Fashion Marketing: Product Launch
(case study: Lip Service – Cybertronic Ragdoll)
The process of building demand for a new group began as soon as the photographer gave us their photos. As webmaster, my role spanned beyond graphic design to plotting retail marketing and e-commerce sales strategies. I decided our outreach and promotions focus, cross-promotion partners, banner ad placement, visual themes and branding of divisions and groups, and web store stock levels, plus managed preorders.
Sneak Peek
With a fan base as dedicated as Lip Service’s, my number one objective was releasing social media graphics immediately to get target markets excited about a new group ASAP.
Once the photo shoot was done, I screened the raw images and worked with the design team and wholesale reps to select the shots I would use in the catalog, website, and promo swag.
To minimize processing time, I used minimal thematic elements on a white background and focused on making the models and clothes look as good as possible while still keeping turnaround for the hottest styles under a day — sometimes within hours or minutes of the photo shoot. I also produced brief videos, animations, and gifs with core photos to increase our viral traction.
I spread promo images, banners, and animation/videos online through our site, our branded webzine, and social media. Then I did cross-promotion with influencers in key communities (like club scene, cyberpunk, and anime fans) to broaden our reach.
After the post-shoot rush, my primary goal was to win over influencers and increase interest in key groups to drive preorder commitments while I designed the catalog..
Having literal rock stars as fans had obvious advantages. I worked with celebrities and influencers to create content for social media and our branded webzine. I also listened to customers to gauge interest and tailor the launch campaign to key target groups.
Both quantity and quality of promo graphics was stepped up. To save production time, as I designed the season’s catalog, I incorporated developed draft elements into campaign graphics. This ensured a steady flow of unique images — plus branded swag like wallpapers and stickers — without increasing the design budget.
After a few frantic sell-outs on the web store, I initiated a preorder system. So social media buzz created urgency to commit early and buy a guarantee. Strong preorders not only increased sales up front, they intensified perceived competition and demand for stock.
Look Book
During the last stages of catalog design, I created an animated look book. Clips and stills provided unique viral content for minimal cost. Plus, the songs I used for most Lip Service videos were contributed by bands who wore the brand.
Lip Service’s collection was broken into five wildly diverse divisions, with narrow overlaps. So designing the look book as a music video created a rare opportunity to show the full collection to niche groups who spent most of their time in twenty percent of the web store.
With the catalog nearly done, I could dress up simpler photo arrays with some more polished imagery and branded elements without increasing the budget. And presenting them in animated form with a soundtrack lent them more dynamic excitement.
Season look books and teaser videos dropped with perfect timing to cast a wider net as the deadline for preorders approached. Bands and models, along with their fans, gladly posted what was essentially a juiced-up free commercial. For select artists, I’d also offer to trade photo posts and cross promotion for stage outfits when the line came into stock.
Calendar | Catalog
Since Lip Service’s early days, their catalogs had been collector’s items. And, in this year, the wholesale reps wanted a solution to ensure their sales tool didn’t get relegated to a dusty drawer. So, I pitched them on formatting it as a calendar. Not only did the trade shops love it, retail customers bought it with strong demand and made it one of the best-performing swag rewards for volume orders of my tenure. Though its production cost more than the standard book, it more than paid for itself.
In Stock
All the previous stages’ work had built up to the fever pitch of promotion when a group arrived. For a few days, while the warehouse checked in the inventory, the campaign placed calls to action on every available platform to generate as much urgent demand as possible.
By directing the warehouse to process preorders before web store stock, I could use them an indirect call to action. As soon as I started notifying preorder buyers with shipping info, they started gushing about their imminent new gear online — spurring even more urgency among those who hoped to score a piece from web store stock.
Since Lip Service staggered new stock arrivals, I had a bit more breathing room to design more promo graphics, branded swag, and a detailed intro video for the launch of popular groups. Most of the elements came from the catalog or existing pieces, so labor costs were negligible.
Along with preorder shipments, I prioritized stage outfit trades and influencer comps in the e-commerce schedule. Ideally, a group’s launch culminated in a wave of social media buzz that kept sales popping for days, and even weeks, if inventory lasted that long.
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