With the presentation of his brands resort spring/summer 2017 line now mere hours away from debuting, Michael Kors recently announced there would be a strict social media ban on the presentation.
The ban means that fans around the world who can’t wait to see the new pieces will have to wait even longer now, as they won’t be able to search through various social media platforms in search of photos of the upcoming collection.
Fans will only have access to the five photos released by the brand, until October when the collection is officially released into stores. The five photos will be released on the day of the presentation for editors to use in their reviews.
Kors justified his decision to ban all forms of social media from the event by claiming it prevented the line from being over-exposed before it even hit shelves. Releasing a statement on the news, Kors said:
“We feel our clients and fans will love getting a sneak peek of the collection as opposed to inundating them with too much imagery too soon,”
“Ultimately, this is all about creating more excitement when the product is available.”
Now while fans may be unhappy over the decision to axe all social media use for the presentation, it may well be one of the smartest Kors could have made. Sure, social media practically rules our society at the moment; with every photo seemingly coming with a built-in hashtag, it’s no secret that social media has had a huge impact on the fashion industry.
From giving major labels a bigger profile, to jump-starting the careers of some of the world’s most famous models, social media has become the biggest and best marketing strategy for major fashion labels in recent years. But it seems that Michael Kors may have just changed the game and shown that sometimes the best thing you can do with social media is to not use it at all.
Sure, this plan could have backfired and made people completely uninterested in the upcoming collection altogether, but in reality it’s done the exact opposite. Keeping images of the soon-to-be-released line off the Internet, aside from a select few images adds an air of mystery to the line, that will keep everyone on their toes.
Kors further elaborated on the decision to change the format of the presentation, highlighting it would serve consumers better in the long run.
“By only releasing a preview of five images the day of the presentation, we’re able to give our customers a sneak peek into what’s to come without inundating and confusing them by featuring products that aren’t available yet.
We live in a world where people expect instant gratification, so our aim is to show them the full range of looks closer to when they can actually buy them.”
Kors makes a strong case for the lack of social media use for the upcoming line, because in a world where social media answers every question a person has, creating an embargo on the photos of the collection will leave fans desperate to know more. It’s the classic case of people wanting what they can’t have, and if they knew exactly what to expect of the line come October, it’s likely they would forget about the collection as soon as all the photos were released and well before the collection was made available to the public.
If the collection does live up to its high expectations people are holding it to, it could change the use of social media as a marketing strategy completely. Other major fashion labels may begin to see the positives in limiting the use of social media and also choose to revert back to the marketing practices which first brought them to attention.
