H&M: H&M AND LANVIN

Credits & Description:

Category: Retail and E-commerce, including Restaurants

Advertiser: H&M

Product/Service: FASHION BRAND

Digital Director: Emanuel Lantz (GyroHSR)

Account Manager: Kristina Annehed (GyroHSR)

Planner: Olle Svensson (GyroHSR)

Digital Account Manager: Stefan Wallin (GyroHSR)

Developer: Jonas Hanström (GyroHSR)

Digital Creative: Mårten Björk (GyroHSR)

Art Director: William Kuylienstierna (GyroHSR)

Copywriter: Lars Hedlund (GyroHSR)

Media placement: Web Release - Facebook - September 2010



Summary of the Campaign

The Challenge:

Launch and create a hype around H&M’s latest collaboration with the fashion design house Lanvin. Using nothing but social media for the first time.



Objectives:

Create awareness and buzz, amongst fashion interested people, around the Lanvin for H&M launch as well as post-launch.



Insight:

Designers and bloggers have a commonality in the fact that their inspiration, reflections and ideas only are as good as the response they get. It’s the sensibility to trends, subjects and ideas yet to come, that sets the great ones apart from the good.



Strategy:

Give fashion bloggers a means to highlight their inspiration and reason for blogging in a way that begs for a dialogue/response/action.



Idea

(Do you) Love my blog!



Results

• Lanvin for H&M was a trending topic on Twitter during this period

• 1500 fashion blogs installed the widget

• 3.745.637 counted and over 4.000.000 expected views on the widget.

• 2.102.295 expected views on Facebook home feed

• The winner increased traffic by over 400%.



Commercial results:

• Collection sold out immediately



The Situation

Every year H&M collaborate with a new fashion designer or interesting guest designer. It’s a way of staying relevant, and as one of very few brands, belonging in mainstream fashion as well as high fashion. The collaborations represents the one foot in high fashion, the price represents the mainstream world. We needed to carry on this tradition, with no media money.



The Goal

Given our budget restrictions, much different from previous collaborations, the objective was, obviously, to get as much free spread and interest as humanly possible. What we did have on our side was a disproportionately large group of bloggers; the fashion interested. High fashion can be right or wrong, but a blogger’s fashion can only be personal and at worst "special". And they like to tell the world about their point of view. Very little specific research was needed to arrive at this, only years of observational studies while working with a fashion brand and the people who love it.



The Strategy

The strategy was very clear; what might a fashion blogger want to share, even when it’s branded? Well, the brand in question is well liked given our starting point being H&M FB page, but still there must be a reason for it to spread far. So we made it very clear that engaging was beneficial by adding an aspect that’s as powerful as it gets in a publishing world; readers. The potential of many more visitors and subscribers. That opportunity will make any aspiring blogger active.



Every action, whether participating, voting or liking, would mean further spread. On Facebook or as a widget, on any blog around the world.



Execution

September 2010 the Vote for my blog competition was launched. On the H&M Facebook page (6 million fans) and Twitter feeds (2 million followers) we simply dropped messages like "H&M loves fashion and style blogs. Take part in our global "Vote for my Blog" competition." and "The blog that receives the most votes will win exclusive first showing of the Lanvin for H&M Fashion Show Trailer. Yes it's true. One Blog!" was posted. Very direct, aiming for the ego. Also an e-mail was sent out to several influential bloggers. Now the bloggers knew about an alluring exclusive trailer. Bloggers rapidly joined the competition.



After the 3 campaign weeks, during which people had been able to follow the progress through Facebook and all widgets, the winner was announced by switching all widgets from voting to promoting the Lanvin Show for H&M, and finally the actual collection on H&M.com. 3 in 1.



Documented Results

The first primary goal was to generate awareness and hype around the Lanvin for H&M collaboration through “free” spread via social media. We know this worked by the following results:



• Lanvin for H&M was a trending topic on Twitter during this period

• 1,500 fashion blogs installed the widget

• The widgets has counted 3,745,637 views on fashion blogs. (Excluding the Chinese market and the simpler version of the widget, used by 1/3).

• 32,343 accepted the application for voting or promoting on Facebook. (With an avg. of 130 FB friends that gives 4,204,590 possible views on their friend’s home feed). Divided by half because of login loss, 2,102,295 views are expected. Further, 6,335 posts for specific votes was generated adding even more views.

• Blog posts celebrating H&M’s innovative use of Social Media.

• The winner increased traffic by over 400%.



Commercial results:

• Collection sold out immediately