"Sex and the City" stylist Patricia Field is bringing out a limited fashion collection called "Destination Style New York", due to go on sale at noon on October 16, 2008. While in all other countries the collection is being sold via selected exclusive retailers, in Germany the garments will be sold via an online shop (www.patricia-field.de). As with the advance multi-stage campaign, the online shop has also been developed by Bassier, Bergmann & Kindler.
The challenge
When "the most influential trendsetter in the world" (The Guardian) brings out a one-off collection, women around the world need to hear about it – something that is best done over the Internet. The remit for Bassier, Bergmann & Kindler (BB&K) was therefore to develop an online campaign to wow the millions of fashion and "Sex and the City" fans worldwide. "The main challenge for BB&K was to create a campaign that is tailored to how women communicate, as well as both reflecting Patricia Field's style and appealing to the tastes of the target audience", say managing partners Michael Bassier and Thomas Kindler.
The online shop
According to Patricia Field, the fundamental question she asks herself when designing her styles is "Where will the wearer be going?" In other words, style follows destination. Her "Destination Style New York" collection reflects this with five different outfit lines – Office, Lunch, Cruise, Neon Nights and Deluxe Party – for all situations.
Both the concept and design of the online shop continue the stylist's philosophy: the navigation structure is based around the five different lines in the collection, allowing the customer to go straight to business or party looks. Apart from the obvious design aspect, the other main focus when developing the online shop was practicability. At www.patricia-field.de, the path to shopping happiness is gratifyingly direct: goods can be placed in the shopping basket right from the overview and a highly optimised search function can even return hits for colour or material. The connection between design and functionality continues in the detailed information: for each piece of clothing there is a quote from Patricia Field or her design partner David Dalrymple as well as tips from both on combining pieces. Information has also been added that is either not available or difficult to find in many onlineshops, such as an information box that precisely explains the delivery conditions and returns procedure and an "availability indicator". As the name suggests, this indicates whether a piece is still available, close to being sold out or already sold out. In the latter case, the customer can opt to be notified when the piece becomes available again. And of course, there is the indispensable "send-to-friend" feature. "Women like to swap tips and consult with friends on questions of style, so an online shop has to take this into consideration", says Michael Bassier.
The online campaign
BB&K has been increasing the drama in the run-up to the global sales launch on October 16, 2008 with a multi-stage campaign that started in August. Under this campaign, information about the collection and Patricia Field herself is being published on www.patricia-field.com on an ongoing basis together with video interviews and photo spreads from photo shoots and of course the show at New York Fashion Week, where the collection made its debut. Enough "stuff", in other words, to create a buzz among women around the world and, of course, prepare them to make purchases. The design of the website plays with references to the "Sex and the City"style, with features such as the New York skyline as well as a virtual sketchbook whose pages can be turned with a click of the mouse – all against the background of a cool electronic soundtrack that exudes catwalk flair.
Now all that remains to be seen is how successfully the collection sells. Michael Bassier is extremely confident: "In the USA, where advance sales have already started, 23,000 t-shirts were sold within the first two hours and several styles sold out completely on the first day. A sure sign that our campaign has reached the fashion-loving women of this world."
About Bassier, Bergmann & Kindler
Bassier, Bergmann& Kindler (www.bb-k.com) is one of the largest new media agencies in Germany and specialises in sales-oriented e-branding and e-learning. BB&K is the lead agency for clients such as Porsche,
Sal. Oppenheim, Haniel and Steigenberger. As the second largest
e-learning agency in Germany, BB&K develops and produces training offerings for clients like E.ON, Porsche, Volkswagen, o2 and Hugo Boss. By developing the eBay online training portal, BB&K created the most successful e-learning application in Europe. Further references amongst others are Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Continental, Moët Hennessy, Quelle, McKinsey and the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen. With locations in Berlin, Ludwigsburg and Oberhausen, 120 employees realised a turnover of around €12 million in 2007.
Website and press photos: www.bb-k.com
Further information and contact:
Heike Pawelzick
Chief Communication Officer (CCO)
presse@bb-k.com
T +49 (0) 208 85 0589-25
F +49 (0) 208 85 0589-9
