Fashion PR division of Pierce Mattie Public Relations, A Fashion Public Relations. Fashion publicity, promotion marketing firm

When I first saw these Ads I thought they were exploratory portfolio comps. Some of the most edgy stuff never makes it out into the public sector.

Hindu clothing chain High-Style The Fashion World creates relevant "shock-and-awe" advertising campaign that will definitely appeal to the younger audience. If you think about trends, this is nothing new, we've been incorporating more and more gore in our entertainment for years. Cobranding big name brands in goreiffic video games is old news. From my experience the more edgy and subtle the integration into the game the better it is received. Clients never like o hear this of course, they want blatant obvious placement which is not accepted as well as modest "easter-egg" style placement. Has anyone seen Michael C. Hall in Showtime’s new drama DEXTER? I'm not advocating that this is appropriate advertising for everyone. I do think you can take things too far, remember the Sandra Burnhard Mac cosmetics spot?

The gore is not from physical violence, just fashion descriptions supported by graphic images. It gets my attention, seems appropriate for the target market and the ads are "executed" well. Although I no longer fit the 18-34 demographic, I actually love first person shooters! I have several girlfriends who love them and UFC fights as well-go figure. Most of us worked in advertising or marketing which taints the demographics a little. So I understand that it takes "more" edge or shock-and-awe to reach an over stimulated generation of shoppers. Trends to keep in mind: Shock-&-Shop, Multicultural-Must-Haves and Gore-iffic.

Around here, Walgreens is known for being a great pharmacy and a place to purchase bargain beauty products. However, Walgreens wants you to start thinking of them for your fashion needs. In some areas of the country, this is already happening, while in others, many of us are wondering how to reconfigure our brains to associate Walgreens with our desire for a nice pair of jeans.

Walgreens would like you to start thinking of them in the likeness of Target, providing convenience in picking up your favorite beauty products, a possible prescription and a fashionable sweater. They also recently began selling their own line of jewelry, Pure Allure Crystal Jewelry Collection, which are comprised of Swarovski crystals. I applaud them on their way of thinking, but find it may be difficult for me to have Walgreens as the first place that comes to mind when I need to buy an outfit for an event or the place where I can pick up some quality accessories.

Where did you get that amazing skirt? Walgreens.

However, I could see how my mind could easily be swayed. If the quality and durability of their clothing and accessories far surpasses my expectations, I could possibly see myself visiting Walgreens to check out their clothing line. If not, then at least I can pick up my favorite lipstick while I’m there.

What do you think of Walgreens selling fashion?

Scoop versus Intermix is not a formal competition of sorts, but one that is a silent rivalry between the two luxury New York boutiques.

The stats:

Scoop
11 Stores in 9 cities
Mega Scoop opening with 10,000sq ft
Has high end and low end designers
Launched in 1996
Has an online store

Intermix
15 stores in 11 cities
Upgrading it’s Madison Ave store to 5,000sqft
Has high end and low end designers
Launched in 1993
Has an online store

Both have ambitious owners with a distinct taste for fashion and both stores have similar concepts. Scoop has gained the higher profile through hiring a public relations firm to take them to the next level of branding while Intermix simply relied on customer loyalty and their great insight into the fashion lifestyle.

For those in New York, which store do you prefer? Is one inherently better than the other?

Marketers know that baby boomers are the largest consumer base with money to spend. So footwear retailers and manufactures are sitting up and taking notice of how Baby Boomer’s shoe buying habits are different from other generations. Baby Boomers do not see themselves as aging, and certainly don’t want to be reminded of it, so they want shoes that don’t look like they say “senior citizen,” yet want them to be as comfortable as possible for their aging feet.

They are looking past the trendy designers to find ones who meet both their needs of comfort and style. While they are still willing to open their wallets for a good shoe; they are less influenced by traditional marketing and therefore require designers and their ad campaigns to hit the drawing board to understand what style and effective marketing strategy will work in their favor.

Many more female Baby Boomers are also shopping online for their footwear needs. I spoke with She Finds back in mid-November, as they explained women’s online shoe buying habits. These same habits hold true for Baby Boomers and it’s no surprise to see that online retailers, such as internet giant Amazon, are capitalizing on this trend.

Baby Boomers, I would love your input. What do you look for in a shoe? What brand gives meets your needs?

Well I saw this coming. Other countries are taking the issue of eating disorders in the fashion industry seriously with the recent anorexia-related deaths, while the Council of Fashion Designers of America gives a less than enthusiastic attempt at it. Their idea of getting involved? Keeping a more vigilant eye on models. How will they do this? Scheduling fashion-show fittings during the daytime instead of after dark to give models more sleeping hours, urging designers to work harder at spotting models with eating disorders and improving the quality of backstage catering.

Are you kidding me? When I first read what their new guidelines would be, I thought it was a joke. It’s very disappointing to hear that they won’t implement any rules or policies to ensure better health for their models, despite top designer Diane von Furstenberg’s comment that, “It is important as a fashion industry to show our interest and see what we can do because we are in a business of image."

That’s where they fall short…simply “showing their interest” without anything really concrete to be part of the solution. I could “show my interest” in people suffering from cancer, but if I never contribute in some way, shape or form concretely to help aid in furthering research for the disease with a donation or by volunteering to help my local ACS raise awareness of their support programs, then by merely “showing interest,” I am doing nothing.

I certainly don’t mean to sound so harsh, however, our fashion industry plays a major role in the way we view body image. So many women (and men) become vulnerable to believing that they must be super thin in order to be normal and I whole heartedly feel it is the fashion industry’s responsibility to do all they can to contribute to being a solution to eating disorders and not be the cause of them.

Global warming has been on the minds of all of us for some time, it’s an issue we can’t get away from, although some still continue to debate it. Diesel, the hot Italian fashion brand, has decided to bring the global warming message to the forefront through their new ad campaign, “Global Warming Ready.”

The images are thought provoking, whether it be water half way up the skyscrapers in NYC or the beach vacation on Mount Rushmore, this ad campaign is sure to start a buzz. While Diesel says that the ad campaign is subtle, I think it’s very much in your face…and not in a bad way at all. The Diesel website hosts a global warming video that explains global warming and how it will affect our planet. At the end of the video a slideshow begins to play of the ad campaign, although it is somewhat slow, it is definitely worth it and gives you time to really look at each picture. They also offer you tips on 10 things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint, provide a direct link to StopGlobalWarming.org and encourage Diesel fans to watch Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” The ads get you thinking, almost to the point that you forget about the great Diesel fashion in the ads.

This campaign comes at a time when many beauty and fashion companies are either going green or collaborating with green charities and organizations to promote awareness of what we are doing to our planet, such as Lancome collaborating with Carbonfund.org.

What do you think of Diesel’s ad campaign? Is it exploitive or do you think it will get more people talking (and doing something) about global warming?

Spend a "seamless" saturday with the spring collection of fashion savvy graphic designers and graphically sophisticated fashion designers. Examine the pages of the fashion story from the creator's vision to the public eye, from the swatch to sketch, seam to sale, the fifties to the future. Register Here. See the schedule.

SATURDAY 24 MARCH 2007 Florence Gould Auditorium French Institute 55 East 59th Street

Jockey’s latest collection called 3D-Innovations has a new “body” to show off the line. One of the biggest heartthrob’s in New Zealand is Rugby player, Dan Carter. In New Zealand he is basically the equivalent of David Beckham, certainly not just due to his Rugby skills and ability to capitalize on his fame through endorsements, but he has those stunning good looks to match.

While Carter has been promoting Jockey since 2003, it is with the launch of 3D-Innovations that he is becoming their international spokesmodel, and well, you won’t hear me complaining. However, his international campaign seems to be falling short of the US and will only be promoted in Europe and the UK.

The new Jockey 3D line offers cotton spandex underwear that incorporates technology, so as to enable them to mold and reflect the movements of human body. It is said to offer an excellent comfort fit and hugs the body like second skin. While the line was launched in New Zealand today, it is also offered in the US and can be seen on their website, just without the fabulous imagery of Dan Carter wearing them.