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Feb 15, 2019
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Ralph Lauren named buzziest brand during SS19 fashion month

Published
Feb 15, 2019

As the Fall/Winter 2019-20 season of womenswear fashion weeks makes its way from New York to London, a new report from Launchmetrics has revealed the most influential brands and influencers from last year’s Spring runway shows.


Ralph Lauren - Spring-Summer2019 - Womenswear - New York - © PixelFormula

 
Using the data analysis firm’s Voice approach to analyse the Media Impact Value (MIV) of fashion houses, influencers and celebrities, Launchmetrics’ second annual “Data on the Runway” report revealed that Ralph Lauren topped the charts among the labels showing during last September’s Spring/Summer 2019 fashion weeks in London, Milan, Paris and New York, with a total MIV of $38 million.

The American brand had a significant lead over compatriot Coach, which came in second place with a total MIV of $27 million, followed by Dior ($22.6 million) and Gucci ($19.4 million) in third and fourth place, respectively.

Ralph Lauren’s success can be seen as a result of the 360º campaign launched by the brand in celebration of its 50th anniversary. This entailed hosting a spectacular gala show and dinner, and activating everyone from politicians like Hillary Clinton to celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Robert De Niro, as well as industry peers such as Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Anna Wintour to speak about the label.

Overall, 88.9% of the brand’s total MIV during fashion month was generated via social media, thanks to influencers and celebrities who shared the label’s posts, while only 11.1% came from other online channels, a fact which reflects the continued importance of influencers to brands’ marketing strategies.
 
Indeed, influencers accounted for 46.2% of Ralph Lauren’s MIV for the season, followed by brand-owned media at 29.7%, other media channels at 17%, celebrities at 6.9% and partners at 0.2%.

Another brand which reaped the benefits of a successfully implemented 360º campaign was Victoria Beckham, which ranked number one for MIV at London Fashion Week with a total of $16 million.  The decision to switch New York Fashion Week for London and the launch of the #VBsince08 campaign both helped to create significant buzz around the brand as it celebrated its 10th anniversary.
 
While here again social media dominated, accounting for 80.3% of the label’s MIV, it was actually brand-owned media, rather than third party influencers, that generated the majority of the buzz (61.2%) through these channels. Launchmetrics attributes this to the fact that Victoria Beckham is a celebrity in her own right and runs her house’s Instagram account as part of her own personal account.
 
Rebrands also caught the media’s attention last season, although some were more successful than others, as highlighted by Launchmetrics’ comparison of Celine and Burberry’s performances. While Hedi Slimane’s runway debut at Celine was nothing short of controversial, his overhauled vision for the house more than doubled its MIV from $3.3 million for the SS18 season to $8.5 million for SS19.
 
The designer himself boasted an MIV of $3 million, compared to his predecessor Phoebe Philo’s total of $1.6 million in the previous year, although interestingly, even with Slimane at the helm of her former brand, Philo still played a part in the conversation, racking up an MIV of $1.2 million during the new creative director’s presentation – possibly due to fans lamenting her departure.
 
At Burberry, however, MIV remained relatively stable from SS18 to SS19, rising from $8 million to $8.4 million, despite the fact that the brand’s new creative director Riccardo Tisci commanded a significantly higher MIV ($2.3 million), than his predecessor Christopher Bailey ($889,000).
 
In terms of influencers, Chiara Ferragni topped the MIV charts with a score of $18.3 million, followed by Nicki Minaj with a total of $11.3 million. While Ferragni was most influential during Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks, where she generated MIVs of $9.6 million and $5 million, respectively, Minaj held sway in New York, generating an MIV of $8.9 million for the brands she supported.
 
Canadian model Winnie Harlow was the top influencer at London Fashion Week and took third place overall with an MIV of $3.86 million, followed by fashion blogger Aimee Song ($3.2 million) and Brazilian youtuber and model Camila Coelho ($3 million).
 
In any case, it seems that, even as the fashion industry evolves and considers new ways to engage with consumers, the role of influencers in a brand’s success cannot be underestimated: collectively these social media professionals accounted for 49% of total MIV during the SS19 runway season, ahead of both media (32.1%) and brand-owned media (14.6%).
 
The complete Launchmetrics “Data on the Runway” report can be consulted on the company’s website.

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