A Brand Experience Case Study: Gore-Tex demonstrate that technical clothes can look stylish

After the success of the PR launch MotivAction delivered for the Gore-Tex ® SURROUND™ Product Technology launch in January they asked us to deliver a new brand experience live event that would showcase garments featuring their Gore-Tex fabrics and treatments.

Gore-Tex has been providing waterproof and breathable membranes and finishes to clothes manufacturers such as Berghaus and North Face for many years. However, many fashion consumers don’t realise the range of cutting-edge fashion brands that feature Gore-Tex or just how ‘on-trend’ some of the styles are. Gore-Tex asked us to showcase some of these garments to fashion journalists, particularly the Japanese influenced brands, such as Bathing Ape, nanamica and Visvim, who have developed a series of very stylish clothes.

MotivAction took over the Future Gallery, a fantastic white studio space in London’s Covent Garden and produced a colourful and vibrant, modern Japanese-inspired fashion show. We created bespoke mannequins from brightly coloured Perspex which were used to showcase some of the key garments. On the walls we hung giant coloured frames at jaunty angles within which we hung branded shoes.

The focus of the day was two high impact fashion shows in the style of a photo shoot. Shot on a bright blue background, our stylish models paraded in front of the photographer and his shots were instantly projected onto the walls around the journalists.

The event created a real buzz with journalists exclaiming how much they enjoyed the brand experience and the opportunity to get close to the garments. In fact, by the following morning many bloggers (such as Hypebeast, the most read online fashion news and information outlet) and journalists had written about the clothes they had seen.

Posted by Andy Cording, Brand Experiences Account Manager

‘Tis the season to get ‘fest’-ive for brands

It comes around just once a year and there are absolutely no snow covered scenes or cherubic choristers in sight. That’s right, the summer festival music season is fast approaching. And it’s not just the world’s music fans that are gearing up to see their favourite bands. The world’s biggest brands pay good money to attend the summer festivals because they know that when music fans aren’t moshing or doing air guitar, they have a captive audience that will interact with their brand.

These days brands wishing to do their brand experience activity have so many festivals other than Glastonbury to choose from. Festival organisers have realised that festival-goers that used to enjoy them in their youth would still like to attend even though they now have children. Harvest at Jimmy’s Farm and Latitude are two great examples and many brands that target this audience benefit by creating standout brand experiences that entertain and engage them.

And don’t think that festivals are strictly the domain of trendy twenty-somethings. There are festivals aimed solely at the toddler market. Lollibop in Regents Park is a summer festival for kids under the age of 10 and features appearances Rastamouse and Peppa Pig. They even have Ministry of Sound put on a mini disco for them! Again, the brand experience or live experiential opportunities are endless.

Throw in some MotivAction brand ambassadors that are trained to engage and talk with enthusiasm and knowledge about your product and you’ll find it’s a winning combination.

So, if you want your brand adored and loved by a captive audience at this year’s summer festivals then you’ve still got time book some space. Give us a call, we’ll be happy to help.

Brand Experience: Reality bites for Abercrombie & Fitch

As far as live events go, the American reality TV show Jersey Shore is (for anyone under the age of 25) a global success. Never the less, as far as branded events go, the fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch are adamant it won’t be an event with their logo slapped all over it. So appalled are they with the behaviour of the show’s star, Michael ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino that this week they have reportedly paid him significant sums of money NOT to wear their clothes on screen in order to protect the brand they have spent millions of dollars cultivating. Given that this show is adored by fans all over the world you can see why they're getting a little hot under their preppy, pastel coloured polo collars.

Is this simply a highly effective bit of brand PR during the annual summer news slowdown (this subject was even deserving of 5 minutes airtime on BBC Radio 4!) or, heaven forbid, the beginning of an anti-sponsorship phenomenon?  Historically, brands have had ultimate control about whose svelte or ripped bodies their brands are seen on, but with the advent of YouTube and 24 hour rolling reality churning all spectrums of suspect behaviour out of our screens, brands could quickly find themselves having to spend more and more of their time and money in the bizarre situation of 'unpromoting' their products.

Not all brands have had the foresight or frankly the guts to do this - do you remember when Daniella Westbrook accessorised her whole life in Burberry? A&F, however, have always been outspoken and never shied away from telling the public what it feels which is why I think the much anticipated PR backfire won’t necessarily happen. Whether you think them arrogant or not, A&F have laid a very clear marker in the sand by stating that they are certainly not associated with the common 'dross' of reality television and instead are the exclusive label for those preppy enough to turn their backs on the quick fix of fame reality TV promises.

Now, where did I put my matching Burberry sock and underwear set?

Posted By Andy Cording, Brand Experiences Account Manager at The MotivAction Group