Media Influence on Fashion and Lifestyle Brand Success

🎬 Red carpets still work. But only when a brand is part of the moment, not just present. The Los Angeles premiere of The Housemaid was another reminder that in the social media attention economy, brand impact is maximized when data and creativity work together. 🌟 Let’s start with fashion. Sydney Sweeney delivered the visual anchor of the night. Old Hollywood energy, Marilyn references, and a silhouette that photographers immediately locked onto. That matters because when an image becomes the default pull photo, the brand attached to it travels everywhere. Because the Galia Lahav gown grabbed attention and broke through the clutter, the designer didn’t just get visibility. The brand got context, relevance, and repeat mentions across red carpet galleries and fashion press. That combination is what turns a dress into earned value, not just a pretty picture. Amanda Seyfried’s look played differently but still worked. Cleaner lines, less spectacle, but consistent coverage across galleries and industry accounts. Her MONSE outfit and jewelry were confirmed through stylist posts and fashion write-ups, which is the quiet backbone of fashion EMV. Not viral, but durable. Together, the fashion and jewelry moments, which included Tiffany & Co. and Jacob & Co, from the premiere realistically drove strong earned media value. Not inflated, not fantasy math. Real exposure tied to real visuals and real attribution. Now here’s the interesting part. The biggest winner wasn’t a designer. It was Audible. Audible didn’t need a headline or a caption. Its logo lived on the step-and-repeat next to Lionsgate, which meant it appeared in nearly every Getty image, gallery, and red carpet video pulled by global outlets. No one talked about Audible. But everyone saw it. That kind of repeated, unavoidable visual presence is easy to underestimate and quietly powerful. 💡Two very different strategies. Two different kinds of value. Fashion wins when it owns the moment. Sponsors win when they own the frame. The mistake is assuming they work the same way. Earned media value isn’t about how loud the buzz feels. It’s about how often a brand shows up, how clearly it’s identified, and whether it’s tied to what people are actually looking at. Red carpets still deliver. But only if the placement is intentional. 🍿Talking about the Lionsgate movie, The Housemaid is a confident, restrained thriller that relies more on performance and atmosphere than shock value. Amanda Seyfried brings control and tension, while Sydney Sweeney adds an unpredictable edge that keeps scenes engaging. It doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it’s well-acted, focused, and effective without overplaying its hand. Well done Cassandra, Briana, Steven, Michael, Amelia, Chris, Brent and team. #Media #TheHouseMadeMovie #BoxOffice

High-street fashion brands aren’t just attending the Met Gala anymore… They’re dressing it. ✨👗 And honestly? That shift says a lot about where fashion is heading. This year: 👕 Kendall Jenner wore a gown crafted from Gap T-shirts 🖤 Bad Bunny arrived in a custom black ZARA tuxedo ✨ Stevie Nicks wore a custom ZARA look designed by John Galliano S.A. 🔥 Russell Westbrook stepped onto the carpet in a shirtless GapStudio workwear set 🏀 ALO made its Met Gala debut on Jimmy Butler with a sporty suit-and-hoodie combination Even last year, Gap created a custom look for Laura Harrier, while H&M dressed multiple attendees in 2024. At first glance, it feels unexpected. But that contrast is exactly why it works. Because the real value here isn’t just the clothing. It’s the cognitive dissonance. Seeing brands associated with accessibility suddenly appear on fashion’s most exclusive stage creates instant attention. 👀 And in today’s landscape, attention = cultural currency. Bad Bunny wearing ZARA at the Super Bowl reportedly generated millions in media impact value. Prestige platforms are becoming the most powerful “advertising spaces” for mass-market fashion brands. What’s even more interesting is how these brands are doing it. This isn’t the old diffusion-line strategy anymore. Back then, luxury brands created cheaper secondary labels: → Marc by Marc Jacobs → See by Chloé → D&G But many of those lines eventually disappeared because they blurred brand identity. Now the strategy has evolved. Instead of creating “affordable luxury,” brands are creating elevated creative ecosystems with distinct identities. ✨ Heaven by Marc Jacobs ✨ GapStudio ✨ Zara collaborations with couture-level creative direction GapStudio, for example, isn’t just about selling clothes. It’s a positioning strategy: using curated fashion moments, celebrity visibility, and premium storytelling to reshape how consumers perceive the brand. And honestly, it’s working. Because fashion today is no longer just about price point. It’s about cultural relevance. The brands winning right now aren’t necessarily the most expensive. They’re the ones mastering perception. ✨ #MetGala #FashionMarketing #BrandStrategy #LuxuryFashion #Zara #GapStudio #MarketingStrategy #FashionBusiness #CulturalMarketing #RetailStrategy #BrandPositioning

Content and influencer performance can be tough to predict, and frequently can go against your natural instincts. We run a lot of influencer content, and use MMM measures to understand the revenue impact of different content types, influencer types and content themes. Some of the insight is in line with things you would expect: • Smaller influencers have smaller reach but a closer connection to their audience. So the relative revenue impact per reach is frequently 𝟮𝘅-𝟯𝘅 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀. • Video content 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟴𝟬% • Influencer reach increasingly drives 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘃𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲, as brands build longer term relationships But some of the insights go against your natural instincts: • If you are promoting a fashion product, you should use fashion influencers. That is logical, but it is also wrong. Fashion influencers promote tens (hundreds) of fashion products per month. Their audience is saturated and has lost the close connection that the channel depends on. Influencers who focus exclusively on one product category rarely show strong incremental revenue impact, with tangential categories 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝟱𝘅 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁. • The pet or sport influencer who hasn’t posted any fashion content this year might be harder to engage with but if you can create some traction their 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆. They also tend to be less tied to the seasonality in your category, so help to drive 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱𝘀. • We see really strong performance from actors promoting healthcare, families promoting fashion, travel promoting wellbeing and fashion promoting petcare. Strong content delivered to an audience who cares consistently drives strong uplifts, and 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁. The theory always supported this, if you run modern measurement it enforces it.

The fast track to irrelevancy? Hold onto brand messaging and cues that ignore your actual customer and the very real cultural, economic, and physical reality they live in. Matthieu Blazy's sophomore show held in the Bowery St station in NYC was the perfect way to illustrate how two opposing things can work together: luxury/aspirational fashion and relatable every day life. Do I think that suddenly thousands of new customers will be so engaged by the sight of familiar public transportation that they will instantly convert to become high end fashion customers? No. Do I think Chanel's actual customer will be so put off by the sight of a runway show in a subway that they'll instantly stop buying Chanel? Also No. So then what was the point? Besides the creativity and art (I'm obsessed), simply visually connecting its brand to the every day, Chanel ensures that even in a global downtown, when its offerings are even further out of reach for middle America, it's still serving up interesting creative entertainment and inspiration in a context that middle America can relate to. Chanel is brand building, or rather WORLD building, for more than this year's bottom line. It set its beautiful wares and brand in a place that acknowledges the world the rest of us live in. Fantasy is important. We all need escapism. And entertainment. But if your creative lives in a world that refuses to acknowledge the average person's everyday existence, you don't look aspirational. You look out of touch. For masstige and prestige CPG brands with countless media platforms and touch points with customers, this means balancing your aspirational creative on TV and Instagram with the low res face-to-face Tik Toks that acknowledge how hard life is and how your product helps make life suck a little less. At the end of the day, people aren't buying a set of benefits and % claims. They buy brands that they connect with, that see them, and inhabit the same world they do. Brands that are setting the standard for culture that people want to live in. Even if it's on their daily subway commute. #brand #chanel #beauty #wellness #cpg #culture

My first marketing analysis and I couldn’t be more excited to share what I uncovered about Rhode. As someone who graduated last year and just stepped into the marketing world, I’ve always been curious: How do some brands become “the brand” everyone’s talking about? Rhode is the perfect case study. In just three years, with no physical stores and only 10 core products, Hailey Bieber built a billion-dollar brand. Recently, Rhode was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty was a huge moment in the industry. So, how did Rhode and Hailey pull this off? Here’s what I found interesting: 👩🏻💻Customers became Rhode’s best marketers - By designing products (like the Lip Case) that look good in mirror selfies, unboxing and GRWM videos, Rhode turned customers into content creators. Every post fueled the brand’s organic reach and they achieved this without heavy ad spending ✨ Selling a lifestyle, not just a product. - Rhode isn’t just skincare. It’s an aesthetic. Buying into Rhode means buying into Hailey’s clean girl lifestyle. That’s the magnetism, everyone wants a piece of her world. 🧠 Listening and adapting. - When Rhode faced criticism, from limited shade ranges on their blushes to complaints about the grainy formula of the Peptide Lip Tint, they didn’t stay silent. They responded, acknowledged the feedback, and made improvements. That kind of transparency built trust and strengthened customer loyalty. 🛒 Strategic influencer collaborations. - From Tate McRae, rising Gen Z pop star, to Alexandra Saint Mleux, F1’s “It Girl” wag and fashion icon, Rhode tapped into cultural moments and diverse audiences to stay relevant and expand their reach. 🤳🏻 Product design for virality. - The Lip Case wasn’t just functional, it became a status symbol. It solved a simple problem (losing your lip balm), but more importantly, it sparked organic content across social media. 📝What I learned from all this: You don’t need a massive product line or a traditional retail presence to build a powerful brand. What you do need is a strong story, a genuine connection, and a product experience that people want to talk about. Hailey made Rhode a part of people’s lifestyle and daily routine. What do you think was Rhode’s most brilliant marketing move? As I dive deeper into marketing analysis, I’m learning so much about what makes brands stand out and I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re a marketer (or marketing enthusiast like me), let’s connect! #rhode #marketing #campaign #casestudy #GenZmarketing

You were on the morning commute to work. Scrolling through your social feed, you stumbled upon a reel from your favorite influencer promoting a coffee brand you've never tried. You then saw the same coffee at your breakfast stop. Intrigued, you decided to give it a shot. But why were you swayed? Here's the science behind the persuasion, which consists of 2 mental keys and 1 Trojan Horse. [𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝟭] 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 🙉 Mirror neurons in our brain were discovered in the 1990s. They fire up when we observe and repeat an action from another human, regardless in person or via a medium. A lot of research followed and it was established that we copy others for empathy and to feel belonged. [𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝟮] 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 👯♀️ Social mimicry isn’t just involuntary i.e. it was found that we intentionally mirror the behaviour of specific individuals. This effect zooms in on the desire to mimic the consumption behaviour of people we identify with, and is widely applied in the fashion industry. [𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲] 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗣𝗦𝗜) 🦄 Coined in the 1950s, PSI refers to the relationships we have with real or fictional characters via media. Following influencers on social media is definitely an act of establishing PSI. But PSI requires a couple of conditions: Taste Leadership (Attractiveness, Prestige, Expertise) and Opinion Leadership (Expertise again, Information, Interaction). Not all sub-boxes need to be checked but without any, there’s no trust and liking. The more boxes a person ticks, the more influential they are. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 🎉 The brain’s gates aren’t tightly closed. Given that we are primed to be copycats, Key 1 is automatically gifted to advertisers. Brands know that we won’t buy just because they tell us so. This is where the influencers come in. Their personalities are Trojan Horses. The longer you maintain PSI with them, the stronger their presence is just outside the mind’s gate. Sharp marketers choose the relevant influencers, insert the payload (product) into the proverbial wooden horse (endorsement) and simply wait for the desire to mimic to arise. When it does, Key 2 is handed over. Many times discounts are thrown in to hasten the process. Therefore, the more influencers you follow, the easier it is for advertisers to sway you. If you've been resistant, you're likely a '𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳' who seeks multiple information sources about a product before buying it. This makes your Key 2 nearly untouchable. When was the last time you bought something because of an influencer? Do you give out the second key easily? 📣 I am a marketing advisor to startups. I write about the intersection between Marketing & Behavioural Science, and career lessons. Thank you for following! 😎 #marketing #consumerbehaviour #influencer #singapore

80% Indians Inspired To Buy Beauty Products by Facebook & Instagram Reels! 👇 Here's the scoop from a recent study by consumer research platform GWI, commissioned by Meta: 1. Social Media's Huge Role: Meta's Facebook and Instagram are leading the charge in beauty product searches. 9 out of 10 people in the survey said they discover beauty products on these platforms. 2. Reels, The Game-Changer: Instagram Reels is a big player, with 47% finding beauty products through this feature. In fact, a third of surveyed beauty shoppers have made purchases through Reels! 3. Surprising Stats: The survey, which included over 2,000 consumers across 74 cities, reveals a whopping 68% of beauty buyers now prefer online shopping – a 15% jump from pre-Covid times. 4. The Influencer Impact: Indian influencers are key, with 7 out of 10 beauty content viewers and 2 out of 3 fashion content viewers relying on them for authentic reviews. Turns out, no reviews can be as bad as negative ones! 5. Fashion Finds: Similar trends are seen in fashion, with 76% discovering fashion brands on social media, and 97% on Meta platforms, especially Instagram Reels. 6. Augmented Reality (AR) Rising: AR is also making waves, with 75% of beauty consumers saying virtual try-ons for products like lipsticks are nudging them towards online purchases. So, what does this mean for brands and marketers? 1. Meta's Mighty Influence: Meta is a major player in helping users discover new beauty and fashion brands. Instagram Reels is a key discovery tool, influencing purchase decisions significantly. 2. Authenticity and Reviews: Positive reviews and product authenticity are big drivers for purchases, especially in the beauty and fashion sectors. Here are some strategic recommendations for scaling beauty and fashion businesses: 1. Maximize Facebook and Instagram presence, especially Instagram Reels. 2. Collaborate with local influencers for authentic and relatable content. 3. Implement AR to enhance the online shopping experience and engagement. 4. Prioritize Online Reviews by actively seeking & responding to customer feedback. 5. Make websites and online stores mobile-friendly. 6. Create diverse & engaging content, including storytelling, product demos, and testimonials. 7. Use data analytics for tailored marketing and audience segmentation. 8. Regularly analyze consumer behavior to inform strategy. 9. Focus on sustainability and transparency by emphasizing ethical production and clear communication about your processes. 10. Be flexible to rapidly adapt to new trends and consumer demands. The takeaway? It's all about adapting to the digital shift and leveraging platforms like Instagram Reels to connect with consumers. What's your take on using AR for virtual try-ons? Does it enhance your shopping experience? Share your thoughts in the comment!

How Miu Miu is leveraging social media and influencer marketing to engage with digital consumers online. Miu Miu was established in 1992 by Miuccia Prada as the youthful-leaning, high-end women's clothing and accessory brand and fully owned subsidiary of Prada Group. Dubbed “fashion’s biggest success story” by no less than the The New York Times, Miu Miu has proven a smash hit in the #luxury industry, more than doubling revenues in 2024.   The growth is even more impressive for Miu Miu’s #socialmedia followers, #creator community and content volume.   Miu Miu’s post count hasn’t risen quite as steeply as its Earned Media Value (EMV) and community size. As is often the case, it’s not the overall number of mentions that are making the difference, but how deeply those mentions are resonating with #digital consumers.   More specifically, how deeply they’re resonating with digital consumers on Instagram. After all, that’s where most content about #fashion brands tends to live. Looking at Miu Miu’s 2024 data, the brand is no exception: Instagram was responsible for 83% of the brand’s EMV, 84% of its impressions, and 85% of its engagement.  American actress Sydney Sweeney, more specifically, is responsible for the brand’s top five posts, demonstrating what a #socialmedia goldmine and effective brand ambassador she has become.    Overall, Prada Group is an outlier in the #luxury slowdown trend, which has seen bigger competitors such as LVMH and Kering suffer, with only ultra-luxury brands Brunello Cucinelli and Hermès also withstanding the downwards trend.