Have fashion week models become the secret weapon of labels’ marketing strategies?

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 13, 2017

Marketing intelligence firm Launchmetrics has dipped into the metrics for the New York, London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks, analysing the effectiveness of influencers in giving media resonance to catwalk shows, and on the most rewarding communication strategies for fashion labels.

The city-by-city statistical analysis of the shows with the most mentions on the press and social media gave an insight into which influencers generated the most buzz during the fashion weeks. While the weeks in question had similar shares in terms of mentions (between 21% and 29%), New York was predominant in terms of interactions produced, with nearly 2 billion, 12% more than those generated by the Paris Fashion Week.

And while influencers generated only between 3% and 7% of mentions during the fashion weeks, they were however the source of a large share of interactions, whether in London (33%), Milan (34%), Paris (43%) or New York (75%). However, one of the main findings of this analysis was the increasing influence of models on the labels' social media strategies.

Spearheading this new trend were sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid, who both boosted significantly the engagement figures for each of the shows they featured in. Taylor Hill, Cara Delevingne, Elsa Hosk, Kaia Gerber, Nastya Ivleyeva and Urassaya Sperbund also topped the rankings of the most cited influencers in the cities where they showed.

"The question is: to which degree must the influence of top models such as these affect the way in which labels make their casting choices for catwalk shows?" asked Launchmetrics. According to the marketing firm, catwalk shows now have achieved a whole new level of importance. "For the fashion industry, these events are no longer just a showcase, they are also a measurement tool for the marketing and communication strategies deployed by the labels to launch their collections."