Since its launch in September 2000, Style.com, a Fairchild Fashion Media (FFM) brand, has continually employed breakthrough technology to deliver instant gratification to fashion obsessives. To keep the tradition running during Fashion Week, Style.com created a social experience sponsored by MAC Cosmetics. By combining Twitter, Instagram, and Google Maps into a mobile- optimized “Fashion Tracker" app, Style.com and MAC Cosmetics tied their images to Fashion Week and created the ultimate destination for their fashionista audience. Style.com wanted to create a unique customer-centric experience around Fashion Week that would result in an engaged, attentive audience for its social sponsor, MAC Cosmetics. This resulted in the construction of the “Fashion Tracker" application to display a map of all social photos posted during Fashion Week. By combining real-time Instagram photos and Tweets, users could interact and create content for Fashion Week, Style.com, and MAC Cosmetics. The “Fashion Tracker" was a sticky, engaging, and mobile-optimized application that showcased all the real-time social conversations happening in New York, London, Milan and Paris around Fashion Week. Using a their social mashup, the Fashion Tracker populated a visible map area with images according to a selected tag or Instagram/ Twitter account and their geo-tag. The user could visualize the most recent Instagram photos on a map, then filter through different designer-specific hashtags or see pictures from select Instagram accounts. The maps also included locations of retail outlets for MAC Cosmetics, giving interested users a clear location to purchase MAC Cosmetics products. In this setting, engagees were able to experience the runway without actually being there. The overall experience showcased MAC Cosmetics as being creative and innovative in leveraging social engagement that was authentic to their brand. With this social experience, Style.com and MAC Cosmetics generated social content of value to the consumer. 33% percent of visitors to the Fashion Tracker site engaged with the sponsored experience, that was MAC Cosmetics’ store location pins. The social visualization tool developed into a cutting-edge brand experience where an interactive space could host more engaging, present content. Fashionistas were given a unique opportunity to experience the event, even from a distance. Fashion Week was all about the photos - over 80% of the interactions were with pictures and 80% of visits on mobile came from iOS devices.. The entire campaign enabled MAC cosmetics to leverage the sponsored social experience and spark content generation that benefitted visitors to the site. The experience received coverage in Style Bistro, Refinery29, and Fashion Monitor. This social hub served as the ultimate destination for engaging with fellow fashion enthusiasts. The experience amplified Fashion Week in conjunction with Style.com and MAC Cosmetics brand names to create a strong, creative and innovative brand image.
