It’s hard enough to attract people to your fashion brand isn’t it. Let alone getting them to buy something. Well what happens when there is a huge event? Something that sweeps a country or even the world?
In this blog post, I want to ask if you are taking advantage of these events to gain sales and encourage a bit of media attention as well as discussing how to do it without copying products.
IT’S A FAST WORLD OUT THERE
As we get faster and faster at producing ideas, services and products, people expect more and more. Retailers have to get the latest products faster and the world has more choice than ever before. But as fast as we move and as self-involved we get through the freedom of choice, one thing has never changed, in the whole history of the world.
A royal wedding. Well I say royal wedding, but really what I mean is a major event that affects a country, continent or the world.
EVERYONE LOVES A WEDDING
Think back to your history books at school or even films you might have seen with a Royal Wedding. Maybe an ancient wedding or fantasy? Have you ever noticed that in every picture and film there is always a crowd of people gathering to watch?
When Prince William and Kate Middleton got married and then had a baby or two, all three events not just filled news channels of the UK, but right across the world. The most interesting thing though was the products, events and excitement that this event created.
Think about it. William’s grandmother is still Queen and it will be some time before he is even King and yet, people were mesmerised by the whole day. The anticipation of the route, finding out about Kate’s background and of course THE DRESS.
Now a brief rant as a Londoner, to those who were interested in the event itself and to all the news channels who kept saying she was a ‘’commoner’’, actually you’re wrong. She didn’t come from a council estate in Brixton, so let’s just get over the whole ‘’commoner’’ thing shall we. But that is beside the point… rant over.
The point is that even me, a person not bothered by my monarchy, still know a lot about the day. I didn’t watch it on TV or go down there like millions of other people across the world. No I was in a bar in Hong Kong trying to avoid it. But even in that sports bar, their projector screen was showing it. I couldn’t escape as much as I wanted to. I can still remember where I was at the time. But isn’t that the power of the ‘Event of the year’?
WAVE YOUR FLAG
For you, the point is that these events have never changed in the minds of the human race. We love a large scale event.
In ancient Rome, people lined the streets to watch an Emperor. We cheer and wave flags as we did then. We now shout at the TV and sit with family and friends as we buy our themed packaged food, flag printed napkins and paper plates. We throw ourselves into the event just for a day. Now where is the trend? Well who do you think made money from the Royal Wedding? Have a guess…… that’s right, the people who made Union Jack flags, paper plates and napkins.
Everybody had a flag on that day. Everyone was waving them and not just in the UK, across the world. There was a guy walking down Lockhart Road in Hong Kong selling them. In the UK, supermarket foods were being made into sets and packaged with Union Jacks to make them into a feature. Retailers were developing basic T-shirts with various British themed prints. Mobile phone covers suddenly had flag designs.
MAKING THEN BIG BUCKS
So what about your fashion brand?
In terms of wedding dresses, every designer and company in the world started copying the Alexander McQueen dress. To me that seems a little obvious and well… illegal actually. Don’t get me started on copyright law….
But I’m sure each one sold well. There were a lot of women who wanted to have that dress. However a much more legal way of operating your business would be to take the ‘Event’ as an inspiration before it happens rather than copy something after.
This can apply to all types of events across the world. All products. Materials. Features. Ideas. Even just simply down to putting a product in new packaging for a month…..
The success of any product taking advantage of an event will use something that is appropriate to their products and reinvent something people can use to celebrate or show support for the event. Just like the party food packaging so that people could sit and watch it on TV or the flag people could wave across the world.
FINALLY….
In this post we’ve covered the importance of major events across the world and how people gather to support them.
How products are created to show support and how the products need to be appropriate to work. So what now? Now you need to think about your actions steps.
[wc_fa icon=”cogs” margin_left=”” margin_right=””] Action Steps:
Make no mistake; these are trends like any other. Short, flash in the pan trends yes of course, but they still exist and you have to plan for them, or you will miss out, where others will be profiting. So ask yourself
What events can you plan for?
What ones are appropriate for your products?
How can you take inspiration from them and either create packaging or create new products that help people to support it?
P.S..
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