoni lifestyle still appears just as relevant today as it did nearly 60 years ago; as Tai and Rosita’s granddaughter and Angela’s daughter Marghertia, has begun to continue in the

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footmarks of her family’s fashion legacy. Margherita works as a designer for the accessories collection and special projects as she grows ready to be the next-‐leading creative force of Missoni.

#Brand Inspiration “Our philosophy since we went into business has been that a piece of clothing should be like a work of art. It should not be bought for a special occasion or because it’s in fashion, but because a woman likes it…and feels she could wear it forever.” –Rosita Missosni The Missonis have always turned to various arts, ethnicities Europe's Modernist era. Their love and use of colorful and cultural interests as the common lasting thread supporting geometric patterns and knits can be seen through the works of their colorful inspirations. Their designs are imagined by both Tancredi, Sonia Delaunay, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini. the natural environment and their own collection of art from Tancredi Parmeggiani Giacomo Balla Sonia Delaunay Gino Severini

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#Brand Identity

Vision Life is made of colorful people. Mission Weaving colorful lives together through yarn. Values Central value: Family Expressive value: Arts Instrumental value: Quality

Brand character.

Missoni is what can be called a

“euphoric brand”, both ludic and practical at the same time. The Missoni person lives life, making the most of time, enjoying playful relationships and sharing with his family.

Archetype: The Bohemian Patriarch. Free spirited, playful, original yet very rooted to its family, the Missoni person does not carry much regard for trends, preferring the idea of timelessness.

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Look Over time, Missoni’s fashion house created an immediately recognizable style. As mentioned earlier, Missoni’s fashion is known for its innovative use of knits and patterns. Most notable among their patterns is their unusual color combinations, zigzags, wavy stripes, patchworks, geometric abstracts and floral prints. Missoni not only incorporates numerous colors, but is also known for using a variety of different fabrics, such as rayon, silk, cotton and wool. American fashion experts once described the Missoni style as “well put-‐together,” making even the most casual look appear refined and fashion-‐forward.

Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus stated about Missoni: "Iconic patterns that appreciate the heritage of the brand, modernized with fashion silhouettes and on-‐trend color, keep the Neiman Marcus customer coming back season after season."

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#Retail situation

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#Financial situation

2011

2010

2009

Total Revenue

71,446,141

60,655,388

59,342,289

Operating Income

12,533,288

6,481,925

(10,035,172)

Net Income

5,062,186

(10,922,744)

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#SWOT @Strengths o o o o o

Strong brand heritage: Family, Art, Craftsmanship (Made In Italy) Visually distinctive product line. Strong identifier (Zigzag signature) Timeless brand/product line Devotion to the arts: Costume Design for Teatro alla Scala, Worldwide Exhibitions and Galleries Successful partnerships (Target, San Pellegrino, Converse, Hotel Missoni)

@Weaknesses o

o o o o o

@Opportunities o o o o o o

Social media is close to a blank slate. Free to shape, develop, create from scratch. Cultivate new partnerships with other leading/more progressive tastemakers in art and fashion worlds. Strong increase in luxury consumption in Chinese markets. Strong growth in m-‐commerce and and e-‐commerce. Carrying on the legacy thanks to new Missoni generation “Margherita Missoni”. Moving from a Missoni family to a Missoni community.

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@Threats o o o

@Digital Marketing Strategy

#Mindmap

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#Digital Marketing Plan

Using all available data harvested from Unmetric about the nine brand’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, along with data individually retrieved about their other digital platforms including LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, website and mobile and tablet applications analysts determined that Missoni was consistently the weakest performing luxury brand in every digital platform evaluated in terms of number of followers and quality of content posted. The key to engaging on digital marketing platforms is to have

something to say. Presence without content is not a win-‐win situation neither for the brand nor for the consumer. It appears therefore that Missoni’s lack of performance may not only be due to its low participation on social media platforms but also more generally to a lack of content, meaning both: 1/ the brand does not take full advantage of communicating its existing attributes, 2/ the brand needs to create new occasions and reasons to talk, i.e. create new content. Analysts therefore created a digital marketing strategy for Missoni focused

on improving its brand identity through focused efforts which in tern will lead to new online content to be shared, and secondly focused on re-‐energized digital marketing practices to increase online traffic. It is believed that the strategies presented in this study will serve to increase the online visibility of Missoni for both their website and social media platforms. It will also serve to engage consumers in a more positive and lasting method to ultimately boost Missoni’s e-‐commerce and m-‐ commerce sales.

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Objective 1: Increase brand awareness… Strategy 1…among the general public through promotion of the brand history Missoni has a very rich and unique brand history, however it is not an element they take into strong consideration as a tool to promote their brand identity. In a time where things are fast-‐moving, there is a search from the public for history and brand heritage as a way to connect emotionally and further on purchase brands and products. Brand heritage connects on an emotional level to the client, emotional level which is a strong vector of conversation rate for purchases. Missoni should therefore leverage on the following themes and tools to promote their brand heritage to the general public.

Family legacy Promotion of the family history and legacy through: • A “family history” tab on the website (under a general History section) that would include an editorial by one of the family members and family pictures. • The creation of a family album on Pinterest, Tumblr and Facebook.

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Craftsmanship

Promotion of the company’s know-‐how in knit-‐wear through: • A “craftsmanship” tab on the website (under a general History section) dedicated to a series of short videos about the production of Missoni fabrics and prints. These would be accompanied by a short editorial for each video. • The diffusion of the same videos on Youtube and Facebook.

Missoni’s relationship to the arts Promotion of the company’s strong ties to the arts through: • A “Missoni and La Scala” tab on the website (under a general History section) dedicated to Missoni’s work designing opera costumes for La Scala in Milan. This would include pictures and a short editorial. • A “Missoni’s art inspiration” tab on the website (under a general History section) dedicated to explaining Missoni’s inspiration from the three painters Tancredi Parmeggiani, Sonia Delaunay and Gino Severini. • The creation of the 2 photo galleries with the above content on Pinterest, Tumblr and Facebook.

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Strategy 2…among the fashion community through a “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” collaboration Although an established brand, Missoni needs to strengthen and push forward its identity towards the fashion community. Indeed, today the brand may be perceived as lacking edginess, relying on its 70’s feeling, known more for its striped and zigzaged prints than its runway collections. A collaboration with a fashion super-‐star as Marc Jacobs would be a way to show the brand’s capacity to be modern, promoting its free spirit and wittiness, leveraging on Marc Jacobs talent and own colorful reputation.

Why Marc Jacobs? Because Marc Jacobs likes to play with his own personality, he changes the moods of his collections every season and sometimes incorporates other brands personalities in a positive post-‐nostalgic way. His Spring Summer 2011 collection incorporated Missoni look-‐a like pieces.

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Missoni in 1971

Marc Jacobs in 2011

This collaboration will serve as a design refresher and a communication booster. How? The “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” line would: include 10 pieces : 5 apparels, 1 sunglass, 1 bag, 1 clutch, 1, wallet, 1 phone case. It would only be available for sell online, broadening Missoni’s distribution possibilities as they only have 43 DOS around the store and tying back with the objective of taking increasing their digital presence. The “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” collection would be launched with the new website (which will be detailed further on). This will give a reason for consumers to visit the website, which will push forward its social media platforms allowing for future daily engagement with customers. The collaboration will be advertised and promoted through Missoni’s other social media platforms, through teaser photos on Instagram and making-‐of videos on Youtube for example.

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Strategy 3…among the cotemporary art community through a corporate social responsibility program promoting young artists Missoni’s strong relationship to the arts has never been pushed forward in the brands communication. However this is a fact that can place Missoni as a patron and opinion leader amongst the art community and allowing important corporate social responsibility actions and therefore communication.

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Launch of a “Missoni Scholarship” for one student per year of the Nuova Academia di Belle Arti (NABA) di Milano. This will increase brand awareness amongst the new artists and will support the local artist generations of community of Milan, home of the Missoni brand. The sponsored student will have a portrait interview on the corporate website under a new “Missoni and Arts” section, that will be also relayed on Facebook and Google+.

Partnership of the Art Basel shows in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong. In addition to the partner/sponsor package and benefits allocated to the brand by the organization, being at the Basel shows will allow Missoni to be present throughout the event, Live Twitting and posting pictures on Instagram from parties, expositions, etc. These would also be relayed on the Facebook page and Google+ pages.

Launch of the “ Miss-‐art Tshirt” campaign with 5 Missoni prints designed by 5 artists chosen from the Art Basel shows. The t-‐shirts will only be available through the website and promoted on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Tumblr. Half of the revenue drawn from the sell of the t-‐shirts will go to the artists.

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Video interviews of artists from the Art Basel shows about what inspires them and their relationship to fashion. The videos will be diffused on Youtube, Facebook, Google+ and the corporate website under a “Missoni and Art Basel” section under the “Missoni and the Arts” tab.

Creation of a runway art installation once or twice a year during fashion weeks, designed by young artists. These installations would become an expected event within the fashion and art community. The first one could be a digital graffiti wall where models would draw the Missoni ZigZag prints while walking down the catwalk. This could be live streamed on the website and Youtube, live promoted on Instagram and then relayed through photo albums on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Tumblr.

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Objective 2: Increase online traffic Offering a strong digital presence is essential for any brand today as marketers survey best practices to offer a seamless strategy that carries throughout all of the three dominating digital omni-‐channels including: web, social media platforms and mobile/tablets.

Strategy1…Website Upon review of content discussed in the digital analytics phase of this study, it is highly advised for Missoni to reconsider the present layout and function of their existing website at Missoni.com and include an online shopping platform to include e-‐ commerce. In comparison against the eight other luxury brands evaluated, Missoni’s website does not offer competitive content to: o creatively entice visitors, o effectively engage users, o offer opportunities to convert visitors and users into shoppers. Missoni should leverage on the following themes and tools and reorganize the existing ones. to Net-‐a-‐porter.com. Every other brand reviewed in this study Build online shopping platform to include e-‐ has already established a working e-‐commerce site that runs commerce. This is one of the most important suggestions directly through their page. analysts would encourage Missoni to adopt. In today’s retail battle for competitive market share, all brands, even luxury brands must offer some form of online e-‐commerce. At present, Missoni directs all of its potential online sales directly

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Improve navigation. Although the navigation tab is clearly

Reposition content. Missoni does not give prominent

present and positioned to as a side panel to the left of all pages, sorting through content is more difficult and follows unclear paths once entering deeper into sections. The navigation is not perfectly user-‐friendly. Missoni should look towards Chanel or Dior’s website for examples of best practices.

placement to help visitors find the location of its stores and online retail link to Net-‐a-‐porter.com. This info appears hidden within the “Info” tab of the website. Visitors must also circle the site a few times before noticing links to Missoni’s YouTube, Facebook and other extensions of the brand including “Hotel Missoni” and “Missoni Home”. The current “Advertising” section appears cluttered and offers visitors an unclear direction as to how they should interact with the content. Multiple tabs, images and content make it confusing to see which path to best follow.

Refine content. Under the “Gallery” tab, users are met by the option to read press releases and other information about Missoni in .pdf files. While press releases in .pdf format can be useful for journalists, it is also necessary to have the release displayed on the scree. One should not be forced to download information to read it. Likewise, all official Missoni documents should be formatted in Missoni template, not left in blank word document like it is now. The “Biography” section that lies under the “History” tab depicts a text-‐heavy timeline in addition to sharing a tab celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2003. They should consider adding a link to share information about their present 60th anniversary year in 2013. Likewise the “Bio” timeline would be more appealing if visual images complimented the written information that details each important moment for the brand.

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Reconsider aesthetics. Known for their famous knitwear prints, both stripes and zigzags, Missoni appears to offer relative connection to their heritage through the visual backdrop of the website. Although the site is laid-‐out in geometrical color blocking that creates some kind of print and pattern connotation, the multi-‐colored backdrops do not enhance the visual appearance of the site. They are more of a distraction than a compliment to the identity and message of the brand. All pages showcase these multi-‐colored backdrops with the exception of the “News” page, which show a photographed image of what looks to be bolts of stacked fabric prints. This particularly selected image is too bold of a competing contrast against the newsfeed that lays atop of the photo. It makes the newsfeed more difficult to read.

Offer additional languages. The present site may only be

Increase SEO and SEM keywords. When looking at the

previewed in Italian or English. In consideration of the growing global community of emerging luxury consumers, it is advised to include Chinese and perhaps other additional languages including Russian, Arabic and Portuguese.

website ranking for each brand’s site, found through global metrics firm Alexa.com, Missoni was significantly ranked lower than any of the other eight brands positioned in search engines searches. It is advised that Missoni increases the brand’s number of keywords tired to the meta data coding of their site to boost the brand’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) stats. This will also serve to increase the ranking of their website searches as placed according to Alexa.com’s scoring system.

Include links to all social media platforms. At present the Missoni website only offers direct links to their Facebook and YouTube profiles at the very bottom of their main website. These social media links should be placed in a more prominent spot on the page to offer visitors and fans an opportunity to connect and fully-‐immerse themselves into the world of Missoni. While giving greater visibility to their Facebook and YouTube tabs, they should also consider adding links to their Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ accounts.

Merge mobile app webpage to main Missoni website. Missoni has a second website just to promote their mobile apps. This url could be eliminated and the information could be intertwined into Missoni’s main existing website to help avoid website confusion and function.

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Strategy 2…Social media LinkedIn Linkedin is the first professional social media platform today. It is therefore necessary for Missoni to be present on it for brand awareness amongst professionals of the fashion industry and for employer reputation. Missoni should therefore: • Open a Linkedin page. • Include on its home page: o the company logo, o a cover photo of the last advertising campaign, o a paragraph “About Missoni” with basic facts about the company and a link the corporate website, o an RSS feed logo to the Tumblr blog, o a news module that automatically lists all news articles about the company. This could be postponed until the news about Vittorio Missoni’s disappearance has been concluded. • Include a Careers tab that will list job opportunities and a “Apply now” button allowing for applications directly through Linkedin. • Include a Products tab with a direct link to the brands e-‐commerce platform.

Facebook

•

Missoni’s Facebook page needs to be optimized with the various tools available today. This would include: • Setting up a Facebook e-‐store for direct online sells through the platform. • Buying advertisement space. Including links to Missoni’s other social media platforms and website in the Contact Information section.

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• • •

Update the company biography with a short paragraph about the company and its activities. Relay contents from the other social media platforms. Create the following tabs with the according content: o Location: list and map of DOS o Art Campaign: relay of the information described above in the Increasing Brand Awareness section of the report. o Videos: all videos posted on facebook (relayed from YouTube) should be grouped under a tab. o Events: a section dedicated to photographs of Missoni events. o Pinterest, Instragram and Twitter tabs: sections relaying the information posted on those platforms. o Missoni Home, Hotel Missoni and Missoni Partnerships tabs: sections dedicated to the three lines and all new content about them.

Youtube Video plays a growing role in the importance of connecting with audiences to further confirm and grow a brand’s identity and reputation. Missoni needs to add to the value of their current YouTube channel by the following suggested strategies. Boost search ranking of Missoni on YouTube. Adding keywords to improve other SEO practices will help Missoni appear higher in rank when searched for on the YouTube station. At present when a user types the word “Missoni” in the YouTube search engine, the official Missoni channel does not appear until scrolling eight or nine places down to locate the link. Edit profile image. Throughout all of Missoni’s present social media profiles, they’ve chosen to include a profile photo that

showcases the Missoni logo with the phrase “Official Page” located under the brand name. It’s unnecessary to offer this phrase under the logo. In a reverse-‐psychological manner, it makes users actually question the legitimacy of the profile. Missoni should not have to justify or share through the photo that something is their “Official Page”, their content should. Customize page and layout. Missoni has made no efforts to customize the backdrop of the channel’s wallpaper and design layout. They should consider creating a more personalized

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touch to their channel. Hermes, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana are good examples to refer to should Missoni redesign their channel layout. Shorten length of videos. Unruly Media (unrulymedia.com) has recently assessed various success factors surrounding The Top 50 Most Shared Global Video Ads. One key insight revealed that “the average length of the Top 50 most shared ads of all time is 2 minutes and 54 seconds.” Today Missoni’s average video is over 6min long. They therefore need to shortened in order to not only grasp, but maintain viewers attention. Create new content. The channel is lacking in well-‐produced film content that shares the Missoni heritage and lifestyle. Presently the station offers mostly runway collection footage. Analysts encourage Missoni to develop new film series to debut. Some potential topic ideas are as follow: Production. Create single or mini-‐series devoted to showcasing the artisan history of the knitwear production to give visitors on a deeper look inside the business and their creation of unique fabrics. Missoni “Alphabet”. Missoni presently offers a section on their website called “Alphabetical Interview”. This playful look at the company showcases short clips of Tai and Rosita talking about the company represented by each

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letter of the alphabet. Users have to click on each letter to learn more info about what that particular letter means to the company. This concept could be grown and completed by producing a longer and connected version of the mini-‐ clips, turning them into one longer playing film. It’s a clever tool for sharing more info about the Missoni brand and heritage to a larger audience. The new, longer film would be great to post on YouTube and connect with all of their other social media platforms. Ad Campaigns. Most content on the Missoni YouTube channel is footage filmed from their various runway collections. It is recommended that Missoni start producing more storytelling ad campaigns with greater artistic production quality to entertain audiences and share their new collections in a more creative manner beyond just watching models walk down the runway in their clothing. Their recently posted ad campaign for SS 2013 is a good example to continue working to create more of in their video library. “Making Of” Clips. These short films excite and tease viewers to stay-‐ tuned for more before the official films are launched. Since the footage is already being gathered for the real film, Missoni could make

extra use of this content and work to produce another one or two mini-‐clips out of this project. “A Day in the Life of Missoni”. Desiring for fans and visitors to connect with the Missoni brand heritage and story, analysts suggests crafting a mini-‐web series of short videos that serve to share more details about the Missoni family and their legacy in the fashion world through stories that mix work and real life. “A Day in the Life of Missoni” could be arranged in the following example: • Film 1: “Missoni Morning”. Start with clips of Tai and Rosita going about day-‐to-‐day life in their home and interviewing them about how they started the company while they share breakfast together in their house. • Film 2: “Missoni Breaks”. Film the Missoni children working at the office in their various roles and

•

have them unite in a scene for coffee or lunch where they share about their present roles in the company and what it was like growing-‐up in the Missoni world. Film 3: “Missoni On-‐The-‐Go”. Third film focuses on Marghertia Missoni, the future face of the company. Scenes are shot with her working in the office and leaving to attend a various work-‐related dinner party or event. At some point in the film she’s interviewed about her role in the company and where she sees the company moving in the future.

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Twitter Overall, Twitter happens to be one of Missoni’s stronger leading social media platforms used at present. It is advised that they continue using Twitter in ways that engage and invite other users to participate in more dialogue conversation as a whole. A few additional suggestions are offered to complete the look and use of their profile as mentioned below. Add a quote. Presently their profile summary just offers a link to their website at Missoni.com. It’s always recommended for a brand to take full advantage of any pre-‐set areas established be various social media platforms. The more information and connective tissue shared about a brand, the better and stronger they become in building their brand identity and awareness. It’s suggested for Missoni to add an additional quote from someone in the family under their profile summary. Refer to Dior, Chanel, Armani as leading examples. Add suggested hashtag in profile. Although Missoni does a good job of creating and promoting its own custom hashtag phrases (#inrustwetrust, #zigzagging #missonifeeling), it’s suggested that they select one leading hashtag to specifically promote in their profile summary and encourage followers to use when talking about Missoni. These could be in reference to their communication campaign of the moment. Refer to Michael Kors #AllAcessKors as a leading example placed in their profile summary.

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Refine and Update “Following” Database. Who a brand chooses to “Follow” is a reflection of who they wish to be associated with and how they wish to be perceived by others. Although, Missoni has done a decent job of procuring a list of people, projects and companies to follow, it’s advised that they continue to refine their list of followed tastemakers to include new profiles that still include devotion to editorialists, bloggers, magazines and opinion leaders (ex. fashion, artists, celebrities); but also include people and groups from related fashion and art

councils and more luxury retailers and concept stores that promote and carry the Missoni collections. Edit profile image. Throughout all of Missoni’s present social media profiles, they’ve chosen to include a profile photo that showcases the Missoni logo with the phrase “Official Page” located under the brand name. It’s unnecessary to offer this phrase under the logo. In a reverse-‐psychological manner, it makes users actually question the legitimacy of the profile. Missoni should not have to justify or share through the photo that something is their “Official Page”.

Eliminate or improve region specific Missoni profiles. Currently Missoni operates three different Twitter accounts.

string of Followers, although the account has only created seven tweets since launch back in 2011. This profile could be creating a loss of relevance perception in the US market since Missoni is not active on engaging with Followers from this account. Many social media case studies have shown that creating one official profile helps reveal a brand’s unity and strength in voice. If Missoni desires to continue and sub-‐ segment their Twitter profiles, they should make sure that they remain active in using each account as to justify its purpose for existence. However the analysts recommend removing the country specific profiles until the brand gains in recognition globally.

o Missoni Official @Missoni (6,351 Followers, 676 Tweet) o Missoni USA @MissoniUSA (3,627 Followers, 7 Tweets) o Missoni UK @MissoniUK (546 Followers, 111 Tweets) Taking this position of creating region-‐specific accounts could create communication problems if all accounts are not regularly maintained to share local info corresponding to the brand. The MissoniUSA account holds a decent

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Tumblr All eight other luxury brands currently use Tumblr as the means to blog about their brand, with the exception of Michael Kors, who uses another selected blog outlet. Missoni is the only luxury brand that does not presently offer an official blog. It is encouraged for Missoni to consider opening a Tumblr account as an additional compliment to their current collection of social media platforms, that they could then use to link with all of these other digital Missoni networks. Analysts agree that although luxury brand blogs should be heavily focused on displaying striking brand imagery, they should also be well balanced with a navigation layout that

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reflects the intended use of blogs to share info in a timeline manner. Content ideas: o Missoni’s Tumblr could begin with the Missoni alphabet: one letter a day, one picture, one tagline. o The tumblr could then be organized by themes per period of time, paralleling the ongoing general communication campaigns, for example the “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” campaign. o The content should include animated Gifs, pictures, suggested #tags and an option to like and share each picture on other social media platforms. Missoni shold look to Dior’s blog for best practice examples.

Pinterest Pinterest is presently one of the fastest-‐growing social media platforms. It offers brands a virtual stage to drive high levels of traffic back to e-‐commerce. Visually enticing content can be directly pinned to a brand’s e-‐commerce source. It remains a wonderful tool for company’s to curate a cohesive montage of their chosen voice and identity. Note: During the initial analytics phase of this study (February 2013), Missoni had not yet opened a Pinterest account. It was discovered that an official Missoni page was launched in early March 2013. The below suggestions take in to account the infancy of Missoni’s profile and offer input for helping grow and shape the brand’s future use of Pinterest. Promote visual content that offer direct pin links back to Missoni.com. Most importantly Missoni could use Pinterest as a main social media tool to help promote the launch of the website’s e-‐commerce as later suggested in this analysis. Directly posting images of products and routing users to follow the pin link back to Missoni.com would serve to help increase online web traffic and encourage online shopping. Living Art

Continue to build a strong list of tastemakers that Missoni chooses to follow on Pinterest. This includes building a “Following” list similar to Twitter that includes connection with relevant fashion and art influences; editorialists, fashion bloggers, magazines, models, artists, celebrities, fashion & art councils, luxury retailers, etc.

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Create enticing collage boards that appeal to sharing the look, feel and inspiration of Missoni. Content should be cultivated around various themes including: Missoni Family, Behind-‐the-‐Scene, Prints & Colors, Seasonal Collections, Accessories, Art Inspiration, Home & Design, Travel & Hotel Missoni, Special Partnerships (Converse, Target, Havainas, San Pelligrino), Gift Guide, etc.

The Making of Missoni

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Living a Color Dream

Missoni Soul & Spirit

Instagram Like Pinterest, Instagram is quickly gaining momentum words.” Instagram images can help a brand tease, temp and as a favorite social media platform to promote and promote their products and culture while virally cultivating a use both from a brand and general public standpoint. group of like-‐minded fan and followers whom desire to be Instagram offers users and followers a real-‐time snapshot of a affiliated with their luxury image and status. user’s day-‐to-‐day life and whereabouts. After assessing all of Missoni’s digital marketing platforms, Several luxury brands are drawn to using Instagram for it’s Instagram presently appears to be their strongest and most ability to create a prestigious level of exclusivity that falls more consistently used social media tool. The following suggestions align with how luxury brands have traditionally marketed in are offered to help them continue grow and strengthen the the past. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand power of their Instagram reach. Provide additional quote, hashtag or tagline about the brand in the profile summary. As similar to other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, many profile summaries allow users to include additional brand information within each pre-‐set summary template. Although a simple recommendation, Missoni should leverage on every opportunity available to promote the voice and message of who they are. Repetition and consistency across all platforms will help strengthen their chosen identity among fans and followers. Presently, the only text that appears in the profile summary is Missoni.com. “Best Practice” examples include: Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry for offering additional content in their profile summaries.

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Adjust profile image to only include Missoni logo. Missoni’s current profile image shows their logo with the phrase “Official Page” written below. This same image is used for all of their social media platforms. As previously noted in other sections of this digital marketing platform, Missoni is encouraged to remove the “Official Page” phrase from their profile images as it distracts and downgrades the legitimacy of their profiles. They should not have to prove, explain or emphasize that they are the “real” account in response to potential counterfeits.

Continue generating content that solidly builds the identity, culture and heritage of Missoni.

Continue to build a strong list of tastemakers that Missoni chooses to follow on Instram. This includes building a “Following” list similar to Twitter and Pinterest that includes connection with relevant fashion and art influences; editorialists, fashion bloggers, magazines, models, artists, celebrities, fashion & art councils, luxury retailers, etc.

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Google+

Although many people still have reservations about using Google+ for personal and professional use, luxury brands have begun creating profiles that also appeal to users of this social media platform. As a direct competitor to Facebook, Google+ provides brands the unique opportunity to separate their customers into circles, although it only into 3 groups at present – VIPs, customers and team members. This distinct segmentation feature could help luxury brands create more exclusive networks that better target content toward the different needs and interest of their shoppers, followers and affiliates in the long run. It appears that Missoni created their Google+ page in January 2013. At present, they have yet to take full advantage of all account features. Both photo and video content remain lacking in appearance beyond a few photo posts. Like all other social media platforms, they use the Missoni logo with the phrase “Official Page” below the image as their profile photo. It is again suggested that they remove the “Official Page” component from the selected profile image, as it offers a less professional appearance to the page. Despite the infancy in using this platform, Missoni does not appear to have a recognizable or pro-‐active strategy for Google+. Opening a social media platform to simply be able claim that a brand has one is not in the best interest of the brand if the account remains inactive or not fully used. The affect could appear as amateur to the public. Missoni must first decide what their intentions are for opening a Google+ account. It is suggested that they temporarily make the account completely private or unavailable until they have chosen how they wish to develop content and utilize Google+ to its maximum capacity in reaching their respective audiences. #Phase 3: Missoni digital marketing

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Chinese Social Media Platforms Presented in the “Introduction” portion of this study, analysts made emphasis of the present growth opportunities that exist in targeting the global emerging luxury markets. These include targeting clients in The Middle East, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. However, analysts have elected to focus on the fastest growing emerging market located in China in this study. Dolce & Gabbana is the only luxury brand that visibly promotes connection with other social media platforms directly connected to alternative Russian, Arabic and Chinese social platforms. Buttons to these alternative platforms are seen visible on all pages of the Dolce & Gabbana site.

Analysts recommend that Missoni follow Dolce & Gabbana in a similar manner by creating Missoni profiles for Chinese-‐related social media platforms since China is presently restricted from the use of mainstream Western social media platforms. Missoni should outsource this task by hiring a digital marketing firm located in China to create profiles for RenRen, Weibo, YouKu and Douban; the respective alternative to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. These profiles should provide Chinese followers with the same content and message promoted throughout all Missoni digital platforms, while additionally serving to offer content that specifically appeals to the likes and demands of the Chinese luxury consumer audience.

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Strategy 3…Mobile devices and tablets Mobile commerce is the future of luxury brand e-‐tailing. Besides creating a new e-‐commerce platform on Missoni.com, it is suggested that Missoni build a complimentary m-‐commerce platform to service both mobile and tablet apps. Missoni offers three apps on iOS mobile platforms called “Missoni”, “Hotel Missoni” and “Missoni Art”. They also offer “Hotel Missoni” and “Missoni Art” on iOS tablet platforms, but “Missoni” is not available.

Create m-‐commerce app for mobile and tablet use. Missoni could offer a competitive advantage in the mobile sector by beating other luxury brands to the adoption and integration of m-‐commerce opportunities. At present, Tory Burch is the only brand in this study found to offer m-‐commerce apps for both mobile and tablet sectors.

Delete redundant apps. Two separate applications appear when searching to download the “Missoni Art” app. It’s suggested that one of the replicated apps is removed to avoid user and app confusion.

Increase app availability across all operating systems. Some of Missoni’s mobile and tablet apps are only available for iOS products. It’s recommended that all apps are accessible for other operating systems like Android and Burberry. #Phase 3: Missoni digital marketing

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Remove outdated app content. The mobile “Missoni” app does not offer images and information from the current collection. Only data about the 2012 winter collection is present when reviewing apps in March 2013.

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Add new functions to “Missoni Art” app. The present app allows users to upload a photo of their choice and press a button that transforms that photo into a digitalized print emulating a Missoni print that can be saved to the users device. It’s suggested that Missoni explores other creates ways to use the art app and entice users. One suggestion includes offering a variety of Missoni-‐inspired wallpaper apps that users could download as their smartphone or tablet backgrounds. Similar to Tory Burch, who offers themed-‐wallpapers for i-‐Phones, desktops and tablets from her blog.

Create a “Missoni Suggests” app. This application would act as a personal concierge informing viewers about contemporary art exhibitions, shows, parties, and more that are taking place around the viewer thanks to the device’s geolocalization service. The list of events would be pre-‐selected by Missoni with respect to its brand’s identity and interests. If the viewer wished to, the information could be sent to him through push notifications.

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@Prospective budget A yearly communication budget is generally equal to 5 to 6% of a company’s revenue. The prospective digital marketing strategy is scheduled to be implemented over the course of three years. The budget below is organized under the idea that all activities are insourced, however, outsourcing certain efforts would most likely decrease the total budget. Additionally, it is to be noted that Marc Jacobs wage for participating in the “Marc Jacobs for Missoni” campaign has be hypothetically transferred to the product development budget in order to keep the communication and marketing budget at a reasonable cost. General Site Layout Design Customization & redesign Development,Installation and Configuration,Management,Security updates SubTotal

€ 14 000

SubTotal

€ 500 € 500 € 1 800 € 2 800

Other Graphic Features Custom graphics made Graphic mouse-over buttons Stock photographs integrated Public Features Member Registration Discussion Forums RSS News Feeds Google Maps Integration Contact Form Links Page Site Search

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€ 14 000

€1 € € € € € €

200 800 800 800 500 500 800

Email Auto-responders File Uploads Google Adsense Integration SubTotal

Ecommerce Magento installation, Shopping, PayPal and CC processing

€ 400 € 1 500 € 400 € 7 700 € 18 500

SubTotal

€ 18 500

SubTotal

€ 550 € 1 500 € 400 € 2 000 € 900 € 900 € 200 € 6 450

SubTotal

€ 550 € 1 000 € 550 € 2 000 € 4 100

Admin Features Off the shelf site Blog Custom Content Manager Off the shelf Content Manager Photo Gallery Member Administration Database Reports Traffic Statistic Reports SEO Improvement SEO and increase your free traffic MetaTag Keyword Optimization Search Engine Submission Major Link Building Set up social media account Facebook Page Creation & tab Integration Tumblr Page Creation & tab Integration Youtube page Creation & tab Integration Twitter Page Creation & tab Integration LinkedIn Page Creation & tab Integration Google+ Cover Creation & tab Integration Instagram page Creation & tab Integration

€ € € € € € €

2 1 1 1 1 1 1

000 250 250 250 250 250 250

SubTotal

€ 9 500 € 4 000

SubTotal

€ 4 000

Customized Blogs

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Smart Phones Missoni website Applications Android & iPhone App Facebook Applications e-commerce SubTotal

Writing Services Website copywriting,blog writing, content management, Articles, SEO

SubTotal

Trilingual website creations Chinese SubTotal

€ 8 000

€ 5 500 € 15 000

SubTotal

Graphic Design & Video Production Production Makeup & Stylist Models Venue

€ 15 000 € 50 €8 €6 € 10

SubTotal

Chinese Agencies Outsourcing Social Media Agencies In China

000 500 500 000

€ 75 000 € 20 000

SubTotal

Events Production cost of Fashion Show Digital Graffiti Sponsorship events Art Basel

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€ 8 000

€ 5 500

Internet Marketing Search Engine Optimization, E-mail Marketing,PPC,Analytics

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€ 5 000 € 3 000 € 8 000

€ 20 000 € 50 000 € 15 000 € 120 000

SubTotal

€ 185 000

Total

€ 383 550

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@Conclusion As the Missoni brand continues to evolve and reshape their digital marketing strategies, they must remain rooted in clearly articulating their heritage values in family, art and quality. Sorting their position in the digital landscape as a luxury brand does not have to equate to a compromise in prestige. In fact, it is essential for luxury brands to have a proper understanding on the need and impact of digital marketing in today’s business climate. Missoni could leverage on embracing several new opportunities within the e-‐Commerce and m-‐Commerce spheres that have yet to be fully exploited by the majority of other competitors evaluated in this study. This would give them a competitive advantage with regards to their competition. Likewise, many opportunities exist for Missoni should they choose to fully embrace the rapid growth of luxury consumption in emerging markets, with emphasis on the Chinese sector. The growth of their future digital presence should be seen as a new extension of their core family. The digital community of Missoni followers serves to become the tribal extension of the main Missoni family, culture and lifestyle. Missoni should remain confident in their identity and the notion of “We Are Missoni.” We are Family. We are Art. We are Quality.

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Thank you to Unmetric for their support in our project, their openness, and share of expertise. Thank you to Benjamin Maholtra, Marco Crisci and Danilo Venturi for their intellectual support. And thank you to the Luxury Management class of 2012-‐2013 for a great year! #NowHireUs

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