Fashion and digital

Who’s Gianandrea?

Who’s Gianandrea?

24 years in Communication industry

10 years in Digital and Web & Social Media listening

2 years runner (4 x Marathon, 4 x HM)

14 years proud dogs owner

Gianandrea Facchini @Gianandrea @Gianandrea59Gianandrea Facchini

Who’s Buzzdetector?

Buzzdetector is a Digital Intelligence

Strategic Business Insights firm

We were born with Web Listening, we are growing with Intelligence

Who’s Buzzdetector?

Fashion & Digital

Foreword

• This research started two years ago with the 2014 FW season

• The idea behind was that every industry touched by digital was going, or would have gone, under a remarkable transformation

• Wide usage of smartphone and digital channels to share pictures and video had quite abruptly impacted the entire system

Key facts

Today I wish to highlight five key facts emerging from our research and match them with the evolution of the digital environment both from a technologic point of view as well as from users’ perspective

Key fact #1

Discovered by a British math whiz and published in Nature magazine in 1906, this untraditional method is “the mathematically perfect way of cutting a round cake,” the author says gleefully. “It’s breaking all the rules of cake etiquette!”

Alex Bellos first makes a vertical slice through the center of the cake from one side to the other (“the prime steak of that cake, the T-bone cut,” he jokes), then makes a parallel slice. After plating it (it’s a large piece!), he pushes the sides of the remaining cake together and secures it with a rubber band so none of the interior cake is left exposed.

(Alex Bellos The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, 2015)

Let’s play

Let’s play

You have 14.000.000 of records. Yes, big data!

From where do you begin to slice them?

How do you approach the database to turn it into a dataset?

Let’s play

• Some as 14.000.000 records from Twitter and Instagram were parsed by terminology and contributors:

74 color definitions 84 fabrics and materials 69 different types of accessories 102 types of garment 110 adjectives

75 brands 97 fashion bloggers 116 celebrities 49 editors 58 magazines 38 models 34 stores

Let’s play

A multilayered cake in which any layer answers to a given set of questions and to these questions only.

Any additional question is transferred to the following layer avoiding to slow down or mess up the delivery process.

Keeping under control the flows of questions and the answers arising from the database dissection, these are the main goals we achieve with this model.

Key facts

#1 - The perfect cake cutting technique

Key fact #2

In the Delfi temple dedicated to Apollo, there is this remark.

It may sounds naïve but more often than you can think, organizations do not know accurately their market nor themselves

Too much focus on products and productions may kill the knowledge and the quest for innovation

Let’s play

Key facts


#2 - Looking from outside into your offices, hitting the streets to understand people

Key fact #3

"We find ourselves at home in the language that we speak and share. And I don't simply mean English or Arabic. It's the other language I'm talking about, the one we use to express what is worth doing, knowing, and looking for. This is the language we speak to say where we really belong."

Paul Chan wrote this as foreword to an impressive book by the great art curator Hans Ulrich Obrist (Sharp tongues, loose lips, open eyes, ears to ground - Sternberg Press, 2014)

Let’s play

You are a shop assistant and within your goal there is the task to sell this dress

Look at it, try to catch details to the point and describe them in few spoken words

Let’s play

You work on a e-commerce platform and within your goal there is the task to sell this dress

Look at it, try to catch details to the point and describe them in few written words

How it was described online

Embellished shift boasts scenic Portofino print, roundneck, sleeveless, embellished detail, concealed back zip with button embellishment, lined, about 36" from shoulder to hem, silk, contrast: Rayon/silk/nylon/crystal/brass, dry clean, made in Italy (Saksfifthavenue)

Italy's famed tourist destinations inspired Dolce & Gabbana's Spring '16 collection - this 'Portofino' dress was part of the postcard-print parade that ended the show. It's cut from a slightly stiff woven silk that holds the neat shift shape perfectly in place. Embroidery, lace and crystal-encrusted florals give it an eclectic elegance.(Net-a-Porter)

Multicoloured silk blend postcard print dress from Dolce & Gabbana featuring a round neck, a sleeveless design, a back button fastening, crystal embellishments, a knee length, a shift silhouette and a Portofino postcard print. (Farfetch)

Dolce & Gabbana sateen Portofino postcard-print shift dress; solid-color back, high round neckline with jeweled detail, sleeveless; wide shoulder coverage, a-line silhouette, straight hem, jeweled button back, silk, made in Italy. (NeymanMarcus)

How to find it

Collection name is Italia is love

The dress is part of a group of dress called Postcard

Google it and look at the results

How to find it

If you don’t know the exact name of the collection there’s no way to get to the dress

If you google Dolce & Gabbana Portofino, results are about the dolce vita in the small elitarian village and about a collection of some seasons ago dedicated to Portofino which has nothing to do with this dress

The keyword here is POSTCARD not PORTOFINO

But how can you know about it?

Key facts



#3 - The greatest effort we have to accomplish in complex environment such as social media is not getting lost in translation

Key fact #4

A sound strategy for a Social Media presence should take into consideration all the possibilities offered by a vibrant environment, yet it has to avoid to be mislead by hypes

Sometimes jumping on the bandwagon it’s easier than to take the point and to articulate a strategic reason to stay out of the crowd

Clutter is an issue in advertising as well as it is in Social Media

Let’s play

Which is the most trending Social Network now? State the first three in your opinion

Which SN is delivering the best conversion rate towards e-commerce platforms?

Where does people search for information before purchasing a good?

What do you think about Twitter? State a three words description of the SN

Let’s play

What can we learn from these graphs?

Let’s play

Audience still matters

Let’s play

Keep the panel wider to get the big picture

Let’s play

Search is still, and it will probably remain dominant when searching and in delivering traffic toward e-commerce platforms

Let’s play

Most active audiences are not necessarily where they are supposed to be

Key facts




#4 - Do not follow the hype for the sake of it

Key fact #5

There are a lot of details a customer may catch by herself, some will be suggested by people she is shopping with, others will be stressed by the sales person. Words and gestures to bring to her attention element contributing to build the inner value of the dress and its monetary value, the price she is going to pay for it.

Now, think being at home, or commuting or in a bar looking online for a dress saw during the Fashion Shows. It was posted by a famous brand or by an influencer on their proprietary channels. While the sales assistant may play the role of the physical translator, online this resources is lost.

Let’s play

How many of you have purchased clothing goods online?

How was your experience? How much money did you spend?

Let’s play

Key facts




#4 - Do not follow the hype for the sake of it

#5 - The commercial comfort zone