Last night, DKNY and their heralded PR Girl took to platform BigLive.com to host a FashionCast of their Spring 2011 show. Big Live, founded by Michael Rudoy, is a steaming video website that allows viewers to watch programming while engaging with their social networks. The collaboration was a match made in heaven as DKNY’s community of loyal fans were receptive to the newly introduced technology of Big Live. Macala Wright, publisher of FashionablyMarketing.Me enjoyed the new platform as well. “What I loved most was that DKNY didn’t use the current streaming methods that all brands do, they chose a new service and technology. That’s what made it exciting. The community was playful and engaging, the experience was thus very fun,” she shared.
Although DKNY is no stranger to engagement through social networks. With over 250,000 Twitter followers at the @dkny handle, they were listed in the Top 3 Luxury Brands with largest Twitter followings in the L2 Digital IQ Index. Beating out brands such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry, the DKNY PR Girl knows a few things about authenticity and connecting with social communities.
Guests in the two hundreds were ready for the show to begin before the clock hit the start time of 10PM. In the meantime, viewers exchanged sentiments of excitement as the minutes until the show dwindled down. The moment the show began, there was a frenzy of feedback of all the pieces the guests were looking to buy. DKNY PR Girl encouraged conversation, yet there were some users who were still a bit shy to join in on all the jabber on the Big Live chat room. It may have been nerves that didn’t allow everyone to voice their opinions on the Spring 2011 show, but even mute viewers enjoyed the treat they were in for. Other viewers took directly to Facebook and Twitter to share in the exchange, through the “shout” box function, which enabled users to comment on their social networks without leaving the cozy pages of Big Live.
More viewers filed into their virtual front row seats to offer more insight. They pointed out trends they loved and where they would wear them. There wasn’t a negative thing said about the collection in the chat room. Yet, as a superbly suited host, the DKNY PR Girl shared everything from her least favorite looks, along with show credits, such as hair by Wella. She told of the fabrication used in key pieces, along with the inspiration for the collection. It was all the things that every fashion fan wanted to hear from the horse’s mouth.
After the show, I caught up with a participant in DKNY’s Fashioncast that I connected with through the friend feature on Big Live. Kaitlyn Squires, a fashion blogger and PR girl herself, shared “It was lots of fun and a great chance for me to meet like minded people and see a show from a seat I may never get in person. You get instant feedback in the chat, your customers can give feedback directly to you, or you can see what they have to say to each other.” The engagement with viewers and accessibility to the brand seemed to be a high point for all viewers. “It gives you a chance to promote an event that everyone with a computer can attend and be part of, and when people feel included they remember you and your brand,” said Squires.
As the Spring ’11 show looped for the fourth and final time, fans made their way to the DKNY e-commerce site, where DKNY PR Girl had already selected her favorite pieces- inspiring point of sales by the power of suggestion. Those who participated in the FashionCast had access to 15% off men’s and women’s selections when using the promo code: BigLive15. Which- by the way, is still valid until Wednesday evening at 11:59PM.
DKNY’s FashionCast on Big Live was an excellent first foray into the technologies of merging streaming video with social networks and e-commerce to build a loyal community of consumers. Wright commented, “James Gardner, founder of Create The Group and designer of the DKNY site, told me this year was about the decentralization of commerce via social mediums and I believe this was the perfect example of that.”
If you missed the Spring 2011 showing on Big Live and still haven’t had the chance to view the show, don’t fret. I’ve got you covered on the video front with some footage I snagged during the DKNY Spring 2011 Show. Check it out below, and read my review, here.