Front Row Fashion PR features insights from successful Fashion PR pro’s on a variety of topics relevant to the marketing professional and fashion designer.
It’s no secret that the end goal that justifies PR budgets is sales. As a result, what’s happening on the editorial side needs to echo and be informed by what’s happening on the sales side, and vice versa. DMD Lab, originally launched as pro bono project for independent designers through integrated marketing agency DMD Insight, has since brought the two aspects in-house.
For an up-and-coming designer, bringing on outside help is also a significant investment, so it’s a huge leg up to open the door for support on both PR and sales – because most often times they need BOTH!
Melanie Bender, Partner at DMD Lab, walks us through the art of combining the two service offerings and how it is working for client Australian swimwear client We Are Handsome.
About DMD Lab
The Miami, We Are Handsome
We Are Handsome
DMD Lab is all about the new – new designers, and new approach for the new market and We Are Handsome is a great example of how there IS room from new brands. They came to us back in March, brand spanking new, in a few boutiques in Australia, and knowing they wanted to break into the US market but didn’t know how/where to start. For them, it was important to make them relevant to not just swimwear but the greater fashion conversation, allowing for growth beyond that category and longevity as a designer. It’s also a higher-end, really unique product, so it was important that they were well-placed – the *right* retailers and the *right* press to get visibility with the *right* consumers and tastemakers while maintaining that specialness. In their first few months they’ve been featured on Style.com, WWD, Refinery29, Fashionista, had editor face time with Vogue, Marie Claire, The New York Times, and will be entering a phenomenal set of Tier A boutiques in July and opening up to a contemporary ‘major’ for Resort 2011!
