AFRICA FASHION WEEK
CASE STUDY
Africa Fashion Week is an annual event that celebrates African fashion and culture. This three-day event features African inspirational exhibitions, fashion shows and outstanding displays by international designers.
Ad campaign
On-location social media activation
Next to building excitement in the weeks leading up to the show, we developed a strong brand presence during Africa Fashion Week itself across Instagram and Facebook. By closely coordinating with PR activity, we ensured we published posts in a timely fashion to maximize interest. That meant going live on the Facebook page and re-sharing the audience social media posts.
Blogger outreach
We reached out to authoritative fashion bloggers and ask them if they were open to do a cover story on their blogs and social media on Africa Fashion Week.
press conference
The days leading up to the main event were hectic but fulfilling. Especially when we decided to orchastrate a press conference to shed more light on Africa Fashion Week and the historical venue (Tropenmuseum) where the spectacle would take place.
THE BRIEF
AD CAMPAIGN
The campaign highlighted two powerful African women wearing classic African wax prints. We wanted the campaign to capture the radiance of tradition, heritage, culture and identity. It was quite a change from previous AFWA campaign ads which mostly featured models on a runway. The campaign pictures were featured in online magazines and blogs. It was also supported by high impact advertising across print and social media channels.
Blogger outreach
The main focus of the blogger outreach strategy was strictly to create content and relevancy throughout the Google search engins (by linkbuilding) and the social media platforms. We first handpicked bloggers that were alligned with what AFWA stood for. We offered them a special guest invitation to the fashionweek which included v.i.p. seating, backstage acces, a goodiebag and a few welcome drinks. For those who wanted exclusive interviews with the designers were able to do so. The results of the blogger outreach was a succes because of the many content that was delivered. The engagement that was generated from these posts has allowed Africa Fashion Week Amsterdam to build further relationships within the African relations industry, giving additional exposure to the brand.
The press conference
The news of Africa Fashion week press conference had been announced by means of a targeted press release distribution and with key interviews planned with newspapers and fashion magazines. During the press conference we made sure that the press got an exclusive taste on what they could expect during the fashion weekend.
We did that by conducting a showcase of models wearing various African prints by participating designers. Part of our strategy has also been to leverage all this great material created by the press by sharing it on AFWA’s own social media pages as testimonials, further enhancing the trust and authenticity of the event.
Case studies
On-location social media activation
We wanted to encourage the visitors at the Africa Fashion Week to share stories on their socials. We did this by using a marketing display in order to attract and grab the attention of people. For instance, we’ve putten several tall models in front of the entrance wearing outlandish African outfits. There job was to welcome the guest with program books and persue them to take a picture and to immediately share it on their socials accompanied with the right hashtags. The models even drawed the attention of a lot of outsiders, being that the location was in the middle of the center of Amsterdam.