For its February installment, which ran from Monday through Wednesday in Las Vegas, the WWDMagic show got a new interactive destination, intended to keep the show fresh and relevant: the Teen Vogue Blogger Lounge, on the main concourse of the central hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The lounge brought in 35 emerging and big-name fashion bloggers and writers from around the world to report live from the show floor. The lounge teemed with activity, and served as the focal point of the area, with the group participating in discussion panels, providing trend reports, generating video segments, and participating in events to form a broad view for their readers of what was happening at the show—as well as promote the magazine and its user-generated content site, Fashion Click. Overseeing the project were Teen Vogue publisher Sabine Feldmann and WWDMagic director Christopher Griffin.
Among the bloggers in the group were Jane Aldridge of Sea of Shoes, Erica Domesek of P.S. I Made This, Jennifer Margolin of Red Sole Diary, Rebecca Lay and Renee Ogaki of Styluste, and Colby Jordan of Minnie Muse. "Teen Vogue has never done anything like this before, and Fashion Click is a relatively new program," Feldmann said. "WWDMagic was the perfect partner, because the brands featured at this show are brands the Teen Vogue reader is interested in. [The magazine] has championed personal style since its inception, and this was a wonderful opportunity to showcase Fashion Click bloggers, who are such a key part of the brand. This project really was a win for everyone involved.“
The bloggers were chosen in two ways. Fifteen were selected by Teen Vogue and WWDMagic for their voice, style, and online influence. The rest were chosen through an online contest, with entrants answering questions and participating in a social media exercise to be considered. On site, geolocation service Whrrl created a custom society through its mobile application, Sony equipped the area with All-In-One computers and Bloggie Touch cameras, and community-driven crowdsourcing shop Moxsie.com served as an additional technology partner. All of the content was aggregated at wwdmagic.tumblr.com.
In terms of R.O.I. measurement, Teen Vogue was able to provide readers with behind-the-scenes content and continue to solidify the relationships it has with bloggers—so the magazine team will measure the campaign through exposure for the brand and for Fashion Click. Magic is measuring the campaign through predetermined social media metrics, press clips, and the satisfaction of the retailers at the show, as well as the partners involved. The brands at the show now have another way to measure their own R.O.I., as well: Previously, their success was based on the number and quality of orders placed, but this project introduced an opportunity for them to meet and develop relationships with key bloggers from far-flung places.
Four junior and young contemporary brands anchored the concourse area: Levi’s, Jessica Simpson, French Connection, and Free People. Magic also partnered with L’Oréal Paris to create a beauty bar. Bloggers and writers also competed for a variety of prizes, as well as the role of the official WWDMagic correspondent at the August show.
