Coach’s NYFW Silver Lining
NYFW 2020 Spotlight – Coach Social Media Analysis
The creeping chaos of NYFW has been on display for several years now—many of the traditional stalwart brand lineup going rogue, decamping to other locals, skipping the parade entirely, opting for an online collection launch only, displaying off-runway in showrooms only, competing for venue envy and the like. Or, even staging independent off-program “for the public” events, in a move to democratize their brands, a welcome departure from fashion elitism.
All signs indicate that the retail store apocalypse will only intensify in 2020—and therein lies a potential silver lining for brands willing to up their game.
As store retail continues to ebb, sales and marketing experimentation is on the rise, underscoring the currency of new brand building strategies. Never before has the value of social media monitoring and measurement been more urgent.
But, before a brand boldly dives into the potential of innovation, renovation or reinvention as a survival strategy, baseline and performance metrics must be in place. This is where a social analytics platform comes in to provide not only tracking metrics, but also help a brand understand “why” its messaging is resonating or not.
In this climate of retail fashion upheaval and uncertainty lies opportunity for both established brands and newcomers to amp up their social media game and experiment with hybrid marketing, sales, distribution and PR strategies. And, vital to brand identity, fan base, loyalty and sales, find a relatable and enduring storyline.
Recently concluded NYFW 2020 is a good example of fashion brands testing new formats and strategies, from pre-runway online media campaigns, runway dance performances and theatrics to a front row mashup of more secular artists, personalities, brand ambassadors and influencers. Coach also bet on novel artistic collaborations (Basquiat/Blondie) that embrace the essence of the brand’s mood, identity and indelible NYC casual chic elegance.
If brand relevance and identity are increasingly critical touchpoints in fashion, there can be little doubt that Coach orchestrated a full court social media strategy at NYFW 2020, according to our Coach NYFW spotlight analysis using Netbase social listening and analytics platform. The Trend Analysis score incorporates multiple factors that enable variable trends, patterns and fluctuations to be detected.
Based on the data, Coach has been on top of its NYFW social media game for the past month, in a near dead heat trending score with Marc Jacobs, as shown in the Brand Trend Analysis below:
What’s a Trend Score?
· Trend Score displays a value that indicates whether an insight is trending up or down. A score of 0 to 1 means that the insight is trending downward; a score between 1 and 100 means that the insight is trending up. The score incorporates multiple factors, including the change in volume and percentage of change over the last period into a single number. This allows you to detect a variety of different trend types, such as new and emerging insights, sustained insights, and reemerging insights.
Insights filters for Coach @NYFW reveal a robust trend score of 98 on a scale of 1 to 100. Providing a granular trend lens of this type enables a brand to isolate and measure insights on a continual basis which might inform a desired shift in messaging. Or, new and emerging insights to be detected. The Trend Analysis also reliably empowers a brand to correlate the performance of its KPIs.
Coach clearly intended to reinvigorate and reinforce the brand’s pop heritage vibe at NYFW 2020, inviting ambassadors, influencers, and performers. The full court press even included tennis star Naomi Osaka, as well as the hugely popular Thai idol, singer and influencer Peck Palitchoke, much admired for his unique Coach streetstyle and flair.
And just to make sure the brand’s heritage but cool identity and collection inspiration wasn’t lost on younger generations of potential customers, 80’s Warhol muse Debbie Harry performed, sealing Coach’s personality as an edgy, timeless brand. To further buttress the collection’s ‘80’s NYC downtown retro cache, Coach partnered with the estate of artist Basquiat, whose work was featured on handbags, the launch of a new Coach x Basquiat collaboration.
The Coach NYFW strategy paid off, with an upward trending fluctuation analysis and enviable 100% sentiment.
Coach also led in engagements by author. Notably, although Michael Kors enjoys five times more visitors/followers than Coach, its owned media engagement level fell short of Coach’s.
Falling short of amplifying a brand’s owned media to increase engagements, as seen in the author’s engagement analysis chart could be a lesson in strategic approach to brand engagement KPIs. However, given Michael Kors significant followers/visitors advantage, one might expect higher engagements.
Coach clearly sustained a high brand passion for its Fall 2020 collection, as well as a substantial reach in potential impressions:
Through another lens, photo concepts performance is critical to fashion, so measurement and tracking should also be an intrinsic part of a brand’s social listening strategy. In the Coach analysis of photo concepts during NYFW, influencer Peck Palitchoke dominated. Photo concept analysis should be an easy and integral shorthand for any fashion brand’s social listening KPI standard.
Fashion’s holy grail may indeed lie in the silver lining of social analytics and listening it has yet to stitch into its leather manteau.
