The editor, or press preview, is a mainstay of fashion PR, an opportunity to introduce the media to multiple clients in a casual, fun setting. Red Light PR’s recent press preview was its largest to date, showcasing over 50 collections in the swank 6,000 square foot 404 event space in NYC. The preview debuted Fall 2012 collections including women’s and men’s apparel, accessories, and beauty. Nearly 300 editors, stylists, bloggers, and industry tastemakers attended the two-day event. To find out just what is involved in putting on this biannual event, I caught up with Jessica Washington, Red Light PR’s fashion director to learn more:
Red Light PR is a full service PR firm that was founded in 2002 by Jen Phillips. Jen was formerly the Director of Entertainment Marketing for Puma “making it cool again” in the 90’s placing product on top celebrity talent throughout the music, television and film industry. In 2002, Jen Phillips formed Red Light PR based out of Hollywood, California, and it is currently one of the top fashion PR firms in the Los Angeles. In February 2012, RLPR opened the doors to its New York City location, based in the heart of Soho on Broadway, right next to Topshop. RLPR currently represents a number of fashion collections in addition to consumer products brands as well.
The goal of the Press Preview is to showcase the upcoming collection to as many people as possible. We secure appointments with the top NYC fashion and accessory editors, fashion and celebrity stylists, costumers, etc. and they each attend the event to view what is next from each of our lines. The ultimate goal is to generate press inclusions for all of the collections, which is facilitated through this event where attendees get to see everything for the first time.
Currently we only host the event in NYC, however if we did do an event in LA, it would be more geared towards celebrity stylists, and entertainment media outlets along with wardrobers and costumers at all of the major television studios.
Throughout the season, we receive various requests for stories that fashion editors are working on and this is a direct result of them attending the press preview. We are able to track the success when the issues that our clients appear in, hit the stands every month.
The Right People – The event must have the “right” attendees. People that will actually do something for the brands they see in the future. This includes top stylists that will feature them in a story, down to producers that will call them in for a fashion segment for a popular morning show. If the people who should be in attendance that are going to make an actual impact on the press are not there, the event is done in vain.
Great Collections – It is important that once we get people to come out to the event, they are excited about what they’re there to see. Gorgeous collections and on-trend pieces are key in what we’re showing to editors each season.
A Strong Team – The event could not be done without the wonderful team we have in place. Every little attention to detail and execution makes this event so successful each season and it really resonates with our editors as we hear feedback from them months following the event.
Photo Credit: j-No
