This time last year, British heritage brand and LFW headliner Burberry caused quite a commotion with their fashion week campaign. Collaborating with another London icon, Transport for London, Bond Street station (the redesigned flagship store’s nearest tube stop) was transformed into Burberry Street. Throughout the station, the signage was transformed to match one of the brand’s new colours, Knight Blue and emblazoned with its updated name. Created alongside a partnership with North London’s Norman’s, a modern and playful take on the traditional greasy spoon, the campaign playfully tapped into its core DNA: a London brand through and through. The tube stop element may have received criticism for confusing tourists and commercialising public space, but the activation succeeded on its main aim: getting people talking. Google searches were up, it made a splash on TikTok and spawned a whole conversation online. While making over a whole tube station might be out of reach for most brands, Burberry’s tongue-in-cheek approach can provide inspiration across the board. Leaning into the playful and pushing boundaries often pays off.

Anya Hindmarch’s playful approach can be seen across her accessory and lifestyle products and she is known for her innovative marketing strategies. We all remember her chubby hearts campaign across London back in 2019. In recent years, Hindmarch’s retail concept, The Village, has been the centre of the brand’s events. The collection of five stores all sit under the Anya Hindmarch umbrella but span beyond the core product offering and include add ons like the Anya Cafe. Naturally, Hindmarch’s Love and Antioxidants collection demanded a new store, Anya’s Fruit & Veg. Promoting the new collection and village in one, the pop-up shop functioned as a greengrocer but with a Hindmarch twist. Stickers on the fruit were collectable, there was limited-edition merchandise bearing the Fruit & Veg logo and the stores hosted fruit carving classes for children and adults. An excellent example of engaging with new and existing customers in an accessible way and something that could be easily replicated on a smaller scale and without an entire pop-up shop. Running with a collection theme and creating affordable adjacent merchandise that is both covetable and collectable is a great way to build brand loyalty.

When Covid lockdowns put a stop to the normal proceedings of the LFW men’s shows in June 2020, designers had to think outside the box about how to approach the event in a digital only way. LFW created a Netflix style platform for designers to share virtual content of their new collections but some, like London-based menswear design Nicholas Daley, used this as a moment to do something a little different. Daley, who was already known for his use of music in his catwalk shows, produced a playlist instead of his clothing collection. Showcased on the platform alongside sketches and fabric samples from the collection, Daley described it as an “interactive moodboard” in a New York Times interview. A great example of how to create a buzz and keep the conversation going without having to participate in a traditional way that at the time wasn’t feasible.

The iconic London department street is synonymous with yellow and plays heavily on the colour through all marketing activity. Naturally, partnering with Yell.com to give the classic directory, the Yellow Pages, a fresh new look was a smart move and the two partnered to produce ‘Yellow Pages, Directory of Now’. The 72 page magazine was available in all stores for a three month period kicking off with fashion week and contained culture focused articles, fashion tips and recommendations of where to visit in London, Manchester, and Birmingham. Creating editorial content that is both practical and useful is always a smart way to engage with consumers whether you invest in a print magazine or go for a more stripped back approach on social media platforms. The directory was a great springboard to partner with Vogue World who created a pop-up in Selfridges. The in store kiosks – which were similar to newsstands in New York – offered both the directory and copies of the latest Vogue alongside coffee to create a nostalgic and fun collaborative partnership.

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do here at Marble Creative Studios so we always have our eye on environmentally-led event ideas. Naturally, we were excited when earlier this year Fenwick’s former Bond Street department store was transformed into a preloved fashion emporium for two weeks over the February fashion period. The Charity Super.Mkt brought together five charities including Shelter, Traid, Shaw Trust and Havens Hospices to sell second-hand items alongside in-store events and live DJs. As awareness of the positive impact of buying second hand grows, it was the perfect moment to create a positive event on London’s most prestigious shopping street and amidst the excitement of fashion week itself. Hot on the heels of this, resale giant eBay recently announced the launch of a Pre-Loved Fashion Week. In partnership with both LFW and NYFW, they will present live shoppable catwalks made up of pre-owned designer looks – we can’t wait to see what they come up with. 

Whether you are a brand showing at LFW or not, fashion week periods provide almost endless opportunities to create talking-point events. Need some inspiration on how to get people talking about yours?