STRATEGIC CAMPAIGN PROPOSAL AN INSTAGRAM CAMPAIGN FOR BALMAIN BA2A PROJECT BY CHANTE JOHNSON
CONTENTS 01. TRENSCEND THE TREND
07. AGENCIES
02. MILLENNIALS WHO CARE, TRICKLE DOWN, CASTERS AND CONSUMERS.
08. CREATE
03. BALMAIN 04. DIVERSITY ON THE RUNWAY AN UN-MIXED PICTURE
09. PR 10. BUDGETING 11. RESULTS
05. SOCIAL MEDIA
12. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
06. On the Flip Side
13. PRESS RELEASE
01. TRANSCEND THE TREND AN INSTAGRRAM CAMPAIGN FOR BALMAIN The In’s and Out’s Transcend the trend is a social media campaign for the high end fashion brand Balmain. It will use Instagram as a platform for release with the hash tag #TRANSCENDTHETEND, this campaign is to be launched in September 2017 to coincide with Paris Fashion Week. This Campaign will look to implement positive change in calling for a more racially diverse fashion industry. This campaign will not only draw the attention of the fashion crowd but the world. The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness and to break the cycle of the marginalization of models of colour and encourage a true racial diversity in the fashion industry at the luxury level. To also call out other high end fashion houses on their lack of participation, and negligence to lead the cause to increase the number of models of colour used in the fashion industry.
Balmain is the perfect brand to spearhead this message, The current creative director of Balmain Olivier Rousteing has openly spoke on the issue of racial diversity in the fashion industry and expressed how important it is to him, Olivier Stated “When you see a show with no colour and they call it modern chic, I’m sorry but i cant agree.”(Cummings.f,October 21st,2016). To call out and gain the attention of these high end fashion houses whilst also openly promoting the message. The campaign will use a social media hash tag to carry the idea in conjunction with Balmain’s already large and growing social media presence on Instagram the message now has a large audience of millennial’s ready to support the campaign. Instagram will be the main forefront for this campaign as well as using Twitter and Facebook. The campaign will be released during SS18 Paris fashion week whilst everyone is paying attention to the catwalk to highlight the lack of diversity and spotlight the issue as its happening using models on the runway as an example.
Over the past few year’s fashion runways have seen a marginal increase in models of colour, however recent figure published by ThefashionSpot of fashion shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris in 2016. It will propose what steps need to be taken in order to move the fashion industry forward in bigger strides towards a greater diversity. Focusing mainly on a report carried out by TheFashionSpot, a report that they have been releasing for the past few seasons. Looking also outside the runway into racial diversity in campaign ads and magazine covers, this analysis will look to identify if our current statistics on racial inclusion.
01. TARGET AUDIENCES Voices in the Void, Who is listening?
Who are they? -MILLENNIALS WHO CARE females between the ages of 18 to 24
-TRICKLE DOWN, High end Fashion houses e.g. Chanel
-MODEL CASTERS Agencies and model casters
This campaign is targeted at three different audiences, the first being female fashion professionals millennials who active on social media, this consumer gets involved in hash tags that promote positive messages. They would have been involved in the conversation Surrounding the ‘Blackgirlmagic’ hash tag which had a reach of over one million (keyhole.co). Amongst the number of those who it reached of the most influential who posted the hash tag where those who are of a black background and they had even used the hash tag in their pictures and twitter posts, sharing and spreading its message (keyhole.co). This consumer is between the ages of 18 to 24 and is active in the fashion industry. Whether that is taking a course, following Online or working within the industry, this consumer would want to get involved and want to feel that they have made a difference and have helped spread messages about inclusivity and changing perspective. This consumer is confident, opinionated and proud to get involved in the conversation and challenge the industry. She is proud of her culture no matter what that is and knows that she deserves as much representation as anyone else in the industry.
These consumers are a new brand of consumer that aspire to high end fashion brands such as Balmain, Chanel and Gucci but cannot afford to shop with the brand. Therefore, they live vicariously through social media and through the purchase magazines. They get a piece of the lifestyle by being involved with the brand Online, using their hash tags and liking their photos. This campaign is also targeted at High end fashion houses; it’s about holding them accountable because of the amount of influence and following these high end brands have they should be setting the standard for the industry, which trickles down into the rest of the industry. Model casters also play a huge role in keeping the industry racially diverse, through captions and hash tags the campaign will try to indicate who and how these changes need to be made. The consumers who buy Balmain and follow the brand will know of its ties in the industry and about the creative director and his vision, this campaign will appeal to them because it will show the brands dedication to inclusivity.
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1. THE CORE 2. THE LOOK 3. THE FEEL
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Who is Balmain?
TRAILBLAZING SPIRIT
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03. BALMAIN
Fig1. Brand Onion (posner 2015)
Balmain has propelled themselves to the forefront of today’s fashion industry, the Parisian fashion house’s look is acclaimed and timeless, on its website pledging its loyalty to stay modern and on the cusp of fashion whilst simultaneously sticking to its traditional roots. By deterring from the typical high end fashion house behaviors and taking a fresh approach for brand of their stature, immersing itself in pop culture has set the brand in a league of their own.
CU T TI
Comparing the runway statistics to magazine covers the fashion spot looked at 679 cover stars across 48 international magazines, the results showed 2016 has been the most diverse year in the industry, not just in terms of models of colour but across all demographics. Comparing with last year the increase of models of colour is 6.2% (Stern.c, The Daily Mail). a much bigger increase if compared to the increase of models of colour on the runway. However, magazines such as LOVE and Vogue UK featured no non-white models on their covers, LOVE magazine has not had a non-white model on their cover for the past 3 years and British Vogue has had six models of colour grace the front covers in the last 14 years. Carly Stern who wrote the article stated that this could be accredited to “Stars and models of colour have become more vocal in recent years about the need for more diversity in the fashion industry, and their outspokenness may have contributed to a boost in their presence.” – Carly Stern for The Daily Mail (2016).
04. Diversity On The Runway: An Un-Mixed Picture. Looking at the statistics from the Spring 2017 runway carried out by TheFashionSpot where they viewed 299 shows and saw the appearances of 8,832 models. There findings where that this season has been the most diverse runway so far although only having 1 in 10 models being of colour which is an increase of 0.65% from Spring 2016. In previous seasons models of colour accounted for 25.35% of the runway, making white models count for the larger majority of 74.65%, this marginal increase could be credited to Kanye West’s Yeezy season 4 collections which featured 97% models of colour. The controversy surrounding this was the description used in the casting call of the type of models being called for.
The casting calling ‘Multiracial woman only’ which some claimed it to be discriminatory although not just to people of just an only White background but those of an only Black background (Fashionista.com). A small number of other brands are to be credited to the slight increase brands such as Kimora Lee Simmons with 82% and Brandon Maxwell standing at 69% of models being models of colour. The point however does not waver that this fashion season may be the most diverse but is very far from being the first racially equal. Service to the cause also came from The Council of Fashion Designers of America, where they sent out a letter encouraging brands to be inclusive and forward-thinking with the models that they chose much as that may have fallen on deaf ears as some brands such as The Row still remain at 0% models of colour.(TheFashionSpot.com)
This evidence suggests that with more vocalization and attention drawn to the racial imbalance in the fashion industry, the percentage of models of colour too white models should become more balanced. Similar to magazine covers and runway the statistics for fashion ads are showing a bigger imbalance when it comes to models of colour with 78.2 percent of models being white in Spring 2016 advertisements. Leaving 8.3 percent black models, 4 percent Asian models and 3.8 percent Latino. “Both black and Latina models were cast at approximately double the rate of the Fall 2015 season”, (The Fashionspot, 2016). This evidence although points to the slow and steady increase of inclusion in the fashion industry, shows the size of the current racial imbalance. Out of the most over booked models in the fashion industry 12 out of 14 are white, the two being Mica Arganaraz and Karlie Kloss featuring in seven ads each. In the traditional sense advertising would not only exist on social media however because this campaigns message is driven by hash tags, making it easier for people to repost share and get involved maximizes reach also the strongest and most influential voices are on social media additionally ways to get attention and coverage in fashion will occur on a bigger scale if on Online and has a lot of traffic.(The FashionSpot)
05. SOCIAL MEDIA The Evolution of Marketing This campaign revolves entirely around social media, launching on instagram during Paris Fashion Week, while the public is in wait for Balmain’s fashion week debut, we will also be launching the campaign to highlight the racial imbalance at Fashion Week. With social media statistics showing an estimate of 2.67 billion social media users in 2018 (statista.com 2017), it has made social media a perfect platform for this campaign. For businesses Online marketing has now become a crucial tool with 50 percent of people spending most of their time on social media in the UK and in 2013 43.1 percent of global Internet users purchasing Online, a number that is only expected to grow in the next coming years (statista.com 2016). Facebook is the global market leader having more than 1.2 billion online monthly users and a global reach of 50 percent, Instagram although owned by Facebook compares on the shorter end of the spectrum, Instagram is stated by BrandWatch, “the second most engaged network after Facebook� by having 400 million active users. and is forecasted to reach Ad revenue of 2.81 billion dollars worldwide in 2017(Emarketer.com, 2017).
which means it exceeds twitter and google who 95 percent of revenue is acquired through online advertising. (statista.com 2017) This campaign for Balmain who currently have 6 million followers on Instagram, 690,000 likes of Facebook and 374k followers on twitter (January 2017), have a wide reach on social media their creative director has over 4 million followers on Instagram (January 2017) and often engages with other highly established social media celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian who has the most followed person on Instagram with 89 million followers. This combined leaves Balmain with a large audience ready and waiting to view the campaign.
06. COMPETITORS On the flip side Balmain is a brand that although has been established for a long while has only recently re-entered into the spot light of the masses, this being because its new creative director has changed the pace of the brand and has immersed them into pop culture. Dressing high profile celebrities specifically the Kardashians and rappers such as Kanye west, the brand has associated itself with a much younger audience and also now gained a more rock star image. This grants it some leniency and removes the brand from being held to the same standard as a brand such as Chanel or Dior. The brand can take more risks and can mix itself within other industry’s such as music which is something Chanel and or Dior just couldn’t do with the type of brand image that they have. Chanel as an example has also build this impenetrable wall in which people won’t hold the brand accountable for its lack of diversity because of its high status; this campaign looks to change that and hold these brands liable for its lack of inclusivity.
07. AGENCIES
The Gate Keepers The percent of the models cast across all catwalks for spring 2017 are 79.4 percent being white leaving less than a quarter being modes of colour (TheFashionSpot 2016). Now we look into the modeling industry and question whether or not modeling agencies are hiring a sufficient number of models of colour. Statistics from spring 2014 showed that majority of model agencies have less than 25% models of colour (TheFashionspot 2016), Eric Grranwehr stated that “Sadly this breakdown is true regarding Frame’s show package diversity this past season, However, as we are a very new agency, we are still in the midst of assembling a very strong board of new faces that are ready to take on the New York market. It’s really just a luck of the draw sometimes when it comes to domestic and international agencies proposing who they deem as their strongest girls that are suitable for NYFW. Sometimes this includes a selection of several models of colour, but sometimes it doesn’t.”- Eric Granwehr, model booker for Frame Management, TheFashionSpot This evidence implies that model agencies often avoid the conversation when admitting their lack of diversity. This campaign looks to confront these agencies and others who may avoid facing their negligence; This quote also suggests that agencies find getting work for models of colour harder than finding work for white models.
08.CREATIVE CONCEPT The Idea For this campaign a series of images will be released on Instagram on the week of Paris fashion week, For the Balmain show in Paris Fashion Week, the models will be carefully chosen and considered to make sure that they are showing a perfect example of a diverse catwalk. Majority of the models will wear their natural hair as another statement to encourage diversity. The images will also be strategically placed as advertisements in magazines such as Vogue, Dazed and confused, Garage, Elle and other high end magazines. Paris Fashion Week is the last city on the cycle of the big four, there will be a series of pop up stalls in New York, London and Milan. This will create buzz and promote Balmain’s accessory line, there are two possible strategies to get the most effective response out of this campaign, the first is that there will be no lead up information, teasers or advertisements before the campaign is released. The shock factor and surprise element of this campaign is what is suspected to in theory get the most coverage and the subject of the campaign will draw more attention to the types of models on the runway than if released before the event.
The second strategy would be to create a snowball effect where by releasing small snippets of information such as short clips, videos and obscured images to create a buzz around what Balmain is planning for their next collection. The pros of the first strategy for the first effect would be the radio silence would invite curiosity and there would be a buzz around not having even a small clue about what the brand is going to reveal for Fashion Week, blocking press from back stage and seeing what is going on would create more buzz, the cons could be that it doesn’t get as big of a reaction as wanted, although this has been a big conversation for 2016 it may not have that big impact and shock factor that the campaign really wants to create. The pros for the second strategy is that because of the build-up there is guarantees to have press and consumers that are loyal to Balmain, will be interested and following the campaign along. The cons being that it may not have as much of the initial shock that we want for the campaign because it will be somewhat anticipated. The style of the photoshoot needed to reflect the brand as well as the message, to communicate confidence and glamour whilst highlighting individuality and a sense of unity. The models chosen for this shoot are from different ethnic backgrounds, the shoot needed to have as much representation as possible. The style of photography came from studying various past Balmain shoots, looking at the type of focus they used for their editorials, observing how much of the body they tend to show and the angles that they use. Also reading up on how they want their consumer to feel when wearing and associating themselves with the brand.
09. PR/ADVERTISEMENTS Engagement For this campaign Various PR such as interviews and articles written about Balmain and Olivier Rousting will re-surface and will also be doing new interviews concerning this campaign. He will discuss his stance on racial diversity and what it means to the brand and why they felt that they had to be the ones to voice this issue. Advertisements will be an editorial shoot, will firstly be released on the social media platform of Instagram. It will then be released as advertisements in high end fashion magazines.
10. ADVERTISEMENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA Into the world
Examples of double page spreads.
Examples of Instagram display
11. PACKAGING PROMOTION ASSETS Pretty in Black
Examples of promotional packaging for chokers to be sold at all Fashion Weeks, also a free limited addition tote bag.
10. BUDGET
ESTIMATE ESTIMATE
ACTUAL
ROLES
COST/HOURLY COST/HOURLY
MODELS
£15,000
PHOTOGRAPER
£250,000
PHOTOGRAPHER ASISTANT £250 ART DIRECTOR
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STYLIST
£5,000
MAKEUP ARTIST
£5,000
HAIRSTYLIST
£4,000
ACTUAL
MERCHANDISE SET
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VENUE
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CAR HIRE
£2000
FOOD
£150
11. RESULTS To measure the results of the campaign, analytical sites can be used such as Keyhole and Hashtracking; these sites can show the reach of a hashtag and how many people are mentioning, retweeting or exposed to the hashtag. This way it is easy to measure how much impact the hashtag is having and how much reach it has.
INSTAGRAM SCHEDUAL
12. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Paris Fashion Week September 2017
TIMELINE
FIRST SNIPPET RELEASE ON INSTAGRAM
RELEASE ON INSTAGRAM OF LIMITED EDITION CHOCKERS
AUGUST SNIPPETS RELEASE ON INSTAGRAM. CREATING SNOWBALL EFFECT
RELEASE OF CAMPAIGN ON INSTAGRAM
SEPTEMBER POP UP STALLS AT NEW YORK, LONDON AND MILAN SHOWS
PR INTERVIEWS, MAGAZINE ADVERTISMENTS
PARIS FASHION WEEK
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
13. PRESS RELEASE BALMAIN SS18 INSTAGRAM CAMPAIGN TACKLES INDUSTRY DIVERSITY. Balmain, a brand dedicated to its consumer in making them feel confident, sexy and glamourous will release a brand new campaign during Paris Fashion Week 2017. using a beautiful range of diverse models and striking hashtags, they are implementing change in the fashion industry to improve racial diversity within fashion promotion. Backed up by statistics from a report conducted by TheFashionSpot has proven that the industry is making slow but steady progress into becoming more diverse, Although the rate it is progressing at is agonizingly minuscule. It is clear that there needs to be a call for change, Oliver Rousting the Creative Director for Balmain has spoken on many occasions about how important racial diversity is for him and for his work. It is only natural that the brand would take this step and using the power of social media to do it.
“Thanks to social media I can invite people to join me in this movement of fashion” – Olivier Rousting, in discussion about racial diversity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Internet magazines/newspapers http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a40201/balmain-olivier-rousteing-facts/: W http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4041562/That-s-progress-Magazine-covers-diverse-2016-bump-plus-sizemodels-people-color-women-50.html) Blogs http://fashionista.com/2016/09/yeezy-season-4-casting http://www.thefashionspot.com/runway-news/690669-diversity-report-spring-2016-fashionads/#jRo7hTVAXSKkgVpR.99 Reports https://www.statista.com/markets/424/internet/ https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/37-instagram-stats-2016/) (https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Instagram-Mobile-Ad-Revenues-Reach-281-BillionWorldwide-2017/1012774)