Topshop teams up with Google+ for LFW

London fashion week has always been an exclusive experience that was only available a select few, but this year that has all changed. At the 2013 LFW Topshop teamed up with Google plus allowing people to watch the show in real time from the comfort of their sitting rooms.

The fashion show was aired on Topshop’s own website, YouTube and Google+. Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn wore outfits fitted with micro-cameras allowing home viewers a model’s eye view of everything both on stage and back stage.

Google Hang Out events were set up to allow people at home to speak directly to designers and fashion editors after the fashion show and a Be the Buyer App allowing users to curate the collection and get tips from the buyers on how to put the looks together at home.

This is not the first digital innovation Topshop has been a part of. In 2012 Topshop collaborated with Facebook for LFW for its premium ‘Unique’ line. The link allowed 2 million digital users in 100 countries to view the show as it happened and shared it instantly via their Facebook page and buy the lipsticks that the models were wearing. Until the 2013 LFW collaboration it was the most watched live catwalk show ever.

In the first five days since the collaboration’s live video initiative began, there have been more than 4 million views across a multitude of platforms.  The show was streamed not just to Topshop’s own site, but also via embedded media players on news sites and top fashion bloggers and, of course, in the window of the iconic Oxford Circus store.  In the first five minutes of the live show there were more than 200,000 social media shares across all the social networks using the Shoot The Show feature.

Maria Morrissey
Marketing Advisor

Dismissing Social Media

Robin Kiely is the new Head of Communication for the budget airline Ryanair, and as part of his new position he has looked at the relevance of social media. While he agrees that some other airlines may use Facebook as a means of communication, he stated that “a Facebook account would not be helpful” to Ryanair.

Ryanair is sticking to its budget nature in not wishing to spend resources on having to hire more staff dedicated to the social media site. He stated that if customers wanted to get in touch the existing methods are still available, referring to their brands customer car line.

While it is commendable that Ryanair recognise the need to manage the page, when other brands fail by leaving their page without a plan, it seems that Ryanair may be shying away from social media to avoid the likelihood of the sites becoming a place on which dissatisfied customers can vent their anger.

The question is, should this fear still be relevant? With the way social media is going brands should have established content plans and rules of engagement for fans to abide by.

Although Ryanair do not spend very much on advertising, PR is of huge importance to the brand and a presence on social media could increase customer interaction and engagement. 

Ryanair is hugely online based with its flight booking and check-in systems so it would make sense to have an online system by which customers could engage with the brand itself.

So are Ryanair right in avoiding the social media and sticking to traditional media, or will this avoidance come as a disadvantage to the future prospects and advancement of the brand?

Claire Mc Nally, 

Marketing Advisor