About The Brand
"It's simple, beautiful and wonderfully innovative in a quietly disruptive way." — Bloomberg Businessweek
Inspired by online photoblogs like The Sartorialist, Lookbook was created for real people around the world to share their fashion photography and personal style with other human beings. Being the first of its kind, the website began attracting up to 22 million unique visitors per month — until similar apps like Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr entered the scene with broader offerings. Once the sovereign source for up-to-date fashion inspiration, it now needed to reposition itself to ride out the turning of the social media tide, rather than get caught beneath its waves.
What the new social media players had in breadth, Lookbook had to make up for with depth — building upon its strengths in branding, differentiation, discerning style, and pursuing a deeper, more meaningful relationship with its audience.
When the team approached me for editorial services, I advised them to leverage the most solid areas of public interest and tangible growth. Thankfully, most of Lookbook's followers were already demonstrating their brand loyalty by flocking to the website's social media conduits. The aim was to build upon that, while enticing followers towards the company's more profitable platforms — mainly Instagram, and their website.
Increasing Exposure
The greatest potential for growth was through Instagram, so we upped our game with scheduled posts, strategic tagging, select endorsements, higher visual standards and thoughtful cross-promotional campaigns. Lookbook's following increased to over 1 million (205%), while themed posts and updated profile links directed new viewers to the main website on a daily basis.
Before (2014) After (2016)
Rather than stick to basic look-of-the-day imagery, we began posting meaningful, fashion-related content that would resonate with the hearts and minds of the millennial generation and the modern era.
This stylish multiracial family we shot at Liberty Fairs is one example of a post that not only did remarkably well on Lookbook's Instagram, but inspired multiple reposts throughout the duration of the fair.
Launching Editorial
Over 40% of Lookbook's traffic comes from passionate content creators, mainly students and young bloggers in the creative field — with a demonstrated interest in sharing far more than the allocated one image per post.
With editorial, we'd be able to provide a more in-depth outlet for both content creators and advertisers to share full articles and various forms of photography and videography on the site. I worked closely with the team to redesign the blog for easier navigation and cleaner aesthetics. We kept the voice of the editorial fun, smart, creative and approachable enough to be enjoyed and appreciated by the brand's young, stylish, jet-setting audience.
The blog averaged 100,000 unique visitors per month within the first year, providing advertising space worth anywhere between $50,000 to $60,000 per month.
Capturing New Audiences
In order to expand Lookbook's niche market on an international scale, we empowered loyal ambassadors from around the world to build a presence at multiple international trade shows, fashion weeks, music festivals and other related events.
The new editorial space was fully engaged for showcasing content that would resonate strongly with Lookbook’s progressive, music loving, creatively hungry and socially-conscious mindset, including features on eco-friendly bloggers, youth culture brands and the international arts and music festival scene.