According to a 2009 study by Technorati, blogs have exceeded all other Internet applications in the number of users. By 2011, the total number of blogs reached 152 million. The popularity of blogs has shifted the nature in which fashion brands communicate with their audience, as blogs today are considered the new electronic form of word-of-mouth or e-Wom (Sedeke, 2013).

A few features and functions of online communications through blogging platforms include (Okonkwo, 2010):

Transparency – people must know ‘face’ of blog, blogger must be open to all dicussions, even negative ones

Informality – the more informal: the better – if writing is ‘too smooth’ readers may not trust voice and see blog as ‘corporate ghost’

Objectivity – bloggers must be unbiased and fair, readers are quick to point out when blogger is being influenced by certain brand/company

Trust – consumers trust eachother more than press and companies, without trust, community is gone

Most fashion brands have only just caught up with bloggers. Much scepticism has been placed around the credibility of bloggers, with established brands and designers resisting to incorporate them into their corporate communication (Okonkwo, 2010). However in 2009, Burberry, known as being one of the most innovative luxury designers to use digital marketing, launched their first campaign through fashion blogs, gaining enormous success and reaching about two million page visits a day (Sedeke, 2013). This sparked interest in the blogging world and their power over the influence of the mass audience. Web 2.0 is the term that describes the second generation of Internet technologies, with lively discussions taking places on blogs, online communities, and other social media (Khamis & Munt, 2010). Alexander McQueen’s CEO claims ‘We treat respected bloggers in the same way we treat respected journalists, servicing them with information, news and images, and valuing their opinion in return.’

Benefits of working with fashion bloggers:

• Blogs can quickly react and respond to current happenings which fit well to fashion news
• Create interactive environment that serves as good marketing
• ‘Bloggers and their followers appreciate personally acquired or witnessed information more than the information coming from an official source’ (Lichtenstein, 2009)
• a ‘street of fashion,’ as a source of authenticity and a display of the actual use of fashion by the general public (Sedeke, 2013)

Below you will find 3 vintage retailers that have successfully collaborated with bloggers to communicate to their audiences:

Cow Vintage

(Target unique/quirky bloggers that fit mold of ‘We Are Cow’)

is a popular vintage retailer based in Birmingham. They pride themselves on how frequently they work with bloggers, even providing a tab on their website called ‘blog’ which consists of images and information about their collaborations with bloggers. Their most recent collaboration is with the ‘confetti crowd’ blog, which consists of 5 bloggers with diverse styles. Cow vintage decided to create a running theme in a photo shoot with the confetti girls, and invite readers to check out the ‘trends’ seen in the photo shoot on their own website. On the confetti girl’s websites, they provide images and links to Cow’s website, and their collection.

Asos Vintage Marketplace

(Own Blog)

ASOS may be ahead of their game in terms of blogging. Their approach is having their own blog ‘Marketplace Asos’, in which ‘normal’ girls wear their clothes and readers get discounts on items if they ‘like’ the ASOS blog. They feature a ‘feedback section’ and a link to the entire collection for readers to find instantly online, which allows consumers to engage with one another, creating a sense of ‘community’ around the ASOS vintage marketplace. By dividing the reviews from ‘positive’, to ‘neutral’, to ‘negative’ – the readers can choose which reviews to pay most attention to. This allows the consumer to perceive the brand as honest and transparent, therefore trusting ASOS’ online promotions.

Wolf&Gypsy Vintage

(Instagram)

This retailer based in Brighton, does minimal yet precise collaborations with bloggers, by targeting bloggers that fit the ‘personality’ of the audience they want to reach. Seen on the wolf&gypsy instagram page, their ‘regram’ of a blogger wearing an item of theirs has merely 63 likes, whereas the blogger’s own post has 647 likes. This enables wolf&gypsy to reach her audience which in fact may be much larger than their own.

Wolf & Gypsy’s Instagram VS Blogger’s Instagram – can see difference of interaction between consumers very clearly. On blogger’s post, there is much more interaction and likes. 

Critical Analysis:

Know Your Audience

According to research done by DBB London, writing as well as reading blogs are mostly done by the younger generation, with 90% of bloggers in their 20s and 79% of blog readers under the age of 40. In fact, only 70% of people in a middle class of the UK were not sure what a blog even meant. Therefore, when evaluating a blogger’s influence, it is important to remember that their reach may not be as large as a brand would like, or reach the ‘right’ audience at all. Using Wolf&Gypsy’s collaboration through Instagram, it is valuable for the brand to asses the blogger’s following, and asses whether her followers would even be aware that a brand is tagged in her post. Or perhaps the contrary, that the consumers are too ‘smart’, and would see the brand tagged in her post and choose not to click on it because they are aware that is it a promotion.

Bloggers can lose authentic voice

With increasing collaborations between brands and bloggers gaining popularity, a bloggers’ original ‘authentic’ voice may not transmit as truthfully as before. Consumers and readers are getting smarter, and will notice when a brand has paid a blogger to promote their clothing. Thoughtful and real promotion works best, and the blogger must fit the ‘customer’ that the brand wants to attract. A blogger attracts a following of similar types of readers, as these readers have similar tastes and styles or strive to be similar to the blogger. However, if the blogger posts about a brand that doesn’t suit the blogger’s style and worse, the reader’s style, readers may view blogger as a ‘corporate ghost’ and lose interest (Okonkwo, 2010). With Cow Vintage, it is great that they targeted a group of bloggers that fit the mold of different consumers, therefore attracting a larger audience, however, if Cow Vintage doesn’t fit with these bloggers’ unique styles, the promotion efforts may backfire, and readers will feel that these bloggers are only posting about Cow Vintage for profit, not through their unique voice and style. Therefore the choice of collaborations between brand and blogger have to be well thought out, and ‘authentic’ enough for the consumer to trust that the blogger’s posts are truthful.

References:

Ahmed, I. (2008). FT Report – Business of Fashion. Financial Times.

Arnardottir, B. (2016). The Business of Blogging: A Multiple Case Study. Copenhagen Business School.

Bollier, D. and Racine, L. (2005). Ready to Share: Creativity in Fashion & Digital Culture. Ready to Share.

Brown, R. (2013). Brand Interview: Cow Vintage – Blogger’s Lounge. [online] Blogger’s Lounge. Available at: http://bloggers-lounge.co.uk/blogging-tips/brand-interview-cow-vintage/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2016].

COW, W. (2016). CONFETTI CROWD: WE ARE COW. [online] Confetticrowd.com. Available at: http://www.confetticrowd.com/2015/04/we-are-cow.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2016].

Instagram.com, (2016). @wolfandgypsyvintage • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/wolfandgypsyvintage/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2016].

Khamis, S. and Munt, A. (2010). The Three Cs of Fashion Media Today: Convergence, Creativity & Control. Scan Journal, 8(2).

Marketplace.asos.com, (2016). Colour Me Vintage | Shop Skirt, Coat, Jacket, Shirt, Necklace | ASOS Marketplace. [online] Available at: https://marketplace.asos.com/boutique/colour-me-vintage [Accessed 8 Jan. 2016].

Marwick, A. (2011). Conspicuous and Authentic: Fashion Blogs, Style, and Consumption. ICA, 2(1).

Okonkwo, U. (2010). Luxury online. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sedeke, K. and Arora, P. (2013). Top ranking fashion blogs and their role in the current fashion industry. First Monday, 18(8).