To cite: Sedeke, K., & Arora, P. (Forth). Top ranking fashion blogs and their role in the current fashion industry, First Monday Title Top ranking fashion blogs and their role in the current fashion industry Authors Kristina Sedeke Email: [email protected] & Payal Arora Email: [email protected] Web: www.payalarora.com Department of Media and Communication, Faculty of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam 1 Top Ranking Fashion Blogs and their role in the current Fashion industry Introduction Social media is a digital platform with a wide impact on personal as well as business communication. A communication model where the addresser sends messages to receivers has been taken over predominantly by a new dynamic model where all participants have the opportunity to actively interact during the entire communication process. Concerning the fashion industry, there is hesitance to start communicating in this manner as the character of this media brings potential risk of losing control over their consumers. Despite this reticence, social media is recognized as being beneficial in the area of public relations and marketing of fashion as its products are essentially cultural artifacts that stem from social trends and norms and can effectively be circulated through the Web 2.0 sphere. Within the last decade, fashion has become more of a global industry catering to transnational customers with diverse lifestyles, religions, and cultures which makes the recognition of and identification with particular customers more complex (Easey, 2002). Simultaneously, the radical change in communication allows users to participate, follow and discuss any trend and fashion news and purchase fashion items easily online. In particular, the blogosphere has become a prime arena within which fashion consumers reside online, bringing to question who and what are the influencers within these new digital and cultural spaces in the fashion industry. Blogging in general is considered a popular form of online journalism, enjoying the attention of users due to the platform’s personal and interactive approach versus the standardized treatment through mainstream media. Fashion blogs are perceived as a ‘street of fashion,’ as a source of authenticity and a display of the actual use of fashion by the general public (Bollier and Racine, 2005). However, this new cultural sphere continues to be resisted by established fashion brands and designers who do not incorporate them into their corporate communication (Okonkwo, 2007; Guzelis, 2010). Fashion bloggers 2 are looked upon skeptically as they are viewed to not have the proper expertise guaranteeing quality and credible reporting (Lichtenstein, 2009). This is not to say that fashion bloggers are not influential; in fact, these amateur-experts have proven an impressive capacity to build up a wide audience following, and have even impacted mainstream media and the fashion industry. While we are aware of these trends, few studies have shed light on the nature and characteristic of this new cultural and online domain of the fashion industry. Thereby, this paper focuses on some of the most effective blogs and bloggers, delving into who they are, what kinds of strategies do they employ to attract a wide audience and what are the range of characteristics that make an effective blog. The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of this new cultural realm, especially in three avenues: identity of bloggers, the culture of space of their blogs, and their actual and potential use as a tool of fashion marketing and brand management. Review of Literature Social Media, Businesses and Audiences Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) claim that 75% of Internet surfers started using social media in 2008 by joining social networks, reading blogs, contributing reviews to shopping sites; which represents a significant rise from 56% in the previous year. Therefore it is reasonable to say that social media signals a revolutionary trend that should be of interest to companies operating in digital space. However, firms admit that they are not comfortable in an environment where consumers can freely communicate with each other; within this platform, businesses have increasingly less control over information concerning their activities and reputation. Nowadays, if an Internet user types the name of any leading brand or corporation into Google search, what comes up among the top five results usually include not only 3 corporate websites but also amateur sites. Faulds and Mangold (2009) agree that the opportunity of communication between hundreds or even thousands of people about the products or services without any control of the company itself can be daunting, and that the impact of consumer-to-consumer communication has been greatly magnified in the marketplace. However they argue that social media should rather be seen as a hybrid element of the promotion mix, because it enables companies to talk to their customers (traditional sense of the promotion mix) as well as it enables customers to talk directly to each other (non- traditional sense of the promotion mix); “even though the content, timing, and frequency of social media conversations are outside of the managers´ control, they must learn how to shape consumers discussions in a manner that is consistent with the organization´s mission and performance goals” claims Faulds and Mangold (2009, p. 357). They further add that blogs and other promotional tools should be seen as an opportunity and challenge rather than a threat as they are the key to contemporary markets, and the fashion industry is no exception. The Contemporary Fashion Industry Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening - Coco Chanel Fashion is an ongoing changing process which in regular cycles brings new trends into practically any human activity; from medicine to music (Easey, 2002, p. 10). It is a product of the time and must be viewed within a broader cultural context such as the designers´ ethnic and social background, social mores and attitudes, technological innovations, and the economic and political conditions (English, 2009, p. 6). For fashion to serve as a continual change, two criteria are essential - creative design skills and identification with customer preferences. While design skills are a matter of talent, identification with customers is a matter of marketing which can provide additional knowledge and skills needed to ensure that 4 the creative component is used to the best advantage, allowing business to succeed and grow. Easey (2002) argues that because of the nature of the fashion industry where change is crucial, practices of fashion marketing are slightly different from other marketing areas. Fionda and Moore (2008) further develop Easey’s theory and claim that marketing and branding fashion goods is more complex than in other sectors because of the velocity and vastness of this industry; brands and designers must twice a year produce brand new collections, containing a variety of items (many brands do not focus just on clothing but also on accessories and shoes, and often do not only produce female lines but also male and children) which are often distributed worldwide. Beside the factors mentioned above, another essential component in fashion marketing is a strong brand image. As Lee et al. (2009) argue on why people talk about particular brands in a certain way and why they buy (or do not buy) its products is to some extent a matter of brand image. Image is more than a name, logo, slogan and design. It is the whole concept containing symbolic meaning, induced associations, ideas and attitudes of the brand. For instance, “a jeans brand Levi´s is not just an eye-catching red label; it has developed core urban-hip user imagery in youngsters´ minds” claim Lee et al. (2009, p. 64).). Further, they argue that the fashion market strongly depends on creating and maintaining a distinctive, desirable and constant image, bringing additional value and brand differentiation. Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2009) state that the main task for fashion marketing is to achieve competitive advantage by differentiation of the brand from direct competitors. Differentiation in general can be based on products, services, channels or people but in fashion “it is most likely based on the overall brand image, comprising general qualities of the brand and determining its initial position at the market” (p. 133). Another reason why brands and designers need to build a strong image is the lack of copyright protection. As Blankley (2010) states, there is no intellectual property protection in 5 the fashion industry, which means that anybody can copy any design from anybody and present it as his own. The result of this lack of legislative coverage together with an ongoing pressure to release new collections is the collaborative character of the fashion industry. Haute couture designers commonly search for inspiration in other culture fields, especially the music and film industry, street fashion or vintage collections. According to Blankley (2010) this mechanism determines the emergence of new global trends, and leads to the democratization of fashion. However she further notes that as designers cannot rely on legislative support, they solve this issue by copying themselves and directly cooperating with mainstream brands (as for instance custom collections of Versace for H&M), or by creating a strong image for particular brands where the copy would be perceived as an obvious fake (as for instance red sole typical for Christian Louboutin or checkered pattern typical for Burberry). Based on the key principles of contemporary fashion, fashion marketing can be clarified as a management process concerned with anticipating, identifying and satisfying actual customer needs in order to meet the long-term goals of the organization, and continuously building or maintaining a strong corporate image characterizing the brand in the market. In order to reach those goals, fashion marketing uses common techniques of advertising and market research with the addition of tools specialized for the fashion industry such as product development, branding, pricing and forecasting (Easey, 2002). Moreover, social media is seen as a new platform to be included in this list as their features have the potential to assist in such tasks. However the following section shows that despite the potentially beneficial feature of social media, these technologies are used sporadically within the fashion industry. 6 Use of Social Media in the Fashion industry Despite the wide potential of social media, the fashion industry is resistant when it comes to its use. In fact, in the fashion industry Internet technologies are used as a distribution channel rather than as a communication device. Hines and Bruce (2007) state that fashion retailers use the Web primarily to display the most up-to-date collections and sell them online directly to their customers, and that despite the continued speculation about the limited abilities and disadvantages of online distribution (some designers and brands do not enable international online purchases because of the high cost in case of reclamation and eventual complication with intercontinental transport), the volume of clothes, accessories and foot wear sold via the Internet has grown steadily – from 25 to 30 per cent a year since 2000. As online purchasing has become a profitable distribution channel, the central attention of fashion marketers and PR executives is paid to corporate websites where online shopping is concentrated. Within the fashion industry, social media devices are used sporadically; mostly as an additional tool, promoting official websites and supporting public knowledge of the brand. Hines and Bruce (2007) criticize this practice and note that fashion marketers should be aware of the contemporary public demand of interactive communication caused by the emergence of social media platforms such as blogs, and the need for elaborate customer segmentation and identification determined by the global character of the industry. “We gotta do larger sizes,” a tweet from Robert Duffy (CEO of Marc Jacobs, a creative director of Louis Vuitton) reached more than 26,000 followers and caused the reaction of Jacobs himself re-tweeting “I´m with you, as soon as I´m back to NY I´m on that.” This created an excitement of transparency and customer involvement in the business mechanics of the fashion industry, promising a new kind of relationship between designers and/or brands, and their customers (Boure, 2010). Guzelis (2010) agrees, stating that in the current environment it is extremely important for brands “to know and be able to influence the 7 ´what´ and ´how´ people talk about the product or brand, and what influences their buying decisions” (p.16). For such purposes, social media can play a mediator role between the fashion industry and its consumers. Reviewing the nature of the current fashion industry and used practices in fashion marketing, brand management and public relations, it is obvious that Marc Jacobs should be perceived as an exception than a rule. Despite the fact that the emergence of new media technologies has changed the conditions under which the fashion industry operates, it seems like the industry itself has difficulties to adjust to this new environment and concerns continue on controlling the expertise domain on shaping opinion and taste in fashion. Interestingly, despite this resistance, fashion blogs have taken on a prominent role in this industry, challenging its conventional business culture. The culture of Blogs and their Spheres of influence Statistics about the blogosphere are spectacular. In 2006, Technorati (an Internet search engine for blogs) posted 49.8 million blogs with more than 2 billion links – approximately 75 thousand new blogs and 1.2 million posts were created every day, and as the Institute of Policy Development claims, blogs are projected to double in number every six months (Guzelis, 2010, p. 19). According to statistics published by Royal Pindgom (2011), the total amount of blogs on the Internet recently reached 152 million. There are various theories concerning motives for blogging as well as for following blogs. For instance Nardi et. al. (2004) propose five general motives why people blog - documenting one´s life, expressing deeply felt emotions, forming community forums, providing commentary and opinions, and articulating ideas through writing, whereas Boram, Sookyoung and HaeJung (2010) see personal needs, particularly self-reflection, self- actualization, and/or self-satisfaction as an initial motive which makes people blog. On the other hand scholars such as Shao (2009) and Leung (2009) see engagement as a key feature of 8 blogs giving an explanation for its recently acquired popularity, and state that people consume UCC (Users Created Content) for the same reasons why they watch television; they use it to fulfill their recognition, entertainment, and cognition needs, “the respondents believed that through the content-generation online process, they would have the opportunity to be recognized, gain respect, publicize their expertise, learn more of the world, socialize with friends and be entertained” (Leung, 2009, p. 1337). Another feature which is specific for blogs and for UCC´s in general, and which is highly appreciated by users is the time efficiency, easy-use, and multidirectional communication. Modern users are facing a decrease in their free time and thus appreciate the character of blogs based on simplicity and efficiency, as well as the many-to-many nature of communication specific for this media, bringing high levels of interactivity and space for discussion and sharing opinions (McMillan, 2006; Kuhn, 2007; Shao, 2009; Arora, 2012). Because of this, the nature of communication blogs can be considered as a new electronic form of word-of-mouth (e-WOM), enabling a wide spread of valuable information among the blogosphere, or even as a new form of agenda setting; “the network structure enables that any interesting information, case or argument can appear on the top of blogosphere, and if a critical number of elite blogs raise a particular story, it can catch the attention of mainstream media outlets and even transmit public opinions” (Farrel and Drezner, 2007, p. 24). Lichtenstein (2009) argues that blogs are a new form of online journalism representing an important source of information and knowledge for members of the public. However, Blood (2003) claims that blogs cannot serve as an information source equal to journalism because of the lack of original reporting which she considers as the heart of journalism, and adds that even a blog written by a journalist does not necessarily qualify as journalism, as it is the practice that defines the practitioner, not the other way around (p. 61). Lichtenstein (2009) objects that there is a disorder in valuating information; certain scholars and professionals see 9 blogs and other forms of online published knowledge as undermining the truth and belittling expertise, experience and talent, while bloggers appreciate quite different aspects of knowledge. They referred to the value of having witnessed events in person, the value of having local knowledge, and of being a trustworthy person. Some bloggers even hold a strong negative opinion of experts as elitists who cannot be trusted in their opinions and who serve to control information and knowledge flow. Which does not mean that bloggers doubt expert knowledge; “they rather mistrust experts as people, assign them traits such as elitism and the inability of independent unbiased thinking” (p. 1041). Zhao and Kumar (2012) classify the blogosphere as a “world-wide community of blogs” (p. 3) that is becoming more popular and assuming greater importance in the business world. According to the Alexa ranking of Web traffic, popular blogging services Blogger.com and Worldpress.com rank 21st among all sites on the Web which raise their business value, and accordingly shape their publishing behavior and topic coverage. Sun and Zhu (2011) add, “many scholars argue that content providers, when incentivized by ad revenue, are more likely to tailor their content to attract ‘eyeballs,’ and as a result, popular content may be excessively supplied” (p. 1). In order to justify this statement they launched an ad-revenue-sharing program initiated by a major Chinese portal. Participating blogs allowed the site to run ads on their blogs and received 50% of the revenue generated by these ads. After analyzing 4.4 million blog posts, Sun and Zhu (2011) discovered that (compared to posts of blogs not participating in this program) selection of current popular topics - stock market, salacious content and celebrities - increased by about 13% after this program took effect. They further claim that the quality of posts increased as well. In order to gain a comparative outlook on the contemporary blogosphere, we need to look at data emerging from analysis´ of blogs focused on different industries. For instance, Pan, MacLaurin and Crotts (2006) during their analysis of travel blogs found that travel blogs 10