Fashion360 transforms emerging fashion businesses by engaging them in structured programs, with industry-leading mentors, providing access to industrial grade facilities and technical services as well as networking with like-minded creative entrepreneurs. The Fashion360 Accelerator is the only program of its kind in Australia.
Since starting my position as Content Marketing Coordinator at QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) in January 2019, I have played key roles in the planning and execution of four Fashion360 campaigns. These were:
In-Program Campaign
Showcase Campaign
2020 Recruitment Campaign
Business of Fashion Workshop Series Campaign
Key Results:
Digital marketing efforts in 2019 resulted in a high average engagement rate of 19.5% (vs. industry standard of 11.95%) on Instagram and increased engagement on Facebook by 181% from 2018. These were the two key platforms utilised for CEA's fashion audience.
15 high quality applications captured from 2020 Recruitment Campaign (KPI of 10).
354 tickets sold to the 2019 Fashion360 Showcase (KPI of 200).
120 tickets sold (40 per workshop) to three Business of Fashion Workshops (KPI of 20 per workshop).
15 expressions of interest made for the 2020 and 2021 Accelerator program.
In-Program Campaign | Feb - Aug 2019 & Feb - current 2020
The In-Program Campaigns aimed to increase audience engagement and expressions of interest for the 2020 and 2021 Fashion360 Accelerator Programs through the profiling of participants/designers at key milestones during the program. Milestones included; one-on-one mentoring with industry experts, fashion workshops on range planning, e-commerce, business strategy, marketing, etc., practical sewing and pattern-making classes, designer pop-up shops and the final showcase/business launch event.
It was my role to convey these milestones through story-telling techniques to a fashion audience. It was important that the campaign did not come across as a sales pitch to the audience, and that the content showed brand/program authenticity and transparency. Research we conducted with our own fashion founders revealed that they appreciate honesty and integrity of service providers - because the reality of building a business is that it is hard and requires grit and perseverance, as well as passion. Therefore the content had to reflect this, but also had to empower the designers so they felt supported and capable to join a program like Fashion360.
The content strategy that I used to do this was high-quality photography and videography to showcase the designer journey at key program milestones. The content strategy was implemented over digital marketing channels such as Facebook, Instagram and email marketing (Mailchimp). In addition, an aim of the 2020 campaign was to position CEA as a thought leader in Australian fashion, an effort to support CEA's rebrand launch later in the year.
Content Examples
Photoshoots directed by Eloise Barclay, Photography Eloise Barclay
All videos produced by Eloise Barclay
Results
The increased frequency, relevancy and quality of social media content resulted in an impressive jump in engagement across digital channels such as Instagram and Facebook across the period of the campaign. This increase is testament to my understanding of CEA's fashion audience and the content types in which they are likely to interact with. An expressions of interest form was trialled and implemented on the Fashion360 Accelerator website at the end of 2019 and resulted in 15 expressions of interest made for the 2020 and 2021 Accelerator program. This supports the effectiveness of the marketing content as an Expression of Interest campaign was not run actively run in market, yet expressions of interest during program delivery were submitted - a direct result of potential applicants following CEA's designers' program experience through our digital channels and "seeing themselves in their shoes" so to speak. In addition, this also proved the success of using a "sales funnel" structured website in which the desired action for the user to make was clear.
Showcase Campaign | July - Aug 2019
The objective of the Fashion360 Showcase Campaign was to sell at least 200 tickets to the Showcase and Breakfast Panel events that celebrated the culmination of the program. The campaign predominantly took a direct marketing approach utilising email marketing (Mailchimp) as the tool of execution due to its highly targeted nature. Social media marketing and PR were also utilised to reach a broader audience outside our own networks. There were multiple messaging hierarchies of the campaign due to there being two calls to action as well as a strategic partnership with The Calile Hotel. I worked within the Marketing team to develop the copy for the campaign and manage the messaging. My key roles also included graphic design of campaign creative, management of the social media competition, content creation and execution across digital marketing platforms such as the website, Adroll, Eventbrite, Instagram, Facebook and Mailchimp, and tracking, analysis and reporting of campaign.
Phase 1 - Awareness
To launch the campaign we utilised a combination of PR and digital marketing channels such as email, Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness of the event. See content examples below:
Channel 10 Promotion of Fashion360 Showcase
Email marketing (Mailchimp)
Social Media Banner
Social Media Post (Boosted Facebook)
Phase 2 - Increased Urgency
To increase urgency and engagement in the lead up to the event I suggested engaging The Calile Hotel through our partnership to create a social media competition whereby the winner would receive two nights' accommodation at The Calile Hotel, to be announced during the Showcase (therefore the entrant would have to be there on the night in order to win). To further the reach of the competition I boosted the Facebook post. This was a success with 413 engagements on the Facebook post and a spike in ticket purchases during the period of the competition.
Fashion360 Facebook Competition Post
The messaging of the campaign was also changed to increase urgency, such as below:
Email marketing, increased urgency (Mailchimp)
Facebook Post, increased urgency
Phase 3 - Post-Event Retention
An important element of event marketing campaigns is the post-event phase, as this is where you have the opportunity to form strong relationships with those you have already had touch points with. Particularly for a sub-brand like Fashion360 that will continue to hold events. As part of my passion for storytelling, I always like to do event photo galleries and video highlight reels which encapsulate the energy and details of the event. In this case, the story followed the journey of the designers and the impact that Fashion360 has had on their professional lives and businesses. I developed the storyboard for the video, briefed the videographer and created the interview questions/ interviewed the subjects. Highlight reels also help to create "FOMO" for those who didn't attend, and increases their likelihood of attending the next event.
Fashion360 Showcase and Breakfast Panel Event Highlight Reel
Fashion360 Showcase Event Photography
Results
354 tickets sold to the 2019 Fashion360 Showcase (KPI of 200). Of this, 30% was through eDM, 25% through Word of Mouth, 10% Social Media and 35% Other (including supporting friend designers).
Recruitment Campaign | Dec 2019 - Feb 2020
The aim of the Recruitment Campaign was to capture high quality applications for the 2020 Fashion360 Accelerator Program. This campaign was also an important transition piece to the new CEA master brand which was to be launched in the latter half of the year. As such, new copy and graphic design creative were needed for this campaign in order to show a visible transition in brand. Rumble Creative Agency had been engaged to assist with the rebrand so to ensure the new copy was on brand we liaised with them for the transition copy. See copy below:
Refine your ideas, define your style.
Taking founders from concept to national and international success, CEA Fashion360 Accelerator is a six-month intensive program delivered by the QUT entrepreneurship, innovation and venture company Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA).
The Program helps founders of start-up fashion labels transform them into commercial, sustainable enterprises, with support for their passion from leading minds in the business of fashion.
Fashion360 gives you what you need to follow your passion with cutting-edge facilities and technical services, and, more importantly, networking with creative entrepreneurs like yourself.
As the Marketing team, we developed program proof points to be the key messaging components of the campaign. These were:
Achieve 24 months of progress in 6 months
Your one-stop destination for the best fashion facilities and industry connections in Queensland
Support for your passion from leading minds in the business of fashion.
The new brand archetype was to be the magician. The copy and archetype were integral to briefing the graphic designer on what the look and the feel of the campaign should be. This was the result:
It was then my role to determine how to execute the campaign across CEA's digital platforms and engage external stakeholders to raise awareness. In order to determine which platforms to use I conducted research on the niche emerging designer segment in Australia and developed campaign personas. I concluded that Facebook, Instagram, Ads and email marketing were the best platforms to use to reach our audience. I also identified some Facebook groups to join for a more targeted approach. A large part of the campaign was the development of the Fashion360 Accelerator "sales funnel" website which I was responsible for:
Fashion360 website (Note* screen captured after recruitment campaign)
After the website was created and trialled, I then developed a content strategy based off the copy and the graphic design elements for the campaign. Some content examples I created below:
The content was executed across two campaign phases, awareness and increased urgency. Examples below:
Results
15 high quality applications captured from 2020 Recruitment Campaign (KPI of 10). Keeping in mind the niche audience in Australia is small, this was a successful campagin.
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