This year’s honorees include a Midwest retailer and two multi-store independents, one in New York and the other in New England.
Couture’s social outreach begins with a #Takeover
Beginning Tuesday, Couture is turning over its Instagram account to a different member of the industry for a few days each month. The “Couture Takeover” is one part of an overall effort to broaden the show’s social media outreach.
New York--The Couture show is taking a fresh approach to social media, an approach that starts with giving up a little bit of control.
Beginning Tuesday, Couture is turning over its Instagram account, @by_couture, to different members of the industry--including designers, retailers and stylists--for one to three days every month. The photos will be searchable using the hashtag #CoutureTakeover.
“The whole idea is for all of us to see each side of the industry,” Show Director Gannon Brousseau said in an interview with National Jeweler. “I think it’s important for us to understand what each person’s role is, see what their day-to-day is like.”
The takeover is part of an overall effort by the high-end show to broaden its social media outreach. Below, Brousseau talks more about the takeover and Couture’s overall approach to social media.
National Jeweler: Where did the idea for broadening Couture’s social media outreach originate?
Gannon Brousseau: The whole idea, after having conversations with the team and industry partners, came when we realized that there’s a great opportunity. There’s no unified voice in our industry on social media. I want Couture to take a leading position.
NJ: As mentioned, this fresh approach will begin with a “takeover” of Couture’s Instagram account, @by_couture. Who will be the first person to do a takeover?
GB: (Designer) Irene Neuwirth will be taking over our Instagram Tuesday. We are really excited to have Irene as the first to take over our Instagram account. We are big fans of what Irene does and we are really excited she is taking part in this.
NJ: What will the takeover mean, exactly?
GB: We are going to see the world through Irene Neuwirth’s eyes. She’s going to be taking us into her world for three days and we can see things from her point of view. She'll be taking pictures of her daily events and posting them directly to our Couture Instagram account for three days.
The concept behind Couture Takeover is to better utilize Couture’s Instagram site by reaching out to our customers and our industry partners. We thought we could really create an incredible story about our industry.
The goal behind the takeover is to feature a different side of the industry each month. We’ll have designer, retailer, editor, stylist and consumer and/or celebrity (perspectives).
What we are trying to accomplish is to create a dialogue within
NJ: Does the social media outreach extend beyond the Instagram takeovers?
GB: Right now we are focusing on Instagram because it is image heavy and our industry is so visual. We thought this was a great way to expose the beautiful designs of our category.
NJ: Who’s the next takeover artist?
GB: (Designer) Kara Ross will be next. Kara is opening her first flagship store in Manhattan and so she’s going to share that experience. Jennifer McCurry at Marissa Collections will be our first retailer. We haven’t yet decided who will be our January Instagram takeover representative.
The great thing about this is it’s been really well received. The community has been reaching out, thanking us. They are really excited about what this is. We are thrilled about the opportunity.
Couture 2014 is set for May 29 to June 2 at the Wynn Las Vegas.
The Couture show and National Jeweler, along with the JA New York shows, are part of Emerald Expositions, formerly Nielsen Expositions, a leading owner and operator of business-to-business tradeshows and related publications in the United States.
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