innovation summit overview
DESCRIPTION
From a fashion marketing students perspective who attended Innovation Summit in April 2012TRANSCRIPT
INNOVATION SUMMIT
Final ProjectGina FinchFMRK 4900 SPRING 2012
Final Project FMRK 4900 SPRING 2012By Gina Finch
About IS
From fashion to lifestyle
technology plays a key role
in executing the proper
content to deliver to your
market. By interning with
Wendy Bendoni of Style
Lens I was able to help in
organizing a conference by
the name of Innovation
Summit. The one event was
founded by Macala Wright
who previously put together
Retail Camp along with
Jennifer Margolin, editor of
her retail luxury blog Red Sole
Diary.
The focus of this event
was to address the latest
digital trends by bringing in
some of the top industry
professionals. Topics such as
“Digital Innovation, Lifestyle
and Culture: How to Build A
Lifestyle Brand That
Consumers Connect With”
presented by Raman Kia.
With Raman’s experience of
being executive director of
digital strategy at Conde
Nast, Raman provides the
audience with information of
executing online advertising
by seeing social media for
more than what it is.
Innovation Summit also
brought out Peter Kim,
owner of Hudson Jeans who
openly shared his journey in
becoming one of the most
successful designer brand
jeans in the U.S. Many
attendees appreciated the
honesty Peter Kim humbly
shared. One of the main
things he emphasized was his
company’s motto of “you
have to make mistakes
sometimes, if you’re not
making mistakes you’re not
doing the right thing”.
Aside from just listening
in on speakers, there was a
lunch break and a network
hour were guest had the
chance to chat with speakers
while eating and enjoying a
glass of wine. By having all
these elements present many of those
who attended left the event with their ipads
filled with notes and content that will
motivate them to translate it on themselves.
Analyzing IS
I was assigned to this project late
February by Wendy who was responsible of
hosting the event at our Woodbury
University Campus, specifically the Fashion
Marketing department. Last year around
the same time Wendy allowed our Fashion
Promotion class to do most of the
organizing for Retail Camp. This conference
was a two day fiasco that brought most of
the top fashion professionals out to
Burbank. After having experience in
managing the technology duties, I was
allowed to help Innovation Summit with
food, technology (microphones, projectors,
speakers, and etc.) and the volunteers. The
first thing I took care of was acquiring a lab
tech to re-train me on how to operate the
equipment in the Fletcher Jones
auditorium . Getting trained by James Lee
was very useful because I learned how to
manipulate the light and also how to project
the presentation out to the television in the
atrium.
After getting tech savvy my next move
was to take charge of the food with Bon
Appetite. I was to order food for a simple
breakfast pastries along with coffee and tea
and for lunch we got three different type of
sandwiches with pasta salad. Since we were
able to have a wine sponsor, a bartender
was needed to service
“This conference was a two day
fiasco that brought most of the top
fashion professionals out to
Burbank.”
Left.Innovation Summit Checkin at Woodbury University . Right, Student Jenifer Quang setting up the step and repeat.
our guests thus, it was my
duty to request through the
catering service. Keeping up with
Erin Malleus who is the manager
of Bon Appetite was a constant
task we had to follow through
because we made changes to the
menu, requested for more table
linens and asked to chill our wine.
Also logistics for time were
important because we wanted to
represent the Woodbury
community as best as we could.
Two days before the event
Burbank experienced a horrible
rain storm and we also found out
that there was a leak in the audio.
Sadly the audio system was
inoperable so we had to act
quickly and have the guys in the
technology department bring in
portable speakers and
microphones. Luckily the new
system worked out really well and
sounded better than we
anticipated.
The final job I had to do was
to manage all the helpful
volunteers. From 8am till the end,
the lovely fashion marketing girls
performed all the duties I asked
them to. Since things seemed to be
in order for the most part of the
day, all of us got the chance to sit
in some of the presentations
given. Though we were
challenged with natures showers
by ruining the audio system our
team prevailed and put together a
very smooth event. During lunch
we had a one hour break and I got
to have a chance to meet with a
few folks. One fascinating person I
got to networked with is Enrico
Moses who is founder of FIDOO,
an online fashion search engine
“ Though we were challenged with natures showers by ruining the audio system our team prevailed and put together a very smooth event.
Left. Enrico from Fidoo and Sarah from Simply Stylist. Right. Fashion Marketing students. Right. Peter Kim and Jennifer Margolin
that searches all social media platforms along with
fashion editorials and blogger posts. By talking to
him I got great insight on how much fashion lovers
strive to search for a unique purse or a specific pair
of jeans. Fidoo provides that online service, I see it as
a yelp but for fashion.
At the end of the conference, I felt that I took
away a lot of constructive and applicable advice.
Out of the many speakers Andre Warren who is a
creative brand strategist at Warren Creative stated
“ It’s not always about production quality, it’s about
quality content. Don’t over edit. It comes across as
contrived ”. With this bit of information it says a
great deal of how now days we need to consider how
we compose our content even before we begin
thinking of a way to distribute it.
Aside from being schooled on the new trends of
social media, I also had the opportunity to learn how
manage tasks. By working with Woodbury’s staff
such as Erin Malleus from Bon Appetite I realized
that it is important to have a good relationship
because you never know when you require a last
minute pot of coffee. Wendy Bendoni has always
been a faculty member that I have admired.
Through her I learned that it is always nice to be
supportive in all situations because there will be
some challenges and people to deal with.
“Itʼs not always about production quality, itʼs about quality content. Donʼt over edit. It comes across as contrived” -Andre Warren
Social Media has evolved as the main
engine for marketing vehicles all across the
world. Macala Wright and Jennifer
Margolin are not only internet famous for
their creative ways to approach the digital
world but they are also now seen as the
powerhouse pair that has brought insight in
connecting with followers and fans. Last
year’s Retail Camp had a massive campaign
in promoting the two day conference
through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and
personal blogs, however this years digital
promotion came more natural. Awareness
of Innovation Summit first began early
January when Macala and Jennifer
announced the event through their blogs,
Fashionably Marketing and Red Sole Dairy.
In later days the duo advertise on twitter
reaching about 50,500 within the 3 month
promotion.
Instagram has over 800 million
members and is one of the latest
applications used worldwide to share photos
on other social media outlets such as
Facebook, twitter, and tumblr.This mobile
app allows any person with a smart phone
to become a photographer by taking a
picture, choosing a filter to give it a certain
look followed by sharing. By having an
obsession of sharing images, Instagram was
one of the most active platforms aside from
Twitter. Over 50 of the attended guest used
Instagram to broadcast the guest speakers,
fashion finds and photo-ops in front of the
step and repeat.
Social MediaInnovation Summit
Post-IS
Bloggers and marketing executives love content and the best thing they do is blog posts. With so much educational information provided by the note-able speakers, each attendee posted their own personal experience. No blog post is ever the exactly the same and that is one of the best things.
Major Dilemma is a fashion and life style blog written by Ashleigh McGrew. Ashleigh was one of the few selected bloggers to attend Innovation Summit and on her post she covered content she believed her readers would find valuable. It is easy to regurgitate information but it takes talent to put information into perspective for readers. Along with event pictures and a story, Ashleigh posted several YouTube videos that made a reader feel as if they attended. Another prominent feature for Major Dilemma is taking action to follow up with a blog post within the a few days after attendance. This is key because usually the first
person who posts receives the most views and comments.
For those who did not attend the conference and wanted to know all the key points you could visit the one and only Fashionably Marketing. Me blog by Macala Wright. Her post of the event is indeed the most detailed with an immaculate amount of information. A favorite and popular story is the 10 Digital Marketing Trends for Fashion, Luxury,
and Retail submitted by Marguerite Darlington . FMM readers are professionals who work in the marketing or fashion industry and aspire to seek new and creative ways to develop a strategy. Some of the tips given were:
1. Every brand needs a story2. Consumers buy brands because of labels, not products 3. Retention is the key, not acquisition.
There aren’t too many Universities that provides
the opportunity to participate in organizing
professional fashion events. I knew coming into
Woodbury that I would be presented with such
privileges if I worked hard enough. With this
internship experience learning how to take ideas and
translate them into trends is much harder than one
thinks. My job was to take pictures of psychical items
of inspiration that carried a color, shape or aura of
the concepts. There were difficult moments when
there was a time crunch and I didn’t take enough
photos, I still found a way to make my situation
work. By having Wendy take the time to school me
the basics of trend forecasting, I benefitted fun
fashion events such as the Es Nail salon opening and
attending Los Angeles Fashion Week. These events
allowed me to experience the Los Angeles scene and
most importantly network with them. Overall the
internship was a critical part of my college years
because I was able to feel like a professional applying
the tools I learned in class to a real job.
CONCLUSION