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Fashion Industry Marketing – Trendsetters & Influencers

Marketing a garment or an accessory is no longer based on the sole publicity hype in the classic media. Brands are trying to differentiate their marketing strategy by calling on selected ambassadors, in the hope of conquering new consumer profiles. Public personalities, singers, sportsmen or influencers regularly promote fashion products during public or private events, then widely relayed on social networks. Who are these new trendsetters who are making the best commercial successes for brands?

Customized marketing that targets millennials

The rising success of influencer marketing is mainly aimed at millennials, the segment most receptive to the approach. Firstly, because they are tired of traditional media and pollution from ads in the urban scene. Secondly, because the purchases made by the new generation are guided more by word of mouth or recommendations, than by frozen images on glossy paper.

Thanks to the increasing presence of new technologies in their daily lives, digital natives post their opinions, preferences or admiration on the web and publicly assume their choices. Driven by the desire to belong to private groups or communities, they exchange views or tips, with the ability to quickly create a buzz around a product thanks to the spread of shared information.

If brands want to ensure high visibility, growing awareness and by extension, increase their sales volumes, they must rely on popular opinion leaders. By rallying behind their reputation alone, they have the power to make consumers aware of the positive values of a product and influence their followers on the buying behaviors to adopt.

Lady Gaga, the queen of buzz

The undisputed queen of all excesses, she reigns supreme over originality and guarantees the "Wow" effect at each of her appearances. More than a singer or an actress, Stefani Germanotta is above all a fashion icon who perfectly combines different styles. Her outfits, more improbable than the others, have raised her looks to the rank of a live show, always scrutinized with great interest by fashion professionals as well as by the general public.

She brilliantly switches between "so chic" evening wear and "so shocking" crazy outfits, when she doesn't choose to appear in little clothes or in the simplest outfit... By using her body as a support for her performances, she has forged a character that has become a global brand, a concept that now has a large community of fans around the world. The connivance and closeness maintained with her fans on social networks (affectionately known as her "Little Monsters"), make her as mythical as she is accessible. The interactions and the immediacy of the exchanges allow her to gauge the expectations of her public, but also to have a quick feedback on her choices or her stands.

A free electron, but not as gaga as her pseudonym implies, she has become a formidable businesswoman, perfectly mastering the codes of non-verbal communication. And that, the big fashion houses have understood it well. From Thierry Mugler to Valentino, from Jean Paul Gauthier to Alexander McQueen, from Dolce & Gabbana to Louboutin, Lady Gaga surrounds herself with the biggest names in Haute Couture to satisfy her desire to be different.

But not everyone is Gaga! Impossible to copy her as the eccentricity of her choices is more of a show than a wearable garment, as she knew how to make exuberance, her artistic signature. Who else but her could have slipped into the outfit signed Franc Fernandez, the famous dress in beef carpaccio and boots ? Nobody. A claimed audacity ... and a banking personality for the brands.

So bankable that the film industry has also been very interested in her. In the coming months, she will be on screen in Ridley Scott's next film, "The house of Gucci" where she will play the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, heir of the eponymous brand. In the role of Patrizia Reggiani, sponsor of the murder, Lady Gaga will play the "black widow", a venal and Machiavellian woman. In terms of look, she should delight her fans with wiser than usual outfits, while honoring the vintage nuggets of the great luxury houses.

After the song, the product placement in her videos, the 7th art, after the launch of a cosmetics line, after being chosen as the muse of the new perfume Voce Viva by Valentino, what will be the new challenge of "Mother Monster"? What will be her last trick to continue to grow her community of fans and increase her popularity even more? The Gaga mystery remains.