Pop-up shops help fashion brands pop

As consumers continue to build resistance to traditional advertising in response to the excess advertising clutter that plagues public and private spaces, fashion brands have proceeded to devise innovative guerrilla marketing tactics aimed not only at capturing attention and creating positive word-of-mouth advertising, but at drawing this positive buzz into the realm of social media, where messages not only have the potential to reach an infinite number of target consumers, but can reach them in a matter of seconds.

The incorporation of guerrilla advertising into integrated marketing communications for major fashion brands is not a novel phenomenon. DKNY held a runway show in the streets of Garosu, South Korea in March 2012 to promote its Spring/Summer 2012 collection.  To promote their collections during New York Fashion Week 2011, various fashion brands used trucks, stationed at different locations throughout New York City, from which company representatives were able to interact with customers and distribute free food and refreshments.  A Manolo Blahnik truck offered milkshakes, while a vintage-style Vera Wang truck handed out ice cream—creating positive attitudes toward these brands, as well as stirring up buzz and anticipation among potential customers for the brands’ upcoming runway shows.

Even more recently, fashion brands and clothing retailers have partnered with leading experimental marketing agencies to create the newest addition to the array of popular guerrilla marketing tactics dominating the world of fashion advertising:  the pop-up shop.

In order to attract new customers, provide existing customers with a sense of exclusivity, and create positive word-of-mouth advertising, many fashion brands and retailers have been using the pop-up shop—a temporary store, typically open for about a week, offering exclusive products, unique store features, and special events—to supplement traditional ad campaigns.  Nordstrom has recently hired Neverstop, an experimental advertising agency, to launch a pop-up shop to introduce Sarah Jessica Parker’s highly anticipated shoe collection, which will be exclusively sold at Nordstrom retailers.  The pop-up shop, which was open from Feb. 28 to Mar. 2, featured a limited selection of shoes from SJP’s collection as well as an appearance from Sarah Jessica Parker herself, in which she met potential customers and discussed the creation of her new line.

However, during New York Fashion Week this past month, Marc Jacobs ingeniously expanded the concept of the pop-up shop, creating the Daisy Marc Jacobs Pop-up Tweet Shop to promote the brand’s best-selling Daisy perfume.  The Tweet Shop, open from Feb. 7 to 9, provided guests with a “social media-friendly vibe” and included Wi-fi, a lounge, perfume samples, manicures, and a photo booth.  As guests entered the Tweet Shop, which was modeled after the artwork featured in the Daisy ad campaign, they were told that in order to receive samples and participate in activities, they were to post Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts with the hashtag #MJDaisyChain.  Hostesses encouraged guests to post creative and interesting messages, and awarded the best posts with Marc Jacobs handbags and sunglasses.

According to the popular marketing blog ClickZ the Marc Jacobs brand described the Tweet Shop as the "the first retail operation in beauty to use 'social currency' as the only means to make purchases."

Highly influential personal style bloggers such as Betty Autier and Aimee Song, who write the popular fashion blogs Le Blog de Betty and Song of Style, respectively, made appearances at the Tweet Shop, and later posted pictures of themselves at the Daisy photo booth on Instagram, Twitter, and on their personal blogs, which were able to reach thousands of devoted followers.

According to the Marc Jacobs brand, the promotional effort, which yielded over 770,000 Facebook likes and 4,300 mentions on Instagram, was focused on "continuing to build a community of fans, consumers, and girls who love this fragrance and sharing a moment with them and giving them a place to share time with the brand,” as reported by ClickZ.