RETAIL ACTIVATION

Shop ‘Til You Pop

Team: The Fashion Group International - Seattle Region

Timeline: Summer 2018

Tools: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, MailChimp, Hootsuite, Eventbrite

Event Overview

• Venue: Pacific Place Shopping Center in Seattle, WA

• Audience: Fashion industry professionals, designers, and influencers

• Programming Highlights:

  • An invitation-only press party for journalists and influencers

  • A weekend-long shopping experience with local ready-to-wear, couture, and accessory designers in the heart of downtown Seattle

From Concept to Execution

• In previous years, FGI Seattle hosted a designer showcase highlighting local creatives and their work without a retail component. I suggested adding a retail component to the 2018 showcase and rebranding the messaging to encourage attendees to shop the designer collections.

• We partnered with Pacific Place to secure a retail space for a weekend in June 2018 (Saturday and Sunday), invited nine apparel and accessory designers to participate, and hosted a Friday night press party for journalists and local influencers to meet the designers before the doors opened on Saturday.

• In addition to leading the charge on setting up the designers in the retail space, I executed an integrated marketing campaign, managed the RSVP ticketing page on Eventbrite to gauge weekend attendance, and designed and ordered retail display signage.

Key Takeaways

• While the press party was well attended, the two shopping days saw minimal traffic because the event overlapped with Seattle Pride. A malfunctioning escalator and the inability to post marketing assets in the shopping center over the weekend also contributed to low traffic.

• Because the event spanned the entire weekend, the designers and I had to remain in the retail space during shopping hours.

• If given the opportunity to host a similar event in the future, I would make the following adjustments:

  • Host the event on one day, but include time blocks for press and influencers to explore the retail space before the general public

  • Scout a location with more foot traffic and fewer competing retailers

  • Select a date in the fall or spring when consumers are more likely to shop

  • Develop a theme around the pop-up, which would help narrow down the shopping categories and featured designers