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Everybody’s Doing ‘IT’

By: Briskman Stanfield

Some believe "it" is all in the packaging, as fittingly displayed in the sizzling-hot new Beckham underoos line for H&M(mmm). But "gawking at an Adonis hunk" is not what "it" is always about when planning such memorable campaigns because "it" is really about collaboration.

Hennes & Mauritz stands for more than just H&M; it is also the name behind four other different store chains and brands they have developed over the years: COS, Monki, Weekday, and Cheap Monday.

Yet among all of H&M’s many involvements this store is becoming rapidly famous for marketing its designer collaborations. Associations filled with celebrity/fashionable excitement to cause shopper frenzy are everywhere, beginning with the first teaser announcement for such designs from Versace, Lanvin, Jimmy Choo, Madonna, Viktor and Rolf, Stella McCartney, Sonya Rykiel, Roberto Cavalli, and Carl Lagerfeld, to namedrop a few.

And when mixed in the right bowl, such as "Super," it is exposed at a prime time with the highest of viewerships. But it doesn’t end after the game. Beckham’s partnership with H&M continues to thrive in the image it was intended (aside from making bodies weak in the knees), and that is to sell merchandise.

This magic marketing formula is also based on timing. Not a minute after the clock struck the beginning of Super Bowl Sunday, another collaborative wave began to ride out the start of a new "super" occasion, Fashion Week 2012. This time it was Target featuring their latest collaboration with designer Jason Wu.

Jason's was a name that gained famed when his creation was chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama to wear as her inaugural ball gown. While Wu is not a name on the 2012 fashion week roster this season, he is featured as a parallel shining star at Target in a campaign called “Mischief is in the Details.”

Wu’s collection almost sold out online, minus the tech problems of former Missoni collaboration/fiasco because merchandise was still available in stores with the site directing shoppers to the closest locations.

While all this togetherness has been a plus for business and the makings of powerful ad campaigns, it has created a little unexpected sideline commotion. Shopper/fans no longer just line up at the door to be first to buy, but have come as brokers who scoop the precious gems to resell on eBay; perhaps it's another form of teamwork.

Collaborations mean business and exist in every artistic industry, but often in low profile. When it happens in fashion, the success of the advertising campaign is based on everybody knowing the retailer and celebrity’s name, with designs of making one singular sensation.