Getting the Word Out! Press Releases, Press Kits, Swag for Celebrities!

[indygo]

Thank you for that tip!

 

[RocknNeedle]

it is worth a try! I emailed a celebrity agent and have been told the celebrity wouldn't be able to give feedback but if she likes the item she will wear it so it's only costing me a top and postage let us know if you get featured and I will too!

 

[indygo]

Thank you! I will! Next step is figuring out who would be the perfect person to target. I'm thinking of shipping to an "it" girl or "it" guy of the moment. Like someone who may be starring in an upcoming movie (for instance, Shia Lebouf - so hot - is starring in the upcoming Wall Street sequel so I imagine he's doing a lot of press now)...

 

[AnneMarie]

I agree with Lee Lee as I also did this when designing. I was given tickets as a present to see an Irish group in London and whilst there decided I would see if I could approach them to wear my sweaters, from one range. In the interval I asked to see their manager. Got an appointment to meet them in their hotel, and gave them the sweaters. They wore them on television and also on the sleeve of one of their albums.

It was definitely well worth it ...

 

[CoffeeAndPearls]

How/Where to Send out a Press Kit

At my university we have had a unique opportunity for the past few years to collaborate with a well known clothing manufacturer in creating an annual menswear collection. With scholarship funds from the company, a team of design and management students work together each year to create the collection that is presented annually at the school fashion show. The line is supposed to be fashion forward and inspirational while providing market research/trend forecasting for the company.

We would like to get more publicity for the line and the fashion show, and this year we plan on selling the past collections (probably through an online format). As part of the management team, I've developed (almost finished!) a press kit that includes a cover letter, links to our blog and lookbook, some photos from last year's line, and past press clips.

My hope is to somehow send this press kit out to magazines and blogs. However, I'm not sure how to go about this.
First of all, especially for magazines, who on the masthead to I send it to? Should I look for the assistant fashion editor, the fashion new/features editor, or would it instead go to a marketing editor? Sometimes it says to direct all marketing inquiries to a particular person, is that who I send it to, or do I focus on editors/writers?
Also, once I figure out who to send the press kit to, would you recommend that I first email the person with a short message about the line and asking whether they would be interested in a press kit and wait for a response, or should I send out the press kit in my first email?

Also if anyone is curious or interested in seeing/critiquing my press kit, or is has any contacts at magazines/blogs they think would be interested in this line, please message/email me!

 

[BetteT]

This was just published in the L.A. Times ... a New book that everyone who is thinking about starting a line, should reak ... about "seeding" (getting celebs to wear your styles). What I find most interesting, especially for a new designer, is the concept of seeding right in your home town, with local "celebs" and influential people ... I've hightlighted that part.

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage

Susan Ashbrook shares secrets of celebrity dressing in new book

Why have we seen a dozen paparazzi photos in the past couple of weeks of celebrities wearing Current/ Elliott’s leopard-print "Stiletto" jeans? Surely it's not a coincidence that Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicky Hilton, Mandy Moore and Isla Fisher all have the same jeans. More likely it's because a publicist “seeded” them, meaning they gifted the jeans to famous fashion influencers.

Seeding is just one of the machinations of celebrity dressing explained in "Will Work For Shoes: The Business Behind Red Carpet Product Placement,” a new book on sale Sept. 1, by former fashion publicist Susan Ashbrook.

Ashbrook, who lives in L.A., was a pioneer in the product placement game in Hollywood, founding her company Film Fashion in 1994. For 14 years, she played matchmaker between fashion companies and celebrities, engineering red carpet moments and paparazzi opportunities that helped raise brand awareness and sales at Escada, Stuart Weitzman, Lanvin and others.

"In Middle America, people still come up to me and say, 'You mean celebrities get dresses for free?'" says Ashbrook, when asked if the public knows how much money and product changes hands before Katie Holmes, Fergie and Jessica Simpson appear in US Weekly or In Touch carrying the same high-end handbag.



But the book isn't so much a memoir as it is a how-to guide for getting product on celebrities, whether they be Hollywood or hometown. "Celebrity marketing can work for a tire store in St. Louis just as well as it can for Armani,” says Ashbrook, who moved to L.A. from Chicago to become an actress, but landed in fashion, first as director of public relations for designer Richard Tyler.

"Even in small-town U.S.A. you have your own VIPs, whether it’s the mayor, a tennis coach or a football star. You can use examples of what the big brands do, and do it on a smaller scale," says Ashbrook, who sold Film Fashion to PR powerhouse Rogers & Cowan in 2008. "Louis Vuitton used to host these salon dinners with editors and designers. If you're the owner of a bookstore in a small town you can host a salon dinner of your own and create a buzz for your store that way."

Of course, Ashbrook also shares a fair amount of star-studded dish. Here's a cheat sheet on the PR maven and her book:



Bragging rights:

Dressing Kim Basinger in a pistachio-coloreed Escada gown for the 1998 Oscars. The dress, finished just minutes before Basinger got in her car to go, raised the profile of the brand internationally. Jump-starting bridal designer Monique Lhuillier's career by pairing her with Britney Spears. When Spears wore a Lhuillier gown to wed Kevin Federline, even Newsweek took notice of the fashion moment.

Trade secret: Offered gift certificates to celebrities to get them to shop at maternity wear retailer A Pea in the Pod -- $5,000 for A-listers, $2,500 for B-listers.

Dish: Holly Robinson Peete took a free baby crib in exchange for having her nursery photographed for a weekly magazine; Sarah Jessica Parker said “no way.” Monique Lhuillier wouldn’t give Jamie Lee Curtis a gown gratis to wear to the Oscars because she didn’t feel the actress fit her demographic. Curtis bought the dress and wore it anyway.

Low point: Oscar red carpet dressing got so competitive one year that Ashbrook found herself sitting alongside another publicist in a Beverly Hills hotel lobby until 2 a.m. waiting for actress Ziyi Zhang. Both Ashbrook and her competiton were vying for the actress to wear their client’s shoes. The experience inspired the title of the book, "Will Work for Shoes."

Words to live by: "Many bad girl celebrities get you more publicity than good girl ones"; "Gifting and bartering product is less expensive than paying for an ad or endorsement."

"Will Work For Shoes: The Business Behind Red Carpet Product Placement," by Susan Ashbrook, goes on sale Sept. 1.

-- Booth Moore

 

[franki]

i think this book would be quite an interesting read! thanks!

 

[mishmashmosh]

I recently started doing in-house PR for a start up footwear company. The brand has global recognition for apparel but the footwear sector has yet to take off. I have a short list of press contacts (that was given to me) but in addition to a larger contact list I need ideas for PR initiatives (the apparel team has more or less told us that we are on our own).

How does one launch a new brand into the media stratosphere?? WWD recently wrote an article based off my first press release for the brand...but I'm not sure where to go from here. Next up for us is FFANY at the end of Nov.

Does anybody have any thoughts/advice?? I'd really appreciate it.