Many fashion businesses have made it a priority to produce viral content that sparks internet discussion. However, that cannot serve as the cornerstone of a brand's marketing plan.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
*Although buzz is very important in the fashion industry, a brand cannot prioritise it.
*Amidst a demanding market and oversaturated media environment, numerous brands are reassessing the way they generate, gauge, and rank buzz.
*Reaching the correct customers is becoming more important to many than just striking up a conversation.
Buzzwords abound in the fashion business, with "buzz" being the most commonly used one.
Fashion brands place a great value on online buzz since it has the power to propel conversation and positively impact a brand's reputation. A pattern has surfaced in the last few years. Whether it's putting on a runway show that seems to be more about drawing attention than showcasing clothing, dressing celebrities in their most divisive pieces, or releasing items meant to provoke, brands always aim to stir a conversation. Generally speaking, an action gets more attention on social media and in the traditional press the more bizarre or surprising it is. Metrics such as earned media value rise, likes, and shares.That is, until consumers move on and companies are compelled to continuously innovate in an effort to surpass their previous successes.
It seems sense that the entire thing is alluring.
Buzz suggests that the brand isn't forcing the narrative on you. "People are responding and advocating for you," stated Tony Wang, the creator of the upscale consulting company Office of Applied Strategy. It's infinitely more scalable than bought media if you can unlock it.
Even so, it might be difficult to determine how much of the cacophony is meaningful or has a long-term effect.
From certain angles, it appears that buzz has little bearing on long-term sales and demand. In the midst of a decline in sales, brands that throughout the 2010s depended on striking virality, like as Gucci and Balenciaga, have adopted a more sombre, heritage-driven strategy. In the meantime, brands like Hermès, Brunello Cucinelli, and Prada that are thriving in the midst of a broader decline in luxury fashion place less emphasis on eye-catching antics.
It's dangerous to rely on this kind of attention in a setting where creating memorable moments is getting harder and harder. Consequently, a lot of brands are reassessing their approaches to creating, quantifying, and determining the precise value of buzz.
The founder of his own communications company, Lucien Pagès, defined buzz as "awareness, amplification, and excitement." "You can't survive on buzz; you have to have it."
Buzz Doesn't Win Everything
Talked-about moments were once more commonly perceived as joyful accidents. But these days, there's a well thought-out strategy behind every conversation-starter.
Brands are prioritising creating buzz, whether through a single announcement or by tying in with highly anticipated events like the Met Gala or the Cannes Film Festival, according to Guillaume Delacroix, the founder of the marketing and communications consultancy DLX.
A tiny label can reach new heights with the help of a viral moment. The brand went from being an insider favourite in its local market to international recognition with Coperni's Spring/Summer 2023 show, where the company sprayed a dress made of liquid fibre on Bella Hadid with materials company Fabrican, according to Stefano Martinetto, founder of growth and development platform Tomorrow, which is an investor in the brand.
According to Gia Kuan, the creator of her own PR company in New York, viral moments have the power to sell products like handbags and shoes, draw in new customers, or help up-and-coming firms find well-funded partners and sponsors for their upcoming exhibition. For instance, Beyoncé said that Luar's sales increased in new areas following her front-row seat at the brand's Fall/Winter 2024 show in Brooklyn.
However, making it the main objective may cause brands to become dependent on meaningless attention bursts.
"It's just 'focus on who you are and on having the right positioning and a unique offering,'" Delacroix said in his talks with customers. "Brand desirability cannot be built on buzz; it only lasts as long as an Instagram story."
Furthermore, some may be overvaluing metrics such as media impact value—a proprietary calculation of Launchmetrics—and earned media value, which are employed as measures of overall success by companies including Lefty, Creator IQ, and Dash Hudson. Both employ distinct techniques to provide a monetary value to media and internet conversations, connected to the amount a marketer would have needed to pay in the event that the placement had been compensated.
The information is helpful in determining which talent to work with or which event to avoid, according to Lissy von Schwarzkopf, Karla Otto's chief business officer. Conor Begley, chief strategy officer of Creator IQ, stated that share of voice, or the proportion of discourse a brand controls in a specific channel, is significant since it is correlated with market share and can offer insight into a brand's trajectory.
It is true that EMV helps a brand determine who is discussing it and how loudly. However, some claim that these indicators don't really reveal what consumers are saying, and that concentrating too much on them can cause firms to lose sight of their overall goals.
"Metrics can lead to errors," stated Pagès. "You become overly dependent on things that will quickly expose you, rather than equity or inspiration."
According to investor Ariel Ohana, even the M&A market is reducing the amount of hype as a more unstable financial market realigns objectives.
"A lot of consumers are already asking for legacy brands—those that have established lasting brand value. There have been times when consumers have only looked for the newest, most popular brands, according to Ohana.
Buzz's Carrying Weight
When it comes to attention, there is a line that needs to be drawn for every brand. If there is too little of it, desire won't be sparked; if there is too much, oversaturation could occur. Therefore, according to Mario Ortelli, general director of luxury advice Ortelli & Co., it is critical to contact the proper consumer.
"Brands must concentrate on building consumer connectivity. In determining whether they need to create a lot of buzz, that's incredibly important to consider," said Alison Bringé, chief marketing officer of analytics platform Launchmetrics. "Does everyone use your services? Most likely not... That, in my opinion, is where we get lost.
Influencers in the art world that Bottega Veneta invites to its shows, for instance, to discuss the Italian artist Umberto Boccioni's sculpture at the centre of the runway or architect Gaetano Pesce's set design, may not generate as much conversation as the brand's December paparazzi campaign starring Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky, but Wang claimed that they do connect with a discerning, high-quality audience.
According to von Schwarzkopf, companies are forming more and more enduring bonds with celebrities who accurately and consistently represent their brand when it comes to talent. Wang noted that they are also taking a more active part in establishing cultural moments, highlighting the work of Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, who dressed the cast of the movie "Challengers" and created the costumes.
"Brands used to try to capitalise on cultural moments, but now they realise that in order to generate the most meaningful buzz, they must be the cultural moment," Wang explained.
The most crucial aspect is what comes next.
According to von Schwarzkopf, "[Buzz] creates an energy, but also an expectation." "You should always consider your next course of action."
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