Fashion and Film PDF

Springer Series in Fashion Business
Peter Bug Editor
Fashion
and Film
Moving Images and Consumer Behavior
Series Editor
Jason Tsan-Ming Choi, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
This book series publishes monographs and edited volumes from leading scholars
and established practitioners in the fashion business. Specific focus areas such as
luxury fashion branding, fashion operations management, and fashion finance and
economics, are covered in volumes published in the series. These perspectives
of the fashion industry, one of the world’s most important businesses, offer unique
research contributions among business and economics researchers and practitioners.
Given that the fashion industry has become global, highly dynamic, and green, the
book series responds to calls for more in-depth research about it from commercial
points of views, such as sourcing, manufacturing, and retailing. In addition,
volumes published in Springer Series in Fashion Business explore deeply each part
of the fashion industry’s supply chain associated with the many other critical issues.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15202

Peter Bug
Editor
Fashion and Film

Moving Images and Consumer Behavior
123
Editor
Peter Bug
School of Textiles and Design
Reutlingen University
Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
ISSN 2366-8776 ISSN 2366-8784 (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-13-9541-3 ISBN 978-981-13-9542-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard
to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
Contents
1 An Introductory Viewpoint to Fashion and Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Peter Bug
Part I Contemporary Traditional Use of Films in Fashion

2 Cinema Films Influencing Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Peter Bug, Charlotte L. Niemann and Lisa Welle
3 Fashion and Fashion Advertisement in TV—Study Germany . . . . . 29
Peter Bug, Laura Bessler and Janina Bendix
4 Fashion Product Placement in International TV Series . . . . . . . . . . 59
Peter Bug and Larissa Blau
Part II Social Media Altering the Use of Moving Images in Fashion

5 YouTube Fashion Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Peter Bug, Cora Winker and Patrizia Zillikens
6 Instagram Fashion Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Peter Bug and Madeleine T. Heene
7 Self-referencing Fashion Brand Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Peter Bug and Maike Hohnhorst
8 Music Videos and Fashion Business—Hip-Hop Study . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Peter Bug and Thi Quynh Anh Dao
Part III New Use of Films in Fashion Commerce

9 Fashion Show Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Peter Bug and Martha Windhab
10 Event Films Influencing Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Peter Bug, Jacqueline Diefenbach and Anna Heller
v
vi Contents
11 Overview of Product Presentation with Moving Images

in Fashion E-Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Peter Bug and Julia Helwig
12 Current Use of Moving Images for Product Presentation
in Fashion E-Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
13 Analysis of Moving Images in Fashion Stores in Stuttgart . . . . . . . 269
Peter Bug, Marcus Adam and Katharina Moessle
Part IV Future Forms of Moving Images for Fashion Business

14 The Future of Fashion Films in Augmented Reality
and Virtual Reality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Peter Bug and Melina Bernd
Editor and Contributors
About the Editor
Peter Bug is an international fashion retail specialist trained at Kaiserslautern

University (Germany) and Stuttgart University (Germany). He holds the diploma
and a doctorate of Stuttgart University in Technical Cybernetics (Dr.-Ing., 1999);
English title of German dissertation: “Information models to build textile business
market information systems.” He is Professor for Fashion Marketing at Reutlingen
University in Germany since 2000 and founding Dean of the B.Sc. program
International Fashion Retail since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the Marketing and
Marketing Research courses as full professor for one semester at the College of
Business at Valparaiso University, IN, USA. Before his university time, he worked
as sales forecasting consultant for numerous mainly European-based fashion and
textiles companies like adidas, France, and adidas Headquarters, Germany. He
gained additional consultancy and teaching experience outside Europe in USA,
China, Peru, and Morocco. e-mail: peter.bug@reutlingen-university.de
Contributors
Marcus Adam School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,

Germany
Janina Bendix School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Melina Bernd School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Laura Bessler School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
vii
viii Editor and Contributors
Larissa Blau School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,

Germany
Peter Bug School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Thi Quynh Anh Dao School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Jacqueline Diefenbach School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Madeleine T. Heene School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Anna Heller School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Julia Helwig School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Maike Hohnhorst School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Katharina Moessle School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Charlotte L. Niemann School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Lisa Welle School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Martha Windhab School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
Cora Winker School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,
Germany
Patrizia Zillikens School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University,
Reutlingen, Germany
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 Moving images use potential for fashion businesses today
and tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Fig. 2.1 Distribution of product placements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Fig. 2.2 Number of brands appearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Fig. 3.1 Classification of broadcasting hours. Adapted
from Amann (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Fig. 3.2 Classification of selected TV programs according to their
fashion content. Abbreviations: GNTM = “Germany’s Next
Top Model”; ZTUT = “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen”,
in English: ‘Between tulle and tears’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Fig. 3.3 Illustration of fashion-connected subjects in “Germany’s
Next Top Model”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Fig. 3.4 Distribution of potential fashion content according
to channel schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Fig. 3.5 Effective hours of fashion content broadcasted
in one week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Fig. 3.6 Distribution of TV formats and fashion content within 24 h
VOX schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Fig. 3.7 Length of programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Fig. 3.8 TV ratings of shows with high and medium fashion
connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Fig. 3.9 Spot content categories ProSieben June 13, 2018 . . . . . . . . . . 44
Fig. 3.10 Spot content categories sixx June 21, 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Fig. 3.11 Spot content categories RTL II June 26, 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Fig. 3.12 Fashion brand spots in total of three selected channels . . . . . . 47
Fig. 3.13 Fashion brand spots in different channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Fig. 3.14 Average length of fashion content on streaming services . . . . . 51
Fig. 3.15 Distribution of fashion content in different formats
on Netflix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Fig. 3.16 Distribution of fashion content in different formats
on Prime Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
ix
x List of Figures
Fig. 4.1 Top 20 placed fashion product categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Fig. 4.2 Top 20 placed fashion brands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Fig. 4.3 Placed clothing brands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Fig. 4.4 Strongest placement categories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Fig. 4.5 Strongest placement types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Fig. 4.6 Strongest placement forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Fig. 4.7 Product placement characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Fig. 4.8 Number of PP (Season 1–6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Fig. 4.9 Coherence of viewing figures and number of PP “Sex
and the City” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Fig. 5.1 Factors for successful social video marketing according
to Carter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Fig. 5.2 Classification of top video content. Adapted
from Rosen (2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Fig. 5.3 Luxury—subscribers, thousands; and luxury—views in total,
millions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Fig. 5.4 Luxury—likes and dislikes in April; and luxury—total video
number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Fig. 5.5 Luxury—views in April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fig. 5.6 Sports—subscribers, thousands; and sports—video views,
millions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fig. 5.7 Sports—likes and dislikes in April; and sports—total video
number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Fig. 5.8 Sports—views in April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Fig. 5.9 Lifestyle—subscribers, thousands; and Lifestyle—video
views, millions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Fig. 5.10 Lifestyle—likes and dislikes in April, and lifestyle—total
video number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Fig. 5.11 Sports—views in April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Fig. 5.12 Average number of subscribers per sector, thousands . . . . . . . 105
Fig. 5.13 Average number of videos in April per sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Fig. 5.14 Average number of views in April per sector, thousands . . . . . 105
Fig. 5.15 Average number of likes in April per sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Fig. 5.16 Findings—most used video types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Fig. 6.1 Zara: views (black) and likes (gray). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Fig. 6.2 Zara: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Fig. 6.3 Victoria’s Secret: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Fig. 6.4 Victoria’s Secret: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Fig. 6.5 H&M: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Fig. 6.6 H&M: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Fig. 6.7 Louis Vuitton: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Fig. 6.8 Louis Vuitton: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Fig. 6.9 Dior: views (black) and likes (gray). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Fig. 6.10 Dior: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
List of Figures xi
Fig. 6.11 Prada: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Fig. 6.12 Prada: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Fig. 6.13 Nike: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Fig. 6.14 Nike: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Fig. 6.15 Adidas: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Fig. 6.16 Adidas: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Fig. 6.17 Under Armour: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Fig. 6.18 Under Armour: number of comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Fig. 6.19 Category comparison—lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Fig. 6.20 Category comparison—luxury and premium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Fig. 6.21 Category comparison—sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Fig. 6.22 Like rates per category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Fig. 6.23 Proportion of product (black) and image videos (gray)
per category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Fig. 7.1 What platforms are used to reach the customer? . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Fig. 7.2 Relation of film length and viewer engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Fig. 7.3 Average frequency of brand logo appearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Fig. 7.4 Minimum, maximum and average appearance time . . . . . . . . . 147
Fig. 7.5 Topics and number of topics of the films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Fig. 8.1 Average number of outfits per video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Fig. 8.2 Average number of articles written about the fashion
in the video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Fig. 8.3 Average number of fashion-related song lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Fig. 8.4 Average number of recognized brands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Fig. 8.5 Fashion influence index of each music video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Fig. 8.6 Average fashion influence index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Fig. 9.1 Analysis aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Fig. 9.2 Overview of fashion show films on YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Fig. 9.3 Number of fashion show films on YouTube in categories . . . . 184
Fig. 9.4 Clicks on YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Fig. 9.5 Number of visualizations of brand name and logo . . . . . . . . . . 191
Fig. 10.1 Revenue of the leading retailers worldwide 2016,
in million EUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Fig. 10.2 The Instagram feed of Coachella 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Fig. 10.3 Stylistic elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Fig. 10.4 Share of trend articles within the assortment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Fig. 10.5 Trend articles regarding fashion retailers,
event-independently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Fig. 10.6 Trends and events, fashion retailer independently . . . . . . . . . . 213
Fig. 11.1 Screenshots: “catwalk” video (own representation) . . . . . . . . . 222
Fig. 11.2 Screenshots: walk–sway–turn video (own representation) . . . . 222
Fig. 11.3 Screenshots: sway–turn video (own representation) . . . . . . . . . 222
Fig. 11.4 Relation of catwalk videos (own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Fig. 11.5 Screenshots of a mood video (own representation) . . . . . . . . . 228
xii List of Figures
Fig. 11.6 Screenshots of a GIF-like video (own representation) . . . . . . . 229

Fig. 11.7 Screenshots of a GIF (own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Fig. 11.8 Screenshots of a descriptive video (own representation) . . . . . 230
Fig. 11.9 Screenshots of a descriptive video (own representation) . . . . . 230
Fig. 11.10 Screenshots of a customer review video
(own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 231
Fig. 12.1 Market research process (own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . .. 245
Fig. 12.2 Frequency of videos per main market
Fig. 12.3 Share of dresses displayed with videos per market
Fig. 12.4 Distribution of the presented video contents
Fig. 12.5 Distribution of the embeddings (own representation) . . . . . . .. 252
Fig. 12.6 Frequency of embeddings per video content format
Fig. 12.7 Video proportions and revenues of the online shops
Fig. 12.8 Video type frequency and their price level
Fig. 12.9 Video type frequency and garment is display
Fig. 12.10 Frequencies of sounds in the videos (own representation) . . .. 256
Fig. 12.11 Frequency of sounds per duration (own representation) . . . . .. 256
Fig. 12.12 Frequency of the video’s position on the page
Fig. 12.13 Frequency of product details embedding position
Fig. 12.14 Frequency of videos playing automatically
Fig. 12.15 Frequency of catwalk videos and their price level
Fig. 12.16 Distribution of color options for catwalk videos
Fig. 12.17 Mood distribution through mood videos
Fig. 12.18 Frequency of mood videos per price level
Fig. 12.19 Relation of duration and price level (own representation) . . .. 262
Fig. 12.20 Article price levels for descriptive videos
(own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Fig. 13.1 Total number of observed fashion stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Fig. 13.2 Number of screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Fig. 13.3 Position of moving images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
List of Figures xiii
Fig. 13.4 Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Fig. 13.5 Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Fig. 13.6 Interactive screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Fig. 14.1 VR history timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Fig. 14.2 Result chart, made with questionpro.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
List of Tables
Table 3.1 Weekly themes of “Shopping Queen” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38

Table 3.2 Fashion connection in GNTM: plot of episode and star
guests, season 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Table 3.3 Fashion-connected programs and their transmission times . . . . 41
Table 3.4 Fashion brand spots ProSieben . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Table 3.5 Fashion brand spots sixx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Table 3.6 Fashion brand spots RTL II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Table 4.1 Sample of episodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 4.2 Time on screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Table 4.3 Plot and character connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Table 4.4 Product and brand prominence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Table 4.5 Information content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Table 5.1 Advantages and disadvantages of YouTube
video marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Table 5.2 Dior—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Table 5.3 Louis Vuitton—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Table 5.4 Burberry—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Table 5.5 Nike—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Table 5.6 Puma—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Table 5.7 Adidas—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Table 5.8 H&M—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Table 5.9 ZARA—general aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Table 5.10 GAP—general YouTube aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Table 5.11 Luxury—video categories April 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Table 5.12 Sports—video categories April 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Table 5.13 Lifestyle—video categories April 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Table 6.1 Company selection results by category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Table 6.2 Selected brands overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Table 7.1 Selected brands and their annual revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Table 7.2 What is the intent of the film?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
xv
xvi List of Tables
Table 8.1 Analysis result for number of styles and articles

of 2015–2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Table 9.1 Film analysis—Dolce & Gabbana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Table 9.2 Film analysis—Chanel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Table 9.3 Film analysis—Burberry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Table 9.4 Film analysis—Gucci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Table 9.5 Film analysis—Tommy Hilfiger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Table 9.6 Film analysis—Victoria’s Secret . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Table 9.7 Film analysis—Hugo Boss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Table 9.8 Film analysis—H&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Table 9.9 Film analysis—Topshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Table 9.10 Film analysis Puma X Fenty Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Table 9.11 Spread of fashion show films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Table 10.1 Most-watched primetime telecasts of 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Table 10.2 Highest grossing festivals worldwide, 2017. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Table 10.3 Stylistic elements at the Oscars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Table 10.4 Analysis at Zara and H&M based on The Academy
Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Table 10.5 Fashion films on Coachella’s Instagram account . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Table 10.6 Stylistic elements at Coachella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Table 10.7 Analysis at Zara and H&M based on Coachella . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Table 10.8 Instagram counting comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Table 11.1 Summary of opportunities (own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Table 11.2 Summary of things to consider (own representation) . . . . . . . . 236
Table 12.1 20 online shops in G, GB and USA with highest
fashion sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 248
Table 12.2 Type of content versus duration of video
(own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 250
Table 12.3 Average grading of video content types
(own representation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 259
Table 13.1 Characteristics of the store format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... 270
Chapter 1
An Introductory Viewpoint to Fashion
and Film
Peter Bug
1.1 The Fashion and Film Relation
The film industry, like the music industry (Strähle, 2018), went through tremendous
changes over the last two decades. The digital revolution altered several elements of
a structure, which had been rather stable until the millennium. The advancements in
information technology lead to new ways of film creation, production, distribution
and consumption. Film creation in former times needed film and production crews,
a rigid and rather inflexible, undynamic distribution system via cinemas, and the
consumers went out of their homes to have the possibility to watch one of these films.
Nowadays, films are on your fingertips at every smartphone, on many social media
channels available for free. Through digitalization, film production was made easier
by omitting all the hardware necessary to produce films like celluloid specialized big
camera equipment. Nowadays, you may produce reasonably good films for many
occasions even as a consumer with your smartphone. Free film cut and editing tools
are available, too. Distribution of your film via social media is no problem at all. So,
it is much easier to produce and distribute films than in former times. What does that
mean for fashion businesses? Can they use the easiness of this media for their own
goals, too? In this book, we want to show, yes, they can. And there is potential to do
more, as the research in this book shows, since not all fashion companies use this
medium to its full potential. Furthermore, there is a development in the film genre
too. New ways and types of film and film production evolve, and old ones like cinema
films are changing with digitalization.
Films take viewers into another world by showing a new environment with moving
images including a potential for emotional involvement. Clothing can have similar
effects on the consumer by giving him a new social skin, potentially relating to brands
and clothing items with emotional involvement, too. These striking similarities alone
P. Bug (B)
School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany
e-mail: peter.bug@reutlingen-university.de
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

P. Bug (ed.), Fashion and Film, Springer Series in Fashion Business,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_1
2 P. Bug
call for the combined use of film and fashion. Of course, there is more, e.g., the
cultural impact of fashion and film in human societies, industries promoting fashion
and film, media coverage and social media response of fashion and film etc. Even the
terms to be used are unclear due to the rapid development of digital film production
and distribution. Regarding film terms, we can name here traditional cinema films,
but also ‘film’ as a genre name for all motion pictures, motioned pictures like gif
‘films’, videos, clips, TV advertisement, etc. So, how should we characterize each
film form before we talk about possible applications for fashion businesses? What
is the difference between a film, a movie, a video or a clip? Is there a difference
between ‘motion picture’ and motioned pictures’? And there are specialized terms
like catwalk video and catwalk film, too. Looking through the literature, there is a
striking ambiguous usage of the terms. A movie is mostly regarded as a traditional
cinema movie, but there are other, modern usages of the term as well depicting short
films. A movie is a film, and a film is a series of pictures set in motion. A motion
picture is a synonym for a movie, especially in the early days of cinema films. On the
other hand, ‘motioned pictures’ describe the dynamic viewing experience you get by
looking at a fast sequence of pictures, the old and traditional way of producing a film.
A gif film on social media represents a modern form of that. A clip is traditionally a
word for an advertisement film shown on TV, but is nowadays also used for short films
not exceeding single-digit minutes. Film describes a view time that is traditionally
longer than a video. Here is not the place to discuss the terms in detail, since the
meaning of the words describing the film types changes with technology very fast.
There are analyses describing the use of the terms ‘film’ and ‘movie’ for develop-
ment, production, post-production, sales and distribution, exhibition and marketing
even for cinema films/movies. But also, for this traditional genre, there is no clear
distinction possible. The use of ‘film’ over ‘movie’ prevails, but is overall constant
since millennium (Stephenfollows, 2016). Here, in this book, we concentrate not on
these terms by trying to give an exact definition since the focus of the book is fashion
business and the according use of films and not film theory. Therefore, the relevant
terms describing moving images in this book may be used synonymously, as they are
used in the literature or practically, e.g., in social media. Since film is apparently the
most used term, we use it for the book title, but there are specialized terms depict-
ing a film more accurately, e.g., advertisement spots, available and used. New film
types relevant for fashion business use have sometimes a term used analogical like a
‘catwalk video’ in e-stores, Fig. 11.1, but there are others not even having a term at
all, yet. An example for e-store videos is the term ‘walking but mainly swaying and
turning on the spot’ videos, Fig. 11.2, which we call in this book ‘walk-sway-turn’
videos, being a new describing term. More such new video and film terms will evolve
in the future parallel to the establishment of new fashion film types, e.g., in e-stores
or in augmented reality. We are convinced that the use of moving images in fashion
business has great potential for companies and consumers and that the use tomorrow
will be much more common than today. Increasingly more companies test these pos-
sibilities and learn. Figure 1.1 gives an impression of the perceived potential today
and tomorrow. There is an already widespread use of classic, social media and new
film in fashion business. For augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), the
1 An Introductory Viewpoint to Fashion and Film 3
Potential
gif
haul
TV brand
TV ads heritage shopable
offline store ?
movie, campaign
3D simulation VR
film, video recruitment
walk-sway-turn AR
livestream customer review
sway-turn e-store
Use: Classic Social Media New Future
Overall increasing fashion-specific film potential from left to right: use today, potential use tomorrow
Fig. 1.1 Moving images use potential for fashion businesses today and tomorrow
current use is not so widespread, yet. For tomorrow we expect growth in all four
areas, smaller with classical films, much more with social media and new films, and
especially with future films in AR and VR and partially connected with that, new
film forms in e-stores.
Fashion businesses learn to use film now, but the use of film is relatively new for
fashion companies. Many aspects of use are still unknown, like the optimal form
or length of a film or which media reach the most customers in a sustainable way.
Fashion films are a new communication format to build fashion brands (Díaz Soloaga
& García Guerrero, 2016). Many fashion companies try to use films now, and others
still wait, as we will see in the course of the book. Films offer the opportunity to give
additional information about clothing to the consumer; e.g., how a dress is falling
and is moving with the body cannot be depicted with an image nearly as good. Film
may transport emotions also much better than mere photographs of models. The
involvement of a consumer with a good film can be much more intense than with a
photograph. This is an enhancement of the traditional use of pictures in offline and
online stores. Especially in online stores, we often still see ‘electrified paper catalogs’
as we know them for decades. Here, video offers new possibilities. Consumers get to
know and feel the product better via film. As a fashion business, you are better able
to engage him with your brand or product. There is a deeper customer relationship
and even a decrease of return shipments possible. On the other hand, the traditional
use of fashion in cinema movies and fashion spots in fashion advertisement breaks
prevail, but their importance is decreasing. The future of fashion films belongs to
film types which can reach the consumer group best. Here, for a fashion business,
the fashion-affine target groups are most important, and these younger consumers
you reach with social media best.
4 P. Bug
1.2 The Holistic View on Fashion and Film
In the past, only little research has focused on a comprehensive look about fashion and
film apart from fashion and cinema. This book therefore will bridge the gap between
two industries, which are usually seen separate, but in fact show a high degree
of interdependences. It approaches the subject from a fashion business perspective
in a holistic point of view. The aim is to lay down alternative approaches to the
same phenomena, the use of motioned pictures in fashion business. According to the
differentiation in paragraph 1.1 and Fig. 1.1, we group the book in the four parts:
I. Contemporary traditional use of films in fashion

II. Social media altering the use of moving images in fashion
III. New use of films in fashion commerce
IV. Future forms of moving images for fashion business.
In Part I, we deal with contemporary traditional use of fashion and film. First, there
is a view on the longest cooperation fashion business has, the cooperation with cin-
ema movies in Chap. 2. Although there is a different focus in costume design and in
fashion marketing, where companies want to profit from movies, there are increasing
possibilities. In Chap. 3, a look on fashion in TV and TV fashion advertisement in
Germany is made by selecting and analyzing different broadcasters. New here is the
lack of fashion advertisement in many channels who reach the elderly population
nowadays and a seeming concentration of fashion advertisement around fashion-
affine show and series formats aiming at a younger audience. Chapter 4 reviews
fashion product placement in international TV series, seemingly getting more pro-
fessionally aiming at a suitable audience.
In Part II, we analyze how the use of motioned pictures is different in social media.
With fashion videos, there is in Western Europe and USA currently a concentration on
YouTube and Instagram. Chapter 5 analyzes the activities of important fashion brands
at YouTube, showing similarities as the current state of the art and differences as
possible development starters for fashion videos there. Fashion brands have become
content producers, nowadays. Chapter 6 looks at the Instagram activities of important
fashion brands and retailers to provide insights into how companies make use of films
there. There is a double face of this development. On the one hand, new opportunities
to engage with a consumer arise, but the fast-reacting social media can develop
a threat for brand identity and brand sympathy if real or imagined critical points
of fashion business behavior or product characteristics evolve. Some brands react
by closing commentary and feedback channels on social media down, others never
opened them. This is a sign that fashion companies still struggle with their new social
media behavior requirements. Yes, fashion companies are now media companies, too.
Chapter 7 deals with an often-underestimated issue, namely the self-representation of
fashion companies via films. Do they and how do they talk about their heritage, their
values? Do they have recruitment videos and behind-the-scenes videos, too? What is
the status quo here? In Chap. 8, we take a view at music videos and fashion business
by studying the impact of the hip-hop/rap genre. Major international musicians, their
1 An Introductory Viewpoint to Fashion and Film 5
videos and the resulting fashion effects are described. Music is a ‘sister’ medium to
film and can impact fashion as we see with this music form.
In Part III, we examine new use of films in fashion commerce. Chapter 9 starts
by analyzing the new forms of catwalk films emerging in recent years. What are the
activities of important brands here and which company is active with catwalk videos
at all? Chapter 10 considers that we live in an event-driven society. Fashion-related
events create new fashion, if celebrities show them. This was published tradition-
ally via pictures. For two major events, the film impact is researched. Chapter 11
researches possibilities for moving images in fashion e-commerce. What are new
film formats used in e-stores? They are presented and discussed here. Chapter 12
looks at moving images in leading online shops in USA, Great Britain, and Ger-
many. What film formats are used, and which differences are observed in different
stores? Films are used in an increasing rate also in offline stores. Chapter 13 ana-
lyzes the high-street stores in Stuttgart, a German town with a two million inhabitants
agglomeration. What kind of videos are used where in these stores?
In Part IV, we try to give an overview of future forms of moving images for
fashion business by presenting developments in augmented reality and virtual reality.
Chapter 13 gives an overview of recent developments with fashion companies and
fashion retailers in these dynamic developing areas with seemingly high potential
for fashion companies.
There is still much research required. The rise of film in digital media is not yet
complete. Development examples are new forms of digitalization with the use of
large amounts of data unheard of in traditional customer relationship models, new
film forms, and complete new ‘film’ environments like augmented reality and virtual
reality. What is missing is the systematic observation of all these developments
for fashion companies. But also the consumer wants education in this new fashion
marketing world which is getting more complex than ever. Potentials are there, and
risks are real, too. Almost every chapter in this book can pose the question: How will
this topic develop in the next five years? I’m sure that these chapters will look very
different then. This study on fashion and film can only be a humble starting point
to explore and research the interaction of film and fashion further with the goal of
managing and developing it.
References
Díaz Soloaga, P., & García Guerrero, L. (2016). Fashion films as a new communication format to
build fashion brands. Communication & Society 29(2), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.29.
2.45-61.
Stephenfollows. (2016, August 8). Film vs movie—Which is the best term to use? Retrieved January
16, 2019, from Stephenfollows: https://stephenfollows.com/film-vs-movie/.
Strähle, J. (2018). Fashion & Music. Singapore: Springer Nature.
6 P. Bug
Peter Bug is an international fashion retail specialist trained at Kaiserslautern University (Ger-
many) and Stuttgart University (Germany). He holds the diploma and a doctorate of Stuttgart Uni-
versity in Technical Cybernetics (Dr.-Ing., 1999); English title of German dissertation: “Informa-
tion models to build textile business market information systems.” He is Professor for Fashion
Marketing at Reutlingen University in Germany since 2000 and founding Dean of the B.Sc. pro-
gram International Fashion Retail since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the Marketing and Marketing
Research courses as full professor for one semester at the College of Business at Valparaiso Uni-
versity, IN, USA. Before his university time, he worked as sales forecasting consultant for numer-
ous mainly European-based fashion and textiles companies like adidas France and adidas Head-
quarters, Germany. He gained additional consultancy and teaching experience outside Europe in
USA, China, Peru, and Morocco.
Part I
Contemporary Traditional Use
of Films in Fashion
Chapter 2
Cinema Films Influencing Fashion
Peter Bug, Charlotte L. Niemann and Lisa Welle
2.1 Film and Costume Design
What would Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) be

without her iconic black gown, her diamond necklace and her velvet gloves? Or can
you imagine James Bond without his characteristic smoking? Fashion and cinema
films have always been strong partners and walk through time hand in hand. The love
story between film and fashion already started in the mid-1920s when Hollywood
stars have become fashion idols for the public (Black et al., 2013). In these eras, the
world was not full of bloggers, tweeters and influencers who preach their community
their styling rules through OOTDs (Outfit-of-the-Day), Vlogs or Snapchat at any
time. Back then, cinema films were the only way in a static imagery world to show
their spectators the world in moving pictures (Bartlett, Cole, & Rocamora, 2013).
Ms. Eugenia Paulicelli once said: “What film can do better than almost anything else,
is establish a powerful intimacy with viewers’ gaze” (La Ferla, 2010). The viewer
dives into the world of the film and identifies himself with a character, and the films
show how to act, move and especially how to dress like this person. The outfits and
costumes of an actor give a film character. We would like to give an overview of the
development of the partners fashion and film according to their mutual influence and
how these two industries cohere. In this regard, we first explore costume design as
the connecting factor between fashion and film. Then, we analyze two specific films
P. Bug · C. L. Niemann (B) · L. Welle (B)

e-mail: Charlotte_Laila.Niemann@student.reutlingen-university.de
L. Welle
e-mail: lisa_daniela.welle@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_2
10 P. Bug et al.
in order to describe the importance of fashion in films and we will have a look how
brands profit from this partnership with product placement based on the film “The
Devil Wears Prada” (2006).
For every decade since the invention of movies, we note that cinema experts
emphasize the role of costume design for the success of a film (Black et al., 2013)
and logically the Oscars for costume design were introduced in 1948. One of the
world’s most famous dresses on the cinema screen is probably the white, halter-
top, pleated dress for Marilyn Monroe in “The Seven Year Itch” (1995). However,
beyond this iconic dress, which’s picture still decorates walls today, no designer of
a big fashion house hides. It was the costume designer William Travilla who created
this masterpiece (Munich, 2011). Behind many blockbusters, you can be sure to find
an ingenious costume designer. The most famous one of all time is Gilbert Adrian
who credits for more than 250 films. His most famous work were the ruby slippers
for Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) (Leblond, n.d.). Modern examples are
Jennifer Lawrence dancing in “The Hunger Games” (2012) in her flamed dress, Jay
Gatsby (“The Great Gatsby” 2013) wearing his iconic pink seersucker suit or Davis
in his slouchy corduroy jacket in “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013): These are just a
few examples of the genius reasoned decisions of modern costume designers today
(Snead, 2014).
There have been some partnerships between big fashion brands like Chanel or
Givenchy for films but always in liaison with an in-house costume designer (Munich,
2011). Besides all the similarities between the costume design world and the cou-
ture world, the intentions are different. When the couturiers have sales performance
in their mind, cinema costumers use the clothes “to create basic movie elements”
(Munich, 2011, 20) and tell a story. Costume design is a part of the film architec-
ture. An excellent example of costume design to support the storyline shows the
film “Ninotchka” (1939). The film is about a Russian commissar coming to Paris
and showing her route from disciplinarian to lover. The costume designer Gilbert
Adrian changed her clothing from a tightly buttoned stiff wool suit in the beginning
to an off-shoulder chiffon grown in the final scene by slowly softening the fabrics
and changing the garments in every scene to underline the transformation also exter-
nally (Munich, 2011). About the influence of costume design Elsa Schiaparelli once
said “What Hollywood designs today you will be wearing tomorrow” (Butchart,
2016, 7). Often experts discuss that costume design outdo the influence of couture
(Munich, 2011). The visionary Adrian changed the clothing industry in 1932 when
he transformed a costume from the screen into a ready-to-wear retail dress. The
white organdy gown from “Letty Lynton” (1932) designed for Joan Crawford was
the first item from a film which can be found in store accessible to everyone, for
example, at Macy’s (Munich, 2011). Brands still make use of this selling strategy
today: The British Label Orlebar Brown designed swimming trunks for Daniel Craig
in “Skyfall” (2012) for the scene when he swims in the hotel pool at night. The brand
enables fans to shop the swimming trunks in the color “sky” ready-to-wear for 145e
(Gottschlich, Juric, Carey, & Nguyen, 2012) and feel closer to their idol this way.
2 Cinema Films Influencing Fashion 11
2.2 Influence of Film on Fashion
Film is mass media. Almost everybody has access to films and consumes them
whether it is through TV, cinema or Internet. Fairman (2016) highlights “the mas-
sive influence that film has on today’s society” because society itself is reflected in
films and in return a film can change opinion by, for example, appealing morally
to viewers. For instance, a research by Pautz (2015) discovered that about 25% of
the viewers of “Argo” (2012) and “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012) changed their opinion
about government just by watching one of these films. If people let affect them here
so easily, how simple is it to influence them in day-to-day things, for example, how
to dress?
Millions of people flock to local cinemas every year for various reasons. Only in
Germany in 2017, over 122.3 million cinema visits were stated by the FFA (2018).
Notable is also that young people in their formative years from 12 to 24 are the most
frequent cinemagoers. They take advantage of films to help to build their character.
Cinemas invite their visitors to immerse yourself in the world of drama, love stories,
science fiction or even the future. The reasons vary from first dates, comedic value to
the escape from reality. Like no other art form, film has the power to shape perception
and opinion. After all, the scope and intensity of the influence is controversial but
the presence of influence in general is undisputed (Pautz, 2015)
This way films on screen influence the perception because of the talent “to provide
information and pseudo-experiences, particularly in the absence of an individual’s
own experience” (Pautz, 2015). The motion pictures are often grounded in the real-
ity and then lift up to the dimensions of the entertainment. Through this appearance
of a realistic world, in which the story is settled, the audience has the semblance,
for example, to understand an event in history or learn something about a culture.
Furthermore, this effect is also reinforced when the film is experienced at a local
cinema because there the capture of sight and sound is perfectly settled as an adven-
ture (Pautz, 2015). Fashion and film have always been strong partners and walked
through the time hand in hand. Actually, not just fashion pieces, the fashion industry
itself has also been the subject of many films. Just take a look at “Ready to Wear”
(1994) or “The Devil Wears Prada” (2007). Edith Head mentioned that even “if the
sound were turned down, the audience would still get the point” (Black et al., 2013,
174) just because of the choice of the clothing of the actor. Huge amounts are spent
by big studios on research to get every detail of dressing right in a special period that
characterizes the time between 1930 and 1960. Moreover, the central theme of this
decade in the entertainment business was “authenticity” and “hybridity.” This issue
was also converted into the two famous exhibitions about fashion and film named
“Hollywood and History” (1987, Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and “Film
und Mode-Mode in Film” (1990, Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt) (Black et al.,
2013).
Throughout most of the twentieth century, cinema films were the only way in a
static imagery world to show their spectators the world in moving pictures. Cinema
used fashion to show what “the new media” of the moving image can do, when the
12 P. Bug et al.
fashion industry simultaneously made use of the movement to show what fashion can
do (Bartlett et al., 2013). “Showing fashion in movement-such as films can do- allows
for a stronger emotional response from the viewer so films are naturally a powerful
way to promote fashion.” claims Linda Hewson, the head of creative at Selfridges
London (Socha, Alessandra, Diderich, & Conti, 2010). Fashion on screen overlaps the
two materials, the sartorial and the cinematic, with a unique and emotionally charged
aftertaste (Bartlett et al., 2013). The costumes in a film function as “storytellers in and
of the film text” (Black et al., 2013, 166). They transport emotions to their audience
and so “a dress in a movie is just a dress in a movie until meaning is ascribed” (Laverty,
2016, 7), at which the type of the perceived emotion toward any clothing in the film
can vary from viewer to viewer. The perception is completely subjective (Laverty,
2016). But all in all, the garments have the main task to transport information about
a character and fill the space of a film with emotions. Gaines (1993) also describes
the following rule according to this theme: Actresses “should be dressed down for
the high emotional scenes and dressed up for the less significant moments.” The
inventions of cinemas—or especially films in general—gain the populace access to
the previously denied world of couture. Like the long relationship between Hubert
de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn, many Parisian couturiers started to work with
Hollywood stars to expand their fame (Butchart, 2016). Laverty (2016) even asserts
that in their career a successful designer has to function in both industries: the fashion
and the film industry. Many designers from Coco Chanel or Mae West to Jean Paul
Gaultier tried their luck—with more or less success—with film costumes on screen
(Butchart, 2016) or think of Tom Ford which is besides his function as a fashion
designer also a successful film director.
Designers often look for inspiration in the cinematic world of fantasy or fetish
(Butchart, 2016). Hollywood designers were creating the costumes of a film at least
one year before the release. Therefore, the fashion industry often uses films to forecast
the trends of the next season (Black et al., 2013). Donatella Versace just clicked into
YouTube and took her inspiration for the men’s fall collection 2009 from the trailer of
the upcoming science fiction film “Tron: Legacy” (2010). All her designs show influ-
ences from this film with the luminescent strips, body-conscious fit and the geometric
motifs (Socha et al., 2010). This course of action is not a rarity. Many designers make
use of this technique. For example, the costume design Oscar-winning film “Marie
Antoinette” (2006) inspired John Galliano for Dior spring/summer 2006 and also
Raf Simons for Dior couture autumn/winter 2014–15 (Butchart, 2016). Considering
this contemporary fashion designer leverage the so-called effect of “wanting to wear
the film” (Munich, 2011, 149). Andy Warhol describes this phenomenon about films:
“They show you what to do, how to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how
you feel about it” (Munich, 2011, 149). Furthermore, Hollywood fashion locates fans
in the social media and fashion magazines everywhere; the spaces between cinema
and shop window function symbiotically nowadays. Not just couture designers repli-
cate the fashion from the cinema screen, everybody can shop products filled with
the spirit of the screen in the shopping malls (Black et al., 2013). For a designer or
brand, the reach of a film with international distribution is immense: It can reach over
one hundred million consumers from box office to video to DVD to TV (Hudson &
Hudson, 2006). Consequently, many designers try to profit by this great coverage
with collaborations. For example, they cooperate with a clothing line based on the
costumes seen in the film. Disney often makes use of this selling strategy. Like for
the movie “Oz the Great and the Powerful” (2013): Shoe designer Steve Madden and
many others created over 400 accessories for the Home Shopping Network (Laverty,
2016) or the Disney film “Alice” (2010) collaborated with Tom Binns, Stella McCart-
ney, Urban Decay, Sue Wong, Swarovski, Isabella Fiore, OPI and many more (Socha
et al., 2010). The connection between the two industries is also apparently on the red
carpet of premieres or awards of films: Hollywood stars presenting the big robes of
the fashion industry, whereas, not as the first glance suggests, here it is more about
fashion than about film (Butchart, 2016). It may be normal for the stars today to be
overwhelmed by gowns of the couturiers, but backwards the wardrobing of an actor
especially for the red carpet was the only way for a designer to make a name of
themselves and it was not self-evident for actors to choose from a range of designer
dresses like today. When the answer to the usually first question in an interview on
the red carpet “Who made your dress?” can change a designers life, simultaneously
the perfect outfit at an award show can change an actor into a style icon (Givhan,
2015).
2.3 Methodology
In order to explore the influence of films for fashion three cinema films, examples
were chosen to take a closer look on several films. Two show the fashion influence of
cinema films, and one will further analyze with a focus on fashion product placement
in a cinema film. The first two films should show how an impact of a film on fashion
is seen via analyzing film-related fashion collections, written and image fashion
content and other influences a film had. A lot of films could stand as an example
here. Doing a quick student classroom questioning of Reutlingen University fashion
business students which cinema films of recent years had in their opinion an influence
on fashion, these three films were the most stated and therefore selected for further
analysis. “The Hunger Games” cinema film was also chosen because of the enormous
success of the books and the movies. However, although the fashion is given some
attention, it supports the movies, and the main focus of the storyline is not set on
the clothing but rather on the development of the characters and the plot. Therefore,
it is especially interesting to explore its impact on the fashion industry. “The Great
Gatsby” was chosen as a second example. The story is also based on a novel; however,
it is set in the real world rather than a fictional one. Since the time the movie is set
in is characterized by an incredible wealthy lifestyle of fashion, leisure, parties and
self-fulfillment, it is worthwhile to research to what extent this atmosphere would
affect the viewers and the fashion industry. The third film “The Devil Wears Prada”
was chosen since this film has not only the fashion industry as a topic, but stands out
also exemplary for its product placement. The empiric short analysis of the product
placement in a cinema film is the main topic of this film’s fashion impact analysis.
14 P. Bug et al.
With the aim to empathize the occurrence of product placements in the film “The
Devil Wears Prada,” we documented the appearance of all brands in this film. We
focused on visual, verbal, and visual and at the same time verbal brand names. A
visual PP is, for example, a logo on a paper bag when a verbal PP is woven into
conversation of the actors like Nigel says: “Zac Posen doing some very sculptural
suits.” A visual and at the same time verbal PP is for instance when Andrea Sachs
talks at a party with the designer James Holt about a handbag which she is wearing in
this scene. The film was viewed multiple times to the researchers. During the further
procedure, all mentioned brands and counted numbers were documented in a table
divided in the named three categories of product placements. An appearance of a
single product in more than one scene is also possible. Additionally, we just focused
on products on which the brands logo or name is clearly putted and shown to the
viewer. Consequently, we did not analyze every outfit of the actors and investigate
every worn garment. The focus is on for the audience at first glaze clearly assignable
product placements.
2.4 Case Study General Influence of Film on Fashion
2.4.1 The Hunger Games
Dystopian and apocalyptic fiction and the question of the place and role of technology
in our world have been the matter of many teen films of our time, including the
“Twilight”—or the “Harry Potter”—Saga. Though, “no other film adaption … serves
to highlight the importance of fashion and style to class and social control than the
film Hunger Games” (Geczy & Karaminas, 2016, 50). The Hunger Games is the
movie adaption of a science–fiction–novel trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. The
film series includes four movies: The Hunger Games (2012), Catching Fire (2013),
Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and Mockingjay Part 2 (2015). Gary Ross directed the first
movie and Francis Lawrence directed the rest of the series. It features famous actors
like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Elisabeth Banks. The
movie is set in the future and exhibits the United States of America. The states are
ruled dictatorially with the seat of government being the wealthy metropolis called
the Capitol. The rest of the country is divided into 12 districts, whose inhabitants face
oppression and poverty (Butchart, 2016). In order to demonstrate the Capitol’s power,
a national yearly event called “The Hunger Games” takes place. Alongside 22 other
participants aged between twelve and eighteen, the main characters Katniss Everdeen
(Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) have to participate in the
games. The participants are trained and equipped with weapons and eventually placed
into an arena in order to fight each other. All districts are forced to watch the games
via live broadcast. Goal of the games is killing all participants until only one winner
is left. Due to smart and strategic decisions during the games, Katniss and Josh
manage to survive and are crowned as the winners. However, the Capitol views
Katniss’s rebellious appearance and her popularity as a thread to the dictatorship

(Byrne, 2015). The rising rebellion of the districts is blamed on her, causing the
Capitol to take violent countermeasures. The situation evolves into a war between
the districts against the Capitol. In the end, the president is killed, leaving piece and
opportunity for new structures in the country. Katniss and Peeta move back to the
destroyed District 12 in order to build it up again and found a family (Cliffs Notes,
n.d.; Geczy & Karaminas, 2016).
Since the release of the movie series, it has not only drawn high attention to the
controversy topic of the storyline, but especially to the costume design. On the one
hand, the characters’ clothing in the movies is highly influenced by real-life avant-
garde designers including Tax Saviero, Juun J, Rick Owens and Alexander McQueen
who, besides costume designer Trish Summerville, created various extraordinary
clothing items. On the other hand, the movies themselves had a high impact on
the fashion industry in terms of inspiring fashion collections, licensing, coopera-
tion and styling. (Greene, 2013). The costumes can roughly be divided into two
major groups: the vintage work wear representing the poverty of the districts, and
the Capitol’s avant-garde wardrobe, resembling wealth and extravagance. The style
of the movie costumes was deliberately carried on to the red carpets, as the actors
were dressed representing the style and character of their movie roles. For example,
Elizabeth Banks, who plays Katniss’s and Peeta’s guardian from the Capitol Effie
Trinket, wore a series of oranges and yellows to the movie premieres, resembling
Effie (WGSN, 2012). In 2013, the British online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter col-
laborated with the movies’ costume designer Trish Summerville, in order to create
an exclusive collection for the retailer. The collection called “Capitol Couture” fea-
tured 19 individual clothing items inspired by the main character Katniss Everdeen.
Rather than offering replica of the original costumes, the goal of the collection was
the wearability and the combinability of the clothing during the everyday life of the
fans. The fashion director of Net-a-Porter Holli Rogers states, “The collection stands
on its own two feet. It has been inspired by the film but the pieces are accessible and
they work.”
Thus, the collection, among other items, included a laser-cut leather mini dress,
sleek black basic sportswear, sleek black leather pants and a green evening gown
with a ruched waist. Summerville used mainly dark colors like black, dark brown,
gray and emerald green. Besides high-tech fabrics and techniques (e.g., laser cut),
which represent Katniss’s training and fight gear, also natural fabrics like leather and
wool were used in order to portray the character’s background and lifestyle in the
district. The prices of the products ranged from 60 to 800 lb (Greene, 2013).
In honor of the “Hunger Games” DVD release in 2012, Target launched a lim-
ited licensed fashion and lifestyle collection. The main character Katniss Everdeen
inspired the clothing line. The collection featured clothing items like Katniss’s leather
jacket costing $349. The centerpiece of the collection was a 14-karat gold mocking-
jay pin, which was limited to 100 pieces and cost $999. Furthermore, the company
sold signed lithographs for $699 and other licensed accessories and lifestyle items
like pillowcases, jewelry, lunchbox, bag packs and lightbulbs, ranging from $6.99 to
$37.99. Reasons for picking this high price point, which is rather unusual for Target,
16 P. Bug et al.
were explained by vice president of entertainment John Butcher. He stated, “The

Hunger Games franchise has truly captivated the nation. We’re proud to be part of
this pop culture phenomenon and want to deepen Target guests’ engagement with
the series through exciting product offerings and bonus video content.” Furthermore,
Butcher explained that “Target is known for providing must-have merchandise at an
unbeatable value, but we wanted to surprise our guests by taking it up a notch for
The Hunger Games and unveiling a prestige collection for devoted fans” (Fleming,
2012).
In 2014, H&M cooperated with the Swedish winter Olympic team in order to
create a collection for Sochi 2014 (2014 Winter Olympics). Inspired by the original
Olympic uniforms, H&M released the limited sportswear collection “Go Gold” on
January 16, 2014. The commercial collection included bras, leggings, and athletic
shorts, down jackets, bag packs and accessories. The collection was created in black
and white colors. Naturally, the clothing was sold at a cheaper price level than the
original uniforms. Numerous magazines, including Seventeen Magazine in the article
“H&M’s Olympics Collection Is Giving Us Major ‘Hunger Games’ Vibes,” by Cait-
lyn Petreycik compared the collection to the costumes in the Hunger Games movies.
Special focus was given on the similarity of the clothing. This included the athletic
style of the collection and the costumes, as well as design features like the black
and white coloring and stripe details. Special attention can be given to the futuristic
patterns and especially the use of functional fabrics. Furthermore, H&M’s market-
ing campaign video features one male and one female model, preparing for a fight
or competition. They are also featured on print media, wearing a black-and-white
ensemble like Katniss and Peeta and posing similar to the movie’s main characters
on a movie poster. (Petreycik, 2014)
On November 6, 2014, an H&M designer collection by Alexander Wang was
released. The athletic collection featured active and street wears including trousers,
shirts, hoodies, dresses and accessories. The fabrics were inspired by active wear,
including scuba materials, water-repellant and quick-dry fabrics and messages that
appear when the wearer sweats (Williamson, 2014). Although not officially con-
firmed by McQueen, the outfits seemed to be highly inspired by the Hunger Games
active wear in the second movie, maintaining a clean look, dark colors and an athletic
style. The promotional video of the clothing line also draws a close connection to the
movie series. It starts with the words “YOU VS.” Athletic self-confident people are
shown in a locker room, preparing for different kinds of sports matches (e.g., bas-
ketball, heavy lifting, boxing). The people separately leave the locker room doing
extreme parkour and different kinds of stunts (jumping through a wall). The setting
changes to a snowy and windy landscape and then back again to a rough inside loca-
tion. Toward the end of the clip, the music accelerates, the stunts get more extreme,
and gadgets like fire and karabiners are used. The clip is ended with the name and
release date of the collection. Comparing the video to the movies, a certain similarity
can be noted. The scene showing the athletes get ready for their competitions can be
mirrored in the Katniss and Peetas’ preparation for the Hunger Games. The tributes
are trained in a similarly cold environment, also using different kinds of stunts and
effects. Furthermore, the clothing line shows similarities to their workout gear in
terms of color, shape and fabrics (Boamah, 2014).
The online branch of the international fashion and lifestyle magazine “Elle” fea-
tured an article about the Alexander Wang by H&M collection on their Web site,
published on November 5, 2014, shortly before collection release. The name “How to
survive the Alexander Wang x Hunger Games” gives a clear insight about the article
content. Regarding the article, the focus on the Hunger Games topic is not necessarily
drawn by the fashion collection itself but rather the writing style of the article, which
connected the customers’ behavior to the movies. This provides a “survival guide”
for the shopping trip. The writers compared the inrush on the collection and the desire
and competitiveness to buy certain admired fashion pieces to the desire of winning
the Hunger Games. Firstly, the rules of the “games” were explained (e.g., opening
hours of the H&M stores, size of groups to enter the store), followed by a listing of
the most desirable items in the collection, that needed to be bought in order to win the
games. Depending on the desirability, the rest of the items were ranked into tier one,
tier two and tier three items. Although the article is written in a humorous style, it
strongly reflects the close connection of the collection to the Hunger Game’s movie,
especially in view of the fact that the style of the collection and the promotional
video show a strong resemblance to the movie (Holmes & Prescod, 2014).
The Web site Capitol Couture is a fictional magazine, which went life in January
2012. Originally created to promote the movie series, it features articles on fashion
topics concerning the Capitol. The founder of the trends forecasting platform Mirror
Mirror, Jeanine Recckio, describes the Hunger Games as a cult with a significant
impact on the lifestyle industries. She notes that the general trend shift toward cyber
and surreal fantasy is supported strongly through the movies in terms of fashion, hair,
and even nail art (Greene, 2013). Capitol Couture was referred to in various articles
in high-end fashion magazines, including an article in InStyle in 2015. The article
adverted to the Web site and the release of the last movie of the series, Mockingjay
Part 2. (Greene, 2013). Furthermore, a report on the online magazine was released
by the internationally operating fashion forecasting company WGSN in 2012, half a
year prior to the release of the first movie. It introduced the readers to the storyline
and especially the fashion aspect of the movie (WGSN, 2012).
The Web site is divided into five different categories, being Cover Stories, Capitol
TV, Fashion, Beauty and Design. It features cover stories including articles about real-
world designers (e.g., “Viktor and Rolf: This gorgeous piece conjures up images of a
sunny day in District 4”), Lifestyle topics (e.g., “Capitol Exclusive Living Portrait”)
and articles about real-life celebrities starring in the movies (e.g., Jennifer Lawrence).
Furthermore, the Web site features interviews by real-life celebrities including Data
von Teese and Karl Lagerfeld. Besides fashion articles and interviews, in the cate-
gories “Capitol Portraits,” “Profiles” and “Capitol Looks,” the magazine also features
portraits of famous and iconic inhabitants of Panem wearing the extraordinary cloth-
ing of the Capitol, analyzes their style or uses them as the center of a profile section.
The designs of real-life designers like Stella Jean, Maria Dora, Alexander McQueen,
Miu Miu or Jon Galliano are profiled on the Web site and brought into context with
the movie and its storyline as well as with the fictional inhabitants of the Capitol.
18 P. Bug et al.
The profiles are liked to real-world retailers including Outnet and Farfetch, where
the designers’ fashion can be bought. Real fashion journalists write the articles, e.g.,
Monica Corcoran Harel, who is Capitol Couture’s editor-in-chief and has also con-
tributed to Elle, Marie Claire and InStyle. Furthermore, Cameron Silver, founder of
the Los-Angeles-based vintage boutique Decades and Lynn Yaeger, who works as a
journalist for Vogue have contributed to the magazine. After the release of the first
movie in 2013, InStyle featured an article about “Five Hunger Game Looks you can
wear in real life.” In the article, different costumes of the movie were shown such
as Katniss Leather Look, The Tribute’s high-tech-mesh, Effie in Flirty Fuchsia and
Effie’s Real Realia. Next to promotion pictures of movies showing the actors wear the
mentioned outfit combinations, real-life options of the outfits are suggested. Since
the article features fashion pieces of famous designers like Alexander McQueen as
well as fast-fashion providers like Topshop and Mango, the prices for the individual
products range from $4 (pair of gloves by Yandy) to $750 (High Heels by Sophia
Webster) (Merritt, 2013). Various other articles were released, including an article
about the standing out character Effie Trinket called “Effie Trinket’s most outrageous
looks” (Davis, 2014).
Another fashion-related industry that was influenced by the movies was the beauty
industry. Several companies launched limited edition makeup and nail polish lines
taking up the Capitol Couture fashion issue. The American cosmetic brand Cover
Girl released a collection including various beauty articles like eyeliner, eye shadows,
lipstick and nail polish (Greene, 2013). For the promotion, the makeup products
were clustered into twelve smaller product lines, each representing a different style,
resembling the twelve districts described in the movies (Fashion Gone Rogue, 2013).
Furthermore, a nail polish collection called “Capitol Colors Collection” was released
by the Chinese cosmetic company China Glaze (WGSN, 2012).
2.4.2 The Great Gatsby
The Movie, The Great Gatsby,’ directed by Baz Luhrmann is based on the eponymous
novel written by Fracis Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The movie, which was produced in
the USA, was released in May 2013 and featured various well-known actors including
Toby Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. The movie is set in the early
1920s in the fictional West Egg, Long Island, in New York. The young graduate
Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to West Egg, a wealthy and fashionable area
that is home to the upper class. Among other acquaintanceships, he keeps in touch
with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband, who live nearby. Carraway soon
becomes acquainted with his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man
who lives in a mansion and throws enormous exclusive parties on a regular basis.
Gatsby soon reaches out to Carraway, revealing that he had been in love with his
cousin Daisy for a long time and that the reason for throwing the parties was to
get her attention. Gatsby and Daisy start a relationship. However, due to a series of
unfortunate events and misunderstandings, Gatsby is shot in his mansion. Carraway
moves back to Minnesota, feeling disgust for West Egg’s society and their moral
decay and emptiness, which is “corrupted by money and dishonesty.” He reflects
that the society’s only fulfillments are the pursuit of wealth. Rather than happiness
and individualism, they lead a life of superficiality (Spark Notes, n.d.).
All costumes of the movie were created by and under the lead of costume designer
Catherine Martin. The movie won an Oscar for best costume design. It needs to be
noted that the two-year rollout of the movie featuring costly trailers left a lot of time
for the fashion industry to pick up on the topic of 1920s fashion and helped making
it relevant by the time the movie was released in 2013.
Besides costume designer Catherine Martin, the internationally established
designer Miuccia Prada was applicably involved in the costume design process,
focusing on womenswear. Altogether she designed 40 dresses for the movie, remod-
eling dresses from the Prada and Miu Miu archives to fit the 1920s fashion style
(Karmali, 2013). Especially, the characterizing flapper girl style was recreated using
collections originally released in 2010 and 2011. Main character Daisy Buchanan’s
crystal-laden party gown is considered as a key piece of the movie costumes and
was inspired by a dress of the 2010 collection (Popescu, 2014). Besides Prada, the
US-American luxury gentlemen outfitter Brooks Brothers was strongly involved in
the costume design process of the movie. With the company being the oldest man’s
clothier in the USA, and the brand being referenced by Fitzgerald himself in many
writings, costume designer Catherine Martin was especially interested in working
with them. Using their 1920s archives as a reference and for outfit and design inspi-
ration, she was able to recreate an authentic menswear representing the 1920s. All
menswear presented in the movie was created by Martin in cooperation with Brooks
Brother’s including 500 suits, hats and tuxedos. Furthermore, Brooks Brothers con-
tributed 1700 accessories to the movie (Popescu, 2014).
In honor of the movie, the America luxury jewelry store “Tiffany & Co.” cre-
ated a collection called the “Great Gatsby Collection.” Having been included in the
costume design process, Tiffanies’ product developers had worked with the costume
designers of the movie production and designed and manufactured some of the key
jewelry pieces featured in the movie, the key piece being the Savoy Headpiece with
a detachable broach, which was created for the character of Daisy Buchanan, played
by Carey Mulligan (Jennifer, 2013). Other pieces that were especially designed for
the movie were Gatsby’s cuff links, a pearl necklace, and a diamond hand-jewelry.
Other pieces were remanufactured after designs of Tiffany & Co.’s archives, includ-
ing a tiara headband. In total, the company created 30 jewelry pieces especially for
the movie, with a worth of over two million dollars. This already existing collection
of costume pieces was slightly adapted, changed and produced in a bigger quantity
and therefore made commercial and purchasable for the Tiffany customer. The col-
lection was furthermore completed by other pieces inspired by the 1920s fashion and
lifestyle as it was represented in the movie. It featured hand ornaments, bracelets, ear-
rings, rings and necklaces. The exclusive luxury collection was manufactured with
valuable raw material such as pearls, diamonds, platinum, tanzanite and sapphire
(ELLE.com, 2013).
20 P. Bug et al.
After the release of the collection, Tiffany & Co. reported a worldwide increase
of 9% in net sales and an increase of 3% in earnings in the first fiscal quarter of 2013.
The CEO and Chairman of the company Michael J. Kowalski stated various reasons
for this profitability, one of them being the debut of the movie and the company’s
contribution in terms of designing the jewelry for it (Hall, 2013).
Not only has Brooks Brothers actively influenced the costume design of the movie,
the company also released a “Great Gatsby”-inspired men’s collection in May 2013.
Besides formal wear such as tuxedos, tailored suits and waistcoats, the collection also
offered a broad range of daywear like trousers and shirts. Shoes and accessories like
ties complemented it. The style of the collection is described as “sleek and elegant,
recalling the 1920s and that bygone golden era of men’s tailoring and classic style.”
An authentic key piece of the collection is a pink suit, as worn by Leonardo DiCaprio
in the movie, made out of 100% linen. Furthermore, a bottle green shawl cardigan
with white lining is the embodiments of the 1920s casual wear, successfully adapted
into the twenty-first century (Burbano, 2013). Since the American fashion company
Ralph Lauren had designed the costumes for the 1974 version of the movie, naturally
they took up the topic again in their spring/summer 2012 collection, after a remake of
the movie was announced. For the collection, various old costumes, including some
of Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, were revived and interpreted in a more modern
way, suitable for daily use. The collection featured drop-waist dresses, as well as
fringe and beads. The style represented was a mix between feminine and masculine
elements. Floral elements were combined with bias-cut dresses and pajama pants
and cashmere sweaters. Gatsby’s look was recreated by a number of suits, shorts and
trousers for occasion wear and daily use. The ladies wear was strongly accessories
with platform sandals, fringed bags and scarves (Phelps, 2011).
Besides Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Marchesa also showed influence of the
1920s in their collections for spring/summer 2012. Drop-waist shapes, the typical
flapper dress as well as fringe and embellishments like sequins were used. With
some of the top fashion brands addressing the issue and trend platforms like WGSN
forecasting the style of the 1920s, the fast-fashion retailer Zara took the topic as
an inspiration for their Christmas collection 2012. Besides very typical shapes and
patterns like fringe and embellishments, the designs and patterns were also translated
into the twenty-first century, e.g., by creating a fringe mini skirt and an embellished
jumpsuit (Ramsighn, 2012).
Shortly before the premiere of the movie, WGSN published various reports on
the movie, introducing the storyline and style. Based on the strong image of the
movie, the forecasting company predicted 1920s fashion for autumn/winter 2013/14.
The forecast is divided into two separate reports, with one of them focusing on
womenswear trends while the other one comments on menswear trends. Besides
inspirational photographs of the movie costumes and 1920s archives, the reports
comment on silhouette, color, materials, prints and embellishments.
The report “The roaring 20s: emerging womenswear trend” states that the upcom-
ing silhouettes are closely connected to the shape of column dresses. Furthermore,
loose dresses with dropped waists and capes were the focus of upcoming patterns
for autumn/winter 2013/14. The colors match the already released color forecast
and included besides muted pastels also included metallic and rich jewel tones. Fur-
thermore, geometrical and linear prints and art deco were predicted alongside with
graphic floral. In terms of embellishments and accessories, WGSN’s report focused
on an all-over placement and oversized embellishments like crystals and sequins
as well as beading (WGSN, 2013a). The main influencers of the “Great Gatsby:
emerging menswear trend” report were Toby Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio, as
they played the two male main characters in the movie. Fitted jacket shapes were
forecast, as well as slim-fitting trousers. Although wide-leg trouser shapes are more
authentic for the time, WGSN arguments that slim-fit shapes had more economic
potential on the market. The key colors were separated into different categories, e.g.,
black for tuxedos and occasion wear, various shades of brown and gray for clas-
sic suits and white for casual summers wear. As trend materials best reflecting the
1920s, WGSN defined flannel and tweeds for heavier tailoring like suits and seer-
sucker, linen and silk for lighter summer clothing. Rather than on embellishments,
menswear for autumn/winter 2013/14 focuses on details like contrast-color jackets
and trousers. Furthermore traditional collar stiles, wide peaked lapels and silk bow
ties are forecast. Silk bow ties, straw boaters and canes are additional features to
complete the outfit (WGSN, 2013b).
An additional focus on the movies, the costume design and its connection to the
fashion industry was given by the Prada costume exhibition “Catherine Martin and
Miuccia Prada Dress Gatsby.” The traveling exhibition was shown in New York City,
Tokyo and Shanghai. It displayed women’s gowns, accessories and jewelry used in the
movie (WGSN, 2013d). Furthermore, sketches of the original and remodeled dresses
as well as production stills, backstage footage and film trailers were shown in order to
create an holistic impression of the 1920s Gatsby World (Karmali, 2013). Naturally,
the hype around the movie was magnified by the involvement of various celebrities
responding to the topic as early as months before the movie release. Actresses like
Evan Rachel Wood, Camilla Belle and Bérénice Bejo had appearances wearing a
Gucci flapper dress. Singer Katy Perry also attended various events wearing 1920s
fashion (Laneri, 2017). The exclusive luxury department store Harrods in London
presented original artwork and costumes from the movie in their window display
in 2013. The concept was completed inside the store, showing custom mannequins
wearing the characterizing fashion in scenes similar to some of the movie. Since
the elaborate and extravagant displays occupied a great deal of the sales area, the
impression of an exhibition was created. Harrods furthermore supported the theme
by holding in-store events like a pop-up jazz age cocktail bar which offered cocktails
that represented the era and were inspired by the movie (WGSN, 2013c).
Both “The Hunger Games” and “The Great Gatsby” influenced fashion industry
in various ways. The collections can be divided into two major groups: official col-
lections labeled after the movie (e.g., Capitol Couture) and collections inspired by
the movie that were not officially labeled after the movies, but only showed sim-
ilarities in fabric, style and promotion (e.g., H&M Go Gold Olympic Collection).
For the analysis, it can be divided between the amount of collections created on
the topic, the collection style, the price, range, the availability and exclusivity, and
the promotion strategies. A summary of findings lists as following, some not yet in
22 P. Bug et al.
previous chapters described data should be topic of further research, since here no
thorough research was undertaken yet: Most movie collections are labeled according
to the movie. If they are labeled according to the movie, normally there are 10–20
adjusted high-priced costumes per “movie collection” on the market inspired by cer-
tain movie characters. Examples are the Capitol Couture Collection or the Brooks
Brother Collection. Limited editions prevail, and the articles are luxury goods. Par-
tially, the high price point can be explained by the concept of product licensing.
Since the movie is owner of the intellectual property he can charge a high amount
of money for a license, the prices usually differ therefore from unlicensed products.
The collections are promoted with every media available, through the movie itself
and through celebrities. If a collection is inspired by the movie, only, by not naming
it explicitly, there are often 20–30 low-priced articles with no directly visible movie
connection included. Also here limited editions are the rule, e.g., H&M Go Gold
for Olympics 2014 or Target’s collection based on “The Hunger Games.” Since the
movie is not named with the collection, he helps only indirectly. Normally, there is
no celebrity involvement. It could also be noted that the trend forecasting platform
WGSN published reports about both movies and their connection to fashion. How-
ever, the reports on “The Hunger Games” were solely descriptive, advertising the
movie and the Capitol Couture Web site, rather than forecasting a certain clothing
item or style for the future. However, the reports published on “The Great Gatsby”
approached the movie in both ways: the descriptive one and the forecasting one. It
even drew a connection to a color report released prior to the ones about “The Great
Gatsby.” Explicit recommendations for the fashion industry regarding silhouettes,
colors and patterns to be used in the upcoming seasons were made in the report. Due
to the fact that WGSN has a high amount of customers in the fashion branch that
base their collections on the provided content it can be stated that in terms of fashion,
“The Great Gatsby” had a higher reach than “The Hunger Games.” Since most of the
reports on WGSN appear to be mandatory, it can be assumed that other companies
adapted the 1920s style as well for autumn/winter 2013.
For both movies, it can be stated that the major elements that characterized the
collaboration and influence on fashion were the usage of prestige brand value (e.g.,
Tiffany & Co. in “The Great Gatsby”), collections planning a promotion using the
styles of a movie (e.g., Trish Summerville for “Net-a-Porter”), the usage of digital
media and promotion using entertainment factors (Lee & Kim, 2014). From the
beginning of movies production, cooperating brands announced the collaboration,
constantly advertising it during the making of and release of the movie. Although
the roles seem clear to the outside, the lines between costume designers and fashion
designers have blurred as can be seen on the example of costume designer Trish
Summerville. Furthermore, the utilization of celebrities has played a major role in the
promotion of the movies. Strong and successful celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence
function as fashion icons, offering an effective promotion possibility for fashion
through movies and movie premiers.
2.4.3 Case Study Product Placement in “The Devil Wears

Prada”
“The Devil Wears Prada” (2006), based on a novel by Lauren Weisberger, gives an
insight into the world of the American fashion magazine “Runway.” Andrea Sachs
(Anne Hathaway), a journalism college graduate, moves to New York and gets more
or less randomly the job as an assistant of the Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl
Streep) and so lands a job “a million girls would die for” (Lauren Weisberger, n.d.).
First, the small-town girl Andrea does not fit in the world full of designers, shootings
and models, but in the further course with the help of the creative director Nigel
(Stanley Tucci) she learns to assert herself in the fashion world and also convince
Miranda of her ability. The burdens are high and Andreas private life suffers from
her 24/7 job, but she tries to stick it out to advance her career. But after climbing
the ladder at “Runway,” Andrea Sachs remarks that her personality changed and she
became a “fashion doll” she never wanted to be. Thus, in the end she remains true
to herself, quits the job and starts to work at a New York newspaper.
With an interest how films influence their audience with fashion product place-
ments “The Devil Wears Prada” is a great selection. Mentioning a brand even in the
title of the film suggests that brands, or actually luxury brands, play a major role in
the film about the fashion industry. Here, brands are not just supporting a role, they
are star roles of the story. The film stylist, Patricia Field, indicates that in the film
is used $1 million worth of clothing, but only spent a budget of $100.000. “But we
could never have done it without my friends in the fashion industry helping us along.
It would have been impossible. The level of fur coats, and designer bags-oh my God”
(French, 2006). Field stresses in an interview. Therefore, “The Devil Wears Prada”
is one of the finest examples of the teamwork between fashion and film. All in all,
69 appearances of placements were documented in the “The Devil Wears Prada”
by watching the film. Divided in 26 visual and 35 verbal product placements. 38%
placement is visual, 51% is verbal and 12% is verbal and visual at the same time.
This indicates the big importance of the brands for the story. The brands and prod-
ucts not just decorate the plot, they are a remarkable part of conversation and action
(Fig. 2.1).
Fig. 2.1 Distribution of visual & verbal

product placements 11%
visual
38%
verbal
51%
24 P. Bug et al.
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Massimo Dutti
Hermes
Dolce & Gabana
Valentino
Jean Paul Gaultier
Christian La Croix
Georges Chakra
Shu Uemura
Oscar de la Renta
Karl Lagerfeld
Donatella Versace
Jimmy Choo
Fendi
Marc Jacobs
Michael Kors
Nancy Gonzales
Narciso Rodriguez
Azzaro
Chanel
James Holt
Prada
Calvin Klein
Nicolas Ghesquiere
BVGARI
Cavalli
Rochas
John Galliano
Manolo Blanik
Banana Republic
Tom Ford
Zac Posen
Yves Saint Laurent
Dior
Fig. 2.2 Number of brands appearing
In the analyzed film, a total number of 33 different brands were noticed. When
looking at the spread, three brands with prevalent appearance are Chanel (12), James
Holt (9) and Calvin Klein (5). Many brands are just mentioned one time (Fig. 2.2).
According to the selection of the brands mentioned in the film Patricia Field
remarks that “there was no product placement, which would entail a fee for a mention
or an appearance” (French, 2006). But to thank the designers which helped her to
create the characters, she replaced the names in the script with the helping ones.
Field also mentions that many brands feared to be part of the film—based on the
“Vogue” and their Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour—because “they thought it was a
sensitive political issue” (French, 2006). Anna Wintour supports many designers, so
they were a little bit frightened of her reaction to the film. Due to Patricia Field “It
has to be over 100 designers.” (French, 2006) in the film. Alone for Miranda Priestly
she created over 60 costumes (French, 2006). The editor-in-chief called “devil” is
mostly dressed in head-to-toe looks by Prada, but besides this for her style Donna
Karen plays a major role (Laverty, 2016). The designs are timeless and flattering and
emphasize waist and shoulders (Fishman, 2016). Just remember the beginning scene:
Priestly wearing a branded gray frame handbag, a black suit and heels, all by Prada
(French, 2006). To underscore the role of Prada for the film Field also tells about
the shoe selection for the editor-in-chief: “Out of every 10 pairs, four were Prada”
(French, 2006). Dressing Miranda Priestly mostly in Prada enables her to dominate
the room without saying anything. She is a business lady to the core.
Contrary, if you analyze the looks of Andrea Sachs, most of her looks are Chanel,
Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabana (French, 2006). Field describes Annie as a typical
“Chanel girl” (Fishman, 2016). The costume designer has a relationship with Chanel.
So many of the looks of Annie were given by Chanel. This examination of “The
Devil Wears Prada” is facing some limitations. First, the data was self-reported by
the researchers. So, there is a little scope left. Other researchers in the future could
record small differences in the numbers. Furthermore, this study does not go into the
details of the differentiation of the various product placement types. Supplementary,
the different used products of the product placements were not recorded. So, in the
data it is not clear if a brand placed just one single product in several scenes or placed
in every scene a new product. All in all, as the research shows, clothes or fashion
in general loom large in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Patricia Field itself highlights
the significance very clear: “the clothes, shoes and accessories are just as important
a detail as the script or the cast” (Bell, 2006). You can even say that the viewers
expect a film filled with the spirit of so many brands when it comes to a film about
the fashion industry itself.
2.5 Conclusion
Today, the connection between fashion and film is present, celebrated and highly
self-evident. Brands, designers and couturiers support movies, and movies support
fashion. On the market side, fast-fashion and designer brands pick up those trends and
make them wearable for the audience. However, the main reason for involvement of
both parties is the gain of attention. Therefore, fashion is mostly used for advertising
and product placement. Furthermore, the connection is strengthened by the utilization
of celebrities. By wearing designer fashion to major events, movie premiers, red
carpets and film festivals, celebrities make the brands relevant and advertise for
them. Since consumers view celebrities as idols wearing designer fashion connected
to a movie, this situation can be regarded as trend setting. However, it needs to
be noted that the movie only provides the framework for fashion promotion rather
than actively creating it. The policy of mutually supporting each other allows both
industries to use a broad range of promotional channels, targeting a comprehensive
amount of consumers. Therefore, consumers that are essentially interested in both
topics are automatically exposed to both, helping both industries to get into the
consumer’s consideration set. This has an effect of trickling down into the market,
which is likely to offer inspired products to consumer groups in order to participate
in the success of this relationship. The garments in films function as indispensable
“storytellers” (Black et al., 2013, 166). They form the character of a film and facilitate
to understand the plot easier. At first glance, the audience can determine the bad boy of
a film just by his way to dress. For the brands, the connection to a film is a possibility
to stand out in the hard-fought world of fashion (Díaz Soloaga & García Guerrero,
2016). For brands, product placement in films is an attractive form of advertising
because the product or the brand is put in a different context liked by consumers. The
public sees a product used in real-life situations by film personas. They can fill their
products with emotions and show them worn by stars. Films can transport any kind
of emotion to their audience from love to revenge. Thus, the fashion industry knows
how to advantage from this skill. Díaz Soloaga and García Guerrero (2016) describe
this phenomenon very well: “Nowadays [we need] more than a logo to show, people
look for a lifestyle to follow.” Especially for teenagers, films are very important to
shape their own personality (Pautz, 2015). This way the close cooperation between
these two industries is essential to secure success and to push each other. Today,
26 P. Bug et al.
especially luxury brands make use of product placement to be part of a film and
improve in this way the brands awareness. If we take a look at the future, a spreading
all over the fashion world seems possible.
References
Bartlett, D., Cole, S., & Rocamora, A. (2013). Fashion media: Past and present. London: Blooms-
bury.
Bell, C. (2006). Devilish style. FN: Footwear News, 62(26), 30–30.
Black, S., de la Haye, A., Entwistle, J., Rocamora, A., Root, R. A., & Thomas, H. (2013). The
handbook of fashion studies. Bloomsbury.
Boamah, M. (2014). Alexander Wang x H&M—H&M. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=F0DS7TQh8R8.
Burbano, C. (2013, Mai 7). Brooks brothers Great Gatsby collection. Retrieved June 26th, 2018,
from http://www.fashionbeans.com/2013/brooks-brothers-great-gatsby-collection/
Butchart, A. (2016). The fashion of film: How cinema has inspired fashion (1st ed.). Great Britain:
Mitchell Beazley.
Byrne, D. (2015). Dressed for the part: An analysis of clothing in Suzanne Collins’s Hunger
Games Trilogy. Journal of Literary Studies, 31(2), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.
2015.1058553.
Cliffs Notes. (n.d.). The Hunger Games book summary. Retrieved July 1st, 2018, from https://www.
cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/the-hunger-games/book-summary
Davis, J. (2014, November 14). Look Back at Effie Trinket’s most outrageous looks from The
Hunger Games. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/hunger-
games-fashion-effies-most-outrageous-looks.
Díaz Soloaga, P., & García Guerrero, L. (2016). Fashion films as a new communication format to
build fashion brands. Communication & Society, 29(2), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.29.
2.45-61.
ELLE.com. (2013, April 25). Tiffany’s Great Gatsby collection. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from
https://www.elle.com/accessories/jewelry-great-gatsby-tiffany.
Fairman, L. (2016). Influence and appreciation of Film in Today’s Society. Retrieved May
8, 2018, from https://www.rifemagazine.co.uk/2016/05/influence-and-appreciation-of-film-in-
todays-society/.
Fashion Gone Rogue. (2013, October 28th). Cover girl The Hunger Games makeup collection.
Retrieved June 28th, 2018, from https://www.fashiongoneroguecom/covergirl-hunger-games-
makeup-collection/
FFA. (2018). Anzahl der Kinobesucher in Deutschland in den Jahren 1993 bis 2017. Retrieved
May 10, 2018, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/2194/umfrage/entwicklung-der-
anzahl-der-kinobesucher-in-deutschland-seit-1993/.
Fishman, E. (2016). 10 Years After ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ Patricia field explains how the costumes
came together. Retrieved June 2, 2018, from https://www.racked.com/2016/6/28/12044896/the-
devil-wears-prada-costumes-patricia-field.
Fleming, O. (2012, August 7). Target to sell a $999 Hunger Games Mockingjay pin to celebrate
the film’s DVD release. Retrieved Juli 1st, 2018, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-
2185135/Target-sell-999-Hunger-Games-Mockingjay-pin-celebrate-films-DVD-release.html.
French, S. (2006). The $1 Million Wardrobe of ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ New York Post.
Retrieved May 12th, 2018, from https://nypost.com/2006/06/21/the-1-million-wardrobe-of-the-
devil-wears-prada/.
Gaines, J. (1993). Costume and Narrative: How Dress Tells the Woman’s Story. Cinémas: Revue
d’études Cinématographiques, 3(2–3), 247. https://doi.org/10.7202/1001202ar.
Geczy, A., & Karaminas, W. (2016). Fashion double: Representation of fashion in painting, pho-
tography and film. London: Bloomsbury.
Givhan, R. (2015). Why the red carpet is bad for fashion. Washington Post. Retrieved May
29th, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/why-the-red-carpet-is-bad-for-
fashion/2015/01/09/660b876c-974a-11e4-aabd-d0b93ff613d5_story.html.
Gottschlich, B., Juric, Carey, S., & Nguyen, J. (2012). Fashion Talk. Textilwirtschaft, (44), 54.
Greene, L. (2013, November 15). ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ fashion. Retrieved June 26th,
2018, from https://www.ft.com/content/b40bdfe6-485b-11e3-8237-00144feabdc0.
Hall, C. (2013, May 28). Tiffany & Co. posts 9% rise in Q1 sales, provides FY outlook. Retrieved
June 26th, 2018, from https://www.wgsn.com/news/tiffany-co-posts-9-rise-in-q1-sales-provides-
fy-outlook/.
Holmes, S., & Prescod, D. (2014, November 5). How to Survive the Alexander Wang x H&M
Hunger Games. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from https://www.elle.com/news/fashion-style/how-
to-survive-the-alexander-wang-xhm-hunger-games.
Hudson, S., & Hudson, D. (2006). Branded entertainment: A new advertising technique or product
placement in disguise? 22(5–6), 489–504. https://doi.org/10.1362/026725706777978703.
Jennifer. (2013, May 10). Spring 2013 Style: The Great Gatsby Fashion Trends. Retrieved June 26th,
2018, from http://fillermagazine.com/fashion/news/spring-2013-style-the-great-gatsby-fashion-
trends/.
Karmali, S. (2013, April 30). Miuccia Prada Discusses Her Gatsby Costumes. Retrieved June
26th, 2018, from http://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/great-gatsby-costumes-miuccia-prada-daisy-
buchanan-dress-carey-mulligan.
La Ferla, R. (2010). Film and fashion: Just friends. Retrieved May 29th, 2018, from https://www.
nytimes.com/2010/03/04/fashion/04COSTUME.html.
Laneri, R. (2017, February 24). How movies changed the way we dress. Retrieved June 26th 2018,
from https://nypost.com/2017/02/24/how-movies-changed-the-way-we-dress/.
Lauren Weisberger (n.d.): Books-The Devils Wears Prada. Retrieved June 1st, 2018, from https://
www.laurenweisberger.com/books/the-devil-wears-prada/story/.
Laverty, C. (2016). Fashion in Film. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.
Leblond, R. (n.d.). Gilbert Adrian : Fashion, History| The Red List. Retrieved May 6th, 2018, from
https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-23-1249-1254-view-1930s-profile-gilbert-adrian-3.html.
Lee, H., & Kim, J. (2014). A study on the costumes and collaborations in the movie <The Great
Gatsby>. Journal of Fashion Business, 18(4), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.12940/jfb.2014.18.4.80.
Merritt, J. (2013, November 19). 5 “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” looks you can wear in real
life. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/5-hunger-games-looks-
you-can-wear-real-life.
Munich, A. (2011). Fashion in film. Indiana University Press.
Pautz, M. C. (2015). Argo and Zero Dark Thirty: Film, Government, and Audiences. PS: Political
Science & Politics, 48(01), 120–128. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096514001656
Petreycik, C. (2014, January 10). H&M’s Olympics collection is giving Us Major Hunger Games
Vibes. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from https://www.seventeen.com/fashion/blog/hm-olympics-
collection.
Phelps, N. (2011, November 15). Ralph Lauren Spring 2012 ready-to-wear fashion show. Retrieved
June 28th, 2018, from https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2012-ready-to-wear/ralph-
lauren.
Popescu, A. M. (2014, September 23). Fashion brands in the Great Gatsby Movie. Retrieved June
26th, 2018, from https://www.alux.com/fashion-brands-in-the-great-gatsby/.
Ramsighn, K. (2012, December 19). Zara channels The Great Gatsby. Retrieved July 1st, 2018,
from http://www.globalblue.com/destinations/italy/milan/zara-channels-the-great-gatsby.
Snead, E. (2014). When clothes (help) make the character. Hollywood Repor-ter, 420(2), 46–50.
Socha, M., Alessandra, I., Diderich, J., & Conti, S. (2010). Not only in movies: A new wave of
films has fashion fixated. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily, 199(46), 1–1.
28 P. Bug et al.
Spark Notes. (n.d.). SparkNotes: The Great Gatsby: Plot Overview. Retrieved July 1st, 2018, from
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/summary/.
WGSN. (2012). Capitol Couture: The Hunger Games fashion blog. Retrieved June 27th, 2018,
from https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/128105/page/1.
WGSN. (2013a, April 22). The roaring 20s: Emerging womenswear trend. Retrieved June 26th,
2018, from https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/132667/page/1.
WGSN. (2013b, May 21). The Great Gatsby: emerging menswear trend. Retrieved June 26th, 2018,
from https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/132046/page/1.
WGSN. (2013c, May 30). The Great Gatsby: Harrods, London. Retrieved June 26th, 2018, from
https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/136116/page/1.
WGSN. (2013d, June 17). Miuccia Prada & Catherine Martin x “The Great Gatsby”. retrieved
June 26th 2018, from https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/29006/page/3.
Williamson, S. (2014, October 16). Alexander Wang Discusses His H&M Collaboration: See All
the Looks| W Magazine. Retrieved July 1st 1. Juli 2018, von https://www.wmagazine.com/story/
alexander-wang-hm-collaboration.
Charlotte L. Niemann has been enrolled at Reutlingen University since 2015, studying the bach-
elor’s program “International Fashion Retail” at the School of Textiles and Design. Before starting
her studies, she obtained the degrees “State-accredited Clothing Technology Assistant” and “Gar-
ment Tailor” at the vocational college for the clothing industry in Aschaffenburg, Germany. She
has gained extensive work experience in the departments of sales during her internship at the fash-
ion retailer Lodenfrey GmbH in Munich, Germany, and through various side jobs in fashion retail.
Furthermore, she gained insights into production during an internship at a supplying company in
Istanbul, Turkey, and knowledge about product development during an internship at Tchibo GmbH
in Hamburg, Germany. In the context of her studies, she spent a semester abroad at Griffith Col-
lege in Dublin, Ireland.
Lisa Welle currently enrolled in the bachelor program “International Fashion Retail”, studies
since 2017 at Reutlingen University at the School of Textiles & Design. As part of her studies
she spent 2019 a semester abroad at RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, studying
International Business and Fashion Management. Besides that, she worked in the industry during
her studies at Hallhuber GmbH, Germany, as a sales assistant. Before studying she completed a
vocational training for three years as Visual Merchandiser in the German department store Peek
& Cloppenburg KG Düsseldorf, Germany.
Chapter 3
Fashion and Fashion Advertisement
in TV—Study Germany
Peter Bug, Laura Bessler and Janina Bendix
3.1 Television and Fashion
“Television is used to entertain, to soothe people when they are sad, to serve as a
companion when they are lonely and provide them a bridge to other worlds” (Bickle,
2010). Ever since, the fashion industry was linked to a glamorous world. Popular
movies like “The Devil wears Prada,” allowing its viewers to gain an insight into
the fashion industry, strengthened this impression and aroused the interest of the
viewers to plunge into this world. With the help of different clothing, characters
often got their iconic personalities and were as well more approachable to their
fans as they could just copy their style to look like them. Reality TV shows like
“Project Runaway” helped fashion making its way from the big screens to the family
rooms. As a consequence, the fashion subject seems to be more reachable. The use
of television for commercials and product placement is attractive, as it is still the
most used media and allows to reach a large audience.
For the case of this study, the question whether fashion content is part of the
schedules of German television channels and therefore an interesting subject for the
German TV viewers was examined and discussed. As watching television is known
to have a mostly entertaining character, the question arises whether viewers have the
chance to get in touch with fashion on the basis of informative reports or fashion in
TV is only linked with entertainment. Furthermore, an insight into the ways in which
fashion industry tries to profit from the wide reach of television is included by analyz-
ing fashion advertisement, too. Within the development of new media, this study also
P. Bug · L. Bessler (B) · J. Bendix (B)

e-mail: laura.bessler@student.reutlingen-university.de
J. Bendix
e-mail: janina.bendix@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_3
30 P. Bug et al.
deals with alternatives to the classical television program regarding fashion content,
such as online media libraries and streaming services. In 2018, 38.3 million of the
40.3 million German households, or 95%, receive television with satellite or cable
being the most common ways of access (Kantar, 2018). Regarding their program,
German channels can be sectioned into different categories. Channels offering their
viewers every day different types of TV formats as well as newscasts are generalist
channels with full program, which can be received all over Germany. This category
can be subdivided into public and private German TV channels. Both types of chan-
nels differ in their way of financing. While private channels use advertisement to get
money, public channels are financed with the public German radio and TV license
fee and therefore broadcast less commercials. With 13% market share, ZDF, a public
channel, was the most popular channel in 2017. The most popular private channel
was RTL with a market share of 9.2% (AGF Videoforschung, 2017). Apart from
generalist channels, there are also channels only being received in different regions
of Germany, broadcasting documentations and news about local issues. Another cat-
egory are the entertainment channels, focusing on the transmission of TV shows,
movies and series. Newscasts are not part of their schedule. The last category is
composed of a variety of channels broadcasting only certain topics as, for example,
traveling, sports or documentaries (Vogt, 2013). Furthermore, transmission times in
Germany can be sectioned as detailed in Fig. 3.1.
As the most people are reached through TV between ca. 8 pm and ca. 11 pm, this
time frame is called “prime time” (Amann, 2012). The TV channels orientate their
schedule on these categories as they try to target different groups with different TV
programs (Petersen, 2012). Comparing the average daytime spent watching television
in Germany by age, different target groups are spotted. The most important one
regarding purchasing power includes the age group 14–49 years. In 2017, on average,
this group spent 140 min daily watching TV (AGF, 2017).
Within the last few years, progressive digitalization was accompanied by a dif-
ferent use of media, leading to changes in the habits of television viewers who were
asking for more flexibility. In 2018, 90.3% of the German population had access to
the Internet and therefore access to online video streaming services like YouTube,
Fig. 3.1 Classification of

broadcasting hours. Adapted
from Amann (2012) time
6 pm
3 pm time
daytime 9 pm
midday 12
12 midnight
9 am 3 am night time
6 am
TV
3 Fashion and Fashion Advertisement in TV—Study Germany 31
Netflix or Prime Video (Frees & Koch, 2018). Furthermore, almost every TV channel
offers an online streaming media library, ensuring that viewers have the possibility
to watch, for example, missed episodes. Apart from that, some channels, ProSieben
as an example, also use videos that can only be watched online to attract their view-
ers to their online library (ProSieben, 2018). For the whole German population, on
average, 234 min per day were traditional TV usage and 40 min were online video
usage in 2018 (Vaunet, 2019).
Demanding for more flexibility, subscribers of online streaming services appre-
ciate especially the ability to watch whenever, whatever they want to. Furthermore,
both Netflix and Prime Video try to arouse the viewer’s interest by producing orig-
inals. The high usage of smartphones and tablets allows people to have easy and
fast access to online video offers. A recent study by Bitkom (2018), the German
Association for IT, Telecommunication and New Media, proves the growing impor-
tance of streaming services. A yearly investigation on the Internet use, conducted
by the public channels ARD and ZDF (2018), interviewing a representative amount
of people starting at the age of 14 to their usage of the Internet, showed the same
results. Compared to the last year, in 2018 the daily use of the Internet increased
by 7.5% and the use of streaming services from 23 to 31%. Although the usage of
streaming services within the last few years confirms a positive outlook in every age
group, especially the younger generation between 14 and 29 years is attracted to the
dynamic concept of videos on demand. In 2018, 67% of the age group 14–29 years
used video streaming services at least once a week in Germany. Although especially
the age groups of 14–29 years and 30–49 years start to adapt online streaming to their
everyday life, still most people prefer watching television over streaming services or
the TV channels’ online media libraries (Frees & Koch, 2018).
Linking fashion communication to television was unwanted at first. Especially,
in the 1990s and 2000s, big luxury brands considered television as an “ordinary”
medium with a low cultural status. Therefore, they were afraid of losing their luxury
status if using television as a platform for their commercials. “Sex and the City”
changed the game again, as people started to watch this successful series not because
of the main storyline, but because of the characters’ clothing. According to Warner
(2014), the success of “Sex and the City” led to an increasing number of shows
with fashion content. By starting shows like “Project Runaway,” giving emerging
designers the opportunity to present their styles on TV, a clear connection between
fashion and entertainment was created. Furthermore, this kind of reality shows allows
its viewers to gain an insight into the fashion industry to help build a bridge between
the glamorous world of fashion and the ordinary.
As stars are often known for their unique looks, fashion appears to be a big
factor defining the popularity of a celebrity (Warner, 2014). Fashion has not only
an impact on the celebrity’s life, but also the fashion industry uses the influence of
celebrities on their audience which can be explained with the trickle-down theory.
The lower and middle classes tend to get inspirations concerning style and trend
features from the upper class represented by celebrities and wealthy people. People
belonging to the upper class can be seen as trendsetters, influencing the way people
from lower classes dress. Due to the fact that fans want to imitate their idols not only
32 P. Bug et al.
in their lifestyle, but also in their appearance, it is easy for the fashion industry to use
celebrities as a marketing tool (Bickle, 2010). Especially, the guests of talk shows
and award shows in America are subject of discussions about what they wore and
the way they wore it. Particularly, female fans adapt fashion pieces seen on stars to
their own style and based on that create their individual identities. Halpern (2007,
as cited in Bickle, 2010) explains this with the belongingness theory. To fulfill their
pursuit of belonging, people try to establish a “para-social relationship” (Bickle,
2010) with celebrities by following them in the media. Ordinary people feel attached
to celebrities due to the similarities they share with them in their ordinariness, but
also admire them because of the unshared special lifestyle only they are able to live
(Warner 2014).
According to Gamson (1994, as cited in Warner, 2014), especially in USA, the
reason people get famous changed. While in the past years the dominant factor was
talent or the star-appeal of someone, now people want to have a look behind the scenes
and get to know the real special self of the celebrities rather than only following their
red-carpet performance. That is being received with the help of the media. Kylie
Jenner, as an example, got her popularity because of the reality show “Keeping up
with the Kardashians,” documenting her and her family’s life. She was just recently
voted as the celebrity influencing fashion in 2018 the most. A pink dress Jenner wore
at her birthday party generated 107% more Internet searches for “pink dress” in the
following 48 h (Lyst, 2018). This example stresses what a big role celebrity culture
can play in fashion and how important it is nowadays for celebrities to let their fans
be part of their everyday life.
Makeovers are ever since a popular tool used in movies to underline changes in the
characteristics or the acting of a character. The “before and after” plays with different
looks and consequently takes up stereotypical thinking. “Ugly Betty,” a series of the
US ABC channel 2006–2010, is the most popular example for makeovers in film
and series. Within four seasons, the viewer follows the transformation of Bette Davis
from the “ugly duckling,” wearing bad-fitting clothes and looking scruffy, into a
“beautiful swan.” That is achieved by the use of fashion and beauty practices. Jeffers
McDonald describes this kind of transformation as an “invisible transformation” as
the series did not really show the work needed to fulfill the transformation (Jeffers
McDonald 2010, as cited in Warner, 2014). In contrast to that, lifestyle television
makeovers often even center the work to achieve the transformation in their storyline.
Warner (2014) furthermore examines shopping scenes in movies and series, using
Brunsdon’s (1997, as cited in Warner, 2014) analysis of the shopping scenes in the
movie “Pretty Woman.” With the help of new clothes, the protagonist Vivian is able to
slip into different roles. In that context, she turns from a prostitute to an elegant lady.
Both examples for makeover and shopping scenes in movies point out the connection
between fashion and identity. It was only a matter of time until television shows also
adapted makeovers into their storyline, as the movies mentioned prove its success
and popularity. Within reality TV shows like “What not to wear,” the concept of
including makeovers in television succeeded. People with potential in taste are given
styling tips by styling experts.
3.2 Methodology
Aiming to give an overview of which role fashion plays in German television, it was
important to select the right TV channels for this survey. Having a look at the different
categories from, only channels from the first category (generalist channels) were
used, as their schedule represents a wide range of TV formats, not being restricted
by regions or certain topics like the other German TV channels. While the schedules
of the public channels are rather similar, the private channels tend to be more different.
That is the reason why only one public channel was chosen in case of this survey, but
two channels from the private section. From the subcategory public channels, ZDF
was selected. It is known for broadcasting mainly news, talk shows or movies and
series produced in Germany. ProSieben and VOX were chosen to represent the private
channels. ZDF is the TV channel reaching with 13.9% the highest total view market
share in Germany, but with the age group 14–49, they reach 6.8%, only (Quotenmeter,
2019; Horizont, 2019). It is a public channel with the goal to present a responsible
program to their audience. The schedule of ZDF includes mostly newscasts, programs
featuring sports and political talk shows, as well as German movies based on historical
events and documentaries (HÖRZU, n.d.). As already mentioned, it is financed by
obligatory radio and TV license fees paid by all German citizens. The average ZDF
viewer is 60 years old (GfK, 2011 as cited in Statista).
First the idea behind VOX was to create an alternative private channel to the
public channels, offering mostly newscasts and talk shows. After this strategy failed,
VOX turned to be a rather lifestyle-orientated channel, focusing on entertainment
(HÖRZU, n.d. -a). As a part of the RTL Media Group, nowadays the schedule is filled
with docusoaps, cooking shows and reportages. Another main part of the schedule
are movies and US series. As a private channel, VOX is financed by commercials.
The age of an average viewer is 45 years (GfK, 2011), and the total view market share
2018 with the age group 14–49 years in Germany reaches 6.9% (Horizont, 2019).
According to their slogan “We love to entertain you,” the declared objective of
ProSieben is to present the viewers a schedule providing entertainment. ProSieben
was founded in continuation of Eureka TV and is now part of the company
“ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE”(HÖRZU, n.d. -b). While the morning program is stuffed
with American sitcoms, the afternoon and night schedule is formed by programs
imparting knowledge, as well as talk shows, movies and casting shows. ProSieben
belongs to the category of private channels and is therefore financed by advertise-
ment. The average viewer age is 36 years old (GfK, 2011) and reaches a total viewer
market share of 9.5% with the age group 14–49 years in Germany. Over the decade
of one month, from November 1, 2018, to the December 1, 2018, the content broad-
casted on the selected TV channels was examined, to see whether fashion content is
part of their schedule and in what kind of TV formats it is included. As an exception,
“Germany’s next Topmodel” was also taken into the analysis although it was not
broadcasted in November 2018. ProSieben broadcasts every year a new season of
this very fashion influential series, and it can be seen as a permanent feature of the
schedule. Regarding the increasing importance of streaming services, this survey was
34 P. Bug et al.
broadened by the analysis of three media libraries of streaming services to find out
if they are including fashion content. As streaming services are regarded to be very
dynamic, two streaming services were chosen, while only one online media library of
a public channel was chosen. Due to the fact that the most popular streaming services
in Germany are Netflix and Amazon Prime Video (Parrot Analytics, 2017), this sur-
vey includes the analysis of their program as well as the investigation of ZDF’s online
media library being also popular in Germany (ZDF, 2018). Within Prime Video only
offers being part of the Prime package were taken into consideration. The online
media library of ZDF was observed throughout the period of 6 months, second half
of 2018, in order to allow a direct comparison with the results obtained from the
television analysis and to also compare to the actual offer of television streaming
services.
A direct involvement of fashion business with TV is the broadcasted fashion
advertisement spots. In this study, three TV stations were chosen to analyze these
spots. ZDF was excluded, since as a publicly funded station they do not depend mainly
on advertisement. ProSieben, sixx and RTL II were chosen as typical advertisement
funded TV channels. Sixx was created with a special focus on female viewers with its
extensive range of entertainment, with US series like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate
Housewives” or the blockbuster “Sex and the City” which already have been shown
on the television in the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group (Hofem, 2018). RTL II airs
in its prime time, the channel’s own successful docusoap productions. Various US
shows such as “Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead” have been, and continue
to be, the most successful series of RTL II’s prime-time slot.
With the help of the German TV magazine HÖRZU, the different schedules of
the three chosen TV channels were examined by reading the short summaries of the
programs in the TV magazine. Selecting the programs for the analysis, the focus was
on programs having a clear fashion connection, programs containing the reporting
of celebrity news, as well as documentaries or talk shows having a potential fashion
connection. By creating an Excel table, containing the different shows having a
fashion connection divided to their channels, first results on the channel broadcasting
most fashion content were found. Furthermore, recurring structures in the schedules
were detected. Within the analysis, reruns were marked accordingly. Taking a closer
look at the fashion shows, it was important to examine the programs according to
their content. With the help of selected criteria, it was possible to make statements on
the relation to fashion and the influencing character. Transmission time, length and
type of TV format were considered to allow, for example, hypothesizing on which
audience is watching. For the streaming services, the length, the format as well as
the offer of fashion content was analyzed. In order to identify the listed movies and
series having a fashion connection and to be able to compare all different streaming
services, the same keyword, “fashion,” was used to generate results.
3.3 Results and Discussion
3.3.1 Fashion Content in the Selected TV Channel’s

Schedules
ZDF-Morgenmagazin From Mondays to Fridays at 5.30 am, the hosts of the televi-
sion magazine “ZDF-Morgenmagazin” present news in politics, economics, sports
and culture. Each episode, famous people and experts on certain topics are part of
the show (ZDF, n.d.).
ZDF Zeit “ZDF Zeit” cannot be seen as a program; instead, it describes the unity
of documentations broadcasted every Tuesday at 8.15 pm. These documentations
always address topics dealing with important happenings from the past and present
as well as programs like “Der große Warentest,” in which products are tested in their
functionality by experts. In the past, documentations about the history of Adidas and
the “Otto Versandhandel” were broadcasted (fernsehserien.de, n.d.).
ZDF Aspekte This talk show provides recent information about music, literature,
art and movies to their viewers. Hosted by two moderators, the talk show also deals
with controversial issues. “Aspekte” is broadcasted on Fridays at 11 pm with a length
of 45 min (ZDF, n.d. -a).
ZDF Leute heute From Monday to Friday, this television magazine is broadcasted
at 5.45 pm. The viewer gets information about celebrities and the royals.
VOX Shopping Queen Since January 30th, 2012, the styling documentary “Shop-
ping Queen” is part of the schedule of VOX. The broadcasting hours are from Monday
to Friday from 3 to 4 pm; repetitions are shown from 12 to 1 pm. Furthermore, on
Saturday at 12 pm, VOX broadcasts again a repetition of the whole episodes from the
past week. Within the show, each week, five women have the chance to win 1000 e by
shopping an outfit corresponding to a certain theme chosen by the popular designer
Guido Maria Kretschmer. Given the budget of 500 e and a time frame of 4 h, each
participant has to create a matching outfit combining shoes, accessories, hair and
makeup. At the end of every episode, the other participants rate the outfit from zero
to ten. On Friday, after every participant went shopping, Guido Maria Kretschmer
gives his opinion and credits to each outfit and announces the “Shopping Queen,”
the woman with the highest total score (VOX, n.d.). Because of its success (Sanchez,
2018), VOX also created spin-offs such as the styling documentary “Promi Shop-
ping Queen.” Instead of random people, famous German persons participate in the
show. Furthermore, at the end of the year, in the styling documentary “Shopping
Queen des Jahres,” Guido Maria Kretschmer also chooses the best one out of four
selected participants of the whole year. During their shopping trip, the participants
are supported by German celebrities (Vox, n. d. -a).
VOX Zwischen Tüll und Tränen With the help of bridal fashion experts like, for
example, Maritta Emser or Uwe Hermann, brides search for their perfect wedding
36 P. Bug et al.
dress (Vox, n.d. -b). The broadcasting hours are from Monday to Friday from 1 to
2 pm and from 5 to 6 pm. On Saturdays, repetitions are shown from 10.50 am to
noon.
VOX Prominent! From Monday to Friday from 8.00 to 8.15 pm and on Sundays
from 11.30 pm to midnight, “Prominent!” informs its viewers about the latest news
about celebrities, presented by a moderator (Vox, n.d. -c).
ProSieben taff The television magazine “taff” reports about the latest headlines and
trends, as well as news from the celebrity world. Two moderators are hosting the
series, which is broadcasted from Monday to Saturday from 5 to 6 pm. (ProSieben,
n.d.)
ProSieben red Once a week, the moderator of the television magazine “red.” presents
news and stories about celebrities. The magazine is broadcasted on Thursdays at
11.40 pm.
ProSieben Germany’s next Topmodel Within 16 episodes, the goal of this reality
TV series is to find the girl with the best requirements to be able to start her career
in the modeling industry. Out of 50 selected girls, Heidi Klum, an internationally
successful model from Germany, judges the girls from episode to episode to find
the one (ProSieben, n.d. -a). Each episode, the participants have to compete against
each other within photograph shootings or catwalks to prove their capability to be a
successful model in the future. In addition to Heidi Klum, the host of the series, other
experts from the industry help selecting the best one out of the participants. The win-
ner gets a model contract, a car and 100.000 e. The show is broadcasted since 2006
every year at the same time on Thursdays from 8.15 to 11.30 pm (fernsehserien.de,
n.d. -a).
3.3.2 Fashionable Channels and Series
In order to determine the most fashionable programs, in the first step, the programs
were classified according to broadcasted fashion content, discussion of fashion topics
or only potential fashion content. The latter describes programs mainly not dealing
with fashion topics but broadcasting contributions about fashion subjects from time
to time. Figure 3.2 shows the described classification. Selected TV programs are
divided into definite and potential fashion content. After selection of the TV format,
a rating using three-star symbols for the highest and one star symbol for the lowest
fashion connection shows the fashion connection of the broadcasted content.
Programs with an entertainment character, including participation of random peo-
ple, were categorized as “reality TV.” This kind of shows are considered to have the
highest fashion connection, as their whole story line is based on the fashion subject.
While “Shopping Queen” and “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen” are mainly dealing with
the fashion subtopic “shopping,” the casting show “Germany’s next Topmodel,”
Fig. 3.2 Classification of selected TV programs according to their fashion content. Abbrevia-
tions: GNTM = “Germany’s Next Top Model”; ZTUT = “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen”, in English:
‘Between tulle and tears’
for example, concentrates on the subtopic “modeling.” Especially within GNTM,

the viewers face popular fashion brands and designers. The genre “celebrity cul-
ture” includes shows reporting about celebrities. As already explained, celebrities
are influencing the fashion industry and the consumer behavior. While watching this
kind of shows, viewers are presented different styles of celebrities, for example, worn
on the red carpet. These can function as inspirations. Still the center of the programs
is to tell stories of celebrities, rather than examining their style. Although there is a
fashion connection, it is not obvious, as the viewers only get subconsciously informa-
tion about fashion. The fact that programs having an “informing character” have the
lowest fashion connection can be explained with the same reason. All of these shows
do not center fashion subjects within their content. The only way for them to deal
with fashion is within small reports, informing about fashion-related topics. Most of
the time these reports are very short. Apart from “Leute heute,” all shows on ZDF
have low fashion connection. The reason for that could be found in the average age of
a ZDF viewer. Most shows covering fashion content aim to reach a target group from
14 to 49 years, while an average ZDF viewer is 60 years old. Furthermore, shows
with high fashion connection are “reality TV” shows. Show concepts such as GNTM
would not fit in the schedule and expectancies of an average ZDF viewer. Two shows
with the highest fashion connection regarding content are examined in more detail.
As “Shopping Queen” and GNTM deal with a wide range of fashion topics, while
“ZTUT” is limited on bridal fashion, the focus was on these two programs.
Shopping Queen The weekly themes of the show in the time frame from October
29, 2018, until November 30, 2018, are listed in Table 3.1, adapted from (fernsehse-
rien.de, n.d. -b).
38 P. Bug et al.
Table 3.1 Weekly themes of “Shopping Queen”

Date and city Theme
29.10.2018–02.11.2018, Vienna Hello Autumn! Welcome the season with a look in the
new fall colors!
05.11.2018–09.11.2018, Munich Happy Birthday! Give yourself the most beautiful present
with your new look!
12. 11.2018–16.11.2018, Berlin The Trend is your friend—show how you style the trendy
fabric corduroy!
19.11.2018–23.11.2018, Aachen A bond for life—Show that your new pair of pleat-front
trousers is a long runner!
26.11.2018–30.11.2018, Frankfurt Time of your Life! Show with your outfit that you are
having the best time of your life!
By creating weekly themes, “Shopping Queen” informs its viewers about recent
fashion trends. The participants have to create an outfit fitting the subject. These
outfits function as inspirations for the viewers.
Germany’s Next Topmodel In general, the whole show aims to allow its viewers
an insight into the modeling world and the work one has to put into becoming a
successful model. The viewers are presented different designer clothes, worn by
show participants during catwalks. In addition, the viewer gets an insight of the
work of big players in the fashion industry within the castings for the different jobs
(Fig. 3.3).
Moreover, designers and people influencing fashion as well as famous fashion
photographers are guests. Table 3.2, adapted from: “Germany’s next Topmodel—
Staffel 13” (2018), gives an overview of the subjects GNTM dealt with throughout
the 13th season which was broadcasted in March 2018.
designer
guests
makeover catwalks
designer
modeling clothes
jobs
model famous
guests photo-
graphers
Fig. 3.3 Illustration of fashion-connected subjects in “Germany’s Next Top Model”

Table 3.2 Fashion connection in GNTM: plot of episode and star guests, season 13
Episode Plot Star guests
1 Catwalks –
2 Clothes from Heidi Klum collection Photographer Ranking
3 Clothes from fashion designer Christian Cowan Christian Cowan
4 Makeover Brian Bowen Smith
5 InStyle photograph shooting Caro Daur
6 Nylon Magazine photograph shooting Brook Candy and Cro
7 Photograph shooting for marketing campaign Yu Tsai Photographer
8 Casting for fashion magazine: Elle –
9 About You shooting Marcus Schaefer
10 Music video casting Oliver Beckmann
11 Photograph shooting Braun Christian Anwander
12 amfAR-Gala –
13 Maybelline New York shooting Wolfgang Joop
14 MCM Shooting Alessandra Ambrosia
15 Cover shooting Harper’s Bazaar Jean Paul Gaultier
16 Catwalks Photographer Rankin
Comparing the different channels broadcasting fashion content in German TV, it

was important to take a look at the number of hours, and fashion content is broadcasted
on the channels weekly. A comparison of the relative amount of fashion shows in
the different examined channels according to their schedule is shown in Fig. 3.4.
Relative values referring to the total broadcasting time of 24 h are shown. Therefore,
a spot check was carried out in the week of November 12–18, 2018. It is noted
that only the programs transmitted by VOX do have a definite fashion content, while
fashion content in TV programs (%)
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
VOX Pro7 ZDF
Fig. 3.4 Distribution of potential fashion content according to channel schedule

40 P. Bug et al.
ProSieben and ZDF only broadcast shows with potential fashion content. Repetitions
are marked with patterns. Adapted from TV DIGITAL (November 2018).
As ZDF and ProSieben were only broadcasting potential fashion content and
all of the fashion-related shows found on VOX do have a high fashion connection,
VOX is considered to be the most fashionable channel which is detailed in Fig. 3.5.
Examination of potential fashion content shows from November 12—18, 2018. To
get a better presentation of the data, results from VOX were divided by factor 8
(marked accordingly). Unusual for the schedule of ProSieben on Thursdays, “red.”
was not broadcasted in the randomly chosen week.
Compared to the other channels, VOX has the most stable schedule, ensuring
that their viewers can attach not only themselves but also their daily routine to it.
Having a look at Fig. 3.6, first one could think that there is very few fashion content
broadcasted fashion content in min
50 x8
40
x8 x8 x8 x8 x8
30
20
10
0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
VOX Pro 7 ZDF
Fig. 3.5 Effective hours of fashion content broadcasted in one week
25
broadcasted hours
20
15
10
5
0
Wednes
Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
day
movies & news 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.42
fashion content 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 6 0.42
series 20.33 20.33 20.33 20.33 20.33 17.58 23.17
movies & news fashion content series
Fig. 3.6 Distribution of TV formats and fashion content within 24 h VOX schedule
broadcasted in comparison with series on VOX, but the schedule on weekdays from
12 to 6 pm is mainly filled only with fashion content, adapted from TV program
guide TV DIGITAL (November 2018).
Broadcasting different series dealing with the same themes, such as fashion, suc-
cessively, VOX tries to keep its viewers watching and therefore attracts them to
other programs dealing with the same topic. On Saturdays, repetitions of the whole
week are shown. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, there are more hours of
fashion content broadcasted than movies and news. Throughout the week 4, 15 h
of fashion content are broadcasted, while, for example, ProSieben only broadcasts
2, 15 h of potential fashion content. Although “Germany’s next Topmodel” is the
only program with a high fashion connection broadcasted on ProSieben, this chan-
nel is more fashionable than ZDF, only broadcasting programs with potential fashion
content. Comparing the programs transmitting potential fashion content from ZDF
and ProSieben, a big difference can be recognized. The programs ProSieben offers
are rather orientated on lifestyle and entertainment themes, such as the report of
trends and celebrities, whereas the goal of ZDF is to present a schedule informing
the viewers about rather neutral subjects.
After taking a look at the broadcasting hours of the programs having a high or
medium fashion connection, most of the programs can be matched to the “daytime”
or “pre-prime time” schedule of the respective channels, as detailed from TV program
guide TV DIGITAL (November 2018). Therefore, inferences about the target groups
can be drawn (Table 3.3).
Being broadcasted at 3 pm, “Shopping Queen” is part of the “daytime.” Therefore,
target group includes probably non-working people, for example, parents raising their
kids at home (Sippel, 2015). “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen,” “taff” and “Prominent!”
are part of the “pre-prime time,” aiming to enlarge the target group as the later it gets,
the more people have time to watch television. “Prominent!” is broadcasted at 8 pm,
while at the same time the most famous newscast in Germany (NDR, 2019) is also
broadcasted. The probability of viewers preferring celebrity news over world news
is rather small, explaining the quite low audience ratings of “Prominent!”
Table 3.3 Fashion-connected

Program Transmission time
programs and their
transmission times Shopping Queen Monday–Friday 3.00 pm
Germany’s next Topmodel Thursday 8.15 pm
Zwischen Tüll und Tränen Monday–Friday 5.00 pm
Leute heute Monday–Friday 5.45 pm
Taff Monday–Saturday 5.00 pm
Prominent! Monday–Friday 8.00 pm
Red Thursday 11.40 pm
Aspekte Friday 11.00 pm
Morgenmagazin Monday–Friday 5.30 am
ZDF Zeit Tuesday 8.15 pm
42 P. Bug et al.
The fact that all of the programs are broadcasted from Mondays to Fridays explains
the concepts of this kind of shows. The aim is to build a target group with an ongoing
TV consumption behavior. The programs are always broadcasted at the same time
throughout the week so that people can adapt their daily routine to it. The viewers are
supposed to be followers of the shows. That is being received especially throughout
the repetitions of “Shopping Queen” and “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen” shown in
the morning program. The viewers are given the chance not to miss one single
episode. GNTM is broadcasted during the prime time, when most people watch TV.
In addition, it is only transmitted on Thursday. The strategy behind is to present the
show as rather exclusive to the viewers. As the prime time is known for broadcasting
movies, programs broadcasted at prime time need more attention from its audience
while watching, whereas the other shows function like radio podcasts and are often
combinable with daily activities being done around the TV. The next figure shows
the length of examined TV programs having high or medium fashion connection,
allowing a categorization. Programs broadcasting only content with low fashion
connection now and then are not taken into consideration (Fig. 3.7).
With a length of 60 min, “taff,” “Shopping Queen” and “Zwischen Tüll und
Tränen” can be put into one category. The length of these programs can be explained
with the fact that these programs are broadcasted daily. Although “Prominent!”,
“Leute heute” and “red.” Have the same show concepts, “red.” is much longer. The
explanation can be found in the low television ratings of “Prominent!” Furthermore,
“Prominent!” and “Leute heute” are orientated on the concept of a newscast and
therefore focus on presenting compact information in a limited time. “Germany’s
next Topmodel” takes 195 min and is the longest show with fashion connection
in German television. The reasons could be the fact that it is only broadcasted on
Thursdays and the episodic structure. Moreover, it is broadcasted at prime time;
therefore, the length is orientated on the length of movies.
red.
Prominent!
taff
Leute heute
ZTUT
GNTM
Shopping Queen
0 30 60 90 120 150
minutes
Fig. 3.7 Length of programs

3.3.3 Success of Fashion in TV
In a 2015 study, in which people were asked to name in 30s all TV shows coming to
their mind, 5% of the participants named “Shopping Queen” (Brainjuicer, 2018 as
cited in Statista). Although in the statistic this is the last place, the fact that “Shopping
Queen” is part of the statistic shows its popularity and importance within the Ger-
man television program. It is listed with, for example, the most famous newscast in
Germany called “Tagesschau” (NDR, 2019). Figure 3.8 depicts the television ratings
of the examined programs in the target group 14–49 years. Data was selected after
its availability from December 11 or 12, 2018. For GNTM, the ratings of the final,
and for “red.” the ratings of the 13th of December, due to its broadcasting hours,
were used (AGF, n. d. -a, n. d. -b, n. d. -c, n. d. -d, n. d. -e, n. d. -f; Schering, 2018)
(Fig. 3.8).
Both “Shopping Queen” and GNTM, as well as ZTUT, take advantage in the
viewer’s interest in the process of makeovers and are therefore successful. The differ-
ent themes given to the participants of “Shopping Queen” ask them to put themselves
into different life situations and roles only by dressing in certain kind of ways. In
the second week of November, for example, the participants had to create an outfit
for their fictional birthday party. At the end of every episode of “Shopping Queen,”
when the participant presents the shopped outfit, there is always a before and after
comparison. Obviously, the participant always looks better in the after consideration.
This comparison aims to show the difference clothing can make and the roles one
can slip into.
Throughout the episodes of “Germany’s next Topmodel,” the viewers follow the
transformations of the participants from the first episode to the final shows. The
most popular episode of GNTM is the makeover episode. Every season in the fourth
episode the participants get a whole makeover, considering a new hairstyle and make
up. This episode always gets the most attention (AGF, 2018). The success of the two
shows can furthermore be explained with the help of the “Consumer Culture Theory”
(Arnould & Thompson, 2005): Within their consumption, consumers create a new,
own reality, being totally different to their real life. Consuming shows like “Shopping
25%
television ra ngs in the
20%
age group 14-49
15%
10%
5%
0%
Shopping ZTUT GNTM Prominent! red. taff Leute
Queen heute
Fig. 3.8 TV ratings of shows with high and medium fashion connection
44 P. Bug et al.
Queen,” the viewers are presented a surreal life situation. Giving 500 e to spend them
for shopping does not belong to the everyday life of the average. GNTM, as well
as ZTUT, plays with desires of their viewers. Especially young viewers imagine
themselves being in the same position as the models or the brides. The popularity of
“taff” may be explained because of the variety of subjects the magazine is dealing
with. The viewer is not restricted to the fashion subject, gaining information.
3.3.4 Fashion Advertisement Spots in TV
The first step we observed spots of TV channel ProSieben in prime time, set from
7.30 to 10.30 pm, as for sixx and RTL II, in order to include the most important
advertisement breaks. ProSieben has on June 13, 2018, in total eight advertisement
breaks during their program where the broadcaster showed a total of 150 spots.
Every 16–20 min the TV program is interrupted by commercials. The time for all
commercial spots totals 45.5 min in prime time. Especially noticeable is that several
companies multiply their spots. Particularly, the Ferrero Group was sending on prime
time June 13, 2018, twelve spots and the cosmetic label “L’Oréal Paris” aired seven
spots (Fig. 3.9).
The highest number of spots is present in the category of food advertising with
27%. The station’s own program and movie previews are the second largest group
with 14%. Our target category, the fashion brand spots, hold only 2% of all spots.
One reason for that could be that the program is not specialized in female viewers
and secondly that the group of cosmetic and beauty products is also fashion-related
in some aspects. On three other days, we documented the fashion brand spots during
travel preview fashion cosmetic

3% 14% 2% products
furniture
11%
1%
finance
3%
food
services 27%
13%
media
technical 5%
equipment beverage
automobile
5% housekeeping 7%
industry
3%
6%
Fig. 3.9 Spot content categories ProSieben June 13, 2018

prime time. It is very clear to see that at Thursday during the well-known casting show
“Germany’s Next Top Model” by Heidi Klum numerous fashion brands advertise
their product, price or image commercials. Notably are “About You” and “Zalando,”
because they show a large number of fashion spots. Especially, “About You” shows
seven times, during the show, different commercial types. One of them was with a
15% sales code by the shop “About You,” linked to the series with the code “GNTM.”
On the other days, the number of fashion brand spots is much lower, three to four
spots during prime time. This result suggests that the measured fashion spots are
depending on the specific fashion content of the actual program (Table 3.4).
Next is the analysis of the television station sixx. During the evening on June
21, 2018, 7.30–10.30 pm, the station sixx shows in a total 152 commercials in nine
breaks during their TV program. In fact, this means every 15–22 min the TV program
is interrupted by commercials. The total running time of the series or movie is also
240 min (4 h) and the complete length of all commercial breaks is 48 min. There are
many companies doubled up; i.e., they do more than one spot during the station’s
program. Particularly, the cosmetic category was sending the highest rate of 37 spots
on this evening. Fashion advertisement has an amount of seven spots. The category
food provides also a big amount of the television ads in the station sixx with 34 ads
during prime time (Fig. 3.10, Table 3.5).
On the other three days, the fashion brand spots are numbered between seven and
thirteen shown in the prime time. To be more precious, fashion brands like “Bonprix,”
“C&A” and as we already mention, “Zalando” and “About you” are the biggest users
of the advertisements during the breaks in sixx.
Finally, we analyze RTL II in the time from 7.30 to 10.30 pm. The station RTL II
has in total eight breaks during the television program showing 155 commercials with
Table 3.4 Fashion brand spots ProSieben

46 P. Bug et al.
preview fashion
16% 5%
travel cosmetic products

furniture 5% 27%
1%
finance
0%
services
6% media
technical 2%
equipment automobile
5% industry
0%
housekeeping beverage food
3% 5% 25%
Fig. 3.10 Spot content categories sixx June 21, 2018
Table 3.5 Fashion brand spots sixx

a minimum of four to a maximum of 24 spots. In fact, this means every 13–18 min
the TV program is interrupted by commercials. The total running time of the series
or movie is 240 min (4 h), and the complete length of all commercial breaks is 51 min
(Fig. 3.11).
As well as said in context with the previous television stations, category food
carries a large part of the advertising groups with 37 ads during the evening. Cosmetic
products have the second largest share 25 ads during the analyzed evening. Our
special focused category fashion has a share of nine ads during the prime time.
On the other three days, we observed that there are only five advertising spots
shown with fashion reference. On one evening, there is even no fashion brand spot
aired during the time from 7.30 to 10.30 pm (Fig 3.12, Table 3.6).
The figure shows that the station sixx shows the most fashion brand spots. In the
time of the analysis, 34 ads were shown from fashion brands. The most common
fashion brands are (Fig. 3.13):
The figure shows that “Bonprix” is sending the most fashion brand spots in the
German TV channels, which we have analyzed. “Lidl” with its own fashion collection
in cooperation with Heidi Klum sends also many spots during the prime time and
in all three stations. The most companies show their commercials in more than one
travel preview fashion

7% cosmetic
1% 16%
furniture products
bank 1% 18%
1%
services
media 6%
2%
technical
equipment
automobile
4%
industry
2%
housekeeping beverage food
6% 10% 26%
Fig. 3.11 Spot content categories RTL II June 26, 2018
40 34
30 25
20 14
10
0
ProSieben sixx RTL II
Fig. 3.12 Fashion brand spots in total of three selected channels

48 P. Bug et al.
Table 3.6 Fashion brand spots RTL II
16
14
12 0
7
0 2
10 3
RTL II
8 3
6
5 sixx
6 0
ProSieben
4 9 3
8
7
2 5 5
0 0 0
3 1 1
0 0 2 0
0 1 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0
Fig. 3.13 Fashion brand spots in different channels
broadcaster to achieve a wider range of viewers. “Zalando” and “About you” are
mostly sending their commercials at the channels ProSieben and sixx, because of
their young viewers and programs. C&A also advertises a lot in the stations sixx
and RTL II. Every company is looking for a suitable station, to sell their brand and
products.
The study seems to show that the series or blockbuster shown in the channel
is important for placing commercial spots. The constantly expanding online world
provides for a wide range of options for advertisers. The fashion target group is
mainly young, dynamic and consumption-oriented and therefore perfect for compa-
nies which want to open up these target groups or address them even more directly.
Traditional channels like television or magazines are highly important for fashion
advertising, but the situation is changing. Promotion via Internet, either directly from
a brand’s Web site or via consumer blogs must now be considered as a supplementary
or alternative platform for advertising, promotion and brand building (Posner, 2011).
Besides the usage of radio, messengers, e-mails, games, or generally our smartphone
and the Internet, TV contributes with 248 min a significant time of the daily media
usage every day (Neumüller, 2017). Considering TV watching time of 248 min per
day, television has the highest media usage rate and can still be seen as the mass
medium to reach a broad customer base. For all its advantages, advertising only on
TV does have some weaknesses. Airing prime-time spots on a television channel like
ProSieben is likely to eat up the budget as quickly as no other advertising medium
will (Allbusiness Editors, 2000). Producing the ad, which can include hiring script
writers, actors, film editors, or an advertising agency, is only the first step. The pro-
duction of a successful video ad is expensive. Companies must also pay for air time,
and because studies have shown that TV ads are most effective with repetition, they
will almost certainly want to run their piece a number of times. Because of this,
most television stations structure their pricing to make it more attractive for business
concerns to purchase advertising in chunks. In addition, the complex and expensive
production of commercials are often not profitable for the company’s sale. It rather
serves as a symbol to create and represent the entrepreneurial capacity and the image
of a company. In this regard, the Internet is always a few steps ahead the classical
medium TV because it gives companies a multitude of creative advertising possibil-
ities as, e.g., product placement, blogs or tutorials at YouTube. For little or even no
money, they can advertise via social media like Instagram. So, viral and online videos
differ from regular TV spots in content, length and brand communication. Traditional
TV advertising still speaks to an audience of masses, but it becomes more and more
inefficient, and much more money has to be spent to reach the same amount of people
compared to other forms of video marketing. Consumers are zapping into other chan-
nels to avoid watching advertisements. Only 23% of people watching TV also watch
TV ads (Hollensen, 2010). This is the reason for the simultaneous business, also
known as the second-screen phenomenon. Traditional television does have a group
of loyal and frequent viewers—such as viewers who like to tune out their daily stress
by enjoying a soap opera or those who just sometimes switch on the TV to see what’s
on or those whose appointment viewing of “their” show provides a point of reference
in their busy lives. Plus, there are viewers who love TV for its reliable routine—their
favorite soap at 4 pm every day. Despite all this, a move toward video on demand
can still be seen among this group of viewers. When we turn on television nowadays,
we are bombarded with commercials. So, what do we do nowadays when our shows
get interrupted? We reach for our smartphones—and quickly lose ourselves in the
world of the second screen (“Guest feature| The second screen phenomenon—hidden
treasure waiting to be discovered?,” 2017). The use of smartphones or tablets while
watching television is not just picking up during commercial breaks but also during
the show itself. Viewers text their friends on WhatsApp, google information about the
show—actors, soundtrack—or, in the most classic case, stroll through online shops.
50 P. Bug et al.
According to a 2015 study by adweek.com, a whopping 87% of all consumers use

more than one device while watching TV. Besides new formats of the US video store
“Netflix” and “Amazon Prime,” people have more choices to look, for example, their
favorite movie or series. Those series and movie streaming services are especially
popular with younger people. Every seventh German aged between 14 and 25 (14%)
uses Amazon Prime’s offer, one in five (20%) uses Netflix’s programs, according
to an investigation by RTL’s advertising time marketer IP Deutschland (“Stream-
ingdienste,” 2017). Classical television still takes precedence over all age groups
studied. 79% follow the offers of ARD, ZDF, RTL, Sat.1, ProSieben and other TV
channels. Today, however, TV advertising only pays off when optimal networking
and guidance takes place on the Internet where transactions can also be completed in
a timely manner. By matching the TV spots—on the basis of media plans—with the
Web site and customer relationship online campaigns, relevant sales increases are
possible (Eren, 2016). Many quotes imply that video marketing is one of the most
effective marketing communication tools existing (Strähle, 2015). Fashion brands
are using it to tell stories, present offers, introduce new collections, and maintain
and enhance branding and image with commercial TV ads. In summary, television is
in spite of its high costs a particularly interesting communication tool for numerous
fashion companies to send their information and persuasion to create images which
the customer can identify with, and to arouse the customer’s desire. Individually, for
each type of fashion companies, there is a corresponding television channel with the
suitable station and appropriate target groups. Advertising usage in the right way can
affect a large audience share and can tempt consumers to buy.
3.3.5 Fashion Content in Streaming Services
Netflix With a number of 137 million subscribers (Netflix, 2018), Netflix belongs
to the most famous and successful streaming services worldwide. In 190 different
countries and 20 different languages, Netflix offers a wide range of formats including
series, movies, documentaries and a large amount of in-house productions (Heeke,
2016). Based on the idea of starting a mail order business for DVDs, Netflix expanded
in 2007 in the online streaming sector. Due to the ongoing acquirements of licenses,
the media library of Netflix is very dynamic. There are no commercials, as subscribers
have to pay a fixed amount per month (Netflix, n.d.).
Prime Video Prime Video describes the streaming service offered by Amazon. Prime
Video is linked to the Amazon Prime package. Subscribing to prime, users get their
orders always on the next workday and access to the video-on-demand media library
Prime Video. Just like Netflix, Prime Video offers series, movies, documentaries, as
well as in-house productions. Furthermore, customers have the possibility to sub-
scribe to Amazon channels, including especially international TV channels, by pay-
ing an extra amount additionally to the monthly sum (Amazon, n.d.).
ZDF-Mediathek The ZDF online media library can be seen as an additional service
to their television offer. Within their online media library, ZDF offers their viewers
the possibility to re-watch movies, series and shows they may have missed on TV. In
addition, ZDF offers live streams, which are especially used during big sports events
like the world championship in football or the Olympics. As ZDF is a public channel,
this service is also covered by the German radio and TV license fee. Unlike in the
television, there is no advertisement in the media library (Fig. 3.14).
Although within the TV analysis of the ZDF channel only shows broadcasting
potential fashion content were found, the analysis of their media library changed
the view on ZDF. Considering the results for the keyword “Mode,” ZDF does deal
with fashion subjects on its channel. Although the contributions are rather short,
a total number of 18 contributions were found. The results are mostly connected
to the genre news and therefore give only general information for example about
the fashion week in Paris (“Morgenmagazin” on September 28, 2018). Due to the
fact that fashion content on ZDF is mostly broadcasted within certain talk shows
or TV magazines, the average length of these small TV contributions is only up to
9 min long. Out of a total number of 18 results, five were longer than 10 min. With
28 min, the longest contribution dealing with fashion content was a documentary
about sustainability within the fashion industry. However, in comparison with Prime
Video and Netflix, ZDF remains on the last place. Comparing Prime Video and
Netflix, surprisingly Prime Video offers with 22 min much shorter movies about
fashion than Netflix. While the longest fashion movie on Prime Video only takes
59 min, Netflix’s documentation about the famous designer Jeremy Scott has a length
of 108 min (Fig. 3.15).
Out of 18 listed contributions about fashion on Netflix, nine of them were classified
as documentations. Therefore, Netflix really tries to inform their viewers about the
subject fashion. Documentations, for example “True Cost,” teach their viewers about
the reality behind the low prices of some clothes. Besides, documentations about
Netflix
ZDF
Prime Video
0 20 40 60 80 100
minutes
Fig. 3.14 Average length of fashion content on streaming services
Fig. 3.15 Distribution of series 28%

fashion content in different
formats on Netflix documentations
50%
movies 22%
series movies documentations

52 P. Bug et al.
Fig. 3.16 Distribution of movies 8%

fashion content in different series 31%
formats on Prime Video
documentations
61%
series documentations movies
designers and brands are listed in the media library, as well as general documentations
about the fashion subject. “Fresh dressed,” for example, examines the way in which
hip hop influenced fashion. With “Project Runaway,” a popular fashion-connected
entertainment series is listed on the media library of Netflix. Furthermore, there is
also a series about a designer searching for street styles worldwide (Netflix, n.d.
-a). Within the category “movies,” motion pictures being fictional but having a clear
fashion connection from the title or their storyline are categorized. These movies
were also suggested when searching for the keyword “fashion.” Examples are “The
Devil wears Prada” or “Girlboss” (Fig. 3.16).
Sixty-one per cent of the content with a fashion connection from the media library
of Prime Video is presented within documentations. Most of the documentations deal
with the subject fashion shows. Just like Netflix, there is also a small amount of series
dealing with fashion subjects. The series “Iconic,” for example, presents within five
episodes different fashion icons, for example Christobál Balenciaga. But only the
first season can be watched within the prime package. Within the category “movies,”
including fictional series, only “Gossip Girl” was found (Amazon, n.d. -a).
3.3.6 Impact on Consumer Behavior
Apart from an entertaining factor, fashion content in TV also allows to influence

the consumer’s shopping behavior. Therefore, entertainment-style documentaries,
such as “Shopping Queen” or GNTM, may be used as powerful advertising tools.
Different than commercials, this way of advertising allows to present the products to
the viewers in a subtler way. Furthermore, brands can already assume that the viewers
are attracted to fashion, and therefore the positive outcome of a product placement
within these shows is more likely.
As an example, within GNTM, the viewers get in touch with brands and their
products throughout photograph shootings. While GNTM relies on partnerships with
brands to be able to organize a photograph shooting for the upcoming models, the
brand can benefit from the target group of GNTM. In addition, the results from the
shooting may get more attention and appeal, as the models are connected to GNTM
and therefore its target group. Participating in ZTUT as a wedding dress seller may
increase the popularity and sales figures of the respective wedding stores as the
viewers want to get the same consulting and selection of wedding dresses as the bride
in the style documentary. Just in August, “Shopping Queen” cooperated with Marco
Tozzi. The participants had to style their outfit, given a Marco Tozzi shoe from their
latest collection. This product placement aimed to create a connection between the
shoe and “Shopping Queen,” attracting the audience to buy a piece from the respective
shoe collection. The “Shopfinder” on “Shopping Queen’s” Web page additionally
offers viewers the possibility to get the clothes the participants were shopping in the
episodes. Although there was no “Warentest” testing of clothes within “ZDF Zeit” in
the surveilled period, this kind of tests may have the biggest influence on consumer
behavior. While the other programs are used as an advertising tool by brands, a
“Warentest” tries to present the viewer information about certain products. Viewers
are invited to form their own opinion about the products, but are also presented a
ranking according to the quality, manufacturing process or sustainability.
3.4 Conclusion and Outlook
After examining the schedule of three German television channels and the online
libraries of streaming services, it was possible to categorize and classify them accord-
ing to broadcasted fashion content.
Although ZDF and ProSieben broadcast potential fashion content, the rate of
the shows broadcasting reports about fashion is rather low. Watching shows with
potential fashion content, the viewers have no guarantee that the fashion subject
is part of the episode. Only by coincidence, a viewer may come across informing
reports about fashion within the potential fashion content broadcasted in German
TV. These contributions are rather short and often only deal with fashion topics
addressing the majority of the audience, such as reports about the “Fashion Week”
or the “Black Friday.” Out of the three surveilled channels in German TV, only VOX
constantly deals with fashion topics within their schedule. Respecting the fact that
fashion content on VOX is only broadcasted within reality TV shows, the ability
of a viewer to watch an informing contribution about fashion on this channel is
restricted. Viewers following any of the shows dealing with fashion themes may be
interested in fashion, but the main aspect why they are watching is entertainment.
Therefore, fashion content is mainly included in reality TV shows. Just as Bickle
(2010) presumed, television is mostly used by viewers to relax rather than get detailed
information about something. This may be explained with people watching TV often
after getting home from work, as a leisure activity.
Although the programs, dealing with fashion, found in this survey are mostly
reality TV series and non-fictional, consumers often create some kind of fictional
reality, for example, by imagining themselves buying their own wedding dress while
watching “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen.” A quite similar phenomenon can be observed
for GNTM: Although in the past only a small amount of GNTM’s winners were
successful as a model afterward; the viewers get themselves into the illusion of
also being able to become a top model. Furthermore, the most crucial factor of
the success of GNTM and “Shopping Queen” may be the appreciation of viewers
54 P. Bug et al.
watching developments and transformations within TV shows. In comparison with

the schedule of classic TV channels, streaming services are fundamentally different,
as their whole concept is based on the interests of their users. Watching television, the
viewers do choose the channel they want to watch, but still depend on their schedule.
Within streaming services, the users decide directly on the movie or series they want
to watch. Therefore, the interests of the users can be addressed directly. Although the
amount of fashion content listed in the media libraries of Amazon Prime and Netflix is
limited, viewers have the ability to watch both, entertaining fashion content like “The
Devil wears Prada” as well as informing documentaries like “True cost” and series
like “In and out of fashion with Laura Brown.” Within television media libraries,
the users still depend on the broadcasted content on television. In consideration of
the analyzed data, it may be concluded that fashion does play a role in TV, but still
programs dealing with fashion are counted among special content and built therefore
a small minority in between programs dealing with subjects, addressing a rather
general audience. Although television still is the most used media tool, streaming
services can be seen as an alternative with constantly increasing popularity, especially
because viewers are asking for independent and flexible choices in order to satisfy
their own personal interests.
References
AGF. (2017). AGF Videoforschung—SEHDAUER. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.
agf.de/daten/tvdaten/sehdauer/.
AGF. (2018). Germany’s Next Topmodel—TV-Zuschauer 2018| Statistik. Retrieved November
25th, 2018, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/508851/umfrage/tv-zuschauer-der-
aktuellen-staffel-von-germany-s-next-topmodel/.
AGF. (n.d. -a). Alles zu Leute heute—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved December 12th, 2018, from http://
www.quotenmeter.de/tag/Leute+heute.
AGF. (n.d. -b). Alles zu Prominent!—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved December 1st, 2018, from http://
www.quotenmeter.de/tag/Prominent%21.
AGF. (n.d. -c). Alles zu red.—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved January 12th, 2019, from http://www.
quotenmeter.de/tag/red.
AGF. (n.d. -d). Alles zu Shopping Queen—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved December 12th, 2018, from
http://www.quotenmeter.de/tag/Shopping+Queen.
AGF. (n.d. -e). Alles zu taff—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved December 12th, 2018, from http://www.
quotenmeter.de/tag/taff.
AGF. (n.d. -f). Alles zu Zwischen Tüll und Tränen—Quotenmeter.de. Retrieved December 12th,
2018, from http://www.quotenmeter.de/tag/Zwischen+T%FCll+und+Tr%E4nen.
AGF Videoforschung. (2017). AGF Videoforschung—MARKTANTEILE. Retrieved January 8th,
2019, from https://www.agf.de/daten/tvdaten/marktanteile/?name=marktanteile#.
Allbusiness Editors. (2000, January 1). Television advertising pros and cons. Retrieved July 1, 2018,
from https://www.allbusiness.com/slideshow/television-advertising-pros-and-cons-15583543-1.
html.
Amann, C. (2012, October 19th). Sendezeiten: Übersicht—Lexikon der Filmbegriffe. Retrieved
December 1st, 2018, from http://filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de/index.php?action=lexikon&tag=det&
id=4952.
Amazon. (n.d.). Prime Video: So geht’s. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.amazon.
de/gp/video/getstarted.
Amazon. (n.d. -a). Prime Video. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.primevideo.com/.
Arnould, E. J., & Thompson, C. J. (2005). Consumer culture theory (CCT): Twenty years of research.
Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), 868–882. https://doi.org/10.1086/426626.
Bickle, M. C. (2010). Fashion marketing: Theory, principles & practice. New York: Bloomsbury
Publishing PLC.
Bitkom. (2018, Juni 19). Zwei from fünf Internetnutzern bezahlen für Serien und Filme. Retrieved
December 3rd, 2018, from https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presse-information/Zwei-von-fuenf-
Internetnutzern-bezahlen-fuer-Serien-und-Filme.html.
Brainjuicer. (2018). Fernsehsendungen—Bekanntheit 2015| Umfrage. Retrieved December
6th, 2018, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/486542/umfra-ge/umfrage-zu-den-
bekanntesten-fernsehsendungen/.
Eren, E. (2016, December 3). TV-Werbung Kosten und Vorteile. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from http://
www.e2marketing.de/allgemein/tv-werbung-kosten-und-vorteile.
fernsehserien.de. (n.d.). ZDFzeit. Retrieved November 25th, 2018, from https://www.fernsehserien.
de/zdfzeit.
fernsehserien.de. (n.d. -a). Germany’s next Topmodel. Retrieved January 9th, 2018, from https://
www.fernsehserien.de/germanys-next-topmodel.
fernsehserien.de. (n.d. -b). Shopping Queen 2018 Episodenguide (Seite 8). Retrieved from https://
www.fernsehserien.de/shopping-queen/episodenguide/7/17457/8.
Frees, B., & Koch, W. (2018). ARD/ZDF-Onlinestudie 2018: Zuwachs bei medialer Internetnutzung
und Kommunikation, 16.
Germany’s Next Topmodel—Staffel 13 (2018). (2018, January 16). Retrieved January 7th, 2019,
from https://www.ProSieben.de/tv/germanys-next-topmodel/episoden/staffel-13-2018.
GfK. (2011). Fernsehzuschauer—Durchschnittsalter nach Sender 2011| Statistik. Retrieved January
8th, 2019, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/183279/umfrage/durchschnittsalter-
der-fernsehzuschauer-nach-sender/.
Heeke, R. (2016). IfM—Netflix. Retrieved December 3rd, 2018, from https://www.mediadb.eu/de/
datenbanken/internationale-medienkonzerne/netflix.html.
Hollensen, S. (2010). Global marketing (5th ed). Pearson Education Limited.
HÖRZU. (n.d.). ZDF Senderinfos: Alle Hintergründe bei HÖRZU. Retrieved November 20th, 2018,
from https://www.hoerzu.de/tv-programm/zdf//info/.
HÖRZU. (n.d. -a). VOX Senderinfos: Alle Hintergründe bei HÖRZU. Retrieved January 8th, 2019,
from https://www.hoerzu.de/tv-programm/vox/info/.
HÖRZU. (n.d. -b). ProSieben Senderinfos: Alle Hintergründe bei HÖRZU. Retrieved January 8th,
2019, from https://www.hoerzu.de/tv-programm/ProSieben/info/.
Hofem, K. (2018). German-speaking Broadcasting: Small Channels, Big Successes. Retrieved
June 29th, 2018, from http://www.prosiebensat1.de/presse/prosiebensat-1entdecken/stories/wir-
glauben-an-die-zukunft-des-werbe-finanzierten-fernsehens.
Horizont (2019, January y). Zuschauermarktanteile (14 bis 49 Jahre) der größten
Sender in Deutschland in den Jahren 2017 und 2018. Retrieved February 7th,
2019, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/653812/umfrage/zuschauermarktanteile-
14-bis-49-jahre-der-groessten-sendergruppen/.
Kantar TNS. (2018). VIDEO Digitalisierungsbericht 2018, 185.
Lyst. (2018). Year in fashion 2018—Lyst. Retrieved December 1st, 2018, from https://www.lyst.
com/year-in-fashion-2018/.
NDR. (2019, Februar). 9,6 Millionen täglich sehen die 20-Uhr-Tagesschau. Retrieved Jan-
uary 7th, 2019, from https://www.tagesspiegel.de/advertorials/ots/ndr-das-erste-9-6-millionen-
taeglich-sehen-die-20-uhr-tagesschau/23820128.html.
Netflix. (2018). Number of Netflix subscribers 2018. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.
statista.com/statistics/250934/quarterly-number-of-netflix-streaming-subscribers-worldwide/.
56 P. Bug et al.
Netflix. (n.d.). Was ist Netflix? Retrieved December 3rd, 2018, from https://help.netflix.com/de/
node/412.
Netflix. (n.d. -a). Netflix. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.netflix.com/browse.
Neumüller, G. (2017). Media activity guide 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from http://viewer.
zmags.com/publication/7a1ae1ac#/7a1ae1ac/10.
Parrot Analytics. (2017). Most in-demand SVoD services Germany 2017| Statistic.
Retrieved November 30th, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/829190/most-in-
demand-streaming-services-germany/.
Petersen, R. (2012, Oktober 31). Sendeplatz—Lexikon der Filmbegriffe. Retrieved December 1st,
2018, from http://filmlexikon.uni-kiel.de/index.php?action=lexikon&tag=det&id=7919.
Posner, H. (2011). Marketing fashion. London: Portfolio.
ProSieben. (2018, April 24). Let’s Face Reality. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.
ProSieben.de/tv/lets-face-reality.
ProSieben. (n.d.). taff—das Lifestyle-Magazin auf ProSieben. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from
https://www.ProSieben.de/tv/taff.
ProSieben. (n.d. -a). Germany’s next Topmodel. Retrieved January 8th, 2019, from https://www.
ProSieben.de/tv/germanys-next-topmodel.
Quotenmeter (2019, January). Zuschauermarktanteile ausgewählter TV-Sender in Deutschland
2018. Retrieved February 27th, 2019, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/214350/
umfrage/marktanteile-der-tv-sender-in-deutschland/.
Sanchez, N. M. (2018, September 5). Nicht nur mit «DHDL» ganz stark: VOX begeistert auch am
Nachmittag. Retrieved November 22nd, 2018, from http://www.quotenmeter.de/n/103559/nicht-
nur-mit-dhdl-ganz-stark-vox-begeistert-auch-am-nachmittag.
Schering. (2018, Mai 25). Quotencheck: «Germany’s next Topmodel». Retrieved January 8th, 2019,
from http://www.quotenmeter.de/n/101224/quotencheck-germany-s-next-topmodel.
Sippel, B. (2015, Juni 2). Mediaplanung für Radiokampagnen. Retrieved December 6th, 2018, from
https://www.marketingimpott.de/blog/mediaplanung-fuer-radiokampagnen/.
Strähle, J. (2015). Emotionalizing fashion retail (p. 388). Norderstedt: BoD- Books on Demand.
ISBN: 3-7347-5821-1.
Vaunet—Verband privater Medien e.V. (2019, January). Mediennutzung in Deutschland 2018.
Retrieved February 28th, 2019, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/studie/id/59805/dokument/
ueberblicksstudie-zum-medienkonsum-in-deutschland-2018/.
Vogt, S. (2013). Fernsehsenderliste: TV-Sender im Kabelfernsehen. Retrieved November 30th,
2018, from https://kabel-blog.de/fernsehsender-liste-kabel/.
VOX. (n.d.). Shopping Queen. Retrieved November 21st, 2018, from https://www.vox.de/cms/
sendungen/shopping-queen.html.
VOX. (n.d. -a). Guidos Shopping Queen des Jahres. Retrieved November 21st, 2018, from https://
www.vox.de/cms/sendungen/guidos-shopping-queen-des-jahres.html.
VOX. (n.d. -b). Zwischen Tüll und Tränen. Retrieved November 21st, 2018, from https://www.vox.
de/cms/sendungen/zwischen-tuell-und-traenen.html.
VOX. (n.d. -c). Prominent! Retrieved November 22nd, 2018, from https://www.vox.de/cms/
sendungen/prominent.html.
Warner, H. (2014). Fashion on television—identity and celebrity culture. London: Bloomsbury
Academic.
ZDF. (2018). ZDFmediathek mit hohen Zufriedenheitswerten gerade bei Jüngeren: ZDF Presse-
portal. Retrieved November 19th, 2018, from https://presseportal.zdf.de/pressemitteilung/
mitteilung/zdfmediathek-mit-hohen-zufriedenheitswerten-gerade-bei-juengeren/.
ZDF. (n.d.). Pressemappe: ZDF-Morgenmagazin: ZDF Presseportal. Retrieved November 25th,
2018, from https://presseportal.zdf.de/pm/25-jahre-zdf-morgen-magazin/.
ZDF. (n.d. -a). Pressemappe: aspekte: ZDF Presseportal. Retrieved November 25th, 2018, from
https://presseportal.zdf.de/pm/aspekte-2/.
Laura Bessler started her studies at Reutlingen University in international fashion retail in March
2018 at the School of Textile and Design. In August 2019, she will move to Denmark to study one
semester abroad at Kea Copenhagen School of Design and Technology.
Janina Bendix started her studies at Reutlingen University in 2017. Because of her study pro-
gram B.Sc. “International Fashion Retail,” she is able to combine her interests and her passion for
fashion with a profession. The School of Textiles & Design allows a unique offer in practical and
theoretical content of the international clothing industry. From February till July 2019, she works
in her internship at the fashion company Porsche Design by supporting the retail marketing team.
Responsibilities include management and organization of fairs and internal events. International
experience was gained during a retail excursion to San Francisco, which was organized by Reut-
lingen University, as well as by participating in fairs in Basel and Milan. After completing her
internship, she will study her international semester abroad in Indonesia at Udayana University.
There, she will take the opportunity to get to know a new culture and to experience studying in
another country.
Chapter 4
Fashion Product Placement
in International TV Series
Peter Bug and Larissa Blau
4.1 Product Placement in TV Series
4.1.1 Definitions and Types of Product Placement
The success of video streaming platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime during
the last decade brings along an increase of their media penetration. Netflix had 139
million paid subscriptions 4th quarter 2018 (Netflix, 2019a) and Amazon Prime had
in June 2018 95 million paying subscribers in the USA alone (Consumer Intelligence
Research Partners, 2018). A large part of the films offered are film series. Product
placement (PP) became “one of today’s hottest new media” prognosticates Russell
and Belch (2005, 73).
This raises the question of how fashion product placement is used in series to
influence customers. “As consumers increasingly tune out conventional TV com-
mercials, marketers are scrambling to embed their products in the programming
itself” (Vranica, 2004). Therefore one should ask how interesting PP can be for the
fashion industry and if there is untapped potential. For the empirical analysis, we will
focus on the television show “Sex and the City” (1998–2004) produced by Home
Box Office (HBO), because the show is well known for the use of PP and addresses
a mainly female and fashionable target group.
Product Placement (PP) is classified as a special type of advertising. Schumacher
(2007) subclassifies the special types into formal (split screen), functional (teleshop-
ping) and contentual (product placement) advertising. The special types have a
diverse impact on the TV-program content. The formal integration of advertising
is time limited, however the functional advertising becomes the content of the whole
P. Bug · L. Blau (B)

e-mail: larissa.blau@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_4
60 P. Bug and L. Blau
TV show. In comparison, the contentual integration of advertising in a TV show is

more subtle and subconscious to the viewer (Schumacher, 2007).
In literature we find various definitions of PP. Schumacher characterizes PP as
a “communication instrument (…) whereby brand product and brand mark (e.g.,
logo) are integrated in a program (e.g., TV, cinema, radio) against payment and
are spread by auditive, visual and/or audiovisual media” (2007, 9). Schumacher
(2007) divides PP into “sponsored word-of-author advertising,” i.e., aware placement
with commercial background, and “unsponsored word-of-mouth advertising,” i.e.,
with artistic, non-commercial motives. In this context “word-of-author” means that
screenwriters use popular branded product names (Rathmann, 2014).
Other definitions go beyond the use of PP in media as film or TV Shows. “This
definition reflects the fact that the practice is not restricted to television and movies
but also occurs in radio shows, songs and music videos, video games, plays, and
even novels” (Russell & Belch, 2005, 74). As a marketing tool PP is used to send
messages, to give more information and to create an image and brand awareness. Film
directors use PP to simulate a more realistic setting and to characterize characters.
During the last years, one can figure out some developments of PP. Higher adver-
tising costs, technological advances that allow the consumer to avoid advertising
blocks (TiVo, Adblocker, etc.) and the increase of streaming platforms that put clas-
sic television shows out of the market, force brands and the advertising industry
to extend the use of PP. Lehu (2007, 31) calls TiVo “the enemy of advertising.”
Today there is a range from subtle integration of products to more sophisticated
and elaborated concepts (Russell & Belch, 2005). These new concepts “epitomizes
the blurring of the lines between advertising and entertainment and, for this reason,
has been characterized as a type of hybrid advertisement” (Russell & Belch, 2005,
p. 74). This hybrid advertisement, also called “Branded Entertainment” (Hudson &
Hudson, 2006, p. 491), integrates products and brands completely into the plot and
increases the advertising effectiveness to the consumer (Frank & Rennhak, 2009).
Customers are tired of uncreative advertising blocks. Therefore branded entertain-
ment is a way to evade this tiredness and to influence the consumer more subtle
(Schumacher, 2007). In addition, advertisers try to not only place products or brands
in the plot but also to create emotional links (Rathmann, 2014).
For analyzing TV series, it is necessary to identify the different types of PP.
Therefore we will refer to rudiments from Frank and Rennhak (2009) and Rathmann
(2014) and combine them to a classification needed in this work. To structure or
categorize PP one can identify three features. First the object or what is placed in
the TV show, second the form which means how the object is presented and last
the type of the placement (Rathmann, 2014, p. 20). The object can be a product or
a brand. The brand could be the name of a label but also the name of a celebrity.
The form or sort of information transmission (Frank & Rennhak, 2009) is divided in
different dimensions. A visual placement (screen placement) means the integration
of a product/brand without giving a verbal link to it. It is used as a prop or decoration
in the set to look more realistic. An auditive placement (script placement) increases
the level of awareness because of the high integration into the script. The name of
the product/brand is mentioned verbally, for example, by one of the actors or through
4 Fashion Product Placement in International TV Series 61
a music title. The highest integration is generated with the audiovisual placement
(plot placement). This contains the combination of visual and auditive use, thus the
placement on screen and in the script (Rathmann, 2014). Considering the placement
type we will concentrate on the most important for analyzing TV series.
• Product Placement (narrow sense): Placement of a product or a brand on the screen
or in the plot (Rathmann, 2014).
• Generic placement: Placement of product groups without placing brand name or
logo. This type is suitable for products that have a high value of recognition because
of its unique appearance and do not need a logo to be identified (Rathmann, 2014).
Other literature says that it is sort of collective advertisement with the benefit for
the market leader (Keszöczeová, 2014).
• Innovation Placement: Placement of a new product shortly before the launch or
products created for futuristic films (e.g., “Back to the Future”) (Rathmann, 2014).
• Image Placement: Plot is fitted to a product/brand to underline image (Rathmann,
2014).
• Corporate and Service Placement: Presentation of a brand or company, suitable
for emphasizing immaterial services which normally takes a lot of communication
(Rathmann, 2014).
• Message Placement: Placement of ideas, messages, opinions, slogans for sensitiz-
ing the publicity (Rathmann, 2014).
• Celebrity Placement: Placement of public characters to raise the extend of some-
one’s fame or to create a connection to a brand (Rathmann, 2014).
Originally just used to make sets look more realistic, brand manager and adver-
tisers quickly recognized the high advertising effect of PP as an instrument of the
marketing mix (Schumacher, 2007). According to a survey by Schumacher (2007)
one can identify different goals of PP for brands using it. Managers consider exclu-
sivity of presentation in an environment without concurrence as the most important
aspect (Schumacher, 2007). This gives the possibility to distinguish the brand from
others especially for Me-too products that do not stand out from others (Frank &
Rennhak, 2009). Subsequently, the brand awareness is the second most important
goal. Also an image transfer from the television show or the actor to the product,
the creation of credibility and confidence and informing aspects are desirable (Schu-
macher, 2007). Russell and Belch (2005) emphasize the informing goal of PP as a
communication element, for example, to introduce new products. Lehu (2007, 24)
explains that a advertising spot about 30 s is not enough time to explain a product
in detail. Therefore PPs are a possibility to put the product “in the hands of a char-
acter and show explicitly how it is used.” The goal of sales increase and gaining
additional market shares (PricewaterhouseCoopers International, 2012) is discussed
controversial. Samule Turcotte maintains the contrary while saying “Product place-
ment isn’t about sales; it’s about brand awareness.” (Lehu, 2007, 92). And further
“Alone, it [PP] will not launch a brand, however as a part of the brand advertising and
marketing mix it can be a catalyst in generating enormous amounts of impressions”
(Lehu, 2007, 8). In the following, we will summarize the advantages of PP relevant to
fashion industry based on Keszöczeová (2014), Russell and Belch (2005), Voorveld,
Fakkert, and van Reijmersdal (2017), and Schumacher (2007).
• increase of credibility and authenticity of the fashion brand
• transfer of emotion and image of characters to a product/brand
• very target-group-specific advertising
• boost of brand awareness
• opening up for new markets (reorientation of target group)
• trendsetting/hype potential (celebrity imitation)
• low advertising costs for brands and prevention of zapping
• reach a large number of people (PricewaterhouseCoopers International, 2012)
• fashion products are longer time on screen than automobiles or electronics because
actors wear them the whole scene (PricewaterhouseCoopers International, 2012).
4.1.2 Video Streaming Platforms Becoming the New

Television
As the introduction says, the use of video streaming platforms is increasing. The
most popular platform “Netflix” raised its worldwide turnover from 151 million
US$ in 2002 up to 15.8 billion US$ in 2018 (Netflix, 2019b). “The classic TV
use becomes increasingly irrelevant” claims Timm Luther (Bitkom) in an interview
with the newspaper “WELT” (Engel, 2016). Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joins and
predicts the end of TV in 2030 (Engel, 2016). According to a Bitkom survey one
out of every five subscribers consider to renounce the TV in future. Additional 44%
of streaming users said they reduced the consumption of TV since they use video-
on-demand because of its flexibility and variety (Heuzeroth, 2014). Leonard (2004,
150) confirms: “companies are abandoning old rules of marketing.” In the end, the
new ways of watching TV series forces the industry to find new ways to place their
products and to even more integrate them deep into the content because television
and with that advertising blocks will disappear.
In literature there are various models for measuring impact and success of place-
ments. With reference to Frank and Rennhak (2009) psychological (cognitive factors)
and social aspects (environment) need to be included. Consumer activation is neces-
sary to create an advertising effect. Because of the high awareness while watching a
serial, the consumer has a high activating level. As we already know, the higher the
integration of a product the higher the success potential (Frank & Rennhak, 2009).
In the long run, the quality of the placement concerning the connection to the plot
or a character becomes essential. That means that the product fits with the character
and its image. Thus the consumer emotionally connects the product tightly with the
character (Frank & Rennhak, 2009). Schumacher (2007) refer to emotional condi-
tioning. Verhellen, De Pelsmacker, and Dens, (2015, p. 143) postulate as success
factors characteristics of the placement, characteristics of the individual consumer
and contextual factors.
Success factors especially for the fashion industry:

• Identification and desire of imitation (Frank & Rennhak, 2009)
• Innovative and trendsetting
• Storytelling
• Informing about combinations, special features (Lehu, 2007)
• Active and audiovisual placement to identify the brand
• Choose a television show that fits to the target group and has a great reach
• Must be recognizable, e.g., through logo-heavy products.
Even though there are models for measuring the effectiveness of PP, “compa-
nies are still struggling to assess the value of such placements” in real dollar value
(Davtyan & Cunningham, 2017; La Ferle & Edwards, 2006). PricewaterhouseCoop-
ers International (2012) point out the ways for measuring. One possibility is “mak-
ing quantitative and qualitative interviews through questionnaires about a company
before and after a product placement (brand value/image measuring)” (Pricewater-
houseCoopers International, 2012, 8). Secondly, you compare sales figures before
and after. For example, the sales of Ray-Ban increased by 40% after the movie “Top
Gun” with Tom Cruise wearing them (Lehu, 2007).
4.1.3 Use of Fashion Product Placement in TV Series
“For a typical movie, there could be 100–150 placements in a production that the
studio has to obtain to get production off the ground” (Russell & Belch, 2005, 76).
The strong influence of placed products in movies raises the question how television
series deal with PP. According to Russell and Belch (2005), three out of four series
use PP. In 2016 13.8 billion US$ were spent worldwide for PP, and in 2017 15.7
billion US$ (PQ Media & Cision, 2018), showing again the growing relevance of
PP. A study by La Ferle and Edwards (2006) analyzed PP for 7 days of prime-
time television programming. As a result, 2327 brand placements were keyed in
102 different programs. “That amounts to almost 1 brand appearance every 3 min
across the 105 h of programming,” summarize La Ferle and Edwards (2006, 68).
The product category “stores” counts 59 placements (3.0%) and “clothing/shoes” 37
placements (1.9%) (La Ferle & Edwards, 2006, 72). It becomes apparent that fashion
PP is not that numerous.
In general, television series are regarded as an effective medium of PP, because of
the long period and continuum of broadcast. Over a long period, brands can influence
and shape a character. This increases the effectiveness of PP (Keszöczeová, 2014). In
addition to this, an episode only lasts about 40 min. The new generation of viewers
is always in hurry and has no time for films (90–120 min). Therefore the winner are
short serials (Lehu, 2007). It is important to mention that the success of a TV show
(rating figures) influences this effectiveness as well as the importance and relevance
of the scene (PricewaterhouseCoopers International, 2012).
Another point is the financial aspect. Placements help to reduce the production
costs of television series or films (Lehu, 2007). Lehu (2007, 70) exposes that a
PP contract can be worth between 30,000 up to 100,000 USD depending on the
assignment. For instance, Clos du Val Winery, placed in series “Las Vegas” (HBO),
“Two and a Half Men” (Warner) and “The Sopranos” (HBO), pays agents fees of
5000 USD each month. One cannot give “exact prices for a standard placement,
given that there simply is so standard placement.” But there are some factors that
influence the cost. For instance the prominence of a brand (the higher the fame, the
higher the costs), the identification of the brand, the location and importance of the
placement, the plot integration, contact with actors, exclusivity of the brand, count
of placements and reach of the TV series. Therefore, the costs can vary enormously.
4.1.4 Future Product Placement
In 1985, 650 commercial messages were exposed per person a day. In 2002 it has
exceeded to 3000 messages a day and rising. Consumers cannot memorize or handle
so much information (Lehu, 2007). This forces PP to raise the level. The next step
of PP in television series will be to create a stronger connection to other media, for
instance, to give the customer the opportunity to stop the video and get more infor-
mation about the product. In addition, a link to social media accounts or online shops
is imaginable. There are first rudiments of scanning the screen with the smartphone
and subsequently getting information about the product (analogous to QR codes) and
the possibility to buy it. Thus, companies get the possibility to close the gap of mea-
surement. The innovations allow PP “to be targeted, monitored, and measured in real
time” (Muzellec, 2016). All these evolutions are based on a new way of watching TV
series, for example, via streaming platforms. However, the consumer becomes more
skeptical toward placed products. “I have looked at brand-to-consumer interactions
for the last 15 years, and it is obvious that consumers are becoming more impatient,
more demanding, and more marketing-savvy than ever before” (Muzellec, 2016).
4.2 Method for Analyzing Product Placement in TV Series
For answering the research question of how fashion brands use PP and where to find
unused potential we will analyze exemplary the television show “Sex and the City.”
We chose this serial because of its prominence for placements of fashion products and
brands. In addition, it was shown for 6 seasons which allows a long time observation
for six years. Thereby one can note the development of PP in relation to viewing
figures and the popularity of the show. The method used is a quantitative counting of
PP in defined categories. Because of time limitations, we analyzed an episode sample
of 8 episodes each season. In each sample, the first and the last episode is integrated
because of its higher status for the season (producing costs, viewing figures, …).
Table 4.1 Sample of

Season Number of episodes Sample of episodes
episodes
1 12 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
2 18 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18
3 18 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 18
4 18 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 18
5 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
6 20 1, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 20
The following categories were counted:

• Object (Product or Brand)
• Form (Visual, Auditive, Audiovisual)
• Type of PP (1. Product/Brand P, 2. Generic P, 3. Innovation P, 4. Image P, 5.
Corporate P, 6. Service P, 7. Message P, 8. Celebrity P)
• Time on Screen
• Plot Connection (high, low, no connection)
• Character Connection (high, low, no connection)
• Brand/Product Category (1. Clothing, 2. Handbags, 3. Shoes, 4. Jewelry, 5. Other
Accessories, 6. Magazines, 7. Beauty, 8. Celebrity, 9. Brand, 10. Store)
• Product Prominence (1–5)
• Information Level (detailed, little, no information)
• Character (Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, Miranda, Mr. Big, secondary character).
At the end, the 20 most frequent placed brands and products are filtered. Not
every product placement is paid. But to simplify the analysis and because there
are no numbers or information given, we will assume that all placed products are
classified as PP. Also, the clothes worn by the actors may be sponsored, but if the
label was not recognizable, it was neglected.
One must emphasize that only fashion products and fashion brands were counted,
even if there are a lot of other placements like electronic or food products (Table 4.1).
4.3 Product Placement Analysis Results
4.3.1 SATC Facts and the Series’ Influence on Fashion
Year after year, twenty-something women come to New York in search of the two ‘L’s:
Labels & Love. (Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and The City”)
The US TV show “Sex and the City” created by Darren Star, was showing six seasons
(94 episodes, each 25–30 min) from 1998 till 2004 by HBO (Home Box Office) (“Sex
and the City,” 2018a). As it is said on HBO, the show deals with the question “how
do single women and men find mates in New York? Sarah Jessica Parker stars as
30-something writer Carrie Bradshaw, whose personal life and friendships are fodder
for her weekly column” (“Sex and the City—Official Website for the HBO Series,”
n.d.).
The target group of the show is mainly female and fashionable and therefore partic-
ular suitable for PP. The five featured characters are Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica
Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), Miranda
Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Mr. Big (Chris Noth). The final episode “An American
Girl in Paris: Part Deux” (February 22, 2004) was watched by 10.6 million people in
the USA (“List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States,” 2018).
The TV show releases several trends during its broadcast. Among others, star
stylist Rebecca Weinberg was responsible for the success of Carries style. Diane von
Furstenberg says “She invented the New Yorker Style” (“Sex and the City,” 2016).
2002 SATC (Patricia Field) won an Emmy for best costume. Weinberg told that they
had to use second-hand clothes during the first three seasons because no big brand
knew the show. The iconic tutu skirt in the intro, only costs 5 Dollar (Proudfoot,
2017). Up to 48 clothing changes each episode emphasize the impact of this TV
show concerning the creation of trends and the fashion industry in general (Eube,
2015). It says that there are 36 times “Vogue” in 94 episodes (“Sex and the City,”
n.d.), which further underline the importance of PP. Fashion editor Chelsea Fairless
comments, “I would venture to say that the mix of high fashion and fast fashion that
Patricia Field brought to the show influenced most people who work in fashion in
one way or another” (Jones, 2018). Before we analyze PP, we can observe several
well-documented fashion trends due to “Sex and the City” (SATC):
• The shoe label Manolo Blahnik, at first an inside-tip, becomes famous and popu-
lar due to SATC and Carrie Bradshaw. In “A Woman’s Right to Shoes” (season 6,
episode 9) Carrie’s Manolo Blahniks become the whole plot (Eube, 2015; Style-
Caster, 2014). The designer once told “I adore M. Parker. The character she played
has had such a role in my career—I cannot help but regard both of them as muses”
(“Top 40 Product Placements of all time,” 2011).
• The hype of It-Bags, such as the baguette from Fendi is due to Carries passion for
expansive designer bags. Fendi was the first brand placing bags in the show. “In
that moment, we were literally creating outfits around the Fendi bag,” the show’s
stylist Rebecca Weinberg told in an interview (StyleCaster, 2014). Later in season
3, episode 14 the hype of designer handbags is taken for a ride (Eube, 2015).
• The today called “Lingerie Look,” which means showing the bra under transparent
tops, arose from SATC characters. The shine through of bras was copied by women
worldwide (Eube, 2015).
• Moreover, there are beauty trends like the Brazilian waxing becoming popular.
The painful treatment was shocking but the message worked. “If Samantha Jones
can handle it, so can you.” (StyleCaster, 2014).
• New York City’s Fashion Retail was changing during the 1990s. The Meatpacking
District, in the 1980s a place of prostitution and drug dealing, becomes the place
to be. Shops from Stella McCartney or Diane von Furstenberg settle there. SATC
supported this development while showing the district as a covetable neighborhood
for Samantha and the other women going there for brunch (StyleCaster, 2014).
• During the six episodes, another trend came in. Logo-heavy accessories were
shown, not only on screen but shortly after also on the streets by fashionable
women (Barnhill, 2016).
4.3.2 Strongest Brands
In the following, the results of the counting of fashion product placements in the
viewed sample of SATC were presented. In total 107 products and 157 brands (27 of
these were not identifiable) were placed in 48 observed episodes (24 h of watching).
This underlines the importance of the serial SATC for the fashion industry (Figs. 4.1
and 4.2).
In the sample 157 fashion brands are placed. The strongest five are Chanel (12
placements), Fendi (11), Christian Dior (9), D&G (8) and Manolo Blahnik (8).
Ordered by category, the strongest are:
• Clothing: Chanel (12), Fendi (11), Christian Dior (9), D&G (8), Prada (4)
• Stores: Barneys (5), Bergdorf Goodman (3), Bendel’s (1)
• Shoes: Manolo Blahnik (8), Jimmy Choo (1), Ugg’s (1), Stuart Weizmann (1)
• Magazines: Vogue (4), GQ (2), InStyle (1), People/Teenpeople (1), Vanity Fair (1)
• Accessories: Ray-Ban (7), Tiffany’s (3), Birkin (1), Van Cleef and Arpels (1)
• Beauty: Bliss, Clinique, H.R Cosmetic, John Mandy Salon, NARS (each 1)
(Fig. 4.3).
38
NUMBER
12
11
Fig. 4.1 Top 20 placed fashion product categories

12
11
8
NUMBER
1
Fig. 4.2 Top 20 placed fashion brands
12 11
9
8
NUMBER
4
3 3 3
2 2
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Fig. 4.3 Placed clothing brands
4.3.3 Strongest Placement Categories
Concerning the strongest product categories one can see, that handbags are leading
with 37 placements—further clothing (29), shoes (14) and other accessories (13).
Strongest non-product categories are brands (pure brand or label placements) with
a number of 19 placements and stores with 17 placements. Fashion celebrities are
immaterial in this sample only mentioned one time (“Anna Wintour”) (Fig. 4.4).
4.3.4 Strongest Product Placement Types and Forms
Every placement can be divided into a type and form. The numbers will show the
importance and use of it in a fashion context. Obviously, the strongest type is the
classic product or brand placement. Followed by generic placements (21), service
37
29
NUMBER
19
17
14
13
11
1
Fig. 4.4 Strongest placement categories
placement (7) and image/corporate placement (6), as one can see, message, celebrity
and innovative placements are neglectable (Fig. 4.5).
Regarding the form of the placement, more than the half are visual placements
(91). Auditive (34) and audiovisual (32) placements are almost same weighted. Cer-
tainly not every product or brand can be integrated in the spoken text so visual
placements are dominating. Additionally, the time on screen of visual placements
was measured. Most of the placements are less than 30 s on screen (aspect of costs).
From minute one the number of placements drops vast and rises when it comes to
placements over 2:00 min. These placements are products shown or worn in whole
scenes becoming a part of the plot. In SATC this happens frequently, in this sample
it counts 19 times (Fig. 4.6 and Table 4.2).
119
NUMBER
21
Fig. 4.5 Strongest placement types

Fig. 4.6 Strongest

placement forms
32
34 91
visual auditive
audio-visual
Table 4.2 Time on screen

Time on screen Number of PP
>2:00 19
>1:30–2:00 1
>1:00–1:30 5
0:30–1:00 28
<0:30 38
4.3.5 Plot and Character Connection Level
To identify the impact of a placement one must observe the connection of the placed
product or brand to the plot or character. In this case, a little more than the half (81) of
the placements were connected in some way to plot (39 high, 42 low). A placement
is highly connected to the plot when the product or brand plays an important role
in a scene and the actor acts with it. In contrast, the connection to the character is
higher (72 high, 44 low). Only 39 placements have no obviously connection (most
of them placed with side characters).
In SATC the products and brands are well considered. The main characters only
wear brands that fit their personality and image. “The girls tastes are refined, as
successful women of the city that never sleeps, and their brand choices reflect this”
(Jones, 2015). Carrie is connected mainly with Dior (9), Manolo Blahnik (8), Ray-
Ban (8), D&G (4) and Prada (4). Because of her importance as the main character
she wears the most brands, in total 74 placements were counted in this sample. As
author of several articles for Vogue, she is very fashion-conscious and she literally
lives and speaks fashion. “I couldn’t understand a word she was saying, but I felt I
had in my possession all the Italian I’d ever need to know: Dolce, Dolce, Dolce.”
(Carrie Bradshaw).
Samantha’s favorite brands are Chanel (6), Versace (2), Louis Vuitton (2) and
Fendi (2). In total 26 times. She is the sexy and wild one of the four friends. There-
fore, the brands she wears are more swanky and brash. Charlotte (14 placements) is
associated with Tiffany’s (2), Chanel (2) and Ralph Lauren (1). As a conservative
woman she loves buttoned-down looks and elegant labels. Her role model in fashion
and lifestyle is Liz Taylor. Miranda wears nearly no brands (5 placements of mostly
non-visible brands). Her style is casual-sporty and less luxurious than the look of the
other three. One can see her rather in Harvard sweatshirts than in expensive couture.
Carries lover Mr. Big wears Armani (1) and Calvin Klein (1) (Fig. 4.7 and Table 4.3).
To get deeper in detail the prominence of the placed product was analyzed and
ranked from 1. “Only placing the product/brand in the setting” up to 5. “Placements
that strongly influence the plot or the character,” Like the plot connection table says,
most products have no emphasis on it and are only placed to create a realistic setting
(85). But there are cases in which the product or brand becomes the plot (7). For
example, season 6, episode 9 called “A Woman’s Right to Shoes” is mainly written
about a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s. In season 6, episode 5 a Prada store becomes the
setting. “For some couples, that step is meeting the parents. For me, it’s meeting
the Prada”, Carrie says while spending a Saturday morning at Prada with her new
boyfriend (Table 4.4).
But in these scenes, it is not only how prominent the product is but also how much
information is given. As the counts show, only 21 products/brands are specified.
Detailed information means facts about the product/brand, e.g., price, advantages,
consulting quality or instruction how it works are given (Table 4.5).
Fig. 4.7 Product placement

characters 3
13
20
84
32
Carrie Samantha Charlo e

Miranda Mr. Big
Table 4.3 Plot and character

High Low No connection
connection
Plot connection 39 42 75
Character connection 72 44 39
Table 4.4 Product and brand prominence

Ranking Product prominence Number
1 Placed in the setting/text without emphasis and label recognition 85
2 Visual placed with label recognition 48
3 Label of the production is audiovisual placed with connection to the 12
content
4 Product is explained and its benefits are exposed 5
5 Product/brand strongly influences the plot or character 7
Table 4.5 Information

Information content Numbers of placement
content
Detailed information 12
Little information 9
No information 134
4.3.6 Placements Depending on Viewing Figures

and Popularity
The fact that in the first episodes no brand wanted to put their products in the show
(Proudfoot, 2017) raises the question of how viewing figures (and with that popu-
larity) and the number of placements correlate. Placements rise with the first three
seasons. The first season was viewed by 6.9 million people in the USA. The place-
ments in this sample counts 25 times, makes 3.1 placements per episode. In the
second season 37 products and brands were placed (4.6 per episode) with an viewer-
ship of 9.0 million. Then there is a slump of the viewing figures in season three (about
5.0 million). Because of that the PPs in the following season decrease. They count
only 13 in the sample and 1.6 per episode. Toward the last seasons, the number of
placements increases again. In the fifth season, 16 placements (2 per episode) were
integrated and viewed by 7.93 million people. The last season was split into two
parts. The first comes to 19 placements (3.8 each) and 7.3 million viewers and the
second to 10 placements (3.4 each) and 6.36 viewers. The final “An American Girl
in Paris (Part 2)” was viewed by 10.62 million people, that is the highest viewership
of the serial (“Sex and the City,” 2018b) (Figs. 4.8 and 4.9).
4.4 Discussion
The counting quantified the placement number, form, type, time etcetera. The fol-
lowing conclusions can be drawn from the outcome:
37
39
29
25
NUMBER OF PP
16
13
5
5
4
3
2
2
1 2 3 4 5 6
SEASON
Placements Sample Average Placements per Episode
Fig. 4.8 Number of PP (Season 1–6)
9.00
NUMBER PP (SAMPLE)
10.00 50
VIEWING FIGURES (MIO)
7.93
8.00 6.90 7.30 40
6.49 6.36
6.00 5.00 30
4.00 20
2.00 10
0.00 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 part 1 6 part 2
viewing figures placements
Fig. 4.9 Coherence of viewing figures and number of PP “Sex and the City”
• Accessories like handbags, shoes and eyewear are the strongest placed products
whereby Chanel, Fendi, Dior, D&G and Manolo Blahnik are the strongest brands.
This shows very plainly that luxury brands dominate.
• Brand and product placements in the setting are more popular than message or
innovative placements due to the topic of the show. The brands place importance
to show their products and special features or services.
• The products and brands are often connected to the plot and strongly to the char-
acter. The producers of SATC use placements to characterize the four characters.
Brands use it to create desire and identification to the costumers. A few times a
product become the plot.
• The character Carrie Bradshaw is best-liked when it comes to PP. Followed by
Samantha Jones. The reason for this is the brand awareness of the two women,
their passion for fashion and shopping affinity. Therefore Carrie and Samantha are
very attractive for brands placing their products.
• In the first episodes, the PP number is very low because no one knew SATC and
therefore the brands did not pay attention. But with an increase of the popularity
of the show, the numbers raised. As well the first and last episode of every season
had the most PP because of the high viewing figures. Further, the number of PP
decreased in the following season when the viewing figures underperformed.
4.4.1 Effectiveness and Value of PP in the TV Show “Sex

and the City”
From a managerial perspective, the effectiveness and value of product placements

are crucial. As we said before there are success factors for placements. First of all
the connection to the plot/character in this show is outstanding. Jones (2015) put it
straight, “four successful women living, partying, working and dating in arguably
the most fashionable city in the world leaves plenty of room for amazing product
placement.” Miklis (2008) call it “the most lucrative runway of the world.” Plenty
episodes prove the brilliant connection between selling products and telling stories.
Storytelling is one of the called success factors. A story creates emotions and makes
products unique. It produces a strong and long-run connection between product and
character. Especially for the fashion industry telling a story around the product is
very effective.
One of the most important aspects to effectively place one’s products into the
show is to create identification and desire. SATC portrays four different women with
different looks and lifestyles, which make it easy for the viewer to identify with them.
Nearly every existing brand can be referred to one of them. And if the identification
succeeded, the character becomes an fashion role model with the statement: if you
want to become Carrie, walk in her pair of shoes. Frank and Rennhak (2009) call it
the desire of imitation. For a brand wanting to create identification it is necessarily
to know ones target group and to choose the television show and character precisely.
The storyline and subject need to fit with the history and CI of the brand (Lehu,
2007). That creates synergy effects (Morton & Friedman, 2002). Also the image of
the actor wearing or acting with the product is to keep in mind (Lehu, 2007).
Moreover, a placement must be remarkable which means that the product should
be innovative and therefore trendsetting. If the product surprises the viewer he will
remember it and even better will take action and buy it. Looks and brands worn in
the show becoming must have promoted in fashion magazines, due to the innovative
styling team (Miklis, 2008). The informing aspect should be kept in mind as well.
SATC shows whole looks and how to wear the presented products and brands giving
instructions and facts around these products. If the viewer gets to know the shoe
model’s name, the price and where to get them, what could stop her from buying
them? This underlines the brilliant effectiveness of PP in SATC. In addition, the
label must be recognizable. In the sample only 27 of the placed brands were not
visible. Current developments show a trend toward brand awareness. To put the label
bold onto the clothes supports the recognition but might annoy the viewer. As many
studies show, the audience become skeptical toward the commercialization of TV
content (Russell, 2002). According to the study by Russell (2002), which analyzed the
effectiveness of placements in television, the “memory is greater when the stimulus
is spoken than when it is only visually presented” (page 314) and the highest effect is
created with audiovisual placements. In the serial SATC one can find all placement
forms. About a fifth of all placements are audiovisual. This could be development
potential to rise the effectiveness.
The value of PP will be shown exemplarily using the example of Manolo Blahnik.
As we already said, the serial SATC strongly influenced the hype of these designer
shoes. In the episode “A Woman’s Right to Shoes” in 2003, the pair of Manalo’s costs
485 dollar. A decade later, when Manolo Blahnik became one of the famous shoe
designers, the same pair costs 755 dollar (increase of 56%) (Ihring, 2014). According
to Stilcken (2008) the fast success of the shoe label is due to Carrie Bradshaw in SATC.
“Carries identity is strongly connected with Manolo Blahnik” (Frank & Rennhak,
2009, p. 21). Because of the high emphasis and active integration to plot and character
the shoe placements take its full advertising effect. Unfortunately, there are no sale
figures findable which underline this. But this example shows how product placement
could succeed and it proves its value. Additionally, not every placement has the goal
to increase the sales but also to build brand awareness, an image, improve public
relations or support the launch of new products (Russell & Belch, 2005).
There is also the question of which brand is suitable for PP. In SATC the brands are
diversified—from high-fashion to sportswear or beauty products. Especially acces-
sories like handbags seem to work well for placements, because of its easy brand
recognition. Some literature says that PP only works for established brands that are
easy to identify (Hudson & Hudson, 2006). Nevertheless, SATC is a good example
of introducing brand-new products and brands. Of course, these placements need a
high level of information given to the viewer and an audiovisual form. In addition,
product/brand placements need a continuity. The product and brand name should be
shown up frequently to stick in the viewers memory. But, “merely because a person
remembers seeing or hearing a brand in a show does not mean that his or her attitude
toward that brand will change” (Russell, 2002, p. 314). All in all, PP should not be
seen as a stand-alone marketing tool. Rather it takes its part in the marketing mix
as a communication strategy (Tiwsakul, Hackley, & Szmigin, 2005). Hudson and
Hudson (2006) suggest supporting promotional activities around the placement, for
example, to build a promotional campaign around a placement in a show.
4.4.2 Chances for the Fashion Industry and Potential of PP
As this study shows, the fashion industry does not exploit its full potential. “We need
to take our brand to them, and not wait for them to come to us,” annotated Hilary
Dart, president of Calvin Klein Cosmetics (1999–2004) (Lehu, 2007, p. 225). Fash-
ion brands should show continuous presence in all forms of media. As mentioned
previously, fashion products offer to be placed. In fact, they are mandatory to under-
line the characters’ personality. Fashion brands should push more forward as Dart
said. Of course, there are only a few television formats that are that fashion-oriented
as SATC. But this is not a requirement. It is not needed to outfit the whole serial. It is
quite enough to concentrate on one or a few characters that fit to the product or brand.
In addition, there is a great lack when it comes to pp for men. SATC is obvious a
female serial. However, the amount of male characters is high. Carrie Bradshaw has
dozens of boyfriends; certainly, the viewer gets to know very closely. In the sample
her love Mr. Big is only linked with three PP. Brands undervalue the potential of
male placements. Women drew inspiration from the serial for instance when Carrie
gifted Jack Burger the “I never say ‘fabulous’” fabulous shirt from Prada (Season
6, Episode 5). Women shop for their men. Because of that, 80% of all customers in
German clothing retail are female. They act impulsive and make buying decisions
depending on the surrounding (Freise, 2018).
Development potential is recognized in some points: first, the aspect of digital
mobility in a connected world. Alfred Hitchcock once told, “television is like the
invention of indoor plumbing. It didn’t change people’s habits. It just kept them
inside the house” (Lehu, 2007, p. 221). The smartphone becomes the third screen
after TV and the computer and hence television becomes mobile due to the internet
and streaming platforms (Lehu, 2007). In this times PPs need to adjust to the changes.
The connection to other media will help the customer to get more information and
the ability to buy the product without great offer due to a link to the online shop or
Instagram account. Another chance for fashion brands is the “exploding buying power
among Asian consumers” especially in the luxury fashion segment (Keller, Magnus,
Hedrich, Nava, & Tochtermann, 2014). These costumers start to view clothing as the
expression of lifestyle and will spend more and more money for shopping abroad.
“In the luxury goods segment, 75% of all sales will be from Chinese consumers,
with more than half of that being spent outside of China,” confirmed Keller et al.
(2014). To open up new markets, PPs in the Asian entertainment industry seem to
be an opportunity. The new customer asks for more than just facts, he wants to feel
the entire shopping experience. Customers desire brands to speak to them and to tell
them stories around the product to identify with its image (Keller et al., 2014). To
sale fashion products, emotional links and creation of desire are essential. Serial stars
become style role models. But the majority will not spend 400 dollars for shoes or
handbags so the fast fashion labels, copying the trends, will profit.
Summing up, there is unused potential in some areas:
• The number of fashion products placements is relatively low
• Male product placements are undervalued yet
• Digital mobility and interactive connection of pp and other media
• Potential of the luxury good segment and the Asian market
• Storytelling becomes more important for fashion brands to stand out from others
and to create uniqueness and desire
• Fast fashion labels can copy trends from serial stars, wearing high-fashion brands.
4.4.3 Limitations, Future Research and Conclusion
More research is needed to better understand the value of PP for the fashion industry.
To get more numbers and information, more television shows have to be counted.
There are only a few shows focusing on fashion content. Research in this department
needs to get updated continually because of new technologies and innovations. Fur-
thermore, sales figures need to be consulted to check the dependence of placements
and sales. If the transfer from placements to sales succeeds, one can improve the
measurement of placements enormously. There is no scientific literature focusing on
PP for the fashion industry yet. All in all this study takes the first step forward. It
gives an overview about fashion PP and first approaches for further research.
“The infuriating paradox of product placement is that if you notice it, it is bad.
But if you don’t notice it, it is worthless. It is such a narrow line that either the viewer
or the advertiser feels betrayed” (Ephron, 2003, 20). PP walks on a fine line between
succeeding and failing. The audience gets more and more skeptical toward advertis-
ing, so new strategies of placing products and brands are needed. PP developed to a
stand-alone below the line form of advertising. The integration to the plot, emotional
links and a more subtle influence change PP to Branded Entertainment. Phenomena
like “zapping” or the raise of video streaming platforms forces the advertising indus-
try to stronger place their products/brands into the content. In future PP will become
more and more influence not only in television but also in social media. Creating a
connection between the channels will become the key challenge. The measurability
of PP is not elaborated for practical use yet. The two strategies, conduct a survey
(qualitative or quantitative) or to compare the sale figures, are in some points insuffi-
cient. An omni-channel connection between the different media could be a solution
approach.
Nevertheless, marketing experts and managers regard PP as a communication
tool and not primarily to boost sales. In long-term the uniqueness, image, credibility
and confidence toward the brand should be strengthened. Al these lead to profound
brand awareness. For the fashion industry PP brings along a variety of chances and
developmental possibilities. A young and female target group is prone for PP but
male placements should not be undervalued. Fashion companies should think about
opening up for new customers in the Asian market. PP is a good tool to reach the
new audience. It is very target specific and more cost-effective than conventional
advertising spots. In addition, it helps to create an entire shopping experience. All
in all fashion brands need to push more forward to spread their products in the
media. The television show “Sex and the City” exemplified branded entertainment.
Placements are outstanding when it comes to storytelling around the brand/product,
setting trends and creating a character connection and desire through identification.
References
Barnhill, T. (2016, March 25). All of the Trends That Sex and the City Predicted and Perfected.
Retrieved May 7, 2018, from https://www.vogue.com/article/sex-and-the-city-inspired-fashion-
trends.
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. (2018, July). Number of Amazon Prime members in
the United States as of June 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/
statistics/546894/number-of-amazon-prime-paying-members/.
Davtyan, D., & Cunningham, I. (2017). An investigation of brand placement effects on brand
attitudes and purchase intentions: Brand placements versus TV commercials. Journal of Business
Research, 70, 160–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.023.
Engel, B. (2016, January 28). Netflix und Streaming gegen TV: Ein angekündigter Tod. DIE WELT.
Retrieved from https://www.welt.de/sonderthemen/medienkongress/article151604245/Chronik-
eines-angekuendigten-Todes.html.
Ephron, E. (2003). The paradox on of product placement. Mediaweek, 13(22), 20.
Eube, A. (2015, May 20). Star-Stylistin: Die Frau, die Carrie Bradshaws Stil miterfand.
DIE WELT. Retrieved from https://www.welt.de/icon/article141163773/Die-Frau-die-Carrie-
Bradshaws-Stil-miterfand.html.
Frank, B., & Rennhak, C. (2009). Product Placement am Beispiel des Kinofilms Sex and the City:
The Movie, 40.
Freise, M. (2018). Skript Handelsbetriebslehre. Reutlingen: Reutlingen University.
Heuzeroth, T. (2014, November 21). TV-Konsum nimmt durch Filmstreaming ab. DIE
WELT. Retrieved from https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article134572738/Wie-das-
Video-Streaming-das-Fernsehen-toetet.html.
Hudson, S., & Hudson, D. (2006). Branded entertainment: A new advertising technique or product
placement in disguise? Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 489–504.
Ihring, S. (2014, September 16). Designerware wird immer teurer. DIE WELT. Retrieved from
https://www.welt.de/icon/article132261546/Die-bizarre-Preisexplosion-der-Luxusmode.html.
Jones, S. (2015, December 1). The Top 10 Brand Mentions In Sex And The City. Retrieved June 1,
2018, from https://blog.hollywoodbranded.com/top-10-brand-mentions-in-sex-and-the-city.
Jones, E. E. (2018, April 21). ‘That show was as white as it gets!’ Sex and the City’s problem-
atic legacy. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/apr/
21/that-show-was-as-white-as-it-gets-sex-and-the-citys-problematic-legacy.
Keller, C., Magnus, K.-H., Hedrich, S., Nava, P., & Tochtermann, T. (2014, September).
Succeeding in tomorrow’s global fashion market. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved June
3, 2018, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/
succeeding-in-tomorrows-global-fashion-market.
Keszöczeová, L. (2014). Product Placement in TV Serien Wirkung von Product Placement in der
Serie “The Big Bang Theory”. Wien, Germany: Universität Wien.
La Ferle, C., & Edwards, S. M. (2006). Product placement: How brands appear on television.
Journal of Advertising, 35(4), 65–86. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367350405.
Lehu, J. M. (2007). Branded entertainment: Product placement & brand strategy in the entertain-
ment business. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page Limited.
Leonard, D. (2004, June 28). Nightmare on Madison Avenue Media fragmentation, recession, fed-up
clients, TiVo–it’s all trouble, and the ad business is caught up in the wake, June 28, 2004. Fortune
Magazine. Retrieved from http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/
06/28/374368/index.htm.
List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States. (2018, May 2). In Wikipedia.
Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_most_watched_television_
broadcasts_in_the_United_States&oldid=839332702.
Miklis, K. (2008, May 29). Vermarktung bei “Sex and the City”: Wenn die Leinwand zum Laufsteg
wird. Retrieved June 1, 2018, from https://www.stern.de/kultur/film/vermarktung-bei–sex-and-
the-city–wenn-die-leinwand-zum-laufsteg-wird-3858326.html.
Morton, C. R., & Friedman, M. (2002). “I saw it in the movies”: Exploring the link between
product placement beliefs and reported usage behavior. Journal of Current Issues & Research in
Advertising, 24(2), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2002.10505133.
Muzellec, L. (2016, June 23). James Bond, Dunder Mifflin, and the Future of Product Placement.
Retrieved May 4, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2016/06/james-bond-dunder-mifflin-and-the-future-
of-product-placement.
Netflix. (2019a, January). Netflix subscribers 2001–2018. Retrieved February 21, 2019 from https://
de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/196642/umfrage/abonnenten-von-netflix-quartalszahlen/.
Netflix. (2019b, January). Netflix turnover 2002–2018. Retrieved February 22, 2019 from https://
de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/183336/umfrage/umsatz-von-netflix-seit-2002/.
PQ Media & Cision. (2018, April). Product placement revenue worldwide in 2016 and
2017. Retrieved February 22, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/915174/product-
placement-revenue-worldwide/.
PricewaterhouseCoopers International. (2012). Product Placement in Movie Industry.
Proudfoot, J. (2017, January 5). SJP’s Sex and the City tutu was How much? Retrieved May 4,
2018, from http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/sex-and-the-city-tutu-464142.
Rathmann, P. (2014). Medienbezogene Effekte von Product Placement: theoretische Konzeption
und empirische Analyse. Wiesbaden: Springer-Gabler.
Russell, C. A. (2002). Investigating the effectiveness of product placements in television shows:
The role of modality and plot connection congruence on brand memory and attitude. Journal of
Consumer Research, 29(3), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.1086/344432.
Russell, C. A., & Belch, M. (2005). A managerial investigation into the product placement industry.
Journal of Advertising Research, 45(01), 73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021849905050038.
Schumacher, P. (2007). Effektivität von Ausgestaltungsformen des Product Placement. https://doi.
org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9603-5.
Sex and the City. (2018a, May 2). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.
php?title=Sex_and_the_City&oldid=177071650.
Sex and the City. (2018b, May 7). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.
php?title=Sex_and_the_City&oldid=840113736.
Sex and the City: Carrie Bradshaws schönste Looks. (2016, August 26). Retrieved May
2, 2018, from http://www.gala.de/beauty-fashion/fashion/sex-and-the-city-carrie-bradshaws-
schoenste-looks_22146_782392.html.
Sex and the City: Diese Marken sind Carrie und Co. heilig. (2014, July 23). Retrieved May 2, 2018,
from https://www.wunderweib.de/sex-and-city-diese-marken-sind-carrie-co-heilig-82030.html.
Sex and the City—Official Website for the HBO Series. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2018, from https://
www.hbo.com/sex-and-the-city.
Stilcken, A. (2008, May 16). Mode: Leben und lernen mit Carrie Bradshaw. DIE
WELT. Retrieved from https://www.welt.de/lifestyle/article2001111/Leben-und-lernen-mit-
Carrie-Bradshaw.html.
StyleCaster. (2014, February 22). ‘Sex and the City’ Ended 10 Years Ago: 10 Trends Started By
The Beloved HBO Show. Retrieved May 4, 2018, from http://stylecaster.com/sex-and-the-city-
trends/.
Tiwsakul, R., Hackley, C., & Szmigin, I. (2005). Explicit, non-integrated product placement in
British television programmes. International Journal of Advertising, 24(1), 95–111. https://doi.
org/10.1080/02650487.2005.11072906.
Top 40 Product Placements of all time: 10-1. (2011, January 13). Retrieved May 7, 2018, from
http://brandsandfilms.com/2011/01/top-40-product-placements-of-all-time-10-1/.
Verhellen, Y., De Pelsmacker, P., & Dens, S. (2015). Extending the boundaries of advertising—Con-
text matters: Modeling the impact of context perceptions on the effectiveness of brand placement.
In: Advances in advertising research (Vol. V). Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
Voorveld, H. A. M., Fakkert, M.-S., & van Reijmersdal, E. A. (2017). Materialistic girls watching
a materialistic world: fashion TV series and women’s copy-cat intentions (pp. 239–251). De
Gruyter Mouton.
Vranica, S. (2004). Product placement sheds it’s cozy trappings. Wall Street Journal, 23, B1.
Larissa Blau is studying B.Sc. in international fashion retail at Reutlingen University School of
Textiles & Design since 2017. During her studies, she got work experience as Marketing Asso-
ciate in the student start-up company “RU Enterprises”. In spring 2019, she spent one semester
abroad at Donghua University in Shanghai where she deepened her knowledge in international
management. As an ambassador of the campaign “Go Textile!” initiated by The Textile + Fash-
ion Council, she gains insights into the German fashion branch.
Part II
Social Media Altering the Use
of Moving Images in Fashion
Chapter 5
YouTube Fashion Videos
Peter Bug, Cora Winker and Patrizia Zillikens
5.1 Social Media Video Marketing and YouTube
Videos are the most engaging type of content while combining auditory and visual
sense in order to catch attention and create emotions (zipstrr, 2017). This is the
reason why videos have become one of the most effective ways to drive targeted
traffic. Indeed, “Video traffic will be 82% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2021”
(Cisco VNI, 2017), according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index. Meanwhile,
with increasing importance of social media for businesses—videos and films have
also become necessary for a social media marketing strategy. This means combining
video marketing and social media marketing leads to efficiently achieving the online
marketing objective defined by a company.
In this context, YouTube evolves as an outstanding important video sharing plat-
form. It is known as number one of all video content platforms with a high consumer
focus. Since its foundation in 2005, the platform has established itself as a successful
social network for users as well as an effective marketing platform for marketers to
reach the target group. Since there are no detailed studies found investigating fashion
industry with a focus on the benefits of a branded YouTube channel performance,
the following study is going to extend the existing results of social media video
marketing on YouTube with new insights.
Video marketing is in general the use of moving images online or offline for
communication and advertising aims. These moving images are, for instance, video
advertisement, product videos or image films (Lammenett, 2017). Video marketing
P. Bug · C. Winker (B) · P. Zillikens (B)

e-mail: cora.winker@student.reutlungen-university.de
P. Zillikens
e-mail: patrizia.zillikens@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_5
84 P. Bug et al.
can be grouped into online and offline video marketing, whereupon most videos and
films are shared via Internet, so online video marketing is the more common type. In
addition, videos can be used for many marketing aims like as means of promotion
for display or affiliate marketing, for content marketing or for product presentations
in online shops (Lammenett, 2017). Usually videos are shared via social media plat-
forms like YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. That is why video marketing is often
seen as a part of social media marketing. Especially for company-created video
content, social media is the most important marketing channel (Lammenett, 2017).
The so-called social videos are moving images that are designed for social media,
and mean that “the video is optimized for web and mobile viewing, and tailored
specifically to the platform that will house them” (Wochit Team, 2018). In general,
“creating high quality video content does require a significant investment of both
time and effort” (Cardona, 2018). This high quality can be reached by considering
several factors that influence the success of social videos (Carter, 2017). Successfully
implementing all illustrated factors has a positive influence on the customers buy-
ing decision process, because, “62% of consumers discover new products through
watching videos on their social news feeds” (StyleShoots, 2017) (Fig. 5.1).
The company mission of YouTube states: “Our mission is to give everyone a voice
and to show them the world” (YouTube, 2018). YouTube LLC is a video sharing
platform and the second most visited Web site worldwide. It was founded 2005
by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, and its headquarter was located in
San Bruno, USA. Since 2006, the company is a subsidiary of Google LLC. Today,
Google’s annual revenue through YouTube accounts 4.0 billion US dollar, i.e., “6%
of Google’s ad sales revenue” (MerchDope, 2018). On YouTube, users can watch,
upload, share, like and comment all kinds of video, for example, advertisements,
music videos, trailers, movies or tutorials. For that reason, there are professional as
well as amateur videos available (YouTube, 2018). The first video was uploaded on
August 23, 2005 (Smith, 2016). Since then, YouTube became the most famous video
sharing platform with more than one billion users—that means nearly one-third of all
Internet users (MerchDope, 2018). Each day, videos with a total length of one billion
hours are viewed, and each minute, approximately 400 h of content is uploaded. On
an average, there are one billion views daily (YouTube, 2018). The biggest target
Attention Relevent Social media Video style

span content channel square and
“between half a vertical videos
second and five rather than
seconds" (Carter, horizontal format
2017)
Fig. 5.1 Factors for successful social video marketing according to Carter
5 YouTube Fashion Videos 85
group are 18- to 34-year-old users, and more than half of the viewers use mobile
devices (YouTube, 2018).
YouTube as a social network and marketing channel is important because
“YouTube is where the world goes to watch videos” (Think with Google, 2018),
because no site hosts more videos. It is by far the most important and fastest growing
online video platform in use for video sharing and hosting. Thus, there are many
reasons why YouTube represents a high importance as a social network for users as
well as a video marketing channel for marketers. With a view toward users, YouTube
changed the way people consume video. It has become an essential social network,
which engages the audience. Thus, YouTube is ranked as the second best and popu-
lar social network worldwide by number of active users (We Are Social Singapore,
2018). Meanwhile, YouTube is not merely seen as a video platform, and it is also to
become the future of television, because 6 out of 10 people prefer online video plat-
forms compared to live TV (O’Neill-Hart & Blumenstein, 2016). Besides, YouTube
has emerged as the world’s second largest Internet search engine after Google, which
shows high usage (Fux, 2017). Having a closer look at marketers, the platform is
clearly also the most widely adopted video channel (Stelzner, 2018). According to
statistics from Wyzowl (2017), 82% of businesses think video marketing on YouTube
is an important part of their online strategy.
As a result, YouTube has become an effective, efficient and greatly important
online marketing platform as well as a money-making tool for companies. Even
though YouTube offers an excellent added value, many companies underestimate its
impact. But there will be a change: A significant 58% of marketers plan on increasing
their YouTube activities over the next year according to the “social media marketing
industry report” (Stelzner, 2018).
“Every company has its own unique goals for their YouTube marketing” (Miller,
2011). Marketers can use YouTube having the general opportunities: own YouTube
channel, branded entertainment, product placement and YouTube advertisement that
are explained further in the following. On YouTube, it is possible to host an own
channel. This enables a company to centralize an online location for all kinds of
videos which refer to product, service or brand. Meanwhile, a brand has a chance to
create, update or revise completely new videos, which are permanently maintained
at the library of videos or to upload a series of related videos like a multi-piece
episode film (Gresham, 2018). Besides, there are many different types of video
content which can be uploaded by a brand. The most important and commonly
used video categories are brand or image films, explainer and tutorial films, video
documentaries, testimonial videos, interviews, as well as advertising spots (Mansoor,
2016). No matter which type of video is chosen, “the […] authenticity and having
really content that people care about is the most important thing” (Golden, 2014).
This requires to perfectly know the target audience. Each video should encourage
the viewer to subscribe the channel and become a loyal customer. Meanwhile, it is
about “storytelling instead of product selling” (Gillies, 2016). This indicates that the
target audience has to be addressed with the right and convincing content relating
to a high watch time. Such a branded YouTube channel is the primary place of
owned media. This means that the specific brand leverages a channel, creates and
86 P. Bug et al.
controls it by themselves (Golden, 2014). In addition, a branded YouTube channel

helps to achieve many marketing goals. For instance, some companies use YouTube
to generate a high brand awareness, customer loyalty as well as satisfaction. Some
upload videos on YouTube to promote a product, increase the frequency at the retail
stores or Web site as well as to drive sales, whereas others incorporate YouTube as
part of their product, customer and employee support mix (Miller, 2011).
Branded entertainment is also an advertising opportunity, which is nearly similar
to the branded channel. Thereby, a brand launches an additional YouTube channel,
which focuses on the interest of the audience instead of promoting the products. An
example is the Fashion and Lifestyle channel powered by Otto (Gillies, 2016). Prod-
uct placement is the next advertising opportunity on YouTube. Due to the business
dictionary, it is “an advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their
products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appear-
ances in film, television, or other media” (Business Dictionary, 2018). Regarding
YouTube, product placement is often used in cooperation with famous video blog-
gers, also called “vloggers.” They command a large online community with a high
reach and a positive personal image. Therefore, the viewers are convinced that the
advertising is more reliable and trustworthy due to their credible spontaneity and
authenticity (Gillies, 2016). Accordingly, many marketers benefit from these advan-
tages to successfully promote their brands. Besides, if the brand does not pay any-
thing to the vlogger, the product placement is an earned media. However, if the
brand compensates the influencer, it is a form of paid media. The last opportunity is
YouTube advertising. As YouTube provides many advertising spaces, there are two
main possibilities for marketers to attract the attention of the viewers. One option
is commercials. Especially, these videos are called InStream or pre-roll-ads, where
the viewer is forced to watch the first five seconds of an ad before the selected video
starts. Another alternative is InDisplay. These ads appear as classical banner ad on
the right-hand pane of suggested and recommended videos. In addition, it exists the
option to use InSearch, where the ad is shown at the beginning of a special promoted
section of the video search results pages on YouTube and in Google Video search
(Gillies, 2016), (Google AdWords, n.d.). Furthermore, YouTube advertising belongs
to paid media, when marketers must pay when someone clicks on the ad. Besides,
to be successful on YouTube, the advertiser should not only produce great videos,
but also must make sure that the target audience sees them. Therefore, YouTube
advertising is about “Bee[ing] seen, where everyone is watching and reach[ing] the
people who matter […]” (YouTube Advertising, 2016). To conclude, the video shar-
ing platform can help to expose businesses to potential customers or to communicate
with existing customers. Thereby, the key to success is to offer a video content that
YouTube’s audience really wants to watch. This means that the video “[…] needs to
entertain, educate, or inform – or no one will watch it” (Miller, 2011).
Successful YouTube marketing must generate traffic to the online shop or the
retail store and satisfy the customer through an added value. Nevertheless, there may
be many chances as well as risks and challenges which a marketer must be aware of
while adopting YouTube to the business marketing strategy (Fairley, 2015).
To summarize, the benefits outweigh the negatives. At least, the most convincing
point is that “YouTube drives more sales than other social media platforms” (AOL
platforms, 2014) according to a study by AOL platforms and convertor. For 2019,
we can assume that YouTube is at least still one of the leading sales drivers.
But what is YouTube’s role for fashion brands? According to Divimove, the fash-
ion sector was ranked 2018 as number five sector regarding the average number of
subscriptions per company in that sector behind the sectors media, technology, food
and beverages, and automobile, with the three top brands Nike, Adidas and Christian
Dior (Divimove, 2018). In contrast, there exists the opinion that “the fashion industry
is not making the most of YouTube” (Blattberg, 2014). Even though 95% of fashion
brands have an official presence on YouTube, only a few brands can claim more than
100,000 channel subscribers. Additionally, while nearly 80% of official brand chan-
nels appear on the first page of YouTube search results for brand queries—less than
the half delivers content that reaches the top three results, and less than one-fifth own
the top spot (Pixability, 2014). Nevertheless, there still exists a huge growing poten-
tial. YouTube provides a massive platform for fashion brands to showcase products,
communicate to the consumer and build a trustworthy brand image. People, who are
interested in fashion, do not only want to watch advertisement that look alike a TV
ad. Therefore, Fig. 5.2 illustrates the classification of the most viewed fashion videos
content on YouTube according to Rosen (2016).
As shown in the figure, the audience is less interested in product campaigns
compared to brand building videos. Especially brand building videos are usually
story driven and offer interesting and unique information about the company’s history
rather than showing products that viewers should immediately buy. Even so, it is
about entertaining the audience and storytelling with heavy advertising (Gartner,
2016). The brands following this approach gain many subscribers and a high amount
Fig. 5.2 Classification of top video content. Adapted from Rosen (2016)
88 P. Bug et al.
of video views. Regarding the role of YouTube for fashion, the platform enables
them not only to be more visible, but also to access their target customers and build
relationships while demonstrating brand image. YouTube is by far the champion
in driving the most engaged traffic due to a study by shareaholic (Fashionbi, 2014).
Furthermore, influencer marketing on YouTube is of great importance for any fashion
brand because it is “[…] more than a bandwagon. It is a powerful, scaled form of
communication” (Nazerlai, 2017). The fashion industry knows that this strategy
works for many product campaigns to push the sales and the publicity of the brand.
Thus, a monitor reported that 57% of marketers in fashion and beauty sectors use
influencers as a necessity part of the marketing mix to tap the influencer power of
the YouTube vlogger (Burges, 2016; Lee & Watkins, 2016). To conclude, fashion
brands should continue or start being active on YouTube to benefit from its far-
reaching power. It helps people to become interested in the brand as well as in
buying products. On the one hand, using YouTube is a smart method to offer video
marketing and highly engage the audience, but on the other hand, it is hard to do it in
the most effective way. The perspectives described above do not explicitly integrate
the benefit of YouTube as a video marketing instrument, especially for the fashion
business. This leads to the following research question: To what extent do fashion
brands use YouTube as a (video) marketing instrument?
5.2 Methodology
As social video marketing in the fashion sector is still not dealt in depth by the
literature, an empirical study with a comparison analysis on fashion brands’ use
of YouTube is conducted. The study contains three steps. Firstly, nine relevant and
comparable fashion brands, which are operating in the sectors luxury, lifestyle and
sports, will be found. Three brands per sector are sufficient for the study, because
they can characterize the sector in general, and additionally, they can give a deeper
understanding about the social video marketing activities of fashion companies.
The YouTube channels of the defined nine brands will be analyzed in depth based
on several comparative aspects. Only the official YouTube channels are the reference
point of this study. If this channel is not in English, the US channel—if the brand
has one—will be analyzed. The examination is limited by brand-generated content.
Additionally, branded entertainment, product placements and YouTube advertising
are not part of the study. Furthermore, there is a time restriction: Only videos that are
uploaded in April 2018 will be investigated. The reason is that in April most of the
spring/summer 2018 campaigns are uploaded, which is—from the fashion point of
view—the most interesting video content. In general, the analysis must be limited by
these factors or the study would go beyond the scope. The last step is the comparison
of the analysis outcomes of each brand.
To define the nine examined bands, first, a list that contains the 50 best fashion
brands, ranked by the market capitalization of FashionUnited (2018), will be used.
The market capitalization “refers to the total dollar market value of a company’s
outstanding shares” (Investopedia, 2003) and is a significant and comprehensible

value to define the top brands. Additionally, the list is updated every month, so the
data is reliable. This list will be reviewed by the aspects: In which sector is the brand
operating? Does the brand mainly sell apparel? Has the brand an official YouTube
channel in English? Only the strongest brand of the company will be reviewed, which
is defined by the highest revenue. If a brand is not operating in the sector luxury,
sports or lifestyle, it will not be considered. The sector classification is based on the
obvious brand image. In addition, if it does not only sell own brands or if it does
not have a YouTube channel, it is also eliminated. The left-over brands get separated
into the three different lists for each sector. Afterward, each YouTube channel gets
reviewed by the number of subscribers (state: May 30, 2018) and in case of similar
subscriber numbers, the number of videos in April 2018 get compared. From each
list, three brands get selected by their number of subscribers. If a brand did not upload
a video in April 2018, it will not be considered. In conclusion, the best nine brands
get selected by the highest brand capitalization and the most subscribers as well as
number of videos.
Secondly, the defined brands will be analyzed individually by several comparative
aspects to uniformly analyze, compare and interpret the YouTube performance of
each brand. Many similar comparative aspects are chosen. These aspects are adapted
from the “Rockit YouTube Channel Analyzer” as well as the “Bird Song analytics”
(RockIt, n.d.; BirdSong Analytics, n.d.). Both provide information on general aspects
of the channel like the channel description or channel photograph, the engagement
as well as interactivity measured by views, and a detailed examination of several
specific videos. By means of these tools, questions like how the post activity has
changed over time or how the video duration impacts the audience engagement can
be answered. Due to the fact that the described aspects are workable in practice, the
following empirical study is going to adopt the comparative aspects like the general
aspects about the main channel, the type of video, the form of the posted video, the
costumer engagement, any conspicuous features and the video content. The type of
video is additionally defined by Mansoor (2016). The analysis will be implemented
while completing the comparative aspects table for each brand. However, it is only
possible to investigate what is visible and evident. So, no internal company data
can be considered in this study. With this investigation, one can get an overview
about how each brand uses YouTube for video marketing and besides, the brands get
comparable for the last step.
Thirdly, in the last step, the brands will be compared within their sector based on
the same comparative aspects. Finally, each sector will be compared as well. These
comparisons will show if there is a connection between the video marketing activities
of the brands and its sector.
For Step 1, the following brands resulted from this: luxury sector with Christian
Dior, Louis Vuitton and Burberry; sports sector with Nike, adidas and Puma; lifestyle
sector with H&M, Zara and GAP.
For Step 2, two tables were developed. For general YouTube information, the
following aspects were considered for each video in Table 5.1: date of joining, channel
description, channel photograph, channel trailer, special features, subscribers in total,
90 P. Bug et al.
Table 5.1 Advantages and disadvantages of YouTube video marketing

Advantages Disadvantages
+ Viral effect − Little control over actual presentation of
videos
+ potentially large viewership − Brand reputation damage by negative
comments
+ support by Google − High investment in video production
+ high reliability (Fairley, 2015) − Strong competition and video overload
+ YouTube analytics − Integration in marketing strategy (Fairley,
2015)
+ High search engine rankings − Organizational effort
+ Backlinks increase search engine results and − Limited flexibility in customizing videos as
enable purchases directly (Gaille, n.d.) well as the brand channel
+ Dynamic communication with target group − Views or likes do not automatically create a
sale or form a loyal customer (Gaille, n.d.)
+ On and off page SEO
+ Owned, earned and paid media
+ Cost-effective
+ Enhancement of customer experience
+ Influences customer during purchase
process
views in total, videos in total, discussion, views in April, average views per video in
April, number of April, average duration of a video. Table 5.2 analyzes each brand:
– video type: advertisement spots, testimonial, product placement, brand or image
film, explainer or designer film, tutorial film, fashion show, event film, campaign
video, video documentary
– video form: title, length, upload time, keywords, backlinks
– customer engagement: views, likes, dislikes, comments
– conspicuous features: atmosphere, actors, special features
– assumed video goal.
5.3 Empirical Study: The Use of YouTube as a Marketing

Instrument for Fashion Brands
In the following, the most significant results of the study are presented based on
comparative aspects. In addition, further findings of the video analysis are shown in
the appendix.
Table 5.2 Dior—general YouTube aspects

General aspects
Date of joining 14.10.2005
Channel description Yes Mission, short history
Channel photograph Yes Dior Logo in black, architecture
photograph
Channel trailer NO
Special features Yes Link to: Dior.com, Instagram,
Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, Twitter,
Dior Mag
Another Channel: Dior Make Up
Subscribers in total 502,707
Views in total 330,473,229
Videos in total 425
Discussion 137 comments Only positive comments, mostly “love
it”, “J’adore Dior”
Views in April 56,626
Average views per video in April 5,600
Videos in April 10
Average duration of the video 01:20 min
5.3.1 Results
Dior joined YouTube in 2005, the early stage of the platform. In general, the channel
holds about 500,000 subscribers, over 330 million total views and indeed 425 videos.
This indicated that there are more people interested in watching the videos than to
subscribe and follow the channel. Especially, this means that there are less loyal
customers who constantly watch the videos than people who are really interested in
the video. However, at the channel discussion exactly 137 comments are displayed
which are significant positive statements.
Regarding the assessment period on April, there are ten different videos uploaded
which is a relatively high number. The average view per video on April counts about
5,600 views. This amount is relatively constant and can also be transmitted to the
entire channel. To summarize the comparative aspects given, Dior varies between the
type of videos not that much. Mostly, there are more than three episodic films of one
main subject, for example, the haute couture of spring/summer 2018. For instance,
the videos display the fashion show in Shanghai and explain how these dresses are
made. Therefore, it results in a whole story about the spring/summer collection 2018
with a lot of information. Besides, there are backlinks to the online shop included
in each video, what drives traffic. Additionally, in average the videos gain 140 likes
and only 10 dislikes. This indicates a positive response, but compared to the views,
not many people are interactive. In addition, no video boasts a comment. This is an
92 P. Bug et al.
implication that the customer engagement on YouTube is not that high. Furthermore,
the actors are primarily female models or designers. The most important peculiarity
is the call to subscribe the channel under each video as well as the numerous close-up
shots in each film.
To conclude, the goal rests on the overall building of a luxury and exclusive
and unique brand image and on showing how extravagant the garments are as well
as the extensive work needed to produce them. Besides, the films contribute to an
informational and educational value while showing the secrets behind the making of
an haute couture garment by an expert or designer (Table 5.3).
The luxury brand Louis Vuitton released its YouTube channel at 17.12.2005. It
boasts 200,600 subscribers with nearly 200,000,000 total views and 317 videos.
There is bigger audience watching the videos than following the brand on YouTube.
With 139 comments generated in the discussion, the general opinion is positive. In
addition, the brand does not upload videos so frequently, but only every ten days.
Having a look at the videos posted in April, the amount of the total views is
very striking and counts for 482,445. The reason might be one popular product
placement video about the summer collection which achieved already 473,878 views
by itself. While analyzing the comparative aspects, the following outcomes were
received. Firstly, the main video types are video documentaries followed by product
placement of specific spring summer items. The most used keyword by Louis Vuitton
is “traveling.” Therefore, a detailed travel book was produced to promote the overall
spring/summer topic. The brand offers nearly no backlinks, only if there is one
specific product shown. Regarding the audience engagement, the average number
Table 5.3 Louis Vuitton—general YouTube aspects

General aspects
Channel description Yes Source of all videos, very short
Channel photograph Yes Louis Vuitton Logo white, fragrance
photograph
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links to Links: louisvuitton.com +
social media accounts
Videos in total 317
Discussion 139 comments Many positive comments, mostly “nice
channel”, “love it”
Videos in April 6
Average duration of the video 02:20 min
of likes, dislikes as well as comments are not very immense, which is an indicator
for non-interactive audiences. Related to the travel topic, the overall atmosphere is
driven through impressions of the nature, freedom and adventure. In summary, Louis
Vuitton focuses on detailed descriptions and impressions about the nature as well as
some product placements to convince the customers (Table 5.4).
In total, Burberry achieved about 315,000 subscribers, 98 million views and posted
370 videos. This means that less of the audience who are watching a video also
subscribe to the channel; probably, they are more interested in the video content than
in the brand itself. Regarding the statements written in the discussion part, over 530
comments are posted. Thereby, the audience is mainly discussing about the British
attitude and generates many positive comments.
While having a closer look to the period to analyze, it is striking that in total only
one video was posted. April is a month below average, because Burberry is usually
posting two to three videos per month. The video uploaded in April boasts 8,544
views which is a comparatively low figure. Besides, the brand uses many backlinks
to the product page as well as to all social media accounts. This drives traffic to the
online shop and simplifies a possible purchase or helps to gather more information.
The video type is a product placement about the new fragrance for man. Thus, the
product name “Mr. Burberry Indigo” is often tagged. The atmosphere of the video
perfectly fits to the spring–summer season. It reflects a summer feeling, is classical,
and plays in an older time, and Mr. Burberry is focused. To summarize, the goal of
the video is a product placement and should positively influence the buying decision
of the audience. Therefore, the video creates a feeling “when wearing the fragrance,
Table 5.4 Burberry—general YouTube aspects

General aspects
Channel description Yes Description of Burberry
Channel photograph Yes Burberry Logo white, recording studio
photograph
Channel trailer NO
Special features Yes Links to Links: Burberry.com,
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
Videos in total 370
Discussion 530 comments Many positive comments, mostly
“awesome channel”
Videos in April 1
Average duration of the video 00:40
94 P. Bug et al.
the audience overtakes the coolness of the actor and also becomes Mr. Burberry”
(Table 5.5).
Nike’s channel has around 793,000 subscribers and nearly 138 million views.
Furthermore, the brand totally uploaded 321 videos since their joining in March
2006. In the assessment period of April 2018, Nike posted 13 videos in total. One of
them is a video documentary about the story of Tiger Woods’ success. The other 12
videos are episodes that belong to the series “shoe therapy.” In this therapy, famous
athletes are talking about their love and protectiveness of their Nike shoes that appears
to be more like an obsession. These athletes are, e.g., a basketball player, a football
star or a skateboarder. The videos have a huge entertaining factor, as they are ironic
and amusing. However, Nike places its products skillfully in each video. The shoe
therapy videos, that are testimonial videos, caught the audience, as the views are in
average around 28,000 per video. Basically, this is an indicator for a high consumer
engagement. Especially, the extended therapy video, which was in collaboration with
the athlete Shalane Flanagan, received a lot of views, likes and comments. This shows
that also a longer video may be interesting for the audience. The documentary video
and the testimonial videos pursue the objective to establish a relationship between
the consumer and the athletes through the products. In addition, this supports brand
loyalty. The Nike audience is entertained (Table 5.6).
The official Puma YouTube channel has nearly 330 thousand subscribers with
more than 196 million views. In addition, Puma joined in October 2005, and since
then, the brand posted nearly 3,000 videos. In average, they upload one to two videos
per week. In April 2018, Puma uploaded four testimonial videos, because Puma
Table 5.5 Nike—general

General aspects
YouTube aspects
Channel description Yes Just Do It. http://
www.nike.com
Channel photograph Yes Slogan Just Do It
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links: nike.com +
social media channels
Videos in total 321
Discussion –
Views in April 4,887,301
Average views per 376,090
video in April
Videos in April 13
Average duration of 00:35
the video
Table 5.6 Puma—general YouTube aspects

General aspects
Channel description Yes History, mission
Channel photograph Yes Model/campaign mage
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links: puma.com + social media
channels + store locator
Videos in total 2987
Discussion –
Videos in April 6
collaborated with two Indian actresses and with a popular customizer. However,
these videos have the seemingly goal to present new products and collections as well
as to transfer the popularity of the testimonials to the brand. Especially, the three
videos with the Indian actresses have the goal to target the Indian market. Another
video is a product placement video about a special Puma shoe. Here, the product
is more focused than the models and it features many animations. The last video
is an advertising spot for the Russian target market because the presented products
were specifically designed for this market as Puma collaborated with a Russian
animation studio. The main objective is also the product presentation. In conclusion,
Puma focuses more on testimonials than on simple product placement videos on an
international level. Nevertheless, the product and the brand logo are always visible
in the videos. In addition, the testimonial videos were viewed and liked more often
than the other videos. This also shows that the videos are more likely to be viewed
on YouTube than advertising spots (Table 5.7).
Adidas’s main YouTube channel is called “adidas” and online since October 2005.
However, the channel is linked to adidas further channels like “adidas originals” or
“adidas women.” With nearly 578 thousand subscribers and approximately 158 mil-
lion views, the channel is not the biggest of adidas as adidas football has around
1.3 million subscribers. During the assessment period, adidas uploaded three videos,
whereas two of them are product placements and one is a testimonial video. In aver-
age, the videos gained around 560,000 views and 165 likes. Both product placement
videos focus on a special pair of adidas shoes, so the video pursues the goal of prod-
uct presentation. In addition, the video about the “zero-dye pack” also tries to build
a sustainable image, as the shoes are obviously “zero-dyed.” These videos reached
a high consumer engagement with a lot of views and likes. The testimonial video
96 P. Bug et al.
Table 5.7 Adidas—general

General aspects
YouTube aspects
Channel description Yes Calling all creators
Channel photograph Yes Model image
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links: adidas.com +
Videos in total 63
Discussion –
video in April
Videos in April 3
the video
features a popular Japanese model. As the interview is also in Japanese, this video
is not intended to reach the whole YouTube audience but only the Japanese target
group. With only 7,000 views, this was apparently not successful. Regarding the
overall adidas YouTube performance, it is obvious that the brand focuses more on
product presentation and image building than on entertainment or informing. How-
ever, the product placement videos, that are high-quality and extensive, seem to have
a great impact on the audience and therefore also on the sales of the shown products
(Table 5.8).
H&M joined the video platform on at the beginning of 2007. In total, H&M’s
YouTube channel accounts for over 325,000 subscribers and more than 180,000,000
views. Meanwhile, the lifestyle brand posted 506 videos in total, which is an indi-
cator for a frequent YouTube activity. Thus, every five to ten days a YouTube video
is produced. Regarding the comparative aspects during the assessment period, five
uploaded videos are visible. Four of them belong to the campaign videos. Indeed,
H&M focuses on promoting their sustainable and “feel free” image. This is also the
reason why the most used tags are: power, sustainability and summer. Additionally,
these videos also contribute to advertise the new products and collections. Besides,
H&M does not use many backlinks in its videos. Having a closer look to the average
view, H&M achieved about 92,500 per video in April, which is placed in the middle
field of the overall brand performance. A noticeable fact is that H&M deactivated
the possibility to comment on the posted videos which relates to a very low cus-
tomer engagement. Indeed, this could have been done to avoid too many negative
comments, but this also limits the proactivity of the audience. The atmosphere rep-
resented in the videos is related to the following attributes: freedom, nature, balance
Table 5.8 H&M—general YouTube aspects

General aspects
Channel description Yes Explore the fashion world,
contact info@hm.com
Channel photograph Yes H&M Logo in red, some
campaign photos
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links: HM.com, Facebook
Instagram, Twitter, Google+
Videos in total 506
Discussion No community published
Average views per video in 925,258
April
Videos in April 5
and sustainability. This is an indicator to underline H&M’s vision statement, which

is “looking good should do good.” To conclude, the content of these videos is mainly
to build a sustainable image and to entertain the audience while showing the newest
it-pieces of the spring collection. This generates traffic and convinces the customers
about the valuable H&M lifestyle (Table 5.9).
Zara’s YouTube channel counts nearly 52,300 subscribers and over 12,400,000
total views. Zara signed into YouTube in September 2005, and since then, it already
uploaded 77 videos. In April 2018, Zara uploaded only one video. In comparison
with that, they upload in average three videos per month. However, Zara was not
really active in April. The product placement video addresses the male target group
as it is advertising for Zara Man. Nevertheless, no product was linked in the video
description and the video does not focus on the products itself, because no prices are
shown. Thus, it is more a campaign video than a product placement. In addition, with
less than a half minute it is just a short YouTube video and more like TV advertising.
The video counts around 3,900 views but only 80 likes and 2 dislikes. This shows
that the Zara subscribers are not that active. The reason for it is the type of video that
is not enough entertaining for YouTube users. There is no important or interesting
message behind this advertising, so the viewers do not have a reason to talk about
the video. In conclusion, YouTube seems to be not the most important social media
channel for Zara as they are more active on Instagram. However, they use YouTube
mostly for sharing inspirational videos about their campaign and to communicate
their brand image (Table 5.10).
98 P. Bug et al.
Table 5.9 ZARA—general

General aspects
aspects
Channel description No
Channel photograph Yes Model / campaign
image
Channel trailer No
Special features No
Videos in total 77
Discussion 59
video in April
Videos in April 1
the video
Table 5.10 GAP—general

General aspects
YouTube aspects
Channel description Yes “Optimistic American
style”
Channel photograph Yes Model/campaign
image
Channel trailer No
Special features Yes Links: gap.com +
Videos in total 96
Discussion 62
video in April
Videos in April 1
the video
The YouTube account of Gap is online since January 2006. Since then, the brand
uploaded exactly 96 videos and has nearly 100,800 subscribers with more than 42
million views. In the assessment period of April 2018, Gap only posted one video.
The video “Linen: The New Cool” is like an advertising without product links or
prices. Nevertheless, the video fits into Gap’s YouTube channel because the videos
all have the same style. It focuses on the models wearing Gap; simultaneously, one
can listen to instrumental music. With this video, Gap introduces a new collection
featuring only linen pieces. But instead of presenting the single products, they focus
more on presenting the whole collection and the material in an aesthetic way. In
addition, the video length is only 20 s. This video counts only 1,287 views, 15 likes
and 3 dislikes. Furthermore, it only has one comment. The reason for that is the lack
of entertainment and additional value for the consumers. To conclude, the brand’s
YouTube channel is not updated frequently and there is not a lot of content, so they
do not have such a big community there.
5.3.2 Evaluation and Discussion
To state a generally valid statement about the video marketing performance of fashion
brands using YouTube, it is necessary to compare the YouTube performance of the
brands in each sector (Fig. 5.3).
Regarding the luxury sector subscribers in total as well as the views, Dior is clearly
ranked as number one, followed by Burberry and Louis Vuitton. Even though the
total number of videos posted on the channels do not differ that much, Dior is the
best performing luxury brand in this sector (Fig. 5.4 and Table 5.11).
Having a closer look to the video marketing performance of the three brands, Dior
uploaded approximately as much videos as Burberry and Louis Vuitton. In April,
however, Dior uploaded much more videos than the two other brands. Comparing the
results of the chosen type of videos, all three brands posted one product placement
video. This video mainly promotes a product to drive sales through the used backlink.
Besides, Dior really focuses on explainer and designer films to inform the target
audience, whereas Louis Vuitton places the emphasis on video documentaries with a
600 400
503 330
500
300
400
316 198
300 200
201
200 98
100
100
0 0
DIOR BURBERRY LOUIS DIOR BURBERRY LOUIS
VUITTON VUITTON
Fig. 5.3 Luxury—subscribers, thousands; and luxury—views in total, millions

100 P. Bug et al.
200 182 DIOR BURBERRY LOUIS VUITTON
150 137
99
100
33% 38%
50 370 425
10 6 3
0
DIOR LOUIS BURBERRY
VUITTON 29%
Likes Dislikes 317
Fig. 5.4 Luxury—likes and dislikes in April; and luxury—total video number
Table 5.11 Luxury—video categories April 2018

Dior Burberry Louis Vuitton
Advertisement sport
Testimonial videos
Product placement 1 1 1
Brand or image film
Explainer film, designer film 4
Tutorial film 1
Fashion show 2
Event film 2
Campaign video 1
Video documentaries 4
more educational and entertaining value. Thereby, the main goal of the video content
seems to strengthen the brand image (Fig. 5.5).
Thus, all three luxury brands offer content that approaches the target audiences,
who are really interested in the brand’s attitude, exclusivity and the message behind
the apparel made with extensive work. Comparing the total views as well as the
average views on April, it is obvious that all three luxury brands achieve nearly the
same average number of views. In contrast, the total number of views significantly
varies from brand to brand, because one specific video became very popular. Hence,
the content of the videos does not require to state the opinion or to discuss about the
subject. To draw an overall conclusion, the comparison of the three luxury brands
showed that brand awareness is less important than the brand image. Additionally,
luxury brands are using YouTube as an effective instrument for video marketing
through social media platforms. But the comparison also proved that YouTube is
by far not the most frequently used and most important marketing channel for them
(Fig. 5.6).
60 57
48
50
40
30
20
9 9
10 6 4
0
DIOR BURBERRY LOUIS VUITTON
Views in April, thousands
Average views per video in April, thousands
Fig. 5.5 Luxury—views in April
800 739 250

196
578 200
600 158
138
150
400 328
100
200 50
0 0
Nike adidas Puma Nike adidas Puma
Fig. 5.6 Sports—subscribers, thousands; and sports—video views, millions
In the sports sector, Nike has the highest number of subscribers. The possibly
reason is that Nike is also the most famous brand of these three. On the second position
is adidas, which has approximately 200,000 subscribers less than Nike. Indeed, adidas
has more than one channel on YouTube, so the total number of subscribers for the
whole brand is actually higher (Fig. 5.7).
600 532 63; 2%

500 321;
9%
400
300
165 159
200
100 12 11 7 2987;
0 89%
Nike adidas Puma
Likes Dislikes
Nike adidas Puma
Fig. 5.7 Sports—likes and dislikes in April; and sports—total video number
102 P. Bug et al.
Even if Nike has the most subscribers, the brand did not upload as many videos
as the other two brands in total. Instead, Puma uploaded nearly 3,000 videos in total.
Presumably, this is because Puma creates more video content than the other two
brands. The number of videos is also the reason why Puma has the highest number
of total views (Table 5.12 and Fig. 5.8).
In contrast to the total number of videos, Nike uploaded by far more videos than
the other two sports brands in April 2018, 12 of those being testimonial videos.
Here, athletes promote special products they use or the brand itself. With the help
of testimonials, brands transfer their success to the brand image. In the assessment
period, Nike did not only upload the most videos but also gained the most likes and
total views. The reason for the high number of likes is probably that the brand created
several episodes of the “shoe therapy” featuring many famous athletes and having
entertaining value. In conclusion, the sports videos gain a lot of views and likes due
to featuring popular athletes. This also means that the consumer engagement seems
to be high related to testimonial videos. Having a closer look for the lifestyle sector to
the general YouTube channel performance, a huge gap between the lifestyle brands
is obvious (Fig. 5.9).
Table 5.12 Sports—video categories April 2018

Nike Adidas Puma
Advertisement sport 1
Testimonial videos 12 1 4
Product placement 2 1
Brand or image film
Explainer film, designer film
Tutorial film
Fashion show
Event film
Campaign video
Video documentaries 1
5000 4887
4000
2864
3000
1673
2000
1000 376 558 477
0
Nike adidas Puma
Views in April, thousands Average views in April, thousands
Fig. 5.8 Sports—views in April

200 184
400 325
300 150
200 100
101 42
100 52 50
12
0 0
H&M Zara GAP H&M Zara GAP
Fig. 5.9 Lifestyle—subscribers, thousands; and Lifestyle—video views, millions
Indeed, H&M is by far the most active lifestyle brand on YouTube, because the
total number of subscribers, the views in total as well as the quantity of videos is
far above GAP and Zara. Thus, H&M is doing extensive video marketing through
YouTube. But H&M is the only lifestyle brand that deactivated the possibility to
comment on the videos, while Zara received 59 and Gap received 62, overall positive
comments. This means that H&M provides a huge amount of content to the audience,
but do not really support the customer engagement (Figs. 5.10, 5.11 and Table 5.13).
During April, the period to analyze, H&M posted five times more videos than
Zara and Gap. Thereby, it is striking that all three brands produce campaign videos
as the most preferred type of videos. Thus, the products, new arrivals are paramount.
Besides, one important commonality is that they all do not post many different
types of videos, and they all focus on campaign videos, brand or image films and
on advertising spots. The audience evaluated the posted videos through likes and
dislikes. Thereby, H&M again achieves the most average likes, while the video
of GAP receives nearly no response. Comparing the average view of the videos
during the assessment period, H&M gains an above-expected performance. YouTube
activity of all three brands differs, but the reasons why they are using the video
platform as a video marketing instrument are similar. Lifestyle brands seem to focus
on communicating a clear message while convincing their customers about brand
attitude and product, which leads to a loyal community. For them, YouTube seems
300 292 H&M Zara GAP

250 96;
200 14%
150 77;
100 80 11%
50 21 15 3
2
0
H&M Zara GAP
Likes Dislikes 506;
75%
Fig. 5.10 Lifestyle—likes and dislikes in April, and lifestyle—total video number
104 P. Bug et al.
100 100
80
60
40
20
20 4 4 1 1
0
H&M Zara GAP
Views in April, thousands
Average views in April, thousands
Fig. 5.11 Sports—views in April
Table 5.13 Lifestyle—video

H&M Zara GAP
categories April 2018
Advertisement sport 1
Testimonial videos
Product placement
Brand or image film 2
Explainer film, designer film
Tutorial film
Fashion show
Event film
Campaign video 2 1 1
Video documentaries
not to be the social media platform for customer engagement but for entertaining and
informational value.
Comparing the three sectors luxury, sports and lifestyle

After the comparison of the brands within each sector, it is also necessary to compare
the sectors with each other to find similarities and differences (Fig. 5.12).
In general, the subscribers’ number differs a lot regarding the sectors. While the
luxury brands are in the middle of the field, the lifestyle brands have the smallest
number of subscribers. Sports brands hold the highest average number of subscribers,
because probably they are investing more time and money in creating video content.
Especially, the testimonial videos mentioned in the previous section have a great
influence on the audience. The sports brands accomplish to entertain the viewers.
This is the most convincing aspect because entertainment is one of the most important
factors for people to watch YouTube videos. In contrast, the luxury brands are more
specialized in explanation videos, fashion shows and documentaries. The reason for
that is clearly their target group which is more interested in behind the scenes content.
In addition, product placement is less important for the brands and its customers,
800
700
600 566
500 400
400
300
200 159
100
0
Dior LV Burberry Nike adidas Puma H&M Zara GAP
Fig. 5.12 Average number of subscribers per sector, thousands
whereas the sector focuses more on establishing their brand image. Furthermore, the
lifestyle brands do not apparently invest a lot of time in the creation of video content
for YouTube, as the average number of videos in April 2018 is only 2. Probably,
they use YouTube more for promoting their basic collections instead of entertaining
or informing their customers. The reason for this is the short time to market in
comparison with the other sectors: Being a fast fashion brand, it is not possible to
promote specific products or collections (Figs. 5.13, 5.14 and 5.15).
An important aspect is the consumer engagement in each sector that can be inter-
preted by the number of views and likes in April. Especially regarding the views, it is
conspicuous that the consumer engagement in the sports sector is much higher than
in the other two sectors. The average views of the sports brands are approximately 17
15
10
7
6
5
2
0
Fig. 5.13 Average number of videos in April per sector
5000
4000 3141
3000
2000
1000 183 5
0
Fig. 5.14 Average number of views in April per sector, thousands

106 P. Bug et al.
500
400
285
300
200 139 129
100
0
Fig. 5.15 Average number of likes in April per sector
times higher than in the luxury sector and nearly 90 times higher than in the lifestyle
sector. Here again, the entertainment factor is probably the cause for this signifi-
cant difference. However, considering the average number of likes, the difference
between the sectors is much smaller. Since liking a video is only possible if the user
has a YouTube account and is logged in, the smaller number of likes—compared to
the number of views—is plausible. In summary, the sports sector is using YouTube
as a marketing instrument with better results than the other two sectors. In addition,
YouTube users seem more interested in testimonials videos and entertainment than
in product placements or campaign videos. However, having a YouTube channel is
important to reach its target group and to support the social video marketing. This
shows that a YouTube channel is essential for every fashion brand. Producing more
videos with big entertainment and testimonial factors is a field where the luxury and
the lifestyle sector could learn from sports.
5.4 Conclusion
To conclude the overall topic, the research question must be answered: To what extent
do fashion brands use YouTube as a social video marketing instrument? In general,
the empirical study proved that all brands have some success in reaching the customer
on YouTube: communication of the brand image, creation of a higher brand awareness
and promotion of specific products should profit from that according to literature.
While some brands use it more to keep the customers up-to-date, other brands focus
more on the entertainment. Thereby, to highlight the differences between the literature
findings and the analysis results, the adapted figure from literature showing the most
used video categories is now revised through the study results (Fig. 5.16).
However, there are differences between the brands and their sectors by how they
use YouTube for their marketing. For example, sports brands count more on testi-
monials to deliver the brand image, while luxury brands often use behind the scenes
content to inform their target group. Nevertheless, the extent of the video marketing
through a branded YouTube channel is at that time in practice lower than it was
expected by literature descriptions. Instead, many fashion brands like Zara do not
Fig. 5.16 Findings—most used video types
(yet?) invest a lot of time and money into creating video content on their channel. The
reason for that is maybe that social media platforms like Instagram have a higher
impact on fashion brand consumers because YouTube is more suitable for infor-
mative, educational and entertaining content than for getting inspired by scrolling
through the site. In the fashion business, the inspiration factor is much higher than the
information factor. Another reason could be that the fashion industry is still beginning
to use social media and still uses it not as effective and efficient as traditional media.
In contrast, video content is much more entertaining than images and YouTube is
simply the main video sharing platform. Thus, YouTube is an important addition
to fashion brand marketing to help creating brand awareness and to strengthen the
brand loyalty. Besides, to achieve the target group, YouTube simultaneously provides
the possibility to use many different advertising opportunities on top of the branded
channel as for example YouTube advertising, product placements or branded enter-
tainment. As the selected brands of the study are among the top 50 fashion brands
based on their market capitalization, the study also proved that fashion brands with a
high revenue have the financial resources to invest more in their YouTube marketing
performance than weaker brands.
The empirical study outlined that fashion and film have a huge impact on each
other if we look at the consumer response at the video offer at YouTube. Accordingly,
this means that videos and film influence the target customers of fashion brands by
creating emotions and feelings which lead to loyalty, brand awareness and brand
equity. In return, fashion and trends are the content of these videos to serve the base
of a storytelling video that attracts, educates, informs or entertains the viewer. In
the next few years, YouTube will probably increase further on, especially with the
help of new technologies like virtual reality. This could also mean that companies
will invest more in their YouTube performance as the platform has the potential to
influence the future buying decision process.
108 P. Bug et al.
From the perspective of the management of fashion brands, this study showed
that YouTube has the potential to support the online marketing strategy. Anyway,
the use of YouTube as a marketing instrument must be considered through analyzing
several factors as for example the presence of the own target group at YouTube,
the cost and time effort as well as the pursued goals. This is important because
YouTube is not comparable to other social media platforms as video content is much
more expensive and time consuming and the audience has a specific aspiration and
entitlement. To summarize, a successful YouTube video marketing requires a fully
developed strategy and an appealing content tailored to brand’s sector and target
group.
For limitations of this chapter, first, the chosen sample size of only three brands
per sector as well as the short assessment period of one month is limiting. Thus, the
study is not representative for the entire fashion sector, and it only gives an overview
and indication. Besides, the analysis does not reflect the whole YouTube channel
performance, because some brands performed below or above the average during
April. Since the fashion business and also fashion companies differ in being not
constantly active during a collection cycle, be it a traditional season or a monthly
collection theme. Additionally, many brands were eliminated by an exclusion crite-
rion. Hence, the representativeness and the reliability are therefore limited and do
not allow a generalization. This empirical study only concentrates on analyzing and
evaluating obvious numbers and facts. Analytical tools used by many brands would
generate a more valuable analysis and provide information about the bouncing rate,
the best time and hour to post, etc. Moreover, the study is limited to the corporate
media content generated by the brands. Thus, the content especially generated by
influencers and vloggers calls for further investigation. Hence, the question arises
what are the benefits of user-generated content uploaded on YouTube concerning a
fashion brand and to what extent do they influence the customer.
References
AOL platforms. (2014, September 16). YouTube drives more sales than other social media platforms
[study]. Retrieved May 28, 2018, from https://www.clickz.com/youtube-drives-more-sales-than-
other-social-media-platforms-study/29694/.
BirdSong Analytics. (n.d.). BirdSong analytics. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://insights.
birdsonganalytics.com/youtube/demo/engagement.
Blattberg, E. (2014, December 22). The top fashion brands on YouTube, in 5 charts. Retrieved May
28, 2018, from https://digiday.com/marketing/top-fashion-brands-youtube-5-charts/.
Burges, E. (2016, March 9). Beauty and fashion brands need influencers to succeed on
YouTube—[ION]. Retrieved May 28, 2018, from http://www.ion.co/beauty-and-fashion-brands-
need-influencers-to-succeed-on-youtube.
Business Dictionary. (2018). Good one to know! Retrieved May 26, 2018, from http://www.
businessdictionary.com/definition/product-placement.html.
Cardona, L. (2018). Video marketing trends and benefits on social media. Retrieved May 28,
2018, from https://www.cyberclick.es/numericalblogen/video-marketing-trends-and-benefits-
on-social-media.
Carter, C. (2017, April 6). Three keys to crafting successful videos on social media. Retrieved
May 28, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/04/06/three-keys-
to-crafting-successful-videos-on-social-media/.
Cisco VNI. (2017). Cisco visual networking index: Forecast and methodology, 2016–2021, 17.
Divimove. (2018, December 12). Die größten Marken und Industrien auf YouTube 2018. Retrieved
March 2, 2019, from https://www.divimove.com/de-news/die-grossten-marken-und-industrien-
auf-youtube-2018.
Fairley, J. D. (2015, March 31). The pros and cons of YouTube business marketing. Retrieved May
28, 2018, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pros-cons-youtube-business-marketing-james-
dean-fairley.
Fashionbi. (2014, September 22). Youtube and its role in fashion brands’ sales. Retrieved May 28,
2018, from https://fashionbi.com/newspaper/youtube-and-its-role-in-fashion-brands-sales.
FashionUnited. (2018). FashionUnited Top 100 index—Business Intelligence. Retrieved June 10,
2018, from https://fashionunited.com/i/top100/.
Fux, K. (2017, May 26). Sie denken, Sie kennen die zweitgrößte Suchmaschine der Welt? Retrieved
May 25, 2018, from https://www.mediapunk.org/die-zweitgroesste-suchmaschine-der-welt/.
Gaille, B. (n.d.). Brandon Gaille YouTube tips. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://brandongaille.
com/?s=Youtube.
Gartner. (2016, January 29). Fashion: Video. Retrieved May 28, 2018, from https://www.l2inc.com/
research/fashion-video.
Gillies, J. (2016, January 12). YouTube also Marketing-Instrument. Retrieved May 26, 2018, from
https://www.new-communication.de/neues/detail/youtube-als-marketing-instrument/.
Golden, D. (2014, December 12). What does owned, paid & earned media mean on YouTube?
Retrieved May 26, 2018, from http://tubularinsights.com/owned-paid-earned-media-youtube/.
Google AdWords. (n.d.). Videoanzeigenformate—Hilfe für AdWords. Retrieved May 26, 2018, from
https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2375464?hl=de.
Gresham, T. (2018). The importance of YouTube in marketing. Retrieved May 25, 2018, from http://
smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-youtube-marketing-28734.html.
Investopedia. (2003, November 23). Market capitalization. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://
www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketcapitalization.asp.
Lammenett, E. (2017). Praxiswissen online-marketing. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wies-
baden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-15494-3.
Lee, J. E., & Watkins, B. (2016). YouTube vloggers’ influence on consumer luxury brand percep-
tions and intentions. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5753–5760. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jbusres.2016.04.171.
Mansoor, L. (2016, October 10). 15 types of video content for every stage of your marketing
funnel. Retrieved May 26, 2018, from https://digitalagencynetwork.com/types-of-video-content-
marketing/.
MerchDope. (2018, April 26). Youtube Statistics—2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://
merchdope.com/youtube-statistics/.
Miller, M. (2011). YouTube for business: Online video marketing for any business (2nd ed.). Indi-
anapolis, Ind: Que.
Nazerlai, S. (2017, October). Marketing collaborations with YouTube influencers. Retrieved May 28,
2018, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/advertising-channels/video/youtube-influencer-
marketing-rulebook/.
O’Neill-Hart, C., & Blumenstein, H. (2016, April). The latest video trends: Where your audience is
watching. Retrieved May 25, 2018, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/
video-trends-where-audience-watching/.
Pixability. (2014, December 18). Pixability and L2 measure luxury fashion brands on YouTube.
Retrieved May 28, 2018, from https://www.pixability.com/recent-press-releases/pixability-and-
l2-measure-luxury-fashion-brands-youtube-competency-in-joint-study/.
RockIt. (n.d.). ROCKIT YouTube channel analyzer. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.
rockit-internet.de/tools/youtube-channel-analyzer/.
110 P. Bug et al.
Rosen, E. (2016, February 1). Brand building scores most YouTube views. Retrieved June 10, 2018,
from https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/brand-building-scores-most-youtube-views.
Smith. (2016, June 22). 36 YouTube-Statistiken für 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2018, from https://
www.brandwatch.com/de/blog/36-youtube-statistiken-fuer-2016/.
Stelzner, M. (2018). How marketers are using social media to grow their businesses. Social Media
Marketing, 44.
StyleShoots. (2017, April 5). How video helps fashion brands sell more online. Retrieved May 31,
2018, from http://styleshoots.com/blog/2017/3/10-statistics-to-show-how-video-content-helps-
fashion-brands-sell-more-online.
Think with Google. (2018, January). Benefits of YouTube video ads. Retrieved May 25, 2018, from
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube/.
We Are Social Singapore. (2018, April). 2018 Q2 Global Digital Statshot. Internet. Retrieved https://
www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/2018-q2-global-digital-statshot-94084375.
Wochit Team, W. (2018, January 10). What is social video? Everything you need to know. Retrieved
May 27, 2018, from https://www.wochit.com/blog/so-what-is-a-social-video/.
Wyzowl. (2017, December). The state of video marketing 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018, from
https://bb4b089076d0d4765f18-c3b4c8baa80714684c08ebfcd0c823f3.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/
AutopilotHQ/downloads/Wyzowl-Video-Survey-2018s.pdf.
YouTube. (2018). Über YouTube—YouTube. Retrieved May 31, 2018, from https://www.youtube.
com/yt/about/.
YouTube Advertising. (2016). Online video advertising campaigns. Retrieved May 26, 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/.
zipstrr. (2017, August 25). This is why video is the most engaging type of content. Retrieved
May 25, 2018, from https://medium.com/@zipstrr/this-is-why-video-is-the-most-engaging-type-
of-content-e5ca46d5cef1.
Cora Winker is student at Reutlingen University at the School of Textiles & Design. Since
2015, she has studied International Fashion Retail with a focus on business management in the
textile and clothing industry as well as scientific research. She spent a year abroad in England
at the Winchester School of Art, where she gained international experience. As an intern, she
already worked 6 months at the famous German fashion retailer E. Breuninger GmbH & Co. in
the menswear buying department supporting the whole buying process for national and private
labels. Besides studying, she works as a sales assistant for the fashion brand Hugo Boss.
Patrizia Zillikens studies International Fashion Retail at the School of Textile & Design at Reut-
lingen University since 2015. During her studies, she spent a semester abroad in Winchester, UK,
at the Winchester School of Art—University of Southampton. In addition, she completed a six-
month internship in the division “Online Marketing—Affiliate Marketing” at STYLEBOP.com
GmbH in Munich. Before that, she worked nearly two years a as a sales assistant for a local fash-
ion retailer. Currently, Patrizia Zillikens is a working student in the marketing team of the IT ser-
vice provider DAASI International GmbH in Tübingen, Germany.
Chapter 6
Instagram Fashion Videos
Peter Bug and Madeleine T. Heene
6.1 Fashion and Film in Instagram
With 1,000,000,000 active users monthly reached April 2018 (Instagram, 2018),
Instagram is one of the top social media platforms and the trend is rising. Not only
users note this, but also companies, that try to get the most out of this development.
As the number of active users constantly grows, so does the number of companies
using business accounts to make use of Instagram as a successful marketing tool. One
specific tool is videos on Instagram. Michael Kors was the first fashion brand to test
videos on Instagram Marquee. The video platform that was launched in September
2016 enables companies to create a flexible designing and arrangement of their mini-
videos. Michael Kors used it to present the Michael Kors Jet Set 6 Collection with top
model Lily Aldridge in three short high-end videos. The campaign was featured in
several countries and had hundreds of thousands of user impressions. Subsequent to
that the brand leads 200,000 people to the online shop via related Facebook postings.
Due to the video campaign, the visitor rate of the shoes’ product pages nearly tripled
(Howe, 2016). This case shows the significant impact of wisely making use of films
on social media platforms.
This paper deals with the question of how and to what extent fashion brands make
use of the social media platform Instagram. As Instagram gets lots of attention from
users and companies, this social media platform will be focused on in this study.
Instagram gives many different opportunities to utilize films for marketing purposes.
Due to this, it is important to observe the extent to which brands make use of the
different tools. After searching for information within existing literature to build a
frame about what is known about the possibilities of film material on Instagram, an
P. Bug (B) · M. T. Heene

M. T. Heene
e-mail: madeleine_tessa.heene@student.reutlingen-university.de

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_6
114 P. Bug and M. T. Heene
empirical study about a selection of 9 brands from three different fashion sectors
was executed. The selection of brands is an overview of different fashion categories.
Those brands are supposed to outline the status of the research question. For the
literature review, search engines and data bases like EBSCO, EDDIE, Google and
Google scholar were used. Most of the literature found can be rated as non-peer-
reviewed literature.
Instagram is a free online service for users to share photographs and videos. The
app that is available for Windows 10, Windows 10 mobile, Android and iOs was
developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in 2010. Since 2012,
the company belongs to Facebook Inc. Instagram is a mixture of microblogging and
audiovisual platform that provides the possibility to share photographs and videos
(About Us • Instagram, n.d.). If a user or a company registers, a username must
be specified and the first and last name or the full company name filled in. The
profile page displays the number of posts, followers, subscribed accounts and the
posted content itself. An uploaded post shows the upload date, the post’s location,
the number of likes, the number and content of comments, and the description of the
photograph with hashtags and tagged people. Video posts also indicate the number
of views.
Since July 2016, users are able to create a business account that makes it possi-
ble to create commercial ads directly within the app, to add contact options and to
have access to special statistics. Those features are important in terms of marketing.
Already in 2014, 86% of the top 100 companies were active on Instagram (Firsching,
2014). Eighty percent of all active accounts follow a company on Instagram. Com-
panies can gain insights into consumer interests, consider them for products and
marketing and thereby gain new customers and strengthen the customer relationship
to existing customers, as well as represent the brand in new creative ways. With all
the features Instagram provides with the business accounts, companies of all sizes
can present themselves with a corporate profile, collect statistics about followers and
posts, and promote posts to achieve their business goals. That means that customers
can see valuable information in the profile, such as the address or contact infor-
mation of the company. Business account users can also track relevant information
such as the most popular posts, the best days of the week and times to post, and the
demographics of followers. Furthermore, shared posts can be extra advertised and
a “Learn more” button can be integrated that users can directly click on it to reach
new customers of a certain target group (Instagram, 2016). The Instagram business
community has grown to 25 million business accounts in November 2017 (Instagram
& TechCrunch, 2017), and two million monthly advertisers are active (Hootsuite,
2018). Every day, Instagram users share their passions and connect with topics that
are important to them. They spend more time on the platform than ever before with
creating and watching content, especially mobile videos.
The time spent watching videos on Instagram has grown more than 80% over
the previous year. At the same time, the number of videos produced per day has
increased 4 times compared to last year. With innovative mobile video formats such
as Instagram Stories, companies are getting more and more opportunities to connect
with their target audience. Mobile videos continue to help advertisers reach and
6 Instagram Fashion Videos 115
engage with customers in new ways. Instagram’s tool platform for videos defined
how people are able to connect with things that are important to them in the future
(2 Millionen monatliche Werbetreibende auf Instagram, 2017; Instagram Business,
2017).
Parallel to this, since the launch of the app, Instagram and fashion were strongly
connected. But now, the relationship between Instagram and the fashion world is more
intense and international than ever before. From the latest trends on the catwalks of
the world to the latest trends in feeds and stories, Instagram is always on the pulse of
times. More than 200 million people follow fashion-focused accounts. Due to those
facts, Instagram is the favorite global destination for fashion fans on the whole world
(Leidenschaft für Mode, 2017).
6.1.1 Classification: Types of Videos on Instagram
There are several ways for brands to use films on Instagram. Those include video
posts on the brand’s profile, the Instagram Stories and commercial ads.
Instagram is a platform to post pictures and videos. Video posts are thereby the
most prominent way to use film on Instagram. A video post can have a maximum
length of 60 s. A video can be captured directly with the Instagram app or can be
uploaded and then added with a filter, hashtags and a location.
Instagram Stories is a feature that was launched in August 2016 and that gives
private and company profiles the ability to post brief stories that automatically dis-
appear 24 h after they are published. A story can contain photographs, video clips
or boomerangs. Users can use hashtags, link locations and people and surveys in the
stories. The stories are presented more prominently, and Instagram profiles thereby
change. Especially, two new features for Instagram stories are important. One fea-
ture is Instagram Stories Highlights. With this feature, users have the possibility to
save material of their stories to a highlight section in their profile, to be the profile
consistently after the 24 h. The highlights appear in the stories bar in the profile. This
creates additional visibility for the individual highlights. Thematic stories can be
combined into a highlight story. The second tool that goes together with this is to use
the Instagram Stories Archive feature before. With this archive, individual contents
of a story are automatically backed up, without being downloaded and the content is
saved directly in the profile. Thus, the profiles consist of two different archives: the
posts archive and the Instagram Stories Archive. The Stories archive is the basis for
the Instagram Stories Highlights. (Futurebiz & Firsching, 2017a, 2017b).
Companies can make use of commercial ads globally since 2015. Those ads can
be photographs or videos and are adjusted to the user’s preferences. Users can also
buy directly via those ads with the Instagram shopping tool in the USA since October
2017 and later in other countries. Through clicking on tagged products on the pictures,
consumers can directly see prices and product information or can be led directly to
the product on the retailer’s ecommerce platform. Focusing on film on Instagram, it
can be differentiated between video ads and story ads as commercial ads. The video
ads simply appear on the user’s news feed, while the story ads appear in between the
stories a user is watching (Shu, 2018).
6.1.2 Classification: Image and Product Videos
The videos posted on Instagram can be classified into two different types of films:
image films and product films. The two types of videos mainly differentiate from
each other through the different purpose of the video. While product films aim to
present or launch a specific product or collection, image videos aim to build up and
improve the brand image. An image video can show own product in the video, but still
the focus is on presenting the brand in a specific way, how the brand wants to appear
to consumers. Image films are a commonly used marketing tool that resonates with
the corporate identity of the company. Product videos as well need to tell a story
somehow and have image building elements to be successful. The aim is to rise
the ability for customers to relate to a product. “The aim is to attract, to provoke
commitment and to create desire and all this is achieved via emotional values” (Díaz
Soloaga & Garcá Guerro, 2016; Michaud, 2015; Wallace, 2016).
6.1.3 Resume
Knowing from the literature research that worldwide, big brands to small family
businesses record success with Instagram, the question comes up to which extent
companies use this possibility and how they implement it. Due to this, the following
empirical study investigates the research question about to what extent do brands
make use of films on Instagram.
6.2 Empirical Method
The empirical method is a quantitative and qualitative analysis of video posts on

Instagram by selected brands with a subsequent reference analysis.
6.2.1 Selection of the Brands to Be Analyzed
The top 50 fashion companies are selected out of the FashionUnited Top 100 Index.
The companies are the top 50 companies worldwide of the apparel and fashion indus-
try with the largest market capitalization (FashionUnited Top 100 index—Business
Intelligence, n.d.). This source was taken as the basis because of its listing criteria
market capitalization and its recent data, since the data is updated every month. The
list for this study arises in May 2018. To represent each company, the strongest fash-
ion brand of the company was selected and analyzed. The top 50 brands with highest
market capitalization were chosen, acting on the assumption that those brands have
enough financial resources to create video material for social media purposes. The
brands are sorted in the three categories lifestyle, luxury and premium and sportswear.
In Step 2, those 50 brands are filtered on the basis of the following criteria. Criterion
one crosses out the brands that do not mostly sell apparel. Criterion 2 crosses out
all brands that are retailers and do not sell their own brand. The brands with the
category children’s clothes are crossed out, in order to set a limit of categories due to
the limited extend of this study. After this selection, there are 29 of the 50 brands left.
Those 29 brands are further filtered in Step 3, the crossed-out ones are not further
investigated.
Step 3 takes a minimum activity on Instagram of the brands into account. The 29
remaining brands are filtered out with the following criteria. Criterion 3 first of all
crosses out all brands which main account is not in English, since those cannot be
fully understood for the study and therefore cannot be taken into account. Criterion
4 crosses out all brands that do not have a minimum number of 1 million followers.
The result of this selection is 27 brands that are sorted into their category, ranked in
order of the market capitalization.
In the next step, the brands in Table 6.1 are compared to a ranking of the “Leading
fashion brands ranked by number of Instagram followers as of December 2017”
(Most-followed fashion brands, 2017, n.d.). With the help of both rankings, the
Table 6.1 Company

Company selection results sorted by category
selection results by category
Lifestyle Luxury and Sports
premium
Zara Louis Vuitton Nike
Uniqulo Dior Adidas
The North face Gucci Lululemon
H&M Hermes Under Armour
Gap Coach PUMA
Victorias Secret Tommy Hilfiger Columbia
Sportswear
Urban outfitters Prada
American Eagle Burberry
Michael Kors
Moncler
Ralph Lauren
HUGO BOSS
Salvatore
Ferragamo
Table 6.2 Selected brands

Lifestyle Luxury and premium Sportswear
overview
Zara Louis Vuitton Nike
H&M Dior Adidas
Victoria’s Secret Prada Under Armour
highest ranked three brands of each category are selected. Some brands need to be
crossed out, since the frequency of video posts is too low. The minimum frequency
of video posts is 10 within one month. The frequency is tested in the months April
and May 2018. Based on this, nine brands are selected for this study to be analyzed
more in detail (Table 6.2).
There is a special screening on Instagram stories between May 10 and 31, 2018, in
the third step. Instagram stories is the tool to show pictures or videos in a slideshow
for 24 h. After 24 h, the story is gone. That is why there will be separate screening on
this tool. All the tools that are offered by Instagram within the feature influence the
reach and engagement with Instagram Stories, but content also highlights individual
photographs, videos or boomerangs. Instagram continues to provide more features
for Instagram stories. The Instagram Story tool is investigated in a special screening
for this empirical study, because it completes the whole picture and landscape of
videos. Furthermore, based on the literature, many companies should and do use the
tool (Futurebiz & Firsching, 2017a, 2017b). Since a story normally disappears after
24 h, it is interesting to see what is posted that disappears and what is kept with the
Instagram Story Highlights tool by the brands.
6.2.2 Criteria Catalog for the Evaluation of Instagram Videos
After selecting the brands to be further analyzed according to the above-described

process, those brands are examined based on the following evaluation criteria on
Instagram. The time frame for this observation is 1st May until 31st May. To give a
general overview of the brand’s Instagram profile, the number of followers and posts
at the time of the selection (31st May 2018) are stated for each brand in the following
analysis, as they are given after the selection above. Those numbers show the activity
of the brands on Instagram and can be set into relation when observing the content
and user’s engagement on the content. The criteria are divided into two segments.
The first segment includes the engagement numbers, and the second one includes all
descriptive and content features of the posted video—engagement criteria: number
of views, of likes and of comments and date of post; descriptive and content criteria:
type of video, genre, atmosphere, goal and description of the video. These criteria are
based on criteria of the common Instagram analytic tools. Those evaluate information
to track the success of a profile. Business profiles can review this information about
their profiles and posts. As it is not possible to view all information that Instagram
analytics provides to the profile owner, only the data is selected that is possible to see
and examine externally. Subsequently, the brands within the categories are compared
to each other. Afterward, the categories are compared to each other.
6.3 How Brands Make Use of Fashion and Film

on Instagram
6.3.1 Results of the Empirical Study
Category Lifestyle: Zara, Victoria’s Secret and H&M
Zara is a textile company founded in 1974 by Amancio Ortega and daughter com-
pany of the Spanish concern Inditex. In own shops worldwide and online, it sells
apparel, accessories and shoes for women, men and children. In 2015, Zara gener-
ated a turnover of 15.39 billion Euros (Inditex, 2016; Unternehmen-+ Info| ZARA
Deutschland, n.d.). With 25,981,864 followers, Zara is ranked on place six of the
most followed fashion brands (Most-followed fashion brands, 2017, n.d.). End of
May 2018, the official Zara Instagram profile counted 3808 posts. In May, the profile
posted 15 videos (Fig. 6.1).
As the figure shows, the average number of views of the observed videos is
338,112. The minimum of views during this time period is 236,445 views, and the
maximum is 475,289 views. The average number of likes is 34,925, with a minimum
number of 26,366 likes and a maximum number of 46,453 likes (Fig. 6.2).
5,00,000
4,00,000
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Fig. 6.1 Zara: views (black) and likes (gray)
400
300
200
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Fig. 6.2 Zara: number of comments

The average number of comments is 172, with the minimum of 98 and the max-
imum of 316. The videos can be categorized into two types: product videos and
image videos. Observing the 15 videos Zara posted in May, the majority of videos
are product videos. Nine videos focus on presenting the products. The videos present
a special item or a whole outfit and how to wear it in the most modern way and how
to combine it. There is one video presenting the new collection and its products. The
presentation of the products happens in short videos with close-ups on the product
and wide shots or with a GIF that only shows the products in different colors and
variations. Only two of the nine product videos play music in the background, so the
videos are focusing on the presentation without much distracting additional tools.
Five out of the nine videos are dealing with womenswear, two with handbags and
accessories, one with children’s clothing and one menswear. All videos that show
the products or outfits on a model emanate a feeling of freedom, happiness, com-
fort, a trendy mind and strong women. The children’s product video focuses on fun,
comfort, quality and lightheartedness. The collection presentation video implicates
a picture of strong and successful women, with colorful, happy and self-confident
pictures of fashion in strong colors. The seven image videos strongly try to commu-
nicate special feelings that are supposed to be associated with Zara fashion. One of
the image videos is for children’s clothing, one is for menswear, three tell a Mother’s
Day story and one shows mothers with their children, talking about their relation.
The children’s video tells a story about kids having fun in the swimming pool in the
summer, wearing Zara clothes. It mostly transfers feelings of luck and happiness.
The menswear video is more about nostalgia and friends enjoying summer feelings.
The four other image videos tell strong stories about mothers and children, conveying
feelings about love, family and security.
Victoria’s Secret is a daughter company of Limited Brands that was founded in the
USA by Roy Raymond in 1977. The fashion brand is famous for its underwear, but
also sells sleepwear, outerwear, shoes, swimwear, sportswear and cosmetics. Espe-
cially famous are the yearly Victoria’s Secret Fashion shows. The brand generated
a turnover of 7.39 billion USD in 2018 (Limited Brands, 2018; Victoria’s Secret,
LLC | Company Profile, n.d.). The official Victoria’s Secret Instagram profile has
25,981,864 followers. With this number, the Victoria’s Secret Instagram account is
the second most followed fashion brand on the social media platform. On May 31,
2018, the profile counted 1906 posts. In May 2018, Victoria’s Secret posted 18 videos
(Fig. 6.3).
As the figure reads, the minimum number of views is 304,832, the maximum
number is 1,031,890 views, and the average results in 514,077 views. The minimum
number of likes is 47,402, the maximum number is 117,085 likes, and the average
counts 71,160 likes in May.
Figure 6.4 shows a minimum number of comments of 114 and a maximum of
549 comments, and there is an average number of comments of 266. All of the 18
videos are product-oriented. Seventeen of them directly focus on the products, and
one of them is an app promotion that in this case is also counted as a product video,
since the app is a product of Victoria’s Secret and a tool to sell the products. The
post description “We’re excited & we just can’t hide it…download our app to see
12,00,000
10,00,000
8,00,000
6,00,000
4,00,000
2,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Fig. 6.3 Victoria’s Secret: views (black) and likes (gray)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Fig. 6.4 Victoria’s Secret: number of comments
why” suggests that it is a product promotion for special items via the app (Victoria’s
Secret (@victoriassecret) • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos, 2018). The other 17 videos
directly show the products, in GIFs, small videos or boomerangs. Five of these videos
only show the products on or with models; all other just show the products in flat
lays or draped. The product videos strongly focus on advertise special offers and
promotions for the pictured products. Ten out of the 17 videos have the goal to show
special offers. While the videos show the promoted products, the post descriptions
tell users what the offer is and when it ends. The other seven videos communicate
feelings of happiness, freedom, love, fun and summer and lifts women up to a status
of being important and of being a princess in Victoria’s Secret underwear. One of
them shows behind the scenes content. Ten of the videos show womenswear, and
seven of the videos show cosmetic products. None of the 18 videos has sound.
Hennes & Mauritz, short H&M, is an international acting fashion company. The
brand H&M sells fashion for women, men and children, as well as underwear,
sportswear, swimwear, shoes, accessories and cosmetics. Furthermore, they cooper-
ate with designers to create special designer collections. In 2017, H&M generated
a turnover of 23.3 billion Euros (HENNES MAURITZ Unternehmensprofil, n.d.;
H&M, 2018). H&M’s official Instagram account has 25,448,208 followers and had
3805 posts on their profile on 31 May. In May, the profile posted 21 videos. The H&M
profile is ranked fifth of the most followed fashion brands on Instagram. Figure 6.5
presents the engagement numbers that were collected relating the 21 videos.
The minimum number of views per video is 136,595 views, the maximum is
742,619 views, and the average is 435,683 videos. The minimum number of likes
8,00,000
6,00,000
4,00,000
2,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Fig. 6.5 H&M: views (black) and likes (gray)
per video is 26,143 likes, the maximum is 68,040 likes, and the average is 38,307
likes (Fig. 6.6).
The average number of comments is 206, the minimum is 68 comments, and
the maximum is 509 comments. The majority of the videos can be categorized as
being product videos. Sixteen out of the 21 videos show product-oriented content.
Eight of the product videos present womenswear; five of the videos present cosmetic
product and three present accessories. All of the 17 videos show the products with
communicating a feeling of summer, freedom, happiness and a worriless mind. The
womenswear videos mostly show people together in the sun or at the beach, having a
good feeling wearing the H&M clothes. The cosmetic products all convey a feeling
of beauty and create a feel-good atmosphere. Five of the womenswear videos use
sound to strengthen the effect of the communicated feelings. Four of the five cosmetic
products videos tell a story with the products. H&M lets models show users how to
use the right product to get the perfect look. The models tell their stories about their
favorite products, while the post description invites users to find their own favorite
products at H&M. Only one of the five cosmetic videos presents the product itself,
without any story behind it. The four cosmetic stories use sound to let the models
tell their story; only the one without a story does not use any sound. The accessories
videos show the products in GIFs that present different colors or variations of an
accessory in a row or in very minimalistic videos, in which simply the product itself
can be seen and how it slightly moves, for example, a handbag rocking on a chair.
The accessories’ videos do not have any sound, but only focus on the product itself.
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Fig. 6.6 H&M: number of comments

Five of the 21 videos are image videos. Three of them can be assigned to the genre
womenswear. Those three videos communicate feelings of summer and happiness.
People in the video do wear H&M clothes, but the focus is not on the products, but
on the whole package that H&M gives the customers. The videos tell stories about
people having fun in summer. One of the five image videos furthermore a story about
a successful woman being at the MET Gala in New York, dressed in H&M. The last
of the five image videos deals with recycling clothes. This is the strongest image
video, since it deals with the critical topic sustainability, for which H&M is often
criticized. The video and its description invoke users to think sustainable and recycle
clothes. H&M offers to bring old clothes to the stores for them to “be reworn, reused
or recycled” (H&M (@hm) • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos, 2018).
Category Luxury: Louis Vuitton, Dior and Prada
Louis Vuitton is a luxury brand that was founded in Paris in 1854. The brand belongs
to the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE concern. It is the leading concern
of the luxury merchandise industry. Louis Vuitton started with producing exclusive
leather goods. By now, the brand sells, next to luxury bags and suitcases, luxury wom-
enswear and menswear, shoes, perfume, accessories and jewelry. The whole concern
generated a turnover of 42.6 billion Euros in 2017 (Louis Vuitton Story—Profile,
n.d.; LVMH, 2018). The Louis Vuitton official Instagram account has 24,522,159
followers. The profile is ranked on eighth place as the most followed fashion brands
on Instagram. On 31st May, there were 2629 posts on the profile. In between 1st May
and 31st May, they posted a total of 34 videos (Fig. 6.7).
The average number of views is 319,812. The minimum is 195,845 views, and
the maximum is 571,293 views. Thereby, the average number of likes is 48,287, the
minimum number is 29,805 likes, and the maximum number is 78,430 likes.
Figure 6.8 shows a minimum number of comments of 82 and a maximum of 546
comments, and there is an average number of 250 comments. The majority of videos
are product videos. Twenty-two of the 34 videos posted in May are product-related,
and twelve of them are image videos. The focus of the product videos is clearly on
accessories and cosmetics: Thirteen of the product videos deal with accessories and
cosmetics, six with menswear and three with womenswear. All product videos spread
a feeling of classy, modern, expensive and exclusive high-end products. All products
6,00,000
5,00,000
4,00,000
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Video
Fig. 6.7 Louis Vuitton: views (black) and likes (gray)

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Fig. 6.8 Louis Vuitton: number of comments
are presented in wide shots to show the products as a whole thing and close-ups
to show special details. It is noticeable that many of the accessories and cosmetics
product videos repeat the same products. The videos only differentiate from each
other through cutting the video material differently together. The womenswear and
menswear product videos are new collection presentations. Ten of the twelve image
videos are about the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019 fashion show. The videos show
how the Cruise develops until the fashion show takes place. Then, the videos show
highlights of the show. Two image videos show behind the scenes content of the Met
Gala in New York. All videos have sound.
Christian Dior SE is a French luxury goods manufacturer, founded by Christian
Dior in Paris in 1946. The brand Dior is one of the most famous luxury brands world-
wide and especially well known for its Haute Couture. Next to the Haute Couture,
they sell luxury fashion for women and men and children, leather goods, shoes, jew-
elry and accessories and cosmetics (Christian Dior S.A.—Company Profile, n.d.).
The turnover of the Christian Dior group accounted for 43.67 billion Euros in 2017
(Christian Dior, 2018). Dior’s official Instagram profiles counts 19,683,390 follow-
ers and thereby is ranked on tenth place of the most followed fashion brands on
Instagram, right after the luxury brands Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Until end of May
2018, Dior had posted 3808 times content on their account. Twenty-eight out of all
posts in May were videos (Fig. 6.9).
The average number of views per video is 221,264. The minimum number is
120,421 views, and the maximum number is 473,222 views. The number of likes has
an average of 23,316, a minimum of 20,350 likes and a maximum of 71,945 likes
looking at the defined time frame (Fig. 6.10).
5,00,000
4,00,000
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Fig. 6.9 Dior: views (black) and likes (gray)

1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Fig. 6.10 Dior: number of comments
The average number of comments counts up to 120, the minimum is 75 com-

ments, and the maximum is 1265 comments on a post. The majority of the posted
videos are image videos. Twenty-two out of the 28 videos posted in May are image
videos. The remaining six are product videos. All videos represent a classy, expen-
sive, exclusive, handmade and high-quality image. Thirteen of the image videos
focus on womenswear, three on accessories and cosmetics, one on menswear and
five cannot correlated with a special genre. The videos mostly deal with the devel-
opment and story of a collection or a special product, how it is tailored in finest
handwork with best-quality materials. The videos show wide shots and especially
close-ups of cutting the material, sewing it together and finishing it with details.
Other videos show collaboration partners wearing Dior at fashion shows and content
about the fashion show itself. Three image videos show behind the scenes content of
photograph shoots with Jennifer Lawrence and Bella Hadid. Those three videos con-
vey a classy, exclusive, feminine, unique and modern atmosphere with self-confident
women. One video is an exclusive film about a Dior dinner, building up the brand
image by communicating exclusiveness at Dior events. Five of the six product videos
deal with accessories and perfume. One is about womenswear. Four of the six videos
are simple product presentation, and two of the videos tell the story of tailoring and
creating the product. All videos have sound.
Prada is the main brand of the Prada Group. It is an Italian luxury leather goods
and fashion company that was founded in 1913. Prada started with selling exclusive
leather goods, suitcases and handbags, and nowadays furthermore sells women’s
and men’s fashion, shoes, accessories, sportswear and perfume (Home Page | Prada
Group, n.d.; Prada Brands, n.d.). Prada Group generated a turnover of 2.7 billion
Euros in 2017 (Prada, 2018). On Instagram, the official Prada account has 15.5 million
followers. With this number, Prada is ranked on the 15th place of the most followed
fashion brands. Prada had 3571 posts on the profile on 31st May. In May, the profile
posted 21 videos (Fig. 6.11).
The average number of views is 123,388, the minimum counts 55,375 views and
the maximum 282,896 views. The number of likes does not fall below 7931 likes
and does not exceed 23,457 likes (Fig. 6.12).
There is an average of 89 comments per post. There is a minimum of 45 and
a maximum of 171 comments for a video post. The majority of Prada’s videos in
3,00,000
2,50,000
2,00,000
1,50,000
1,00,000
50,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Fig. 6.11 Prada: views (black) and likes (gray)
200
150
100
50
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Fig. 6.12 Prada: number of comments
May are image videos. Fifteen out of the 21 videos are image videos, while six are
product-oriented. The image videos can be categorized into different topics. One
video is promoting a music event that Prada is hosting. The video shows scenes of
a Prada hosted party to build and improve the brand image, by communicating fun,
happiness and freedom at Prada parties. Nine of the image videos tell the story about
a futuristic nylon farm in several episodes. The story begins with a nylon sheep being
sheared to gain nylon instead of wool. The nylon is then finished into garments in a
futuristic factory with most modern ways of communication. The videos implicate a
modern, futuristic, clean and sterile atmosphere. The third topic of the image videos
is about a fashion show story. Those videos spread a chic, trendy, modern atmosphere
with big city vibes. The videos first promote the Prada Resort 2019 show in New
York and then show scenes of the fashion show. The product videos present handbags
and accessories. The videos create a straight, clear but chic atmosphere with a feeling
of good quality and luxury. The products are presented in wide shots and close-ups,
to see the product as a whole and special details. All videos have sound.
Category Sportswear: Nike, Adidas and Under Amour
Nike is an American sporting goods manufacturer, founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon
Sports and becoming Nike Inc. in 1971. Nike is the leading sporting goods manufac-
turer worldwide. The sales products include shoes, sportswear for women, men and
children, sport accessories and fitness tracker (NIKE Inc., n.d.; Nike Story—Profile |
SuccessStory, n.d.). In 2017, Nike generated a turnover of 28.67 billion Euros (Nike
Inc.—Annual Report 2017, 2018). On Instagram, Nike’s official profile counts a total
of 77,686,730 followers and is thus the number one most followed fashion brand.
Nike Football is the third most followed fashion brand on Instagram. This profile is
mentioned due to its high follower number and belonging to Nike Inc., but not fur-
ther investigated since this empirical study only focuses on the official main brand’s
accounts. On May 31, 2018, there can be 925 posts seen on the whole account that
were posted until this date. In May, the account posted 2 videos (Fig. 6.13).
The average of number of views is 1,528,715, with a maximum of 1,758,659 views
and a minimum of 1,298,771 views, whereas the average of likes is 374,332, and the
observed videos have a minimum of 348,055 likes and a maximum of 400,609 likes.
Figure 6.14 presents the number of comments for the video posts. The number
3497 represents the average number of comments, whereas the minimum is 2548
comments and the maximum is 4445 comments on a post. The two videos of Nike
are both image videos. Both videos tell a special story that communicates the sports
spirit that Nike is associated with. The videos have an atmosphere of motivation,
coolness, crossing borders, fighting and never giving up, always being in line with
Nike’s slogan Just do it. One of the videos tells the story about Justin Gallegos, a
20-year-old with Cerebral Palsy that finishes a half marathon despite his movement
disorder. Both videos work with music and spoken text.
Adidas is a sporting goods manufacturer founded by Adi Dassler in 1949 as the
Adi Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik. Ever since then, Adidas’ famous hallmark, the
three stripes, was coined. Adidas is now selling all kinds of sporting goods, including
sportswear for women, men and children, shoes, sports and lifestyle accessories,
cosmetics and all kinds of athletic equipment. Adidas is second biggest sporting
goods manufacturer and Nikes biggest competition (Adidas Group, n.d.). Adidas
generated a turnover of 21.22 billion Euros in 2017 (Adidas, 2018). The official
Instagram account of Adidas has 20,137,478 followers. The profile therefore listed
on place eleven of the most followed fashion brands. The account of Adidas originals
is ranked on seventh place on the list. As well as Nike, this profile is mentioned due
Fig. 6.13 Nike: views 20,00,000

(black) and likes (gray)
15,00,000
10,00,000
5,00,000
0
1 2
Fig. 6.14 Nike: number of 5,000

comments
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1 2
to its higher follower number and because of belonging to the Adidas Group, but not
further investigated since the study focuses on the official main brand’s accounts.
The account shows a total of 694 posts (31.05.2018). In May, they posted four videos
(Fig. 6.15).
The maximum view number adds up to 413,443, while the minimum view number
is 211,908. This results in an average of 413,443 views. On the other side, the
maximum number of likes adds up to 80,344, whereas the minimum has 57,254
views in total. The average number is 64,474.
Figure 6.16 shows the number of comments shown. It has got a minimum of 289
and a maximum of 983, which results in an average of 502 comments. Adidas’ videos
are mostly image videos. Out of the four videos posted in May, only one is a product
video. All four videos convey feelings of adventure, exploring something new, testing
borders, excitement and strength. The three image videos all deal with running and
running clothes. One of them is directly focusing on running shoes in particular. The
feelings communicated in the videos are supported through post descriptions like
“Let your mind run free” or “Run where there are no walls.” (@adidas • Instagram-
Fotos und -Videos, 2018a, 2018b). The product video is about sports shirts for men
and women. The video description “With the right technology, there’s nothing a little
creativity can’t handle.” suggests that the presented products are provided with best
technology to fit the intended purpose. The products in the video are set into relation
with motivation and strength.
Under Armour is an American sporting goods manufacturer, founded in 1996.
Originally, the brand was a manufacturer for martial arts clothing and thermal under-
5,00,000
4,00,000
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
1 2 3 4
Fig. 6.15 Adidas: views (black) and likes (gray)
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3 4
Fig. 6.16 Adidas: number of comments

wear for different kinds of sports and shoulder pads for sports like football, lacrosse
or ice hockey. Now, the brand sells sportswear and casual fashion for women, men
and children, shoes and accessories (Under Armour Inc Company Profile, n.d.). The
turnover 4.98 billion US dollars in 2017 (Under Armour, 2017). Under Armour’s
official Instagram profile has 5,540,957 followers. On 31 May, Under Armour had
2467 posts on their profile. Within the month May, the profile posted 22 videos
(Fig. 6.17).
The numbers of views have an average of 720,813, a maximum of 1,476,054
and a minimum of 157,271. On the other side, the number of likes is lower. The
minimum is 18,095, the maximum is 133,171, and the average is 55,543 likes per
post (Fig. 6.18).
Whereas the minimum counts 45 comments, the maximum is 999. The average
adds up to 341 comments per video post. The majority of Under Armour’s videos are
image videos. Twenty of the videos are image videos, and two are product videos.
Three of the 20 image videos are about a competition in which users can win sports
tickets, money and shoes. Those three videos are counted as image videos, since the
content improves the image of the brand. All other image videos tell a special story
about athletes from different kinds of sports, including basketball, swimming, judo,
taekwondo, boxing, football and gymnastics. Especially martial arts, basketball and
football stories are presented very often, which can occur due to the brands origin of
manufacturing martial arts clothing and shoulder pads for sports like football. The
brand selects world champions, masters and fighters of their individual sports and let
20,00,000
15,00,000
10,00,000
5,00,000
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Fig. 6.17 Under Armour: views (black) and likes (gray)
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Fig. 6.18 Under Armour: number of comments

them tell their stories of success. The champions include Anthony Joshua or Teddy
Riner. They communicate strength, motivation, concentration on their aim, success
and a feeling of never giving up. In some cases, the athletes wear Under Armour
clothes. Each of those videos uses sounds, people’s speech to tell the story and music
to strengthen the massage. The two product videos are product launches, one for a
new shoe and one for womenswear.
Screening Instagram Stories
Zara is not using the Instagram stories at all. H&M uses the story tool but focuses on
posting pictures in the story. The only videos that appear in the story are about topics
that also appear in video posts in the profile, such as the new collection presentation
or the Met Gala. Those story videos replenish the video posts content with more
insights. Due to the fact that videos are only used for the story on the occasion of
special events, the frequency of video stories by H&M is very low. Victoria’s Secret
posts weekly approximately one story with five to ten videos. Most of the content
posted on Instagram stories is pictures. The stories are mostly about products or sale.
Louis Vuitton posts Instagram stories only for special occasions, such as their
fashion shows or the FIFA World Cup, or to present special products in a story,
like the Louis Vuitton perfume. Most of the posted story videos are saved in the
highlight stories. Dior posts, similar to its video posts, much content about their
craftmanship and handwork in their story. They post more frequently than other
brands of this category, counting between three and five stories per week with ten
to twenty videos each. Prada posts various content in their Instagram story, ranging
from new campaigns and fashion shows to all episodes with full videos of their
futuristic nylon farm story. Complex videos, such as the nylon farm story, are saved
in the highlights, and shorter videos are not saved.
It is noticeable that sports brands, especially Nike and Adidas are very active with
Instagram stories, rather than video posts. Nike does post very much videos in their
story. They post 5 videos daily in average. The story videos tell stories about famous
athletes or recent topics in the world of sports. None of the story videos are saved
in any highlights. Adidas posts story videos with a similar frequency as Nike does.
Adidas tells stories about sports stories and events. They save most of the content in
the story highlights. Under Armour posts similar content in the stories like they do
in their video posts. The frequency is not as high as of Nike and Adidas. All in all,
most of the posted stories get lost after 24 h, because the majority of videos are not
saved in the highlights. Approximately half of the content is not saved in the profile.
6.3.2 Evaluation and Discussion
Zara’s number of views do not exceed 500,000 and vary approximately between
230,000 and 475,000, with a medium of 338,000. The data varies only slightly. The
number of comments rises and falls mostly evenly with the number of views. Zara has
6,00,000
5,00,000
4,00,000
3,00,000
2,00,000
1,00,000
0
Views Likes Comments
ZARA Victoria's Secret H&M
Fig. 6.19 Category comparison—lifestyle
on average the least views and likes in this category. Ten percent of Zara’s views like
the video. In contrast, Victoria’s Secret engagement numbers vary heavily from Zara.
The numbers vary heavily, ranging from 300,000 views to over 1,000,000 views. The
numbers of likes go evenly with the numbers of views. Fourteen percent of the views
like the content. H&M’s numbers of likes and views are on average between those
of Zara and Victoria’s Secret, but also vary heavily such as the numbers of Victoria’s
Secret do. Nine percent of H&M’s views like the videos. The numbers could result
out of the fact that Victoria’s Secret has the most followers and Zara the least. All three
observed lifestyle brands focus on product-oriented videos. Seventy-nine percent of
all observed videos by all three lifestyle brands are product videos. The brands of
the Lifestyle category show a consistent usage of videos on Instagram. Sixty percent
of Zara’s videos are product videos, 100% of Victoria’s Secret’s videos are product
videos, and 76% of H&M’s videos are product videos. Due to these numbers, all
lifestyle brands post more product-oriented videos than image videos. The videos
are kept simple, especially the product videos. They are not complex films, but often
GIFs or simple short videos in which a product simply swinging in the air or similar.
For the lifestyle brands, it could be used as an easy and quick way to show items
and outfits or whole new collections to a wide range of potential customers. The like
rate is not too high, which could result out of the fact that mostly product videos are
posted. Product videos might not involve the user that much that he likes the content.
Many of the simple product videos do not show many emotions and thus might not
touch the user enough. All in all, regarding all observed criteria, Victoria’s Secret
performance is ranked the best (Figs. 6.19 and 6.20).
The luxury brands show a clear picture in terms of views and likes. Louis Vuitton
is ranked best in terms of likes and views. Dior is on the second place and Prada on
the third. Both likes and comments go clearly parallel to the numbers of views. Also,
in this case the number of followers might cause the outcomes of the engagement
rates. Fifteen percent of Louis Vuitton’s and Dior’s views like the videos, and twelve
percent of Prada’s views like the videos. The majority of videos of all three luxury
3,50,000
3,00,000
2,50,000
2,00,000
1,50,000
1,00,000
50,000
0
Louis Vui on Dior Prada
Fig. 6.20 Category comparison—luxury and premium
and premium brands are image-oriented. The brands Prada and Dior have a clear
focus on image videos, since 79% of Dior’s posted videos are image videos and 71%
of Prada’s videos are image videos. Luis Vuitton’s videos, in contrast, are more often
product videos. With 65% of all videos posted in May, the product videos are the
majority for Luis Vuitton’s videos. Though, it need to be considered that most of the
product videos show the same product and content, only cut together differently in
each video. Due to this fact, when considering the videos per content and not per
number of video, the image videos predominate again. All in all, it can be stated
that all observed luxury and premium brands put more value on image videos than
product videos. Dior’s goal is to show the quality and handcraft behind the products.
Louis Vuitton and Prada more focus on storytelling about brand-related content. Only
having a look at the engagement numbers, Louis Vuitton would win the performance
ranking. But considering all criteria, Dior is ranked best, since it gives a coherent
and consistent overall picture, especially in regards of the type of videos (Fig. 6.21).
The engagement numbers in the sports category highly vary. The brands of the
category do not show a coherent picture. Nike and Adidas post very little, in com-
parison with Under Armour. Therefore, the numbers of views and likes of Nike are
extremely high. The average is over 1.5 million views and almost 375,000 likes, while
Under Armour’s average number of vies is circa 791,000 and 56,000 likes. Still, all
numbers are very high. Adidas is in the middle of both other brands, regarding views
and likes. Also, the number of comments heavily varies. Nike’s high engagement
rates could be due to the many followers. Through posting only little content, the
follower’s engagement concentrates on the view videos that were posted; thus, the
engagement rate increases. Furthermore, all videos of the sports sector are interesting
for consumers because they can identify with the content. The image videos and suc-
cess stories motivate them and enjoy more engagement of users than product videos
would do. Many of the videos also challenge the users, indirectly through telling
success stories about never giving up, but also directly through letting the users par-
18,00,000
16,00,000
14,00,000
12,00,000
10,00,000
8,00,000
6,00,000
4,00,000
2,00,000
0
Nike Adidas Under Armour
Fig. 6.21 Category comparison—sportswear
ticipate in a challenge or posting a workout video the users can test. Regarding all
observed criteria, Under Armour’s performance is ranked the best.
In the next step, the three categories lifestyle, luxury and premium and sportswear
are compared to each other. The luxury and premium brands post the most videos in
average, in comparison with both others. The sports category posts the least videos
of the three categories. Nevertheless, the engagement rates of the sports category are
the highest. Not only the numbers of views are much higher, but also the number of
reactions (Fig. 6.22).
In average, eleven percent of the people watching a lifestyle brand’s video like it.
Fourteen percent of the luxury and premium’s brands views like the videos. And a
total of 18% of sports brands like the videos watched. That shows that the content
of the sportswear sector seems to interest users the most. A reason for this might be
that the content engages users the most. The figures below show that sports brands
post most image videos. With 62%, the luxury and premium segment also majorly
20
15
Rate in %
10
0
Lifestyle Luxury and Premium Sportswear
Fig. 6.22 Like rates per category

Fig. 6.23 Proportion of product (black) and image videos (gray) per category
posts image videos. Only the lifestyle category mainly posts product videos, with a
percentage of 79 (Fig. 6.23).
It is a matter of fact that, due to the outcomes of this study, image videos enjoy a
better and higher reaction by users than product videos do. Due to this, the majority
of brands mostly use image videos as a marketing tool on Instagram. Nevertheless,
product videos can be seen as an easy and cheap way to spread information about
products and collections. Furthermore, the different contents within the image videos
need to be reflected, since the sportswear still has much higher engagement rates
than the luxury and premium sector. The sports videos give users an added value
by sharing, emotions, motivation and suggestions on how to improve and move on
in life. The luxury and premium segments rather tell a story about fashion, quality
and where the product comes from. This does not involve the user as much as for
example workout videos do. Nevertheless, all selected brands show that there is a
possibility to take advantage of films on Instagram and that the companies with high
turnovers use this chance, all in their different ways.
6.4 Conclusion and Implications
Based on the analysis and ensuing comparison, this research provided insights into
how brands make use of films on the social media platform Instagram. It can be stated
that it is a matter of fact that companies with high market capitalization are able and
use this ability to post films on Instagram for image and sale purposes. Brands of the
luxury and premium sector post the most videos. The content of the videos heavily
depends on the brand category. Furthermore, the frequency of posts varies within
those categories. Many of the observed brands that do not post that much videos use
the story tool to post videos. Most of the story videos disappear after 24 h and are
not saved in the story highlights. The majority of brands post image videos, and only
the lifestyle brands focus on product videos. Image videos achieve the highest user’s
engagement rates, due to the fact that it involves the users the most and gives them
an added value, such as motivation, goals to achieve or things to look up to. From
a fashion brand management perspective, this study shows that the usage of films
on Instagram is a highly important tool to support the marketing of a brand. The
type of film thereby depends on the segment of fashion industry. Brands of different
segments, such as luxury and premium, lifestyle and sports brands, pursue different
communication goals by making use of image films or product films. Thus, in both
cases, brands do achieve to attract people, provoke commitment and moreover create
desires by using videos with emotional values. From user’s perspective, it can be said
that those contents that contain an added value for the user himself, like motivation
and inspiration, lead him to most engagement.
Most limitations of the study were caused due to the predetermined limited extend
of the study. Due to this fact, the focus was set on Instagram’s main video tool, which
is the video post. To relativize potential shortcomings of video posts, there was as
well a screening on Instagram stories, in order to present the whole reality of video
usage of brands on Instagram. Nevertheless, the Instagram stories are not screened
in detail, but only examined superficially in terms of post frequency, and hence,
the generalizability is limited. All data is furthermore dependent on the month the
observation took place. The frequency and the content of the video posts highly
depend on the month and season, events and special occasions, such as fashion
shows. The example of Nike shows that in month May, the video posts were very
rare, while there was more content posted in other months. Moreover, all engagement
numbers depend on time and day of the post. In fact, the extent to which and the way
how brands make use of films on the social media platform Instagram found in this
empirical study can be screened even more in detail, which unlocks new directions for
research in future. Since Instagram is an ever-changing and developing platform, in
which every new tool opens new directions of research there are many new directions
to go.
References
2 Millionen monatliche Werbetreibende auf Instagram. (2017, September). Abgerufen Mai 28, 2018
von https://business.instagram.com/blog/welcoming-two-million-advertisers?locale=de_DE.
About Us • Instagram. (n.d.). Abgerufen April 13, 2018 von https://www.instagram.com/about/us/.
Adidas. (2018). Business Report 2017. Herzogenaurach: adidas.
@adidas • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos. (2018a). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.
instagram.com/p/BieAbHnl7OA/?taken-by=adidas.
@adidas • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos. (2018b). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.
instagram.com/p/BioTqIklPvF/?taken-by=adidas.
Adidas Group. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von http://www.adidas-group.com/de/.
Christian Dior. (2018). Christian Dior—Rapport Annuel 2017.
Christian Dior S.A.—Company Profile. (o.J.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von http://www.
referenceforbusiness.com/history2/41/Christian-Dior-S-A.html.
Díaz Soloaga, P., & Garcá Guerro, L. (2016). Fashion films as a new communication format to
build fashion brands. Communication & Society. Abgerufen von https://www.unav.es/fcom/
communication-society/en/articulo.php?art_id=568.
FashionUnited Top 100 index—Business Intelligence. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 4, 2018 von https://
fashionunited.com/i/top100/.
Firsching, J. (2014). Leitfaden Instagram Marketing—Futurebiz.de. Abgerufen April 13, 2018
von https://web.archive.org/web/20141107011030/http://www.futurebiz.de:80/artikel/leitfaden-
instagram-marketing#more-31237.
Futurebiz, & Firsching, J. (2017a, November 30). Instagram Statistiken 2017: Nutzerzahlen, Stories,
Videos & Verweildauer. Abgerufen Mai 24, 2018 von http://www.futurebiz.de/artikel/instagram-
statistiken-2017/.
Futurebiz, & Firsching, J. (2017b, Dezember 5). Neue Features für Instagram Stories: Stories-Archiv
& Stories-Highlights. Abgerufen Mai 24, 2018 von http://www.futurebiz.de/artikel/instagram-
stories-archiv-highlights/.
HENNES MAURITZ Unternehmensprofil. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 28, 2018 von http://www.
finanzen.net/unternehmensprofil/Hennes_Mauritz.
H&M. (2018). H&M Hennes & Mauritz—Full-year Report 2017 (S. 12).
H&M (@hm) • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos. (2018). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.
instagram.com/p/Bi4guHHAfCn/?taken-by=hm.
Home Page | Prada Group. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.pradagroup.com/
content/pradagroup/en.html.
Hootsuite. (2018, October 5). 24+ Instagram Statistics That Matter to Marketers in 2019. Retrieved
January 24, 2019 from https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/.
Howe, U. (2016). Michael Kors: Frequenzschub durch Instagram-Video. Textilwirtschaft (2B),
0045–0045.
Inditex. (2016, Juli 13). Inditex net sales rise 15.4% to e20.9 billion in FY2015. Abgerufen Juni
8, 2018 von https://web.archive.org/web/20160713123726/https://www.inditex.com/documents/
10279/197044/INDITEX_Resultados2015_090316_en.pdf.
Instagram. (2016). Erstellen eines Unternehmensprofils auf Instagram. (2016, Juli). Abgerufen
Mai 25, 2018 von https://business.instagram.com/blog/creating-a-business-profile-on-instagram?
locale=de_DE.
Instagram. (2018, June). Number of monthly active Instagram users from January 2013 to June
2018. Retrieved February 26, 2019 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/253577/number-of-
monthly-active-instagram-users/.
Instagram Business. (2017). Abgerufen Mai 25, 2018 von https://business.instagram.com/?locale=
de_DE.
Instagram & TechCrunch. (2017, November).
Leidenschaft für Mode: Instagram und die Modewelt. (2017). Abgerufen Mai 28, 2018, von https://
business.instagram.com/blog/where-passion-meets-fashion?locale=de_DE.
Limited Brands. (2018). L Brands Inc.—Annual report 2017 From 10-K (S. 21–23).
Louis Vuitton Story—Profile. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 28, 2018, von https://successstory.com/
companies/louis-vuitton.
LVMH. (2018). LVMH—Geschäftsbericht 2017.
Michaud, Y. (2015). El nuevo Lujo. Experiencias, arrogancia, autenticidad. Madrid: Taurus.
Most-followed fashion brands 2017. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 4, 2018 von https://www.statista.com/
statistics/483738/leading-fashion-brands-instagram-followers/.
NIKE Inc. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://about.nike.com/.
Nike Inc.—Annual Report 2017. (2018).
Nike Story—Profile | SuccessStory. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://successstory.com/
companies/nike-inc.
Prada. (2018). Prada Group—Annual Report 2017.
Prada Brands. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.pradagroup.com/content/
pradagroup/en//brands/prada.html.
Shu, C. (2018). After launching in the U.S., Instagram expands its shoppable posts fea-
tures to business users in eight other countries | TechCrunch. Abgerufen Juni 28,
2018 von https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/19/after-launching-in-the-u-s-instagram-expands-its-

shoppable-posts-features-to-business-users-in-eight-other-countries/?guccounter=1.
Under Armour Inc.—Annual Report Form 10-K | 12/31/16. (2017).
Under Armour Inc Company Profile. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von http://money.cnn.com/
quote/profile/profile.html?symb=UA.
Unternehmen-+ Info | ZARA Deutschland. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 8, 2018 von https://www.zara.
com/de/de/z-unternehmen-l1391.html.
Victoria’s Secret, LLC | Company Profile. (n.d.). Abgerufen Juni 28, 2018 von http://www.vault.
com/company-profiles/retail/victorias-secret-stores,-llc/company-overview.
@victoriassecret • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos. (2018). Abgerufen Juni 29, 2018 von https://www.
instagram.com/p/Bih1OIZly1l/?taken-by=victoriassecret.
Wallace, T. (2016, November 9). 17 Best Examples of ecommerce product video marketing.
Abgerufen Juni 28, 2018 von https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/product-video-marketing-
examples/.
Peter Bug is an International Fashion Retail specialist trained at Kaiserslautern University (Ger-
many) and Stuttgart University (Germany). He holds the diploma and a doctorate of Stuttgart
University in Technical Cybernetics (Dr.-Ing., 1999); English title of German dissertation: “In-
formation models to build textile business market information systems.” He is Professor of Fash-
ion Marketing at Reutlingen University in Germany since 2000 and founding Dean of the B.Sc.
program, International Fashion Retail, since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the marketing and mar-
keting research courses as Full Professor for one semester at the College of Business at Val-
paraiso University, IN, USA. Before his university time, he worked as Sales Forecasting Consul-
tant for numerous mainly European-based fashion and textiles companies like adidas France and
adidas Headquarters, Germany. He gained additional consultancy and teaching experience outside
Europe in USA, China, Peru, and Morocco.
Madeleine T. Heene is enrolled at the School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, for a
bachelor’s degree in international fashion retail since 2015. She was able to gain working expe-
rience in the clothing industry as an intern in the Global Marketing Department at HUGO BOSS
AG, Metzingen, and currently supports the Wholesale Marketing Team at HUGO BOSS AG, Met-
zingen, as a working student. She was moreover able to gain deeper insights into the fashion
industry by working at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin. Furthermore, she expanded her
professional knowledge by spending her exchange semester at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Cam-
pus Guadalajara in Mexico to attend business, management, and marketing courses. Contact: use
LinkedIn.
Chapter 7
Self-referencing Fashion Brand Films
Peter Bug and Maike Hohnhorst
7.1 Video and Social Media
In the twenty-first-century brands are one of the biggest influences on fashion busi-
ness and in particular on the way customers make their buying decisions. But how
present they themselves when they are using videos to communicate about them-
selves? Ever since the beginning of the twentieth-century videos and films have
fascinating humans of all ages. Gerloff (2014) states that one of the key reasons for
this success is that videos are stimulating two out of our five senses at the same time.
This results in giving the viewer an auditive as well as a visual experience. It allows
our brain to gather and keep more information than if we would just read a text or
listen to an audio (Gerloff, 2014). According to Mossner et al. (2017), the viewer is
able to access the information shown by video more easily. In addition to that, the
emotional reaction is oftentimes greater than with the use of other media. It is also
stated, that the subconscious reception of information is maximized as well, when
stimulating eyes and ears at the same time. Together they can subconsciously take in
more than one million bits of information per second. This makes up one-eleventh
of the bits that the human brain receives in total within one second (Mossner et al.,
2017). Additionally, Bendoni (2017) explains that our brain is able to process not just
a larger amount of information when given visually, but also with an 60,000 times
increased speed.
However, according to (Fishman, 2016), the length of the video is an impor-
tant factor to ensure the viewers’ attention. The study has shown that the viewer’s
engagement is almost exponentially decreasing, the longer the video is. The most
significant drop they saw between 2 and 3 min. Additionally, the noticed the steep
P. Bug (B) · M. Hohnhorst

M. Hohnhorst
e-mail: maike.hohnhorst@student.reutlingen-university.de

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_7
140 P. Bug and M. Hohnhorst
and continuous decrease between the 3rd and 6th minute. Based on those results, he
recommends trying to keep the video as short as possible and presenting compact
information (Fishman, 2016). The use of video also makes sure that the information
is memorized longer. Gerloff (2014) gives a short image film of a middle-class com-
pany as an example. He stresses that a video is a lot more vivid, while at the same
time giving compact information about the company, rather than having to scroll
through the endless timeline on a Web site. Cecil (2012) sums up that the stimu-
lation through the medium video is nearly impossible to resist. According to him,
customers are always looking for a conversation and video can give them the feeling
of having one. From a company’s perspective videos are therefore a great way for
communication marketing. They can be used to influence the customer and help the
brands to improve or stabilize their brand image (Cecil, 2012). When coming up
with a concept for a campaign, such as a video, the campaign is going to need a
focus. This focus can either be to firstly give information to its viewer and evoke a
learning process in them. Secondly, it can expose them to emotional influence and
trigger an emotional reaction. The third purpose of a campaign can be to encourage
the audience to behave in a certain way, the so-called doing (Fill, 2009).
Video marketing has also gotten so popular, because of the fast development of the
Internet. It has become a solid part in our lives and society, which has resulted in two
major push factors for video marketing (Gerloff, 2014). The first one being a much
higher cost efficiency. Making and distributing a video is not as costly as it used to be,
partially thanks to the widely spread Internet. Cheap cutting software, storage and
social media have made it easier and less expensive to bring the finished video content
to their target group (Gerloff, 2014). In addition, the accessibility to good quality
cameras for rather low prices has increased, making it possible for every individual or
company to show their skills as producers (Mossner et al., 2017). The second major
reason for the success of video marketing is the all-time-accessibility of the medium
and the endless options to share and connect them with others. Mobile devices such
as smartphones, tablets or smartwatches have made the Internet and therefore also
videos to our constant companion. The introduction of social media has additionally
attributed to making video marketing such an important tool (Gerloff, 2014).
7.2 Analyzing Method
At the beginning of our search for self-descriptive videos of fashion business, was
the specification that the topic description provided. It was to find films, in which
the brands present themselves and their brand history. Are there such films generally
used by fashion companies? As the starting point, a survey among 16 fashion business
7 Self-referencing Fashion Brand Films 141
students asked four top-of-mind questions: name 10 Fast Fashion brands that you
are familiar with. Name 10 luxury brands that you are familiar with. Name 10 sports
brands that you are familiar with. Name 5 lingerie brands that you are familiar with.
As we wanted to look at a broad spectrum of the fashion industry for this research,
we decided to go with this specific division, instead of classifying all fashion brands
into general product groups. Fast Fashion brands were an important category for this
research, as those brands are very fashionable. We chose the category luxury brands
because these brands generally have a long traditional history and heritage, which
made them ideal in consideration of the given topic. The category sports brands
was chosen because sportswear brands such as adidas or Nike are known to be very
innovative when it comes to communicating with their customers and additionally
telling stories in their advertisement. Therefore, the category had to be included
to give an overview of the market. The last category that we chose was lingerie
brands. Since undergarments are also a staple piece of the fashion industry, and their
videos get considerable attention, the category rounded off this broad spectrum. For
the evaluation of the survey, we created a list out of all the brand names that were
mentioned by those polled.
The final list of 70 brands that resulted from the survey was the base of this
research. In order to confirm the credibility of the survey’s results, we compared the
generated results with the list of the 180 biggest fashion brands in Europe as well as
the list of the 50 biggest fashion brands in Germany for the year 2017, published by
the German magazine TextilWirtschaft (TextilWirtschaft, 2018b). There were also
brands named in the survey that were from outside of Europe and therefore not
featured in either of the two lists. To ensure that they were still relevant in the market
and therefore to this paper, we compared their generated revenues in 2017 with those
of the brands featured in the two lists of the TextilWirtschaft, to see if they were
comparable with each other.
In the next step, we preceded to check off the generated list of 70 brands, to find
out which ones of them had videos where they presented themselves as a brand. As
sources we searched for the videos on the companies’ Web sites as well as their official
YouTube channels. Eventually, we ended up with Fig. 7.1 of 17 brands and in total
Fig. 7.1 What platforms are used to reach the customer?

22 videos, because several brands offered more than one video that fit the criteria.
The list is assorted by category and descending revenue. To make the revenues more
comparable and clear, we converted all revenues into US$ (Internal Revenue Service,
2018) (Table 7.1).
Our next step was to take a closer look at the actual content of each video. We
noticed four main categories, that the films dealt with regarding the research question:
• Heritage film
This category includes videos where the history and heritage of the brand is pre-
sented through pictures and/or narration. This may contain dates of important
milestones and events, as well as content that shows its audience how the brand
became as popular and famous as they are today. Additionally, videos that deal with
the personal history of designers that are part of the brand’s history are featured,
fall also in this category.
• Recruitment film
In this category, videos are included whose content is targeting potential employ-
ees. This includes videos giving the direct message to come and work for the
particular brand, as well as those that show what working for the brand is like,
with the goal to present the brand authentically.
• Value film
Under this category videos that mention the brand values are featured. Almost
every video subconsciously gives an idea of the values and ideas of a brand to a
certain extent, just by giving the viewer a certain vibe. Therefore, only videos in
which the values are directly talked about as the main information of the video,
are being put into this category.
• Behind the brand film
The category Behind the brand was chosen for this paper to categorize all videos
that give behind the scenes and background information about a brand. This content
may vary from “fun facts” about the brand, over information about the design
process, all the way over to giving detailed insights into the company’s innovations
and competencies.
Closely related to the analysis of the film’s topics, is the question of the intent
of the films. As we mentioned, according to Fill (2009), a film can be used to do
either of three things: give information, provoke emotion or prompt the viewer to do
something. For this reason, we analyzed the films regarding those three intentions.
The goal was to see if there is an intent that is used particularly often.
Table 7.1 Selected brands and their annual revenues
Brands Revenues in 2017
Luxury brands
Chanel (CHANEL, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c) 9.6 billion US$ (Chanel, 2018, 3)
Lacoste (Lacoste, n.d.) 2.3 billion US$ (Lacoste, n.d.)
Valentino (Valentino, 2018) not available
Marc Cain (Marc Cain, 2017) 0.3 billion US$ (Marc Cain, 2018, 1)
Fast fashion brands
Inditex (Inditex Careers, 2016a, 2016b) 28.9 billion US$ (Inditex, 2018, 272)
7 Self-referencing Fashion Brand Films
H&M group (H&M, 2017) 27.2 billion US$ (H&M, 2018, 48)
Primark (Primark, 2017) 8.7 billion US$ (Primark, n.d., 4)
Levi’s (Levi Strauss & Co., 2016, 2017) 4.9 billion US$ (Levi’s, 2018, 18)
Sports brands
Adidas Group (adidasCareers, 2013) 24.0 billion US$ (adidas, 2018, 3)
Vans (Vans, n.d.) 11.8 billion US$ (VF, n.d., 20)
New Balance (The Berrics, 2016) 4.0 billion US$ (New Balance, 2018)
Asics (ASICS Europe, 2018) 3.4 billion US$ (asics, n.d., 6)
Converse (Converse CONS, 2015, 2016) 1.9 billion US$ (Converse, 2018, 22)
Kappa (Kappa PH, 2018) 0.4 billion US$ (BasicNet, n.d., 13)
Lingerie brands
Calzedonia group (Calzedonia Group, 2018) 2.6 billion US$ (TextilWirtschaft, 2018a)
Hunkemöller (Hunkemöller, n.d.) 0.5 billion US$ (TextilWirtschaft, 2018b)
Schiesser (SCHIESSER HK, 2015) 0.2 million US$ (TextilWirtschaft, 2018b)
143
7.3 Film Parameters and Film Content
7.3.1 Analysis of Parameters
What platforms are used to reach the customer? Next figure shows which platforms
are used to present the videos to the customer. 30% of the chosen videos are put up
solely on the company’s YouTube channel. Only 9% of the videos are published on
the brand Web site, solely. The majority of brands uses both platforms to reach their
customers, which results in 61% of the chosen videos being put up on YouTube as
well as the brand’s Web site.
The results shown in the diagram seems to confirm that a large percentage of
brands has recognized the huge impact social media and in particular the usage of
video can have for their marketing. This analysis result strengthens that videos and
particularly videos put up on YouTube, are used frequently to paint a more authentic
picture of a brand. Considering that YouTube is also the second largest search engine
in the world, the brands are making sure to stay relevant by using it. Another point
that can be made, is that more than half of the brands seem to have understood
and implied the importance of consistent communication with their customers by
choosing to put up their videos on YouTube as well as the brands Web site. As a
result, the brand can be sure that no matter where the customer is going to look for
the brand, whether on the Web site or on YouTube, he is going to meet a consistent
message put out by the brand themselves.
What is the relationship of film length and viewer engagement? Next figure shows
the lengths of the selected films. The horizontal axis represents the different brands
and their films. The vertical axis shows the length of the films in seconds. The
horizontal line at 120 s, marks the time at which the viewers engagement starts to
decline, according to mentioned literature findings (Fig. 7.2).
At first sight, it is recognizable that the majority of films range around the two-
minute time mark. The films of Valentino, Primark, one of the Levi’s films, adidas,
Calzedonia and Schiesser all manage to stay under two minutes. As a result, it is
very likely that all of the information given in the film is taken in more easily and
memorized by the viewer. This again is good for the brand, since the goal of the films
is to influence the brand image. Because the brands solely give positive information
about themselves in the films, it is much likely that the customer’s perception, and
therefore the brand image, improves. By compressing the information into the two-
minute timeframe, they can assure that the viewer actually receives and processes all
of the given information. Brands such as Chanel, Marc Cain, Inditex, H&M, Levi’s,
Asics and Kappa, should be aware of the fact, that there is a significant decrease in
engagement taking place between the 2- and 3-min mark. As the results of the study,
found in the literature review have shown, particularly films that are just slightly
above the two minutes should consider cutting their video. This would help them to
ensure that the customer actually remembers all the information he has received.
Fig. 7.2 Relation of film length and viewer engagement
The films of Lacoste, New Balance, Converse, Hunkemöller and one of the Chanel
films, go way beyond the three-minute mark. As seen in the study, brands need to be
aware that with every second that goes above the already not ideal three minutes, a
drastic decline in the viewers engagement is the consequence. Besides the fact that
the viewer is very likely to not remember much of the information presented after the
two-minute mark, there are further potential negative effects. For example, does the
brand risk that the viewer stops the video right away at the beginning when seeing
the total length of it. This would mean that the viewer, instead of receiving viewer
information, he is not receiving any information it all. It could even be speculated
that by seeing the disproportionate length of the film, the customer memorized the
brand in a negative manner. In general, it can be stated that there are no obvious
similarities or differences within the brand categories luxury-, fast fashion-, sports
and lingerie brands. Additionally, even when comparing the categories with each
other, there are no observations to be made regarding a characteristic video length.
How often is the brand logo shown? Next figure shows the frequency in which the
brand logos are appearing in each video. This is an important analysis as the brand
logo is an important part of the perception of the brand for the customer since it is
in the ideal case the feature with which the brand is recognized (Fig. 7.3).
In the figure the horizontal axis presents the chosen brands and their films. The
vertical axis shows the frequency in which the brand logo appears, measured in
seconds. There are a few brands that stand out when it comes to the frequency in
which the brand logo is shown. In particular, the second Levi’s film as well as the
Fig. 7.3 Average frequency of brand logo appearances
second Converse film and the one of Schiesser stick out. In their cases, they each
only show their logo once at the beginning or the end. Therefore, the frequency
of the brand logo appearance is the same number as the total lengths of the films
presented. Similar to those results are the numbers of Valentino, H&M and the first
Inditex film. All three films, only show their brand logo 2–3 times. This is really
little in comparison with the films of Chanel 3 who showed their logo every 10 s or
Kappa with every 11.87 s. In the case of H&M it is important to add, that a small
logo is visible throughout the whole video in the lower right corner. Therefore, H&M
needs to be seen as an exception. The second film of Inditex also stands out a lot, as
there was no logo shown at all. Besides measuring how regularly the logos are shown
throughout the video, it is also important to analyze how long the logo can be seen
at a time. The films show two different ways in which the logos are presented. It can
either appear as the main focus of the scene and therefore be recognized concisely
by the viewer. For that to happen, the logo has to appear for a minimum of 3 s,
as this is the time span that the human brain needs to fully comprehend a shown
image. Another way to implement the brand logo into the video is by making it
recognized unconsciously, for example, when showing several flashes of the logo in
a row, without sticking to one longer than a few seconds (Fig. 7.4).
In the figure, the range of appearance times per shown logo is analyzed. The
horizontal axis shows the brand films, the vertical axis stands for the appearance
time per logo in seconds. For each of the films, the time range of the logo appearance
is shown. Starting with the shortest amount that a logo appears and finishing with
the longest time measured. The black dot shows how long the average appearance
Fig. 7.4 Minimum, maximum and average appearance time
time of all logos is. In general, the shortest appearance time for a brand logo lies for
the majority of the films between 0.5 and 1 s. The longest appearance is the one in
Kappa’s film with 9.5 s at the end of the film. While brands like Kappa make it clear
that there are exceptions, the average appearance time of most of the films is between
1.5 and 2.5 s. As mentioned in the previous analysis, the second film of Inditex stands
out, because they did not show a logo, therefore no minimum, maximum or average
can be calculated. The diagram only shows a dot for the films of Levi’s 2, Converse
2, and Schiesser, since they only had a logo shown once. This one-time appearance
therefore is the minimum, maximum and average at the same time. Calzedonia on
the other hand did have two appearances of the logo, bus as both of them were 1 s
each, the minimum, maximum and average stays at 1. A remarkable fact that can
be observed is, that not even films from the same brand have a similar characteristic
when it comes to the use of the logo. The three Chanel films are the ones that are the
most comparable. The films of Inditex, Levi’s and Converse on the other hand show
drastic differences. The reasons for this are unknown; however, it can be speculated
that the reasons lie within the style of the video. For example, Inditex 1 is an animated
film with text, whereas Inditex 2 is an interview-style brand film in which employees
talk about the brand. Speculating, it is possible that it was easier to implement logos
into the animated concept than into the interview concept.
7.3.2 Story Content Analysis
What is the intent of the films? The table shows the films intent to connect with the
customer, in regards to the three main intents that a marketing campaign can have
according to Fill (2009). It is obvious that most of the brands focus their films on
the intent of making the viewer learn something about the brand. As those brands
are most likely trying to improve their brand image with the films, it makes sense
to help the customer learn about the subjects that seem relevant for the brand in
order to improve their brand image. Additionally, videos are a great medium to
transport information and at the same time to make sure that the potential customer
memorizes a lot more than through written text. The only two films that do not bring
across learning as their intent, are those of adidas and Schiesser. Both films are made
to evoke emotion in the viewer and in addition, the film of adidas is also trying to get
the viewer to do something—in this case to work for adidas. In total there were six
films whose intent was to spark some form of emotion. Here the brands Valentino,
Converse, Asics and Hunkemöller decided to combine the two intends learning and
emotion with each other. This seems like a smart move, as content that touches the
viewer emotionally, is even more likely to stay in their memory. As the provoked
emotions are meant to be positive, it is therefore likely that the film and thereby the
brand, is memorized in a positive way. Five of the films are also intending to get the
viewer to do something. As all five of them are also categorized as recruitment films
in the upcoming subchapter, it seems logical that the brands are trying to convince
the viewer to act and apply for a job at the company. There do not seem to be any
similarities among our categories luxury, fast fashion, sports and lingerie brands.
The only observations that stand out are, that none of the luxury brands have films
that call the viewer to action. At the same time, there are no analyzed fast fashion
films whose intend is to evoke emotions (Table 7.2).
What are the topics of the films? This diagram shows which of the previously
chosen topics were used the most in the selected films. This analysis is an important
part of the paper, as it shows which topics are most interesting to the brands when
talking about themselves to their consumers in regard to brand image (Fig. 7.5).
The most popular topic that brands chose to portray themselves in their films is the
brand’s heritage, with 34%. Not far behind in popularity are films around the topic
behind the brand with 30%. The third favorite topic is Recruitment with 21%. Last
but not least, films that bring the brand morals and values closer to the customer are
used in 15% of the reviewed films. In the second diagram, the number of categories
used per film is presented. This is an important diagram because several films feature
more than one topic. The majority of films (70%) focuses on a single topic. 17% of
films discussed two topics and only 13% to more.
The results show, that video as a marketing tool has arrived in all observed fashion
brand videos. In general, all four topics are strong points to connect the brand with the
customer and to start a conversation. Whether through the sharing of values, giving
insights into the company, the work life of their employees or the brands history—all
of them are great points to reach and connect with a wide audience. By putting it on
Table 7.2 What is the intent

Brand Learning Emotion Do something
of the film?
Luxury brand
Chanel 1 X
Chanel 2 X
Chanel 3 X
Lacoste X
Valentino X X
Marc Cain X
Fast Fashion
brands
Inditex 1 X
Inditex 2 X X
H&M group X X
Primark X
Levi’s 1 X
Levi’s 2 X X
Sports brands
Adidas group X X
Vans X
New Balance X
Converse 1 X X
Converse 2 X
Asics X X
Kappa X
Lingerie brands
Calzedonia Group X X
Hunkemöller X X
Schiesser X
Total 20 6 5
Fig. 7.5 Topics and number of topics of the films

YouTube, the brands take the chance to expose their content to the over 1.9 billion
users that the platform has. In addition, YouTube can help to show the content to
potential customers that are not even directly looking for it. This is possible because
of the video suggestions made through the algorithm of the platform. Therefore,
YouTube is a great way to approach new customers.
By addressing more than one topic in the film, the brands took another chance to
expend their target group. In addition, there are also links that can be made between
the relations of the four different topics. For example, most of the films with two
topics featured a combination of Behind the brand and value films, whereas the
combination of the topics Recruitment and Behind the brand only appeared once.
This suggests that the topics Behind the brand and value films are closer related to
each other than other topic categories. When interpreting this result, it does make
sense that these two topics are closely related to each other. As previously explained, a
transparent and honest conversation between brands and their customers is demanded
by customers. In order for the brand to be successful in times of social media, they
have to respond. By combining the two categories, they are enabling this honest
conversation, while at the same time staying in control of where the conversation is
going. Within the four brand categories, there are no recognizable tendencies.
7.4 Conclusion
At the beginning, the main question was if brands are actually using self-referencing
brand films to influence their brand image. Looking at the list of 70 brands generated
by the survey, only 17 of those brands actually had self-referencing brand films on
their Web site or YouTube channel. Therefore, the question has to be negated. The
majority of brands do not generally use such films to improve their brand image.
The second part of the research question was how the 17 brands with brand films
use them to influence their brand image. The first part of the analysis focused on
the use of some frame parameters that are important to actually reach the customer.
Results show that 91% of the analyzed brands use YouTube to present their films to
a wide audience. Concluding, it can be said that social media video platforms have
been recognized by brands and are being used to connect with the customer. It shows
that brands are using the platforms, on which the customers are talking about them.
They are trying to be in the same place where their customers define who the brand
is. Additionally, a lot of companies are using their Web site as well as their YouTube
channel, which gives them an even greater reach. By using both platforms they also
make sure to reach different target groups. Since particularly YouTube videos are
often recommended to new viewers based on the algorithm, potential customers can
get attracted. Whether the sole use of the own Web site and the YouTube channel
is enough to fully profit from the full potential of social media, is questionable.
However, it offers room for future research questions regarding other forms of social
media.
The parameter analysis of the relation between film length and viewer engagement
have shown, that not even half of the films were under the two-minute mark. For the
brands that went above this mark, it is important to be aware of the risk that not
all of the information can be memorized and internalized by the customer in videos
over two minutes. Those brands should take into consideration that sometime less is
more. A possible option to avoid this problem would be to follow the example of the
Chanel films. They divided their video into a three-part series with each video not
being longer than a little over three minutes. Although that length is still not ideal as
it is over the two-minute mark, the idea of splitting films into several parts to keep
the viewer’s engagement high, seems a good starting point.
The results show that the use of the brand logo varies between the different brands.
Of course, this factor depends on the style of the film, however in particular the brand
that only showed their logo 0–2 times should be aware that their brand recognition
and image improvement might suffer from this. Videos such as the series of Chanel
and Hunkemöller have shown, that there are ways to implement the logo often but
in a discreet manner. In general, this topic of brand logo usage regarding frequency
and length of each appearance offers many options for future research. For example,
to see whether showing the logo long and in the center point of the film is more
effective than implementing it more often but in rather hidden ways.
The second part of the analysis focused more on the actual story content. Most
of the brands intend of learning something about the brand. This approach makes
sense because by making the viewer learn positive information about the brand, it
is likely to infect his brand image positively. However, in regard to the previously
discussed importance of the film length there are occurring some inconsistencies.
The intent to make the viewer learn something, while at the same time exceeding
the ideal two-minute frame, is conflicting and should be looked upon by the brand.
Most of the recruitment films, additionally had the intent of doing something. This
again makes sense, because the goal of every recruitment film should be to convince
the viewer that he or she wants to work for the brand and eventually applies for a job
there. The brands seem to have identified the topics heritage and behind the brand
as the most important out of the four presented categories. Looking at the findings,
however, the brand should not forget about the growing importance of commonly
shared values and maybe start implementing them more into future films. As shown
in some of the films that were analyzed, it is also possible to cover more than one
topic in a film so the possibility of adding value as a second topic is given.
At the end, it is important to note that this paper has only given an overview and
opinion of the current situation, was focused only to some companies within selected
product categories and analyzed videos in German and English, only. Then, social
video media was limited to YouTube and Web site, only. In the next step, future
research could focus on enlarging that focus and analyzing views and comments of
such films. It would be also interesting to observe how this special video segment
is evolving in fashion business video production in the future and coming up with
strategies to improve the flaws that were pointed out in this paper.
References
adidas. (2018). adidas annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://report.adidas-group.com/media/

pdf/DE/adidas_GB_2017_DE.pdf.
adidasCareers. (2013). adidas Group—Make Greatness Happen. Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=AaX7Z1c9PwU.
American Marketing Association. (n.d.). American Marketing Association Dictionary. Retrieved
November 30, 2018 from https://www.ama.org/resources/pages/dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B.
asics. (n.d.). asics annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.
net/_d1b20fff30c23a2a13358e4e0621616e/vfc/db/74/55760/annual_report/VF+Corp+2017+
Annual+Report.pdf.
ASICS Europe. (2018). The power of movement | ASICS. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=RRR6nF_fQt4.
BasicNet. (n.d.). BasicNet annual report 2017. Retrieved from http://www.basicnet.com/contenuti/
reports/bilanci/2017_BasicNet_Annual_Report_.pdf.
Bendoni, W. (2017). Social media for fashion marketing: Storytelling in a digital world. Bloomsbury.
Calzedonia Group. (2018). Calzedonia Group. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OM_bb2Liylw&t=13s.
Cecil, J. (2012). Online video revolution: How to reinvent and market your business using video.
Macmillan.
CHANEL. (2013a). Coco—Inside CHANEL (Vol. 5). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2G88zqPxJ00.
CHANEL. (2013b). Gabrielle Chanel—Inside CHANEL (Vol. 7). Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=VhgI8zaG1Qy.
CHANEL. (2013c). Mademoiselle—Inside CHANEL (Vol. 6). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=VCAro7GnCHo.
Chanel. (2018, June 21). Annual report Chanel. Retrieved from http://services.chanel.com/i18n/
de_DE/pdf/chanel_limited_financial_results_for_the_year_ended_31_december_2017.pdf.
Converse. (2018, July 24). Converse annual report 2017. Retrieved from http://d18rn0p25nwr6d.
cloudfront.net/CIK-0000320187/3489b854-fa60-41a7-b8c3-8dc6b67534c0.pdf.
Converse CONS. (2015). CULTURE INSIDE CONVERSE. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=Oia6d_b5SYI.
Converse CONS. (2016). Converse Values. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
vcUn7KoXCb8.
Fill, C. (2009). Marketing communications: Interactivity, communities and content. Pearson Edu-
cation.
Fishman, E. (2016, July 5). Proof that humans have a two-minute attention span. Retrieved January
10, 2019 from https://wistia.com/learn/marketing/optimal-video-length.
Gerloff, J. (2014). Erfolgreich auf YouTube: Social-Media-Marketing mit Online-Videos. mitp/bhv.
H&M. (2017). Our Values. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH2os_x3S5I.
H&M. (2018, February 19). H&M annual report 2017. Retrieved from http://about.hm.com/
content/dam/hmgroup/groupsite/documents/en/Digital%20Annual%20Report/2017/Annual%
20Report%202017.pdf.
Hunkemöller. (n.d.). The success story of the much loved brand and top employer Hunkemöller.
Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://jobs.hunkemoller.com/the-brand/.
Inditex. (2018, June). Inditex annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://www.inditex.com/
documents/10279/563475/2017+Inditex+Annual+Report.pdf/f5bebfa4-edd2-ed6d-248a-
8afb85c731d0.
Inditex Careers. (2016a). Careers About Us. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
z5LCeAy7Dpc.
Inditex Careers. (2016b). Inditex History. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
U2245G807Xo.
Internal Revenue Service. (2018, January 19). Yearly Average Currency Exchange Rates | Inter-
nal Revenue Service. Retrieved December 12, 2018 from https://www.irs.gov/individuals/
international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates.
Kappa PH. (2018). KAPPA BRAND HISTORY. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LdFL0HPoEhE.
LACOSTE. (n.d.-a). Die Lacoste gruppe | LACOSTE. Retrieved December 8, 2018 from https://
www.lacoste.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-DE-Site/de/Page-Show?cid=corporate-group.
LACOSTE. (n.d.-b). Wer war René Lacoste (in Wirklichkeit)? | LACOSTE. Retrieved December
8, 2018 from https://www.lacoste.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-DE-Site/de/Page-Show?cid=
rene-lacoste.
Levi Strauss & Co. (2016). Levi Strauss & Co. History—Tracey Panek Interview 2016. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlJ911HYEuY.
Levi Strauss & Co. (2017). Get to Know Levi Strauss & Co. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=rgKii0QLAm4.
Levi’s. (2018, February 7). Levi Strauss annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://www.levistrauss.
com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Levi-Strauss-Annual-Report-2017.pdf.
Marc Cain. (2017). Marc Cain Unternehmensfilm DE. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?time_continue=16&v=PF7Ncd7Q8XU.
Marc Cain. (2018, November). Marc Cain factsheet. Retrieved from https://www.marc-cain.com/
out/media/Company/K_Marc-Cain_Factsheet_DE.pdf.
Mossner, C., Forster, L., & Mannes, J. (2017). Video-Storytelling: Eine praxisorientierte Anleitung
für innovative Unternehmen. vdf Hochschulverlag AG.
New Balance. (2018, June 21). New Balance Press Box : Boston Celtics, New Balance Unveil Newly
Renovated Gymnaium For Youth At West End House Boys & Girls Club. Retrieved December
9, 2018 from https://newbalance.newsmarket.com/latest-news/all/boston-celtics--new-balance-
unveil-newly-renovated-gymnaium-for-youth-at-west-end-house-boys---girls/s/61f23027-ce88-
473b-85bc-a25c7b2d6eb3.
Primark. (2017). PRIMARK | Größte Sorgfalt—von der Produktion bis in die Filiale. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvrzviA38O8.
Primark. (n.d.). Primark annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://www.abf.co.uk/ar2017/dist/
documents/ABF_Annual_Report_2017.pdf.
SCHIESSER HK. (2015). SCHIESSER brand video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jUo1mucKBwk.
Textilwirtschaft. (2018a, March 22). Jahresbilanz : Gruppe Calzedonia: Umsatzplus von
9%. Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://www.textilwirtschaft.de/business/unternehmen/
jahresbilanz-gruppe-calzedonia-umsatzplus-von-9-209392.
TextilWirtschaft. (2018b, October 17). Die größten Modeunternehmen Europas. Retrieved from
https://www.textilwirtschaft.de/news/media/13/Die-grten-europischen-Modemarken-Anbieter-
2017-120353.pdf.
The Berrics. (2016). New Balance Numeric—Trajectory. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=TKJLMSCEGNM.
Valentino. (2018). COUTURE IS FAMILY. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
lWYXUqYqz14.
Vans. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved December 9, 2018 from https://www.vans.de/since66.html.
VF. (n.d.). VF annual report 2017. Retrieved from https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/
_d1b20fff30c23a2a13358e4e0621616e/vfc/db/74/55760/annual_report/VF+Corp+2017+
Annual+Report.pdf.
Youtube. (n.d.). Presse—YouTube. Retrieved December 4, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/
intl/de/yt/about/press/.
many) and Stuttgart University (Germany). He holds the diploma and a doctorate of Stuttgart
University in Technical Cybernetics (Dr.-Ing., 1999); English title of German dissertation: “In-
formation models to build textile business market information systems.” He is Professor of Fash-
program, International Fashion Retail, since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the marketing and mar-
Maike Hohnhorst started her studies in ‘International Fashion Retail’ in March 2018 at the
School of Textile and Design at Reutlingen University. Previously, she completed an apprentice-
ship as Management Assistant in wholesale and foreign trade at the German plus size fashion label
Ulla Popken. In between finishing her apprenticeship and starting her studies, she continued work-
ing for the label inter-divisionally in the e-commerce department as well as the buying team for
men’s wear. Currently, she works as Freelancer in email marketing for Ulla Popken and the men’s
wear label JP 1880.
Chapter 8
Music Videos and Fashion
Business—Hip-Hop Study
Peter Bug and Thi Quynh Anh Dao
8.1 Hip-Hop Music Videos and Fashion Business
Fashion and hip-hop music have been linked to each since the early years of this genre,
but the connection between those two might be at its peak by this time. Fashion is
as much a part of hip-hop culture as the genre is necessary to the fashion industry.
Hip-hop has become a global phenomenon with a large following. Not only do hip-
hop artists top the charts, they also started to influence the fashion business, with
some of them collaborating with well-known brands or even establishing their own
companies in this line of business. The close bond between the artists and their fans is
attributing to this success in the fashion business. Music artists of different genres do
not only convey musical value but also a lifestyle. Music videos act as a way of self-
expression and visualization of their music for the artists. Clothes and accessories
act as a way of portraying an attractive lifestyle. We are continuously exposed to
product information and brand advertisement in those videos and the distinctive line
between music videos and commercials is getting blurry. Music videos are most
often watched repeatedly and thus the exposure of the products and brands shown
is maximized. It is necessary to see the potential of new media consumption, and
hip-hop culture with its loyal following. This paper offers an insight over the way
fashion is portrayed and perceived in music videos that were released in recent years
and compares the results to music videos by artists that are known to be heavily
involved and also already successful in the fashion industry. Differences but also
similarities will be examined to attain a better understanding. To create a basis for
the analysis, a rough overview over the history of hip-hop will be made, following
with the history of music videos. As the core of this paper is to find out how hip-hop
P. Bug · T. Q. A. Dao (B)

e-mail: thi_quynh_anh.dao@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_8
156 P. Bug and T. Q. A. Dao
has influence on fashion, firstly a link between the genre and fashion in general must
be made. To further substantiate the research question, the analysis of different music
videos is the key element. After choosing which music videos to analyze, the results
were compared to the music videos of hip-hop fashion icons and a fashion influence
index was created.
8.1.1 Hip-Hop—From Subculture to the Mainstream
Hip-hop culture defines itself through four main elements: DJing, MCing, breakdanc-
ing and graffiti. The origins of hip-hop are traced back to the Bronx in New York,
where hip-hop disc-jockey Grandmaster Flash formed The Furious 5 (Stolworthy,
2017). The rap group, that consisted of the members Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Sad-
dler, Melle Mel (Melvin Glover), Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Cowboy (Keith
Wiggins), Raheim (Guy Williams), and Mr. Ness (Eddie Morris) took a great part
in shaping this genre (Adaso, 2018). Another figure in the early years of hip-hop
music is disc-jockey Kool Herc, born Clive Campbell. The Jamaican-born, New
York-raised disc-jockey firstly introduced elements of Jazz, Funk and usually loud
drums with a recurring rhythm, that is also known as toasting, to the not yet existing
genre. With only two turntables he began DJing at house parties and was inspired by
break-dancers who enjoyed the instrumental breaks in his sets. Thus, began the search
for music to please the crowd. The popularity of his block-parties soon roared and so
he had to move to bigger spaces and the hip-hop culture started to spread (Laurence,
2014). 1979 was the year that marked the first real break-through in mainstream-
music for hip-hop music would be Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” that placed
#36 on the Billboard Music Charts (Adaso, 2018). Skipping to about half a century
after the beginnings of hip-hop, about fifty percent of all songs that were listed on
January 27, 2018’s Billboard Hot 100 chart were rap or at least hip-hop related. In
there was a 74% increase of hip-hop listeners on the music platform Spotify. Even
three of its most popular artists on the streaming service are part of the hip-hop genre.
Drake, the Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar succeeded with topping the charts of the
music platform and play a big role in shifting the genre into the spotlight. Even major
music awards like the Grammys have seen changes in their nominations in the past
years. Where there were once only a few nominees that represented this genre, the
hip-hop culture has now dominated the category Album of the Year (Bruner, 2018).
8.1.2 Music Videos
The appearance of music videos used to be different and not as much prevalent
(Strähle, 2018). Only artists who were keen on giving their fans not only a musical
but also a visual experience recorded promotional clips. One of the first to do so were
The Beatles, but other artists soon followed the trend and started to make videos to
8 Music Videos and Fashion Business—Hip-Hop Study 157
their songs in the 1960s and 1970s. Another notable artist is Queen. Their special-
effects music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” that aired in 1975 rose to the very
top of the charts in Britain and became an iconic and very influential staple in the
music industry. The present idea of music videos began with the launch of television
broadcaster MTV in 1981 and their concept of being a 24/7 music television channel.
The only thing missing in their vision was content to fill up 24 h of the day, so they
began to ask record labels to produce music videos in exchange for screen time. As
traditional media consumer numbers are deteriorating new types of media emerge.
The era of the World Wide Web has begun but millennials haven’t stopped consuming
music videos (Atkinson, 2016). Although it was not established to be a streaming
music service, the Google-owned platform “YouTube” has become the most popular
and single most-used Web site for on-demand music streaming (McIntyre, 2017).
Music videos are important to the artists because they intend to raise exposure through
multiple channels, whether the music video is shown on TV, streamed online or played
in a public area, thus music videos are often released in the early stage of a song’s
promotion phase (Bakula, 2014). Music videos do not only present consumers with
images that are shown in the videos themselves. It offers us a visual, as well as an
auditive experience and provides the audience with information about products while
promoting a highly attractive lifestyle that their role models live. Especially young
consumers are often exposed with information about a quantity of products including
clothing that their idols are wearing and associate those with social roles they aspire.
The short-length of music videos reminds of advertisements and thus blurs the lines
between program and advertising material. This might influence the consumers’
likeliness to repeat the advertised messages presented in the music video. Music
videos instigate emotions and have a high impact on the audience (Englis, 1991,
Strähle, 2018).
8.1.3 The Link Between Hip-Hop Music and Fashion
Hip-hop culture stands for authenticity. Staying true and knowing where the roots
of hip-hop are is extremely important for the audience. The growing popularity of
collaborations and sponsorship between hip-hop artists and fashion brands is just
a reminder of how hip-hop was already connected to fashion since the early days
of this genre (Eshun, 2015). But a link between music and fashion already existed
before the rise of hip-hop culture. The most notable ones are the punk movement,
grime, and 90s grunge. Music has always been one of the most impactful influences
in the world and the effect it has on fashion is uninventable (Maoui, 2018). It is a
business, where both sides are able to benefit. While the brand profits from exposure
of their label, the musician can obtain sponsorships or the possibility to collaborate
with the brand. Hip-hop collective Run DMC is often mentioned for being one
of the first to do so. They landed an endorsement deal worth $1.5 million with
Adidas, after mentioning the brand’s name 22 times in their popular 1986 song “My
Adidas” (Ferguson & Burkhalter, 2015). Rap turned out to be the most popular
genre by the turn of the millennium. Some hip-hop celebrities profited of sportswear
sponsorships, others launched their own fashion labels. Luxury fashion brand names
like Versace, Rolex and Gucci were dropped while dancing on expensive yachts
and increased the connection to fashion (Eshun, 2015). Brand such as Calvin Klein
see the potential in collaborating with hip-hop artists like A$AP Rocky and the rest
of A$AP Mob and included them in their #MyCalvins campaign (Morency, 2018).
After naming over 20 brand names in his album “At.Long.Last.A$AP,” where A$AP
Rocky included the names of luxury fashion labels Goyard, Hermes and Yves Saint
Laurent, A$AP Rocky has collaborated with luxury fashion labels Dior Homme and
Guess and become somewhat like the face of luxury fashion (Street, 2016). One
name that gets frequently called as the most influential hip-hop artist in fashion is
Kanye West. In 2007 Kanye West first starts collaborating with A Bathing Ape,
one of the most coveted streetwear brands existing, and designs a sneaker featuring
one of his signature mascots called the “Dropout Bear.” Two years later, in 2009,
the musician made another sneaker collaboration with Louis Vuitton. It was in 2013,
when the artist first released a collection with A.P.C that did not only include sneakers
designed by the musician. The collection included two pair of jeans, a gray hoodie
and a T-shirt, which were all almost instantly sold out upon release. The list of
collaborations with big names goes on, including Maison Martin Margiela, Balmain,
Giuseppe Zanotti, Nike and many more (Woolf, 2016). But the one that marked
the biggest success of the artist is the collaboration with Adidas. He launched the
first season of Yeezy, which is a collaboration with Adidas Originals in 2015, at
the New York Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2015. Although the militaristic designs
were heavily criticized the line proved to be commercially successful. Especially, the
Yeezy collection of sneakers sold out in the US online in just 12 min. (The Business
of Fashion, n.d.). Even an app, designed to buy the new Yeezys, was launched to
control the hype surrounding the sneakers (Woolf, 2016). Kanye West’s influence on
fashion (Business of Fashion, n.d.) is often said to be the start of a completely new
era for streetwear. Just in 2018 his friend and also hip-hop musician Virgil Abloh
was appointed men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton, marking a new era for the
brand’s history. Although musicians like Virgil Abloh have little formal training in
the fashion industry, the ability to speak to younger generations and turn a lifestyle
into a product is crucial. Hip-hop artists like him understand what most brands are
looking for: creating bridges between the classic and the zeitgeist (Ferrier, 2018).
8.2 Methodology
The main goal of this chapter is to find out in what way music videos of the hip-
hop/rap genre have an influence on fashion and how fashion is presented in those
music videos. To furthermore substantiate the research question, the analysis of music
videos is necessary. Because influence coincides with popularity, the first step was to
look up which hip-hop/rap tracks were the most popular and hence the most important
ones for this analysis. Therefore, different sources and charts were examined such
as “mtv.com” and “djbooth.net”. In the end, the chart platform “billboard.com” was
chosen because of its high reputation and because it is the one of the ones with
the highest importance in the music industry. This paper specifies on an examination
period between 2015 and 2017. Initially the year 2018 was supposed to be included in
this analysis, but at the time of the enquiry the 2018 year-end charts were not released
yet. The chosen examination period is only referring to those three consecutive years
as a contemporary approach to this research was desired. Based on the billboard
year-end charts, five of the most popular songs were picked for each year. As artists
tend to remain faithful to a style and a broad spectrum was preferred for this research,
artists that appeared more than once in the top five of a specific year, were skipped
and the following one was noted. As billboard doesn’t offer a separate hip-hop and
rap year and chart, songs that were obviously belonging to the R&B fraction of the
chart were not considered for this analysis as well. Records that didn’t offer an official
music video, could not be considered for this research as well.
For each music video the same procedure was applied to ensure that the findings
were objective and comparable as possible. To conclude what the main styles of
the videos were, the videos had to be watched for the first time. Then the most eye-
catching pieces and the overall impression of the style was noted. The second time the
video was watched frame after frame for a more detailed investigation of the styles.
Each distinguishable outfit was assigned to a scene. Then the videos were examined
for a third time, where an eye was kept on possible recognizable brands. The next
step included the breakdown of the song lyrics and fashion-related terms were sought
out. After that, the description box was analyzed in order to find possible fashion-
related links or mentions. The last step was to look for articles about the fashion in
the music videos. The findings where then listed into an excel sheet. Only the main
artists’ outfits were relevant for this research, as the main artist is generally in the
focus of the video. For further analysis of the way music videos have an influence
on fashion, another excel sheet was created, where the numerical quantity of styles,
recognized brands, articles about the fashion in the video, fashion-related lyrics and
mentions in the description box were inscribed.
In order to define the top most influential artists, a number of three artists that
have an impact on fashion, is seen as sufficient. A total amount of 14 articles has been
reviewed with content about hip-hop culture and the influence on fashion. The artists
mentioned in the articles were listed. If an artist was named more than once in the
same article, it was still considered as one mention. The same procedure applied for
the following articles. The three musicians that were named the most were chosen
as the most influential hip-hop artists in fashion and were hence relevant for the
following analysis. One exception was made for the selection of the third artist. As
the analysis went on, the video selection process for third placed musician Pharrell
Williams turned out as an obstacle, as the most viewed songs of this artist were either
featured songs or could not be classified as part of the hip-hop/rap genre. The only
hip-hop/rap related records of Pharrell Williams also either didn’t offer a music video
or were outdated. As this paper’s research goal was to give a contemporary view on
the influence of hip-hop/rap music videos in fashion, the artist had to be skipped and
fourth placed artist Travis Scott’s music videos were analyzed. The video selection
procedure is different. Videos chosen for analysis were the artists’ three most viewed
hip-hop music videos on YouTube. Therefore, the artist’s name was typed into the
search bar of video streaming platform “YouTube” and results were sorted by view
count. Music videos, where artists were only featured, were skipped, as well as music
videos beyond the hip-hop genre.
To create a better understanding on the relevance of the music videos in the
fashion industry, a fashion influence index was created. The previously collected
data was therefore sorted into three different categories—less important, important
and very important ones. The criteria that analyzed whether the description box
featured fashion-related links was rated as not so important. The number of styles
and the number of articles written about the fashion in the music video were classified
as important. At last, the number of recognized brands and fashion-related lines in
the lyrics seemed most notable, hence it was rated as very important. Less important
data was multiplied by one, whereas important data was multiplied with two and very
important data with three, and added. The result was then divided by the number of
criteria, standardized and ultimately multiplied with 100. This equation was then
used to determine the fashion influence index.
8.3 The Top Five Music Videos 2015–2017
8.3.1 Summary of the Most Popular Songs in 2015
For the Year 2015, the following songs were picked. Several songs had to be skipped,
such as the fifth ranked “Can’t Feel My Face” and sixth ranked “Earned It (Fifty
Shades of Grey)” by The Weekend, as the analysis criteria needed to be strictly
adhered to. The seventh ranked song “679” had to be disregarded as well, because
the artist Fetty Wap already appeared on the second rank with “Trap Queen.” The
next song that corresponded to the previously set criteria was Drake with his song
“Hotline Bling.”
See You Again—Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth Wiz Khalifa is seen walking
along an empty road while the sun is beginning to set, whereas Charlie Puth is playing
the piano and singing to the song. Occasionally scenes from the movie “Furious 7”
are shown, as the song was written for the film and also acted as a tribute song for
actor Paul Walker. The overall style is kept simple with the clothes being mostly
black, white and gray. In the description box, a link to the official merchandise shop
can be found.
Trap Queen—Fetty Wap The music video shows Fetty Wap meeting with his girl-
friend with different symbols of wealth, like showing off his money, multiple phones
and expensive cars. The eye-catching pieces of his outfits were the silver jewelry,
that stood out from his rather simple clothing style. The importance of jewelry can
also be seen in his lyrics, as the mention of necklace and expensive rings were part
of the song verses (Fetty Wap, 2014).
Watch Me—Silentó A dance battle, typical for hip-hop culture, takes part in a high
school sports hall. A variety of people from different ages is shown. The video is
very colorful. The main artist wears a lot of accessories and colorful mostly red
clothing with different types of pattern. Brand labels like Lacoste and MCM can be
easily recognized. One article about the watch Silentó wears in the video was found
(Silentó, 2015).
The Hills—The Weeknd The first scene shows an accident site with a smoking,
reversed car. The main artist can be seen crawling out of the driver’s seat. The
passengers, including himself, are seen wounded. He walks away from the site and
into a house. The music video shows only one outfit, that is overall black. The
description box contains a link to the artists’ official Web site, where merchandise
can be bought (TheWeekndVEVO, 2015).
Hotline Bling—Drake A call center with women wearing uniform clothing is shown
until the video cuts to the first scene showing Drake dancing in a color-changing
room. Drake is wearing four different outfits throughout the whole video displaying
different and easily recognizable fashion brands, such as Moncler, Nike or his own
merchandise label October’s Very Own. The main style can be classified as very laid
back with sporty elements. No link to his own merchandise store can be found in the
description box, even though he is wearing the merchandise in his video. The video
garnered a lot attention and a total amount of eight articles about the clothes, that
Drake wears in the video, were found (Drake, 2015).
As for 2016, the first placed song “One Dance” by hip-hop artist Drake had to be
neglected because no official music video was released, despite its’ popularity. The
fourth ranked song “Needed Me” by Rihanna was bypassed as well, because another,
higher placing song from the artist was already chosen for this research. Also notable
is the placement of song “Hotline Bling” by Drake, that already placed eight in 2015,
but sixth in 2016. The song placed in the top ten for two consecutive years, which
stresses its’ relevance.
Panda—Desiigner In Desiigner’s music video (Desiigner, 2016) the musician is

seen dancing and singing in the scenes while witnessing violent crime scenes. He
is wearing all black clothing with flashy golden and shiny jewelry as accent pieces.
Swiss luxury watchmaker Rolex is mentioned in the lyrics.
Work—Rihanna Featuring Drake Rihanna and Drake are exiting expensive cars
and entering a club, where people are either wearing revealing or very eye-catching
clothing. Different scenes of people dancing, including Rihanna, are shown through-
out the video. Rihanna herself is wearing conspicuous and colorful clothing with
an excessive amount of jewelry as well as gold and silver items. The focus point
of her style in the music video is the accessories. Drake’s own merchandise label
“October’s Very Own” was easily recognized. Rihanna’s fashion in the video was
also the topic of eleven online articles (Rihanna, 2016).
Me, Myself and I—G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha The main protagonist and also main
artist G-Eazy finds himself at a party with a large amount of people, only to realize
that he still feels lonely. The musician wears simple clothing. The overall black
clothing is styled with few silver accessories and patches. Well-known luxury brand
Yves Saint Laurent is mentioned in the song’s lyrics (G-Eazy, 2015).
Broccoli—D.R.A.M. Featuring Lil Yachty The video starts off in a swamp, where
D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty are rapping, other scenes at a party are inserted as well. The
style worn is color-coordinated with mostly pastel colors and white shown. The main
fashion item that can be seen in every scene of the video is the same baseball cap,
but in different colors, with a “W” at the front. Several mentions of fashion-related
items can be found in the songs’ lyrics, mostly about expensive accessories, such as
“Golden diamond teeth wearing” (DRAM, 2016).
Don’t—Bryson Tiller Bryson Tiller is walking through the streets at night making
his way to a girl, that he desires to be with. He is mostly wearing black, white and
gray colors. The pieces that stand out most are his baseball cap with “KENTUCKY
LIFE” written on it and his jewelry. Branded fashion items by Nike and Beats by
Dr. Dre, who is a fellow hip-hop musician, can be seen throughout the video (Tiller,
2015).
No songs had to be skipped in 2017, and the overall palette of the year-end charts
seemed broader than in the last two years.
That’s What I Like—Bruno Mars The video evolves around Bruno Mars dancing
in a light-changing room dancing to the music. Different editing effects are used to
emphasize the music and dancing. The video is taken in one-take. The clothing can be
classified as simple and casual with accessories like his sunglasses or jewelry. Addi-
tionally, the lyrics contain fashion-related mentions of expensive accessory items
like “Gold jewelry shining so bright” an “Everything 24 karats.” In the description
box, a link to the Bruno Mars official Webstore is set and a call to “Pick up the 24K
Magic World Tour Collection” is made. The clothes Bruno Mars wore in video was
topic of four articles found online (Mars, 2017).
Humble—Kendrick Lamar The music video shows a variety of scenes from reli-
gious rituals to fight scenes on the streets. From all analyzed videos, it is the one with
the largest amount of scenes and hence the one with the highest number of different
outfits. The main styles of the video show the musician wearing all black or all white
outfits, whereas the most eye-catching style must be his religious robe. Kendrick
Lamar’s own merchandise label was easily recognized, as he wore a white shirt with
the songs’ album called “DAMN.” on it. The artist also included the name of fashion
brand “Polo Ralph Lauren” in his lyrics. No link to his own merchandise store can
be found in the description box, even though he is wearing the merchandise in his
video. A total amount of four articles were written about Kendrick Lamar’s clothes
from the video (Lamar, 2017).
I’m The One—DJ Khaled Featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper,
Lil Wayne DJ Khaled (2017) is throwing a party at his luxury mansion with the
featuring singers and rappers. The color-coordinated clothes that the main artist is
wearing are accordingly adjusted to the very colorful and saturated appearance of the
music video. There are quite a few mentions of well-known luxury fashion brands
in the songs’ lyrics such as “Chanel” and “Gucci.” One article about the shoes DJ
Khaled wore in the video was written.
Bad and Boujee—Migos Featuring Lil Uzi Vert Migos are entering a Diner and
are rapping while drinking expensive champagne. The food in the contrary can be
considered as rather cheap, as they are just eating instant ramen and fried chicken.
Migos’ style fits very well with the music video concept as a contradictory mixture
of less expensive and more simple clothes with an abundance of luxury accessories
and brands are shown. The lyrics contains multiple annotations if luxury brands such
as “Gucci” or “Rollie” which stands for the Swiss luxury watch brand Rolex The
description box offers a link to the official merchandise shop. An article about the
clothes Migos wore in the video was found online (Migos, 2016).
Unforgettable—French Montana Featuring Swae Lee
The music video starts off with showing scenes of a rural area and cuts right to French
Montana and Swae Lee dancing with locals. French Montana is wearing a mostly
white outfit which makes him stand out from the crowd, that is dressed in a colorful
manner. Fashion-related items are mentioned in the song lyrics such as “24 karats.”
The description box contains a link to French Montana’s online merchandise store
(French Montana, 2017).
8.4 Music Videos from the Most Fashion-Influential Artists
8.4.1 Summary of the Most Viewed Songs by Kanye West
I Love It—Kanye West and Lil Pump Featuring Adele Givens The video is
structured very simply. The musicians are dancing and singing in a gray hallway,
that has LED lights along the way. Both main rappers wear eye-catching big and boxy
costumes with oversized chains around their necks. The costume Kanye West wears
is dark green and gray, paired with oversized Velcro slippers. The brand Donda, that
manufactures jewelry, as well as Kanye West’s own collaboration shoes with brand
Adidas can be recognized in the video. Two fashion-related mentions about jewelry
were part of the song’s lyrics. The description box features a link to an online shop
for Lil Pump’s clothing brand. Despite being the only outfit worn in the video the
extraordinary clothing attracted a lot of attention and was topic of 13 articles, that
were found online (Lil Pump, 2018).
Stronger—Kanye West The futuristic music video takes place in Japan. Kanye
West can be seen escaping from an unknown institution. His outfit is kept simple, the
only eye-catching pieces are his white Yves Saint Laurent shirt and the white shutter
sunglasses. The artist mentions multiple luxury fashion brands in his lyrics, such as
Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and BAPE. He also included the name of his former
and first own clothing brand Pastellé. His outfits and especially the white shutter
sunglasses he wears garnered a lot of attention. Five articles about his fashion pieces
worn in the video were found online.
Ni**as in Paris—Kanye West and Jay-Z Kanye West and Jay-Z perform the song
on a stage with a large crowd. The music video is filled with light effects and shots
from the audience. Kanye West is wears black and white clothing with accents set
on his leather clothing pieces. The only brand that can be recognized in the video
is apparel from the New York Yankees. Most of the fashion-related song verses are
either about expensive watches or luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and
Maison Margiela. One article about the fashion items worn in the video was found
(West, 2012).
8.4.2 Summary of the Most Viewed Songs by A$AP Rocky
F**kin’ Problems—A$AP Rocky featuring Drake, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar

The music video shows the artists rapping in a gray room with multiple women
dancing to the music. A$AP Rocky wears mostly black and white clothing. The
fashion item that sticks out the most is his dark blue coat. The description box offers
a link to the artist’s official Web site, that also leads to a merchandise store. A total
amount of three articles about the outfits in the video were found online. Only one
verse, that is related to fashion could be found in the song’s lyrics (A$AP Rocky,
2012).
Praise The Lord (Da Shine)—A$AP Rocky Featuring Skepta The videos show
main protagonists A$AP Rocky and Skepta wandering their hometowns in Harlem
and London. They are filmed while rapping in apartments and on the streets. Main
artist A$AP Rocky wears overall black and white fashion with color accents on yellow
and green. The focus lays on excessive jewelry especially pearls and diamonds. Two
brands could be recognized in the video, the first one being The North Face and the
second one being Nike. There was a total amount of five fashion-related mentions
in the lyrics, from luxury brands like Dior to skate- and streetwear brands like Vans.
A link to the creative agency founded by A$AP Rocky, where clothing is available,
was set into the description box. Only one article about the clothing items featured
in the music video was found online (A$AP Rocky, 2018).
L$D (LOVE x $EX x DREAMS)—A$AP Rocky The video follows A$AP Rocky
through a journey under the influence of drugs. The video describes the love between
the musician and his lover, played by Jewelry designer Yoon Ahn. The music video
also contains a snippet of the first verse from another featured song on the same
album called “Excuse Me.” Consequently, the first verse of the featured song was
also included for the analysis of the lyrics. The clothes in the video were mostly
kept black and white with focus on his golden jewelry as stand-out pieces. The most
eye-catching outfit was shown in scene 5, as the camel coat and overall classy outfit
differed from the styles shown in other scenes. The designer clothes from Raf Simons
and Sterling Ruby can be recognized in the video. There was a total amount of three
fashion-related lyrical lines in the video and three articles about the outfits worn in
the video were found (A$AP Rocky, 2015).
8.4.3 Summary of the Most Viewed Songs by Travis Scott
Antidote—Travis Scott Travis Scott’s music video starts off at a deserted and
abandoned place. The video mainly consists of cars and women wearing black and
neon clothing. The musician is wearing streetstyle clothing with jackets as his stand-
out pieces. The only brand that could be recognized was Adidas. A total amount of
five articles were written about the clothing worn in the video.
Goosebumps—Travis Scott Featuring Kendrick Lamar The setting of the music

video is at a party. The music video is filled with a numerous amount of special effects.
He wears black clothing with focus on jewelry as accent pieces. The clothing item
that stands out the most is the Puffer Jacket with the Playboy logo as pattern. There
is only one fashion-related line in the lyrics.
SICKO MODE—Travis Scott Featuring Drake SICKO MODE shows typical

scenes on the street with Travis Scott and his friends. The outfit that stands out the
most, was the one in the classroom as it combines streetwear pieces such as the Axel
Arigato cap and the blue jeans with formal attire like his brown suit jacket and tie.
Four brands were recognized as well as eight fashion references were made in the
video. The description box featured a link to Travis Scott’s official merchandise store
and five articles were written about the fashion items worn in the video.
8.5 Discussion
For the years 2015–2017 an increase in the number of outfits can be seen. While
in 2015 an average of merely 2.8 outfits per video was recorded, the number of
shown styles almost doubled until 2017. Surprisingly Kanye West, the artist that
is considered as the most influential hip-hop musician, showed the least amount of
styles compared to other influential artists and even less than the music videos of
the year 2015-2017 with an average of only 1.67 outfits per video. With an average
of 7 outfits per video, Travis Scott had the highest number of outfits per video,
while influential artist A$AP Rocky had an average of five outfits shown per video
(Fig. 8.1).
Figure 8.2 shows the average number of articles about the fashion in the video.
The years 2015, 2016 and 2017 showed a rather similar average outcome in numbers,
with about 1.8, 2.2 and 2.0 articles per video. Influential artists A$AP Rocky and
Travis Scott had an average of 2.3 and the latter 3.3 articles per video. The result
that stood out the most is the average of influential artist Kanye West, who had an
average of 9.7 articles per video. The large difference between Kanye West and the
other results is remarkable. Although Kanye West showed the least amount of styles
in his music video, the outfit seemed to have attracted the most attention. The low
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2015 2016 2017 Kanye West A$AP Rocky Travis Scott
Fig. 8.1 Average number of outfits per video
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Fig. 8.2 Average number of articles written about the fashion in the video
number in outfits per video might had a positive effect on the number of articles
about the fashion in the video (Table. 8.1).
The table above shows the number of styles that appeared in the music video, as
well as the number of articles that were written about the fashion in the video. The
four music videos that attracted the most attention in fashion media were “Stronger,”
“I Love It,” “Work” and “Hotline Bling.” The fourth column in this table shows the
number of articles per style, this was created to see whether the number of styles
shown in the video has an effect on the number of articles written in the video. The
hypothesis that a high number of outfits results in higher traffic in fashion media
turned out to be incorrect as a high or low number of styles did not directly influence
the amount of traffic in the fashion media. Videos that show a high number of styles
like “SICKO MODE,” “Humble.” or “Bad and Boujee,” for example, had a less
amount of articles written about the fashion, compared to music videos “Stronger”
Table 8.1 Analysis result for number of styles and articles of 2015–2017
Music video Number of styles Articles about the Number of articles per
fashion in the video style
See You Again 3 0 0.00
Trap Queen 3 0 0.00
Watch Me 3 1 0.33
The Hills 1 0 0.00
Hotline Bling 4 8 2.00
Panda 2 0 0.00
Work 3 11 3.67
Me, Myself & I 2 0 0.00
Broccoli 4 0 0.00
Don’t 4 0 0.00
That’s What I Like 1 4 4.00
Humble. 11 4 0.36
I’m The One 3 1 0.33
Bad and Boujee 7 1 0.14
Unforgettable 3 0 0.00
I Love It 1 13 13.00
Stronger 3 15 5.00
Ni**as In Paris 1 1 1.00
F**kin’ Problems 3 3 1.00
Praise The Lord 6 1 0.17
L$D 6 3 0.50
Antidote 3 5 1.67
Goosebumps 5 0 0.00
SICKO MODE 13 5 0.38
or “I Love It.” The former had three and the latter had one article written about the
outfits worn in the video. Although the hypothesis could not be proven as right, a
low or moderate amount of outfits shown in the video could result in a more focused
view on the shown products of the consumer. And hence an increasing demand on
the pieces is shown (Fig. 8.3).
Overall an increase of fashion-related lines in the lyrics between the years 2015-
2017 can be observed. In 2015 an average of only 0.2 lines per video was recorded,
whereas there was an average of one line in the lyrics per video for 2016 and an
average of 2.6 lines in 2017. It is noticeable, that the influential artists include more
fashion-related song lines in their lyrics in comparison to the artists of the billboard
charts. Kanye West is the artist that featured the highest number of fashion-related
lines in his songs with an average of four lines per record. A$AP Rocky and Travis
Scott included an average of three fashion-related song lines. The amount of fashion-
related song lines in the lyrics may have a positive aspect on the artists influence on
fashion as it can link an artist to a specific mentioned brand. Kanye West mentioned
luxury brand Louis Vuitton in his song “Stronger” and collaborated with the brand
in 2009 on a sneaker collection, as well as A$AP Rocky who mentioned Dior in his
song “Praise The Lord” and is now the new face of Dior Homme, and lastly Travis
Scott mentioned sportswear brand Nike in his song “SICKO MODE” and is now
collaborating with Nike on the Air Force 1. Therefore, the number of brand names in
the song lyrics can have an impact on the collaborations or sponsorship an artist can
receive, as seen before with hip-hop group Run DMC who received a sponsorship
from Adidas after the release of their song “My adidas,” that featured the brand’s
name 22 times (Fig. 8.4).
5
4
3
2
1
0
Fig. 8.3 Average number of fashion-related song lines
4
3
2
1
0
Fig. 8.4 Average number of recognized brands

The table above shows the average number of recognized brands. In 2016, the
lowest average of recognized brands was recorded. On average, only 0.6 brands could
be recognized per video. Whereas in 2015 and 2016 slightly more brands could be
recognized, in the former one brand and in the latter 1.2 brands were recognized.
Influential artists A$AP Rocky and Kanye West’s music videos showed an average
of 1.3 recognizable brands per video. The most noticeable figure is the average of
recognizable brands in Travis Scott’s music videos. He showed an average of three
recognizable brands per video, which is more than the double amount of the two
other influential artists on the list.
Figure 8.5 portrays the standardized distribution of the fashion influence index in
descending order. The first spot shows that music video “SICKO MODE” by Travis
Scott is the most fashionable out of all music videos, followed by music videos
“Stronger,” “Bad and Boujee,” “I Love It” and “Humble.” The least fashionable
music videos were “The Hills,” “Me, Myself and I”) and “Panda.” An overall even
distribution of music videos from mainstream hip-hop artists and fashion-influential
artists can be seen (Fig. 8.6).
Fig. 8.5 Fashion influence index of each music video
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Fig. 8.6 Average fashion influence index

The table that is shown above shows the average fashion influence index by
category. An obvious increase between 2015 and 2017 can be observed. This implies,
that the awareness of being fashionable has grown over the past three years. In 2015
music videos were in average the least fashionable with a fashion influence index of
14. The following year the fashion influence index increased to 16 and rose to 28 in
2017. Out of the influential artists A$AP Rocky’s music videos had the lowest value,
with 31 whereas Travis Scott and Kanye West’s music videos turned out to have the
highest fashion influence index with 42.
8.6 Outlook
The goal of this paper was to find out in what way hip-hop music videos influence the
fashion industry. It was analyzed whether there are differences between the music
videos of fashion entrepreneurs Kanye West, Travis Scott and A$AP Rocky and the
artists of mainstream popular hip-hop/rap music. The idea that the number of outfits
shown in a video increases the chance of heightened fashion media appearance
could not be supported. Showing less styles in a video could rather shift the focus
on specific eye-catching pieces that attract fashion media. The findings also showed
that the number of fashion-related song lines and the number of recognized brands
in the video is higher with the fashion-influential artists. Increasing the chance of
sponsorships or collaborations with the named brands. Overall an increase in fashion
awareness over the past three years in the hip-hop genre is noticeable. It was difficult
to find contemporary scientific literature, as the phenomenon of the influence of
hip-hop in fashion, is a relatively new one and few people specialize in this field.
It was also hard to find corresponding literature, apart from online sources, about
collaborations between fashion brands and hip-hop artists. During the process of
selecting the videos, billboard merely offered a year-end chart that featured both
hip-hop and R&B records. As this paper refers to the influence of hip-hop and
rap, a separate chart that featured only hip-hop and/or only rap charts would have
been preferred. Sometimes no music video for the songs could be found, which was
unfortunate, as this paper wanted to feature the most popular music records of the
years 2015–2017. As Pharrell Williams is heavily involved in producing music for
other artist, rather than for himself, it was hard to find music videos where he did
not only feature but was the lead artist in but were his records. Many videos had
to be skipped. And many music videos were either of the Pop genre or Funk/Soul.
The number of videos was limited as well, because the extent of this paper was
restricted. Only 24 videos in total were analyzed. For a more precise analysis and
to review aspects that have an influence on the fashion influence index a lot more
videos would have had to be examined. Also, during the process of analyzing the
music videos, colors were often hard to distinguish because of different filming
effects like colored lightning, or heavy editing effects. In many scenes, the outfits
weren’t completely visible, which made the distinction between different styles and
scenes difficult. The number of criteria for the analysis had to be limited as well.
Instead of a strong conclusion, this paper hopes to stimulate further investigation in

the research of the consumption of music videos and their influence on fashion. It
would be desirable to write a paper about this topic on a bigger scale and maybe in
corporation with mentioned brands from the lyrics or recognized brands in the video,
as mostly no data for the brands’ sales for specific items in the video could be found,
hence this aspect had to be overlooked for the analysis. Since social media platform
“Instagram” launched their own video service “IGTV” in 2018, many artists started
posting their music videos and also different advertising content on the platform. A
further investigation on how this could affect the way fashion is portrayed by the
artists, could be made in the future.
References
A$AP Rocky. (2012). A$AP ROCKY-F**kin’ Problems ft. Drake, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZm1im2erU.
A$AP Rocky. (2015). A$AP Rocky-L$D (LOVE x $EX x DREAMS). Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=yEG2VTHS9yg.
A$AP Rocky. (2018). A$AP Rocky-Praise The Lord (Da Shine) (Official Video) ft. Skepta.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbj2Zss-5GY.
Adaso, H. (2018, July 19). The History of Hip-Hop: 1925 to Now. Retrieved December 14, 2018,
from https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-hip-hop-1925-to-now-2857353.
Atkinson, S. (2016, September 21). Music video history: A complete breakdown. Retrieved Novem-
ber 25, 2018, from https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/09/21/history-music-videos/.
Bakula, D. (2014, April 22). Behind the music (video): How important are videos to both artists
and brands? Retrieved January 3, 2019, from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/
behind-the-music-video-how-important-are-videos-to-both-artists-and-brands.
Bruner, R. (2018, January 25). How rap became the sound of the mainstream. Time. Retrieved from
http://time.com/5118041/rap-music-mainstream/.
Desiigner. (2016). Desiigner-Panda (official music video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=E5ONTXHS2mM.
DJ Khaled. (2017). DJ Khaled-I’m The One ft. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weeI1G46q0o.
Drake. (2015). Drake-Hotline Bling. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-
4Mc.
DRAM. (2016). DRAM-Broccoli feat. Lil Yachty (official music video). Retrieved from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K44j-sb1SRY.
Englis, B. G. (1991). Music television and its influences on consumers, consumer culture,
and the transmission of consumption messages. Advances in Consumer Research, 18(1),
111–114. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=
6522173&lang=de&site=eds-live&authtype=shib.
Eshun, E. (2015, July 28). How hip-hop style critiques society. Retrieved December 24, 2018, from
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150728-how-hip-hop-style-critiques-society.
Ferguson, N. S., & Burkhalter, J. N. (2015). Yo, DJ, That’s My Brand: An examination of consumer
response to brand placements in hip-hop music. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 47–57. https://doi.
org/10.1080/00913367.2014.935897.
Ferrier, M. (2018, March 31). The rise and rise of Kanye West’s influence on fashion. The
Observer. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/31/kanye-west-rise-
fashion-virgil-abloh-louis-vuitton.
Fetty Wap. (2014). Fetty Wap-Trap Queen (official video) Prod. By Tony Fadd. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_kF4zLNKio.
French Montana. (2017). French Montana-Unforgettable ft. Swae Lee. Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=CTFtOOh47oo.
G-Eazy. (2015). G-Eazy x Bebe Rexha-Me, Myself & I (official music video). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfpSOBD30U.
Business of Fashion. (n.d.). Kanye West is one of the 500 People Shaping the Global Fashion
Industry in 2018. (n.d.). Retrieved January 3, 2019, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/
community/people/kanye-west.
Lamar, K. (2017). Kendrick Lamar-HUMBLE. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tvTRZJ-4EyI.
Laurence, R. (2014, October 21). 40 years on from the party where hip hop was born. Retrieved
December 14, 2018, from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130809-the-party-where-hip-
hop-was-born.
Lil Pump. (2018). Kanye West & Lil Pump ft. Adele Givens-“I Love It” (official music video).
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwQgjq0mCdE.
Maoui, Z. (2018, February 22). How music influences fashion. Retrieved December 16, 2018, from
https://theidleman.com/manual/life/music/how-music-influences-fashion/.
Mars, B. (2017). Bruno Mars-That’s What I Like (official video). Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M.
McIntyre, H. (2017, September 27). Report: YouTube is the most popular site for on-demand music
streaming. Retrieved January 3, 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/
09/27/the-numbers-prove-it-the-world-is-listening-to-the-music-it-loves-on-youtube/.
Migos, A. T. L. (2016). Migos-Bad and Boujee ft Lil Uzi Vert (official video). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-sJp1FfG7Q.
Morency, C. (2018, May 21). Why rappers are fashion’s new royalty. Retrieved December 28,
2018, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/the-new-kings-and-queens-
of-fashion-kanye-west-asap-rocky-cardi-b.
Rihanna. (2016). Rihanna-Work (Explicit) ft. Drake. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=HL1UzIK-flA.
Silentó. (2015). Silentó-Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) (official music video). Retrieved from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjW8wmF5VWc.
Stolworthy, J. (2017, August 11). History of Hip Hop: How did this underground move-
ment begin and when did it hit the mainstream? The Independent. Retrieved December 14,
2018, from https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/history-of-hip-hop-
music-new-york-dj-kool-herc-google-doodle-clive-cindy-campbell-a7887501.html.
Strähle, J. (2018). Fashion and music. Singapore: Springer Nature.
Street, M. (2016, June 15). How A$AP Rocky Became The Face of Luxury Fashion. Retrieved Jan-
uary 3, 2019, from https://www.complex.com/style/2016/06/how-asap-rocky-became-the-face-
of-luxury-fashion.
TheWeekndVEVO. (2015). The Weeknd-The Hills. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=yzTuBuRdAyA.
Tiller, B. (2015). Bryson Tiller-Don’t (explicit version). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=d7cVLE4SaN0.
West, K. (2009). Kanye West-Stronger. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
PsO6ZnUZI0g.
West, K. (2012). Jay-Z & Kanye West-Ni**as In Paris (Explicit). Retrieved from https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=gG_dA32oH44.
Woolf, J. (2016, February 11). The Unabridged History of Kanye West as Fashion Designer.
Retrieved January 4, 2019, from https://www.gq.com/gallery/the-unabridged-history-of-kanye-
west-as-fashion-designerand-the-11-year-road-to-todays-adidas-show.
tion models to build textile business market information systems.” He is Professor of Fashion Mar-
keting at Reutlingen University in Germany since 2000 and founding Dean of the B.Sc. program
International Fashion Retail since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the marketing and marketing research
courses as Full Professor for one semester at the College of Business at Valparaiso University, IN,
USA. Before his university time, he worked as Sales Forecasting Consultant for numerous mainly
European-based fashion and textiles companies like adidas France and adidas Headquarters, Ger-
many. He gained additional consultancy and teaching experience outside Europe in USA, China,
Peru, and Morocco.
Thi Quynh Anh Dao is a student at the School of Textiles and Design at Reutlingen University
since 2018. She has worked for Memoture Munich and Holy AG and is also Co-Founder of the
non-profit organization “Kunst mit Herz”. Starting in September 2019, she will study one semester
abroad at Yonsei University, Seoul.
Part III
New Use of Films in Fashion Commerce
Chapter 9
Fashion Show Films
Peter Bug and Martha Windhab
9.1 Literature on Fashion Show Films
I make a connection with moving image, I found it much easier to feel emotion when there
is moving image. It feels more content rich, you can’t engage with something until it moves
and brings alive. It’s an undefinable magic. Clothes are made to be shown on a body in
movement. (Franklin, 2015 as cited in Oonk, 2015, 31)
Especially during fashion weeks, pictures and videos of models presenting the
designer’s new collection can be seen all over the digital world. Like Franklin stated,
fashion show films can show the audience much more than a still image. A video
can transmit the emotions of fashion shows more easily because the garments dis-
play their effects not until worn in movement. Since the increase of technological
possibilities, videos gain importance for marketing strategies of fashion brands. Via
social media those videos are spread virally and can reach a wider audience. Nowa-
days fashion brands with fashion shows implement fashion show films into their
marketing strategies. The aim of this research is to investigate how fashion brands
communicate their brand concept and personality through fashion show films. We
present the opinion of scientific literature, count how many fashion brands implement
fashion show films into their marketing strategies, and analyze the YouTube channels
of 50 fashion brands. To investigate how fashion brands communicate their concept
and personality, ten fashion show films are looked at by selected criteria. Results will
help to carve out how fashion brands communicate through fashion show film and
how they gain more brand awareness.
A fashion show is “an event where the latest fashion, fabric, and color trends in
apparel and accessories are presented, using live models, to an audience” (Everett
P. Bug · M. Windhab (B)

e-mail: martha.windhab@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_9
178 P. Bug and M. Windhab
& Swanson, 2013, p. 5). Since the mass production industry in the nineteenth cen-
tury ready-to-wear manufacturers also used fashion shows to increase the sales of
their collection and to distribute their design concepts (Everett & Swanson, 2013).
Accomplishing an increase of the brand’s publicity and to gain new customers, the
designer Paul Poiret hosted a presentation of his collection exclusively for the press
for the first time (Vilaseca, 2010) because he recognized the importance of print
media. Moreover, he also became aware of the possibilities of moving image. Poiret
used film clips of the fashion shows as a marketing tool (Kühl, 2015). He showed
commented videos of his designs in the big cities of America (Kühl, 2015, p. 122).
Apart from the screenings for a selected audience, it became customary since 1910
to show movie clips of fashion shows in the newsreels in the cinemas (Evans, 2011).
In the course of time, the fashion show which was at the beginning a simple method
to present the new collections to clients (Everett & Swanson, 2013) has evolved into
a spectacle and is no longer only a sales-promotional instrument but rather is used
as a marketing tool (Kühl, 2015). The designers understand that the fashion show
is one of the most exciting and dramatic forms of promotion and to get the media’s
and the public’s attention to view and buy the new collection (Everett & Swanson,
2013).
By the developments of digital media such as social media the “fashion show
audience participation was expanded to anyone with a television or Internet access
by the end of the twentieth century” (Everett & Swanson, 2013). Since 1997 fashion
shows were broadcasted on channels like Fashion TV (Kühl, 2015). Victoria’s Secret
announced their live show which was broadcasted on the Internet to the audience of
the Superbowl in 1999 (Everett & Swanson, 2013). This attracted the attention of
so many people that afterward the communication system was overloaded (Everett
& Swanson, 2013). Kühl (2015) states that since then the Internet use of fashion
brands has changed. All current Internet potentials are used: Online shopping, live
broadcasts, blogging, as well as using social media Web sites. According to Everett
& Swanson (2013), there are many new ways to get involved into fashion shows and
events in the fashion industry nowadays. Consumers all over the world can watch the
new designer’s collection live via the Internet (Everett & Swanson, 2013). Andersson
& Jandér (2016) state that “the fashion industry is experiencing a change as a result of
the explosion of social media” (Andersson & Jandér, 2016, p. 2). They also highlight
the importance for fashion brands to include social media in their marketing strategy
to survive the “insta-culture.” Oonk (2015) adds that the development from the
physical space to the digital milieu required a change from the passive brand–client
relationship to an interactive, two-way communication. According to that, there is
an importance for designers to show their new design concepts via Internet. After
Everett & Swanson (2013) runway show videos are one of the most useful methods for
designers to present their new garments to an audience. Since 2000, fashion designers
started recording their fashion shows in mass numbers, which appeared on specific
television channels or on YouTube (Everett & Swanson, 2013). According to Lin
(2016) major brands such as Givenchy, Chanel and Alexander Wang begun posting
their fashion shows on YouTube in order to gain attention and create memorable
brands. She also claimed that fashion show films can reach a much wider audience
9 Fashion Show Films 179
than live fashion shows could ever reach. Films of fashion shows become accessible
to everyone. Moreover, a video can also show details of the garments (Helbing, 2012).
Another advantage after Oonk (2015) which comes along the fashion show film is
that today the viewers are more likely to share content on their social media channels
when they can be part of a big experience. Consequently, this leads to more exposure
to the brand (Oonk, 2015). Lange (2012) adds that fashion brands have the chance of
a giant range and free distribution due to the moving image in the Internet with low
production costs. Lin (2016) questions if catwalk films may replace the live shows
when the audience can gain the same understanding of the design concept. However,
through a film, the viewer can only see the restricted view of the cameraman (Kühl,
2015). Moreover, in films the whole reality cannot be shown. When reproducing the
reality, only a cutout can be portrayed which is shaped by technology (Mikos, 2008).
This also applies to fashion show films because only in a live fashion show one is
able to see and experience the atmosphere of the live event (Kühl, 2015).
Fashion show films are published regularly in course of new collections of design-
ers and fashion brands which present the new design concepts. Everett & Swanson
(2013) state that fashion show videos are a recording of designer’s fashion shows
which are published in mass numbers since 2000. Min, Koo, & DeLong (2015) define
fashion show films as a sort of electronic media consisting of sounds, languages, and
visual images, “which are recorded as a show viewer sees it, but with more close-up
details” (Min et al., 2015, p. 76). Min et al. (2015) find out that for fashion show films
stories and language do not play an important role compared to other films. Accord-
ing to them, those videos show primarily the models, their clothes and accessories.
They perceive that fashion show videos are shot in eye-level which has little effect
on the viewer (Min et al., 2015). However, this observation has to be questioned.
Distinguishing fashion show films from other films which convey fashion informa-
tion to an audience such as fashion films is difficult because there is no authoritative
definition of fashion films (Oonk, 2015; Schuller, 2017). Min et al. (2015) observe
that those types of fashion presentation are different according to camera angles,
storylines, nonverbal language and also verbal language.
According to Okonkwo (2007), fashion shows offer brands the chance to com-
municate their new design concepts as well as their values and brand personality.
“The brand concept is simply the birth of a brand, in other words, the overall idea
behind the creation of the brand” (Okonkwo, 2007). The most visible aspect of a
brand concept is the brand name. Apart from that, the brand logo, colors, shapes, the
brand’s history and the country of origin also reflect the brand concept (Okonkwo,
2007). The brand identity answers the question who the brand truly is and how the
consumers see the brand. It is composed of the brand image and the brand person-
ality. The brand image is how consumers perceive the brand and on the other hand,
brand personality is how the brand characterizes itself. By hosting fashion shows and
publishing them as videos on social platforms brands want to gain brand awareness.
Okonkwo (2007) states that the brand awareness is when the brand goes public. To
create brand awareness, the brand has to be visible. “This means achieving a high
level of exposure for the brand among its target consumer audience” (Okonkwo,
2007, p. 114) by placing the brand to be seen.
9.2 Fashion Show Analysis Method
According to literature, over the last few years, there have been more analysis of
fashion films than fashion show films. One current object of research is how moods
and atmospheres in fashion show films seem to the viewer when publishing them in
the Internet (Lehnert, 2013). Some studies analyze the difference of effects between
fashion films and fashion show films: Min et al. (2015) discover the difference in
perception, cognition and memory when watching fashion films compared to fashion
show films. The results of their research indicate that viewers can easier percept,
cognize and memorize information of fashion show films than from fashion films.
Perception, cognition and memory cooperate better for the understanding of this
media. A similar study was conducted by Lin (2016). Furthermore, other methods
are often used analyzing commercials and advertising videos (Kohlberg, 2014). These
methods concentrate on the understanding and experiencing of the recipients when
analyzing films (Hickethier, 2007). According to Hickethier (2007), there are 5 major
steps to analyze a film:
1. First view—subjective comprehension of the film
2. Hypothesis of interpretation
3. Analysis of the film structure, the filmic design, forms of expression and
4. semantics
5. Investigation of the film contexts
6. Summary—Identification of relations between analysis results.
Hickethier (2007) claims that in a film analysis it is firstly investigated how persons
and objects are presented. Those film pictures are shown in different camera shots.
In this research, a selection of 5 camera shots according to Katz (1991, pp. 121–129)
is presented which are important for the analysis of fashion show films: The long
shot (1) includes models and the surroundings. In the full shot (2) the entire body of
a model is shown. The medium shot (3) includes the body of a model from the hips
to the head. The close-up (4) includes head and shoulders of a model or it frames an
object. In the extreme close-up (5), a small detail fills the screen. Camera movements,
zooming and perspectives also have important functions in a film (Hickethier, 2007):
The horizontal camera movement is called panning. Therefore, the camera is able to
follow the person’s movement. Tilting (up or down) means the vertical movement
of the camera (Katz, 1991). As a filmic means, slow motion is used to make fast
movements more visible (Hickethier, 2007). Music releases emotions and effects
with the other filmic means the viewer’s experience (Hickethier, 2007).
The first part of the analysis provides an overview how often fashion brands
include fashion show films into their marketing strategies. For this purpose, the
YouTube channels of the 50 most valuable fashion brands of 2016 according to fash-
ionunited.com are analyzed. Shoe and accessories manufacturers as well as retailers
are excluded because most of them do not include fashion show films into their mar-
keting strategies. Hence, these brands are not relevant for this analysis. To get an
overview how common fashion show films are, the YouTube channels of these 50
brands are investigated if they published fashion show films on their channel. After-
ward, those 50 brands are classified into luxury brands, premium brands, brands
which are specialized on activewear, and high-street brands. The classification of
fashion brands in different categories is difficult and there is no standardized proce-
dure for the classification. In this research, the brands are classified in four categories
by following aspects. Firstly, the retail prices of the brands are compared. This pro-
cedure provides an approximate classification of the brand in the categories luxury,
premium and high street. If available, the brand’s statement on its webpage about its
brand identity is considered as well. Afterward, the sport brands are distinguished
by investigating the product range. Counting the fashion show films on the different
YouTube channels and calculating the average gives an impression in which category
fashion show films do play an important role.
To investigate how fashion brands communicate their concept and personality
through fashion show films, ten fashion show films are analyzed in the analysis part.
For selecting 10 fashion show films of different brands the following criteria were
applied: Firstly, well-known brands are selected which highlight the effectiveness
of their marketing strategies. The selection of films should allow to distinguish dif-
ferences between the brand categories. Moreover, the latest fashion show films are
analyzed to achieve results which are up-to-date. Hence, only films of the fall/winter
2018/19 and spring/summer 2018 collection are analyzed. If a brand does not have a
current fashion show film, the newest film is considered. According to these criteria
following brands are chosen: Luxury: Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Burberry, Gucci;
Premium: Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret, Hugo Boss; High-street: H&M, Top-
shop; Activewear: Puma. The analysis of the chosen fashion show films follows an
adapted model of Hickethier (2007) for analyzing films:
Step 1, first view: The fashion show film is watched and the first comprehension of
the film is retained. This constitutes a basis for the following analysis.
Step 2, analysis by selected aspects: The following aspects have special importance
for the analysis of fashion show films (Fig. 9.1).
Firstly, the setting of the fashion show is described because it influences the whole
atmosphere of the film and the effects on the viewer. Afterward, one refers to the
presentation of the collection which contains the presentation of the models, their
movements and behavior, the most outstanding features of the collection and its
presentation as well as used props. Another part of the analysis are the references of
the setting, the collection, its presentation and the theme of the show to the brand. It is
also investigated which components of the brand concept (brand name, logo, colors,
symbols) are included in the film and how the brand presents itself. Supporting the
atmosphere and the effect of the show the filmic means play an important role. It is
investigated how brands use those means to support the desired effects. If existing,
special features are considered and how they create special situations and emotions.
Step 3, including additional information: In this step, statements of the brands
referring to their brand personality on their Web sites as well as reviews and comments
relating to the fashion show (film) are referred to the findings of step 2. This offers a
Fig. 9.1 Analysis aspects
better understanding of how the fashion show film is related to the brand itself and
how the film supports the brand image.
Step 4, summary of analysis results: The summary of the analysis results which
contain the most important findings is presented in the following chapter. The interim
results of the first analysis steps are not documented in the course of this research
because they are presented in the end results of the summary.
Now, the fashion show films have to be compared relating to effectiveness and
achievement of brand awareness. The clicks on YouTube counted and compared
giving an indicator which fashion show film was effective by gaining the most atten-
tion. Afterward, the analysis focuses on how the brands use fashion show films to
communicate their brand concept in order to gain brand awareness. Therefore, it is
analyzed how often one is able to see the brand name or logo in the film. Moreover,
it is investigated where the brands published the fashion show film. Therefore, the
brand’s webpage, YouTube channels, Instagram and Facebook profiles are searched.
Those four Web sites are chosen because brand Web sites provide direct access to
buy the products shown in the films and YouTube, Instagram and Facebook represent
popular social media sites.
9.3 Fashion Show Analysis Results
To get an overview of the importance of fashion show films for fashion brands, the
YouTube channels of 50 fashion brands are searched (Fig. 9.2).
This first analysis shows that 64% of the investigated fashion brands have pub-
lished fashion show films on their YouTube channels. It indicates that most fashion
brands record their fashion shows and publish them on the Internet. In contrast, only
36% of the brands do not have fashion show films on their channels. These brands
are mostly fashion brands of the categories activewear or high street, e.g., Nike, The
North Face, Uniqulo or Zara. On the contrary, most investigated luxury brands have
published fashion show films on YouTube. This is why we can suppose that fashion
show films play a more important role for the luxury section than for high-street
activewear brands. To test this assumption, YouTube channels are also examined
how much fashion show films those brands have on their channels. In order to see
differences between the categories, the 50 fashion brands were classified into luxury
brands, premium brands, activewear brands as well as brands from high street. To be
able to compare the categories the average of the result numbers for each category
is calculated (Fig. 9.3).
The results show that luxury brands publish the biggest number of fashion show
films on their YouTube channels, hence the first assumption can be supported. From
the investigated luxury fashion brands each brand has published an average of 36
fashion show films on its channel. Furthermore, premium brands have published
19 fashion show films and high-street brands have published only 9 fashion show
films on their YouTube channels. Activewear brands, they have published only 0.4
fashion show films on average per channel. From the chosen active wear brands,
only Puma has published fashion show films. This analysis gives an indication that
those brands do not often include fashion show films into their marketing strategies.
We could assert that a lot of the investigated luxury brands publish in addition to the
film of the whole fashion show, also short clips, highlights, time laps or films which
focus on details of the collection. They regularly publish their fashion shows and also
Fig. 9.2 Overview of

fashion show films on
YouTube
Fig. 9.3 Number of fashion show films on YouTube in categories
different films from one fashion show on their channel. Moreover, Victoria’s Secret,
which is classified as a premium brand, often publishes films with short clips of the
fashion show, concentrating on interviews with models or backstage clips. Those
films are not included in the result numbers because they do not focus on the fashion
show. But one can see that in the context of fashion show films there is a variety of
different types of fashion show films. As interim findings, one can summarize that
most fashion brands publish fashion show films on their YouTube channel, primarily
luxury brands, then premium brands and afterward high-street fashion brands. This
shows the relevance of fashion show films.
In the following, the most important findings of the analysis of 10 fashion show
films are presented focusing on the aspect setting, presentation of the collection,
filmic realization and special features referring to components of brand concept and
personality in order to answer the questions how fashion brands communicate their
concept and personality. In the reference list, the sources of the analyzed films are
listed (Tables 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9 and 9.10).
In the next step, we compare the effectiveness and achievement of brand aware-
ness. To measure which fashion show film reached the widest audience the YouTube
clicks of the films are compared on April 4, 2018 (Fig. 9.4).
This graphic shows that Chanel reached with 569 thousands the most clicks with
on YouTube of the analyzed films followed by Victoria’s Secret, Puma and Dolce &
Gabbana. The graphic shows that there is no specific category which reached the most
clicks but there are differences in between the categories. For example, in the luxury
section, Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana reached a wide audience whereas Burberry
and Gucci could not reach as many people. This difference can also be observed in
the premium category where Tommy Hilfiger could reach a few clicks on YouTube,
only, compared to the two other premium brands which is surprising. However, it is
clear that the brands from high-street reached the fewest viewers on average because
according to the analysis before fashion show films may not play the same role in
this category than for luxury or premium brands. To make statements of how fashion
Table 9.1 Film analysis—Dolce & Gabbana

Film components Components of brand concept,
personality
Setting – Set facade of a Sicilian – The impressive setting
church (Mower, 2018) referring to the Italian roots
– Angel statues of the brand
– Refer to brand concept. to
images of collection
Presentation of collection – Bag collection is presented – Drones as symbol of
by drones modernity, presenting brand
– Religious pictures and attitudes “the essence of the
symbols on garments and on brand lies in its contrasting
accessories (angels, feature” (‘Dolce & Gabbana,
Madonna, crosses, hearts) n.d.a)
– Brand logo and name on – Visualization of concept
garments, shoes and bags components (symbols
refer-ring to Italian catholic
roots)
– Brand concept components,
brand personality trait:
sensual and unique (‘Dolce
& Gabbana, n.d.b)
Filmic – Long shots – Visibility of setting, of brand
realization – Brand name, logo and concept components
symbols in close-up shots – Long view time of brand
concept and brand
personality components
Dolce and Gabbana (2018), F/W 2018/19, “Fashion Devotion,” length 19:44 min
Table 9.2 Film analysis—Chanel

personality
Setting – Autumnal forest landscape – Exuberant and elegant refers
to personality traits (Chanel,
2016)
Presentation of collection – Typical garments and – Brand concept components
accessories (e.g., tweed and expression of brand
jacket, pearl necklaces, black personality traits: decent,
mini dresses) elegant, classic (Chanel,
– Garments in muted colors; 2016)
bright colored accessories – Brand concept components
(e.g., gloves, scarfs)
– Brand name, logo shown
restrained on accessories
Filmic realization – Long shots and bird eye’s – Impressive setting is shown
view from different angles
– Accessories in close-up shots – Visibility of brand name and
logo
Chanel (2018)—F/W 2018/19, length 17:24 min
Table 9.3 Film analysis—Burberry

personality
Setting – Light fixtures in dark hall
move to music
Presentation – Brand name on title screen, – Components of brand concept
of collection on garments – British identity (Burberry,
– Trench coats and checked n.d.)
patterns; colors of the – Symbols inclusion and
rainbow on garments, vitality, referring to brand’s
rainbow patterns; model: support of LGBTQ
Cara Delevingne organizations
– Famous audience guests (e.g.,
Rihanna)
Filmic – Bird’s eye view – Gives an overview of the
realization – Brand name on title screen setting
– Component of brand concept
Burberry (2018)—F/W 2018/19, “Reflecting the past. Celebrating the present. Heralding the future,”
length 21:07 min
Table 9.4 Film analysis—Gucci

personality
Setting – Operating room with sterile – Setting suits to the vision
green colors and glaring theme
lights
– Bleeping sounds, vocal
catholic funeral hymns
Presentation of – Alienation of models (by, – Creation of experience world
collection e.g., masks, glasses, scarfs, which suits to “eclectic” and
make up) “innovative” brand
– Props (e.g., third eye on personality (‘About Gucci |
model’s forehead, baby Gucci Official Site United
dragon, replication of the States’, n.d.)
model’s forehead) – Visualization of components
– Gucci print and well-known of brand concept
green-red stripes on garments – Brand symbol
– Famous Gucci snake as a – High recognition value
replication
Filmic – Slow motion – Props relate to vision of show
realization – Close-up shots of the props and brand
– Logo in the corner of the – Long view time of brand logo
screen
Gucci (2018)—F/W 2018/19, “Cyborg,” length 7:21 min
Table 9.5 Film analysis—Tommy Hilfiger

personality
Setting – Racecourse in white, blue, – Brand concept components
red (colors)
– Racing cars and race drivers – Brand name is integrated into
in the middle of the hall the setting and visible the
– “Tommy drive now” shines whole film
bright over an archway
Presentation of collection – Sportive garments in red, – Brand colors as part of the
blue and white brand concept
– Well-known models, e.g., – Suits to American cool style
Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid of Hilfiger—refers to the
country of origin (‘Tommy
Hilfiger, n.d.)
Filmic realization – High angle position of long – Overview of setting with
shot brand concept components
– Fast cuts and electronic
music
Special features – Collaboration with Gigi
Hadid
Tommy Hilfiger (2018)—S/S 2018, “Tommy Drive Now,” 15:12 min
brands integrate their brand concepts which is a requirement to achieve more brand
awareness with fashion show films, it is calculated how frequently the brand name
or logo is seen in the film (Fig. 9.5).
It is remarkable that in the films of luxury, premium and activewear brands the
logos or brand names are shown the most often. In the fashion show film of Dolce
& Gabbana and Chanel their names and logos are visible the most often. In case
of Chanel, one is able to see the famous “CC”-logo on bags as well as in form
of earrings. There are differences in how well one is able to see the name or logo
and how long. Chanel shows their name and logo unobtrusively compared to Dolce
& Gabbana. In the Dolce & Gabbana’s film, the name and logo are eye-catching
on garments and shoes. However, there are also differences in the luxury category.
Compared to Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry and Gucci do not visualize
their brand name that often. These differences can also be observed in the case of
premium brands. In the fashion show film of Tommy Hilfiger, the brand name can
be seen apart from on garments in the setting over an archway. Like this, the name
can be seen during the whole film in the background. In the case of Victoria’s Secret
and Chanel, the brand’s name is shown on the title screen. In the films of Chanel,
Burberry and Gucci their name or logo is shown in the corner of the video, so viewers
can see it during the whole film. To get an impression how fashion brands insert those
films to gain more brand awareness, it is determined where the 10 brands publish
them online. Therefore, apart from the YouTube channel, the brand’s webpage as
well as the Instagram and Facebook profile are included (Table 9.11).
Table 9.6 Film analysis—Victoria’s Secret

personality
Setting – Arena in Shanghai – Impressive and giant concert
– Video wall behind the hall
catwalk
– Sounds of enthusiastic
audience
Presentation of collection – Models present during live – Victoria’s Secret angels as
performances the new part of their brand concept
collection (high recognition value)
– Models perform smiling and – Angel wings as brand
with extravagant gestures and concept component
angel wings – Brand name and logo is often
– Between the performances: shown (also on garments)
short clips of interviews with
the model and information
about Shanghai
Filmic realization – Medium shots and tilt-ups – Showing the whole look and
– Close-ups on facial brand logo on the garments
expressions, shows how the – Brand logo is shown
models interact with the
camera
– Title screen
Special features – Live performances of
well-known artists (e.g.,
Harry Styles)
– Length of over an hour, film
broadcasted on TV
Victoria’s Secret (n.d.), Shanghai 2017, length 1:00:26 h
Table 9.7 Film analysis—Hugo Boss

personality
Setting – Dark room with light bands
– Quiet chimes and piano
music
– Yellow catwalk
Presentation of collection – Muted colors on garments, – Showing the elegant, modern,
yellow shoe sole accents, and sophisticated brand
buttons, jackets; sportive cuts personality (Auhagen, 2012)
– Brand logo on garments – Visualization of brand
concept
Filmic – Slow-motion scenes – Viewer’s attention is directed
realization – Final credits on garments and accessories
– Brand logo is shown
Hugo Boss (n.d., 2018), men’s wear F/W 2018/19, “Sports Tailoring,” length: 11:42 min
Table 9.8 Film analysis—H&M

personality
Setting – Illuminated hall with plant – Simple setting
decoration; banner says
“smile”
Presentation of collection – Smiling models and – Referring to brand
audience, personality: H&M claims to
– Models walking like dancers be “open-minded” and that
– Backstage scenes they “believe in people”
– “Love” written on garments (H&M group, n.d.)
– Plain colored outfits, no – Less variety (two comments
accessories on YouTube consider film as
“boring”)
Filmic realization – Models’ facial expressions – Visibility of models and of
are shown in close-up garment details
– Picture-in-picture features – No visualization of brand
name, logo, symbols
Special features – Live performance of “The – Celebrity branding
Weeknd”
H&M, (Access Runway, 2017), S/S 2017, length: 10:46 min
Table 9.9 Film analysis—Topshop

personality
Setting – Industrial building with no – Simple setting
decoration
– Small video wall in catwalk
background
– Electronic music
Presentation of collection – In front of a video wall – Expression of their
– Finally, models wear T-shirts individuality
with their names on – No visualization of brand
logo, name, symbols
Filmic realization – Sequences of tilt-up and full – Ability of showing the whole
shots look
Topshop (2017), S/S 2018, length: 9:38 min
Fashion show films can be found on all four destinations. All are published on
YouTube and the second most important site is Instagram. Eight of ten brands pub-
lished short clips of the fashion show on this platform. The least used Web site is
Facebook. However, all luxury brands published their films there but the other cat-
egories do not use Facebook regularly for fashion show films. Eight of ten brands
provide access to the film on their Web site. However, there are differences in the
provision of the access to the products when watching the fashion show film on the
brand’s Web site. The Tommy Hilfiger Web site provides direct access to the prod-
Table 9.10 Film analysis Puma X Fenty Beauty

personality
Setting – French national library – Music refers to the sporty,
– Hip-hop music modern traits of the
personality
Presentation of collection – Wooden tables serve as – Sportiness of the collection
catwalk suits brand image
– Sporty collection inspired by – Expression of brand values:
the “college look” (college braveness, confidence,
jackets, patches, stripes, joyfulness
baseball heads) (‘PUMA® —Strategy’, n.d.)
– Confidential appearance of
models
Filmic – Use of fast cuts – These cuts are used in action
realization – Logo in title screen movies
– Component of brand concept
Special – Collaboration with Fenty – Collaboration with celebrity
features Beauty (Rihanna)
Puma X Fenty Beauty, (Fashion Channel, 2017), F/W 2017/18, length: 13:53 min
Fig. 9.4 Clicks on YouTube

Fig. 9.5 Number of visualizations of brand name and logo
Table 9.11 Spread of fashion show films

Brands Onlineshop Instagram YouTube Facebook
Burberry x x x x
Dolce & Gabbana x x x x
Gucci x x x x
Chanel x x x x
Tommy Hilfiger x x x x
Victoria’s Secret x x x
Hugo Boss x x x
H&M x x x
Topshop x x
Puma x
ucts at the same time those are shown in the film on the models. Burberry and Gucci
also provide the consumer direct access to the products but by presenting the runway
looks as pictures with direct links to “get the look.” On the Chanel Web site the looks
are also presented but the collection is not available yet. The fashion show film on
the Topshop Web site is very hidden and does not provide direct access to buy the
products. Moreover, one can notice that mostly luxury and premium brands publish
the films on several webpages or social media platforms. In this analysis, it becomes
clear that brands from the luxury or premium category include fashion show films
much more comprehensive than brands from the high-street or from the activewear
section.
9.4 Discussion
Analyzing fashion show films on YouTube, this research indicates that the majority
of fashion brands produce and publish fashion show films. Assumingly, they publish
those films in order to attract attention, present their brand personality and thereby
promote their brand image. Moreover, these brands recognized fashion show films as
one of the most useful methods to present their new garments to an audience (Everett
& Swanson, 2013). Luxury brands publish most commonly and also regularly those
films. In course of analyzing the frequency, the analysis also reveals that there are
different types of fashion show films (e.g., films of the whole show, highlights or short
clips) which are tailored toward the consumers. The consumers have the opportunity
to choose which film they want to watch. By doing this the brand can reach more
viewers and increase their brand awareness. High-street brands as well as activewear
brands do not often use this medium. One can claim that those brands prefer other
ways of reaching their consumers.
Secondly, this research found that fashion brands design fashion show films in
order to communicate their brand concept, their brand personality and also to attract
attention. This can be seen in the design of the setting. Particularly luxury fashion
brands choose locations and design the setting to attract attention and to stand out.
For example, Gucci stands out by creating a visionary operating room, Chanel by
creating a romantic autumnal scenery and Burberry by installing an impressive light
show. Also, premium brands like Tommy Hilfiger (Hilfiger designed a racecourse as
a catwalk) recognize the effect of the setting. According to Okonkwo (2007) fashion
shows offer brands the chance to communicate their values and brand personality.
Brands often include components of brand concepts and personality into the setting.
Dolce & Gabbana chose a replica of the facade of a church which refers to their
Italian roots. Okonkwo (2007) states that the brand’s origin also reflects the brand
concept. Tommy Hilfiger’s setting is a racecourse in the typical Hilfiger colors which
contributes to Hilfiger’s classic American cool style. But on the other side, in case of
high-street brands, the analysis indicates that they keep the setting simple with less
recognition value referring to the brand concept or personality. It can be assumed
that those mass fashion brands have a lack of strategies to represent uniqueness. We
assume that those settings could not delight the viewers resulting in the lowest clicks
on YouTube of the compared brands. Moreover, the analysis reveals that fashion
show films do not play the same role for high-street brands as they do for luxury or
premium brands. The setting represents an important component because it is present
during the whole film. An exciting and unusual setting can delight the viewer which
is seen in the clicks on YouTube in case of Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana. However,
one has to be aware of the fact that the number of gained clicks on YouTube can also
have other influences, e.g., the popularity of the brand.
Fashion brands also communicate their concepts and personality, express their
values and raise attention with the collection and its presentation in fashion show
films. This analysis shows that the investigated brands use different ways to present
the collection for raising attention. The most brands (e.g., Burberry, Victoria’s Secret,
Tommy Hilfiger, H&M) use well-known supermodels who suit to the brand. From
this, the brands can benefit from the prominence of the supermodels. Other brands
stand out because of the use of artistic and technical props. Dolce & Gabbana used
drones which the brand promoted on social media to express the brand’s modern side.
Gucci inserts replications of the models’ heads to surprise and shock the viewer and
point out the vision, the creativity and eclecticism of the brand. Gucci also inserts a
replication of the famous “Gucci snake” which one refers immediately to the brand.
Moreover, in the film of Victoria’s Secret the models wear the famous angel wings.
Okonkwo (2007) states that the most visible parts of a brand concept are the brand
name as well as the logo. Visualizing the brand name and logo is realized by some
luxury brands very well. They show their logos and brand names often and place
them in close-up shots to place the brand to be seen. However, the analysis shows that
brands use their names and logos differently. Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel insert
their brand names and logos the most often. Dolce & Gabbana places its brand name
very visibly and often on the garments which suits to the picturesque collection.
Whereas Chanel integrates the logo restrainedly on accessories, which corresponds
to the elegant and simple style of Chanel. Other luxury brands do not use their name
as often. On the contrary, the high-street brands never showed their logos or names
in the film. It can be assumed that their name does not have the same effect on the
consumer as the names of luxury or premium brands. Comparing how often the brand
name or logo can be seen in a film gives an indicator which brand gains more brand
awareness and which brand presents its concept better. However, it is also important
to include the view time (how long can the brand name be seen?) and the visibility
(how well can the brand name be seen?) into further investigations. Fashion brands
can not only achieve more awareness with the logo or the brand name but also with
other components of the brand concept. Tommy Hilfiger created a fashion show
which portrays the brand concept due to the typical and often used brand colors.
Burberry presents its typical trench coats, Chanel its famous tweed jackets, pearl
necklaces and black mini dresses which have a high recognition value. In case of
Victoria’s Secret and H&M, the films portray the brand’s values in the form of the
models’ behavior. Through the interaction with the camera, the model’s behavior
and facial expression are transmitted better to the audience in the film of Victoria’s
Secret compared to those in the film of H&M. In this film the smile and the dancing
movements of the models do not appear naturally.
This analysis also reveals that there are different types of fashion show films as
well as special shows with special features. Victoria’s Secret and the fashion show
film of Puma can be considered as special types which attract the attention of the
viewers in different ways. Victoria’s Secret is well known for its spectacular fashion
shows which also take place in different countries all over the world which increases
the brand awareness worldwide. Since 1999 Victoria’s Secret has broadcasted its
fashion show on TV (Everett & Swanson, 2013). The brand inserts fashion shows,
fashion show films and the Victoria’s Secret angels into their marketing strategies.
These strategies are very effective which can be seen in the number of YouTube clicks
of the show because Victoria’s Secret has managed to create a unique brand image.
Moreover, Victoria’s Secret and also H&M integrates live acts into their shows to
create excitement. One has to state that Victoria’s Secret inserts the live performance
better than H&M because the concert atmosphere is better communicated to the
audience. Whereas the live act of H&M only forms the ending of the film. Puma
followed another strategy to gain awareness. Collaborating with Rihanna’s brand
Fenty Beauty, Puma attracted attention which was very effective, according to the
clicks on YouTube. This is surprising because according to the results of this research
fashion show films are not often used by sportswear brands. Moreover, Tommy
Hilfiger did also a collaboration but with the supermodel Gigi Hadid.
In addition to the question how fashion brands communicate their concept and
personality, it is also considerable how comprehensively these films are inserted.
According to Okonkwo (2007) brands have to be visible to achieve a high level
of exposure. Luxury brands manage to gain more exposure and brand awareness
by spreading the fashion show films on all investigated Web sites and social media
platforms. By sharing fashion show films the brand starts a two-way communication
with the viewer who is likely to share content on social media which has a big impact
on the exposure of the brand (Oonk, 2015). In the premium category, one is able to see
the same phenomenon even if they include fashion show films less comprehensive
than luxury brands. Compared to those brands high-street activewear brands do not
promote their fashion show films on all different channels which indicates again that
fashion show films do not play the same role in these categories than in the luxury
and premium category. Assumingly, they prefer using other ways for branding and
accomplishing the consumers.
In the analysis, it becomes clear that brands want to attract attention in different
ways. One has to claim that some strategies for raising attention, communicating
the brand concept and personality and reaching the audience are more effective than
others. Luxury brands are very innovative and creative in designing an esthetic fashion
show and transmitting it via a film to an audience by designing a creative setting,
implementing brand concept components, unusual props and by implementing the
fashion show films comprehensively. For example, Gucci creates a science-fiction
world with deeper meanings. In Dolce & Gabbana’s film mostly their roots and values
are highlighted. Luxury brands understand how to communicate their concept and
personality through fashion show films to reach the viewers. Due to this, the viewer
gets an idea what the brand stands for and one can identify oneself with the brand.
Consequently, the brand manages to promote their brand image. Premium brands
also communicate their personality and attract attention. Tommy Hilfiger showed
brand concept components very often and the film of Victoria’s Secret reached a lot
of clicks on YouTube due to their ostentatious fashion show. Hugo Boss keeps their
show and film really classic and simple which suits the brand and could also reached
a lot of viewers on YouTube despite the fact that the show was only for men. High-
street brands could not communicate their brand concepts as well as the other brands
and their show was not as exciting as shows from the luxury or premium sector.
This can be one reason why H&M and Topshop have reached the lowest number of
clicks on YouTube. Puma in collaboration with Fenty Beauty is one exception for the
category activewear. Due to the collaboration, Puma could create an exciting show
which supported the sportiness of the brand.
The analysis revealed the following possible factors for creating a successful
fashion show film:
• Attraction of the viewer’s attention by impressive and atmospheric film settings
• Integration of components of brand concept and personality to promote brand
image
• Triggering of emotions by a creative presentation of the collection
• Coordination of the film components to the target audience
• Inclusion of celebrities to increase brand awareness
• Integration of live performances in order to surprise and entertain the viewers
• Fascinating the viewers to motivate them to see the whole film
• Publishing the fashion show film on different selected Internet platforms to increase
brand awareness.
9.5 Conclusion
The aim of this research was to investigate how fashion brands communicate their
brand concept and personality through fashion show films. This analysis shows that
all luxury and premium brands include components of their brand concept into the
fashion show films to communicate with the consumers to promote their brand image.
This creates a high recognition value and the viewer can immediately associate the
film with the brand. Even though, this is done in different ways. Some brands present
those components more visibly than others in order to create a fashion show film
which suits the brand. Compared to the luxury and premium brands, the high-street
brands do not integrate their brand values and brand concepts in such an innovative,
creative, unique and comprehensive way. Fashion brands integrate components of
their brand concept through their brand name, logos, symbols and colors into the
setting and the collection. In case of some fashion show films, characteristics of the
brand personality in the presentation of the collection could also be verified. How-
ever, only the interaction of different components like the setting, music, camera
technique and lighting can create an effective fashion show film. A fashion show
film can only attract the viewer’s attention and create an exciting atmosphere if the
different components are inserted appropriately and harmoniously. Therefore, the
communication of the brand concept will only be effective if the different compo-
nents are coordinated. Then symbols, colors, logos and the collection can trigger
associations with the brand, can take full effect and serve for promoting the brand
image. As a result, the fashion show film becomes an experience for the viewers.
However, the design of the components has to be appropriate for the target group.
The limitations of this research are related to the fact that the restricted number of ten
fashion show films is analyzed. This gives an overview but cannot provide a com-
prehensive breakdown of this topic. Moreover, when analyzing the communication
of brand concept and brand personality, it is also important to consider the view time
and the visibility into further investigations. By technological developments, fashion

show films can be spread by consumers all over the Internet which can lead to a
wider exposure of the brand and to the improvement of brand awareness.
References
Access Runway. (2017, March 10). H&M Studio Fall/Winter 2017/2018-Fashion Show-Paris Fash-
ion Week (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jFoIWxx24.
Andersson, V., & Jandér, L. (2016). Social Media, Insta-Culture and The Reinvention of Fashion
Week (Student thesis, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden). Retrieved from https://urn.kb.se/
resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-10147.
Auhagen, C. (2012). HUGO BOSS Investor Day 2012 Brand Strategy. Retrieved from https://group.
hugoboss.com/files/2012-12-06_Brand_Strategy_Website.pdf.
Burberry. (2018, February 20). The Burberry February 2018 Runway Show, London (4K) (video
file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ5zkMlUDEo.
Burberry. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2018, from https://www.burberryplc.com/en/index.html.
Chanel. (2016, November 11). The Paradoxes of CHANEL-Inside CHANEL (video file). Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RI-dBu-Mm4.
Chanel. (2018, March 7). The Fall-Winter 2018/19 Ready-to-Wear Show—CHANEL (video file).
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WypRnmXOGWY.
Dolce & Gabbana. (2018, February 2). Dolce&Gabbana Fall Winter 2018/19 Women’s Fashion
Show (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojFG6a0PE0.
Dolce & Gabbana. (n.d.a). Brand. Retrieved June 25, 2018, from http://www.dolcegabbana.com/
corporate/en/brand/brand-dg.html.
Dolce & Gabbana. (n.d.b). The designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. (n.d.). Retrieved
June 25, 2018, from http://www.dolcegabbana.com/corporate/en/group/company.html.
Evans, C. (2011). The walkies: Early fashion shows and silent cinema. In A. Munich (Ed.), Fashion
in film (pp. 110–134). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Everett, J. C., & Swanson, K. K. (2013). Guide to producing a fashion show: Studio access card
(3rd ed.). New York: Fairchild Books.
Fashion Channel. (2017, July 3). FENTY PUMA BY RIHANNA Fall Winter 2017 2018 Paris
Fashion Week-Fashion Channel (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=d3aEE3E_V6U.
Gucci. (2018, March 16). Gucci Fall Winter 2018 Fashion Show (Video file). Retrieved from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc-ZgpKBDI.
Gucci. (n.d.). About Gucci. Gucci Official Site United States. Retrieved June 27, 2018, from https://
www.gucci.com/us/en/st/about-gucci.
Helbing, M. (2012). 100 Jahre Modenschauen. Dortmunder Materialen Zur Materiellen Kultur, 2,
1–20.
Hickethier, K. (2007). Film-und Fernsehanalyse (4th ed.). Stuttgart, Germany: J.B. Metzler.
Hilfiger, T. (2018, February 25). TOMMYNOW DRIVE Spring 18 Runway Show (video file).
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhqH9zOBzCk.
Hugo Boss. (2018, February 2). BOSS Menswear Fall/Winter 2018 runway show at New York Fash-
ion Week: Men’s (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFwVJKT6-
Rc.
Hugo Boss. (n.d.). Fashion Show Kollektion. BOSS Herrenmode. Retrieved May 22, 2018, from
https://www.hugoboss.com/de/boss-herren-fashion-show/.
H&M group. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2018, from http://about.hm.com/en/career/great-workplace.
html.
Katz, S. D. (1991). Film directing shot by shot: Visualizing from concept to screen. Los Angeles,
CA: Gulf Professional Publishing.
Kohlberg, S. (2014). Wie man einen Werbefilm analysiert. Retrieved from https://blog.hslu.ch/
textfabrik-fs16/files/2016/01/Skript_Werbefilm.pdf.
Kühl, A. (2015). Modeschauen die Behauptung des Neuen in der Mode. Bielefeld, Germany: Tran-
script.
Lange, A. (2012). Grammatik des Fashion-Films: Über Funktionsmuster eines Genres zwischen
Kunst und Kommerz (Bachelor’s thesis, Hochschule Mittweida, Berlin, Germany). Retrieved
from http://docplayer.org/19771420-Bachelorarbeit-frau-annika-lange-grammatik-des-fashion-
films-ueber-funktionsmuster-eines-genres-zwischen-kunst-und-kommerz.html.
Lehnert, G. (2013). Mode, Theorie, Geschichte und Ästhetik einer kulturellen Praxis. Bielefeld,
Germany: Transcript Verlag.
Lin, X. (2016). Runway shows and fashion films as a means of communicating the design concept
(Master’s thesis, Kent State University, Kent, OH). Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_
10?0::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:116866.
Mikos, L. (2008). Film-und Fernsehanalyse (2nd ed.). Konstanz, Germany: UVK.
Min, S., Koo, H. S., & DeLong, M. (2015). Differences of information management between
fashion show video and fashion film: Focusing on cases of chanel. Research Journal of Textile
and Apparel, 19(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1108/RJTA-19-01-2015-B008.
Most Valuable Fashion Brands. (2016). Retrieved May 8, 2018, from https://fashionunited.com/i/
most-valuable-fashion-brands.
Mower, S. (2018, February 25). Dolce & Gabbana. Vogue.Com. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.
com/fashion-shows/fall-2018-ready-to-wear/dolce-gabbana.
Okonkwo, U. (2007). Luxury fashion branding trends, tactics, techniques. New York, NY: palgrave
macmillan.
Oonk, S. (2015). Movement in fashion: Presenting fashion films in the digital age (Bachelor’s thesis,
Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Retrieved from https://hbo-kennisbank.
nl/record/amsterdam/oai:hva.nl:579939.
PUMA® –Strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2018, from http://about.puma.com/en/this-is-puma/
strategy.
Schuller, M. (2017). Defining fashion film. In: SPOTT trends & business (Ed.), Fashion Film
& Transmedia—An anthology of knowledge and practice (pp. 31–39). VIA Film & Transme-
dia Research & Development Centre. Retrieved from http://www.northsearegion.eu/media/3115/
createconverge-fashion-transmedia-anthology-2017.pdf.
Tommy Hilfiger. (n.d.). Global Overview. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from http://global.tommy.com/
int/en/about/overview/14.
Topshop. (2017, September 18). Topshop London Fashion Week | The Full Topshop Run-
way Show September 2017 (video file). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
RdmiHUOOT4Y.
Victoria’s Secret. (n.d.). Videos zur Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Shanghai 2017. Retrieved June
18, 2018, from https://www.victoriassecret.com/de/fashion-show/videos.
Vilaseca, E. (2010). Runway uncovered: The making of a fashion show. Barcelona, Spain: Promo-
press.
versity in Technical Cybernetics (Dr.-Ing., 1999); English title of German dissertation: “Infor-
mation models to build textile business market information systems.” He is Professor for Fash-
program International Fashion Retail since 2010. In 2005, he lectured the marketing and mar-
Martha Windhab is a student of International Fashion Retail at Reutlingen University, School

of Textiles and Design, since 2017. For a semester abroad, she is currently studying Fashion and
Management at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) in the Netherlands. She gained work
experience in the organization and realization of events, advertising and public relations through
internships at Scala Kultur gGmbH and Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele gGmbH. During her
time at Scala Kultur gGmbH, she had the chance to learn more about film production. Addition-
ally, being Sales Assistant at dquadrat Konzeption and Dekoration GmbH, Germany, she worked
in retail and could gain insights into the apparel industry.
Chapter 10
Event Films Influencing Fashion
Peter Bug, Jacqueline Diefenbach and Anna Heller
10.1 Event Films and Fashion
“[Fashion brands can] create an experience around the moment where you’re pur-
chasing items for a specific event,” says Jaclyn Johnson, chief executive at digital
marketing and events agency No Subject (Business of Fashion, 2016). This statement
shows the intertwined relationship between events and the world of fashion. Attend-
ing events or watching event films allow people to experience different worlds and
dive into specific topics for a short period of time. Similar to that, fashion gives the
opportunity to reinvent and experience by constructing the external appearance. This
paper will give insights on how event films are connected to the fashion industry.
Following research questions will help to frame the outline of this chapter: How are
event films used in regard to showing fashion? What influence do event films have
on the fashion industry and the society as a whole?
Fashion and Film are so interlinked that it is impossible to say that they do not
influence each other (Ferla, 2010). “Regardless of the purpose, all events focus on cre-
ating a temporary community with a meaningful experience for attendees.” (Draper,
Thomas, & Fenich, 2017; Fenich, 2012). Social media event coverage strengthens
the communication effects of the event, “making events a staple of mainstream con-
temporary lifestyle” (Draper et al., 2017; Getz & Page, 2016). Events are artificially
created and interrupt the daily life in an unusual and unique way. Also, events offer
a platform for personal interactions between hosts and participants, as well as par-
ticipants among each other.
P. Bug · J. Diefenbach (B) · A. Heller (B)

e-mail: jacqueline.diefenbach@student.reutlingen-university.de
A. Heller
e-mail: anna_theresa.heller@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_10
200 P. Bug et al.
An “event film” describes any type of video or film, which is produced to show
happenings about an actual event. There are no actors playing a role, rather the
activity of the event is shown. Event films are used as a communication tool, which
can be broadcasted on television, Web sites or different social media platforms, such
as YouTube and Instagram. Event films can have an uncommercial purpose. For a
commercial event film to be successful, it is important that the film is published
as fast as possible after the event. Further, expectations of the viewers should be
known in order to offer additional benefit and value (Ghezzo, 2014). Considering
that commercial event films are purposely used to promote new products and show
off trends, especially fast-fashion retailers help to diffuse those trends by adapting
their assortment have to be analyzed.
There is already evidence in the literature that events and fashion have a connec-
tion, for example, the hippie-inspired outfits are typical for the Coachella festival.
Fashion manufacturer H&M has launched its own event fashion line for the first time
in 2015. (Gala, 2017). However, the #HMLovesCoachella collection was available
in the USA for Coachella 2018 from March 24th, 2018 and worldwide from March
31st, 2018. Also, retailers like Revolve, Boohoo, Missguided, Topshop and Urban
Outfitters offered a Coachella line. But all five have already released and offered
their collections sometimes before the actual festival. Therefore it has to be said that
there is a connection between event and fashion industry, but not whether the event
has an explicit influence on the fashion industry (Eonline, 2018). Another possibility
of how fashion retailers like Zara or H&M can participate in events like Coachella
or the Academy Awards, is by sponsoring. A recent example is Zara, which partic-
ipated during the Oscars broadcast in 2018 as sponsor. About 150 female helpers
wore a selection of three different outfits designed and sponsored by the huge retailer
(Madden, 2018).
At the 2018 Golden Globes, the most important awards ceremony for films and
television programs after the Oscars, the celebrities appeared completely in black
as a protest statement against sexual harassment in the film business. The motto of
the entire event was “Time’s Up” campaign—and this campaign will continue to
benefit from the evening. Together with Condé Nast, various designers will auction
off the black outfits they designed, which the celebrities wore at the awards ceremony
(Vogue, 2018). Another benefit that famous fashion brands can derive from big events,
is the use of influencer marketing. This form of marketing involves dressing up a
celebrity such as Beyonce or Instagram blogger Stefanie Giesinger for Coachella, or
actresses like Emma Watson or Jennifer Lawrence for the Oscars. Since these people
are constantly seen by the public, a strong product placement takes place here. These
collaborations are used to draw attention to specific brands (VIP, 2018). All previous
examples show a clear connection between popular events and the fashion industry.
What is not clear, however, is how the industry uses event films to show their fashion
and what influence event films ultimately have on fashion and the consumer.
10 Event Films Influencing Fashion 201
10.2 Methodology
The empirical study contains four steps. Firstly, two relevant events and two fashion
retailers are chosen. In the second step, an Instagram analysis is conducted for the
events and for the fashion retailers’ point of view regarding the number and content
of film posts. Afterwards, YouTube is analyzed to detect five stylistic elements per
event, which will then be counted in two online shops of fashion brands.
Step 1, Choice of Events and Fashion-Retailers: Firstly, only commercial event
films are taken into consideration. Table 10.1 shows the five most-watched telecasts
of 2017. The list includes live as well as same-day viewer numbers and only presents
primetime shows. Since four out of the five events belong to sport events and are
therefore excluded, the only remaining event is The Academy Awards. It is ranked
fourth, aired on February 26th in 2017 and generated 32.94 million viewers (Statista,
2018a).
Table 10.2 shows the highest grossing non-sports events worldwide in 2017. All of
them are festivals and achieved revenues over 16 million US dollars. The Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival is ranked as the highest grossing event with a revenue
of 114.59 million US$ (Statista, 2018b). Both, the Academy Awards and Coachella,
are external, infotainment, as well as occasion and brand oriented events.
Modaes (2017) shows fashion retailers with the highest revenue in 2016. Inditex is
ranked first with annual sales of over 23 billion euros, closely followed by H&M
with annual sales of just under 20 billion euros. Because Inditex includes a total of
eleven different fashion and home textile retailers, the focus will be on the largest
Table 10.1 Most-watched primetime telecasts of 2017

Rank Event Airdate Million viewers Event category
1. Super Bowl LI 02/05 111 Sport
2. AFC Championship 01/22 48 Sport
3. NFL Divisional Playoff 01/15 37 Sport
4. The Academy Awards 02/26 33 Film Award
5. NFL Divisional Playoff 01/14 30 Sport
Table 10.2 Highest grossing

Rank Event Revenue in million US$
festivals worldwide, 2017
1. Coachella Valley Music & 115
Arts Festival
2. Outside Lands Music & 28
Arts Festival
3. Sao Paulo Trip 18
4. Classic West 17
5. Life is Beautiful Festival 17
202 P. Bug et al.
and best-known of the business units, Zara, with an annual revenue of over 15 billion
euros in 2016 (Inditex, 2017) (Fig. 10.1).
Step 2, Instagram Analysis: To find out how event films are used in regard to
showing fashion, the Instagram accounts of the events, as well as the Instagram
accounts of the leading fast-fashion retailers are analyzed. Film posts within the feed
are counted and examined regarding the event and fashion correlation. The analysis
is limited to the timeframe of one month after the event. This limits the Instagram
analysis to a short period right after the event and a high correlation between the
posts and the event itself is given. All data was collected on June 16th of 2018.
Step 3: YouTube Analysis
To give closer insights on what influence event films have on the fashion industry
and the consumer, the biggest film platform is used for an empirical counting, too.
Therefore, the event name as well as the term “fashion” is entered in the search
field. The results are then sorted by the highest number of clicks and the first ten
videos displayed are included in the counting. However, the observation period is
also limited to one month after the event and only fashion talks and blogs that give
a general opinion about outfits are included in the analysis, for example, fashion
reviews. Also, only women fashion is incorporated since it is more multifaceted and
stylistic elements can be spotted more easily. For the counting, the first six celebrities
and outfits in each film are documented with their robes and designers. By counting
the number of references, the five most frequently discussed outfits are found out.
From these five outfits, a total of five stylistic elements are identified per event.
Step 4: Evaluation of Retailer’s Online Stores
The next step is to examine fashion retailers with respect to the detected stylistic
elements. Therefore, the online shops of Zara and H&M are analyzed, and trends
Fig. 10.1 Revenue of the leading retailers worldwide 2016, in million EUR
are counted within the assortment. In each of the two online shops the categories
“tops,” “dresses,” “trousers” and “skirts” are examined to find out whether the stylistic
elements from the event films can be found in the market analysis. The aim is to find
out the percentage shares of trends in the overall product range. The results of the
counts are evaluated, analyzed and compared with each other. On the one hand, the
aim is to find out whether the selected events have an influence on the market to set
and establish a trend. On the other hand, the aim is to find out, whether fast-fashion
retailers like H&M and Zara copy stylistic elements of major events and include
them in their assortment in a possibly modified form.
10.3 Empirical Results
10.3.1 The Academy Awards 2018
After some inventions like the radio in the 1920s and the development of labor
unions in the film industry to reach an appropriate salary, the former president of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-Studios (MGM), Louis B. Mayer came up with the idea of
an institution, like an academy, for the producers to represent the terms of interests
and to honor the art of making movies. In February 16th, 1929, the first Academy
Awards presentation was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood,
California, during a private gala dinner. The gala had an audience of about 270
people. Nowadays the Academy Award of Merit, short “Oscar,” is one of the most
important prizes in the movie industry which is awarded once a year. Over 5,500
members of the academy vote for the best movies released within the previous year.
Every movie between January 1st and December 31st of a year, which was shown
for at least seven days in a public cinema, is qualified for an Oscar in the following
year. It does not matter which country of origin the movie has. The members of
the academy vote for the current 29 categories like “Best actor in a leading role”
or “Best Picture.” At the end of every year, the academy assembles a list of the
mattering movies. At the preselection, all members choose their ten favorite movies
in the category “Best Picture.” Furthermore, every member chooses five movies in its
particular category, which means, for example, that an actor can only vote for an actor.
The ten most voted movies and the five most voted proposals in every single category
are the official nominees for an Academy Award of Merit. Albeit, there are some
extra qualification rules for certain categories: “Best Foreign Language Film,” “Best
Documentary Feature,” “Best Live Action Short Film,” “Best Animated Feature” and
“Best Makeup and hairstyling” (Britannica, 2018). Since fashion designers purposely
use the event to show off their new designs and draw attention towards the brand, the
Oscars play an important role in the fashion industry. Since the Academy Awards took
place on March 5th, 2018, only the posts from that date until April 5th are observed.
In the following, the accounts of the event itself, as well as the Instagram accounts
of Zara and H&M will be analyzed to identify the relation between event films on
204 P. Bug et al.
Instagram and fashion. The Instagram account of the Oscars, called “theacademy,”
has 1.6 million followers and 4556 posts in total. Looking at the feed first, a total
of 42 posts can be counted within the timeframe, which shows a coherency to the
Oscars 2018. The 42 posts can be subdivided into 41 photograph posts and one film
post. The film post consists of a series of six films in total and shows moments on the
red carpet. The caption of the event film series describes it more precisely: “Once-in-
a-lifetime moments on the #Oscars red carpet, captured in super slow motion with
the new Samsung #GalaxyS9”. As the caption and the hashtags reveal, the film post
is a paid partnership with Samsung Mobile USA. It was posted on the date of the
event, has a total of 81,029 likes and 651 comments. It shows a fashion relation since
the focus lies in the celebrities’ outfits, which are shown in slow motion.
Zara has 26.5 million followers on Instagram and 1939 posts. Looking at the feed
within the defined timeframe, a total of 51 posts can be counted, compounded of 34
photograph posts and 17 film posts. However, none of the film posts show a relation
to the Oscars 2018. The account of H&M has got 25.8 million followers and includes
3887 posts in total. In the defined timeframe, H&M shows 81 posts. From them, 61
posts can be assigned to photograph posts and 20 to film posts. Though, the fashion
retailer did not post any film posts related to the event itself. A total of 859,000 results
are shown on YouTube when searching for films with the search word “the Academy
Awards 2018 fashion,” sorted by the highest number of clicks. Table 10.3 shows
the five most shown outfits within the 10 top viewed videos, their unique stylistic
elements, rank, celebrity, designer as well as number of references.
The celebrity that was discussed with her outfit in seven out of ten videos was
Emma Stone with a silk suit by Luis Vuitton. In most cases, this was because her
outfit polarized and received mostly negative criticism from bloggers in five out of
seven videos. In general, the Oscars are known for the long, elaborate ball gowns.
In this case, Emma Stone wore a simple suit with black trousers, a red blouse and
a purple belt. Criticized were the simplicity of her outfit and the color combination
of purple and red. Margot Robbie reached second place. She was mentioned in six
out of ten videos and had only positive reviews. No bad criticism was expressed
about her white, strapless, A-line gown by Chanel in any video. The third place of
most-mentioned dresses is occupied by three different celebrities. Firstly, Jennifer
Lawrence with a fit and flare gown in the color silver metallic by Christian Dior, the
second one was Nicole Kidman with a sweetheart-neck column gown in the color
cobalt blue by Armani Privé and thirdly Jennifer Garner, with a royal blue, pleated
Table 10.3 Stylistic elements at the Oscars

Rank Celebrity Stylistic element Designer Counting
1. Emma Stone Colour blocking Luis Vuitton 7
2. Margot Robbie Strapless Chanel 6
3. Jennifer Lawrence Silver metallic Christian Dior 5
4. Nicole Kidman Ribbon Armani Privé 5
5. Jennifer Garner Cape Versace 5
gown with a cape designed by Versace. Jennifer Lawrence and Jennifer Garner were
only rated well, whereby Nicole Kidman received two negative reviews for the cut
of her dress. In the following market analysis, the outstanding stylistic elements
identified from the most-mentioned celebrities are examined more closely based on
Zara’s and H&M’s online shops. With a total amount of 3619 items, over 600 more
items of clothing were considered at Zara’s compared to H&M’s online shop. The
categories for both retailers were limited to tops, trousers, skirts and dresses for
women’s wear. provides more detailed information of the count.
Table 10.4 shows that Zara had a higher percentage in four out of five trends than
H&M. Only in the Strapless category had H&M a share of 10.5% and Zara 2.2% of
the total assortment. It is interesting to note that H&M showed the highest percentage
in the trend category in which Zara performed the weakest. This can be attributed
to the fact that H&M advertised with Overshoulder Tops in the category “Now in
trend.” Zara had the largest amount in the categories Ribbon with 6.63% and Color
blocking with 3.09%, while the categories Metallic with 2.68% and Strapless with
2.16% were very weak. Looking at the H&M numbers, Strapless had the highest
amount with 10.5%, while Ribbon with 0.8% and the category Cape with only 0.3%
showed the smallest percentage. Looking back on Table 10.3, Emma Stone with her
color blocking outfit was most frequently mentioned at The Academy Awards 2018,
but the percentage shares in both online stores were very low, at Zara with 3.09% and
at H&M with 1.45% of the total assortment. This phenomenon could be due to the
fact that Emma Stone has received many bad reviews for her outfit. Jennifer Garner
with her royal blue cape gown was on place five of the most-mentioned Oscar outfits.
Also, the cape trend could not prevail at the retail level with Zara only consisting of
3.43% and H&M with only 0.34% appearances in the online store. Overall, Zara had
a higher share of trends, which was taken from the stylish elements of the outfits at
The Academy Awards 2018. Zara had a 17.99 percent fashion share in the overall
assortment, H&M a 14.91 percent share.
Table 10.4 Analysis at Zara and H&M based on The Academy Awards
Rank Stylistic element Zara % H&M %
1. Color blocking 112 3.1 43 1.5
2. Strapless 78 2.2 312 10.5
3. Metallic 97 2.7 55 1.9
4. Ribbon 240 6.6 23 0.8
5. Cape 124 3.4 10 0.3
Total trends 651 18.0 443 14.9
Total items 3619 18.0 2971 14.9
18.0 14.9
206 P. Bug et al.
10.3.2 Coachella 2018
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, also known as Coachella, is a music
festival in the Coachella Valley, California. It has been held in the USA annually
since 1999 and takes place over two different weekends each year in April. Coachella
attracts nearly 100,000 people per session and is known as one of the world’s largest
and most expensive festivals (Coachella, n.d.). It has an average ticket price of 429
US dollars and the tickets are usually sold within minutes after being released (Dig-
italMusicNews, 2017). Since 2012, the entire three-day program is repeated in the
following week with the same artists. In addition to performances by alternative
rock, hip-hop and electronica artists, Coachella is also a showcase for visual arts.
Since fashion brands specifically design collections for the event, a strong correla-
tion between Coachella and the fashion industry can be assumed. In 2018, the first
weekend of Coachella started on April 13th, only the posts from that date until May
13th of 2018 are analyzed. In the following, the accounts of the event itself, as well
as the Instagram accounts of Zara and H&M, will be analyzed to identify the rela-
tion between event films and fashion. The Instagram account of Coachella, called
“coachella” has 1.7 million followers and 1089 posts in total. Looking at the feed,
a total of 133 posts can be counted within the timeframe. Hereby, all posts show a
coherency to Coachella 2018. The 133 posts can be subdivided into 100 photograph
posts and 33 film posts. Therefrom, five films feature a clear fashion correlation,
the other films include general information, ads, the festival area, concerts and food
(Fig. 10.2).
The five fashion correlated event films were mainly uploaded at the beginning of
the analyzed timeframe, Table 10.5 gives further insights.
The first film connected to fashion was posted on April 13th and has the most
views, likes as well as comments out of the five films. The caption “see you soon”
indicates the start of the event. A phone conversation of different people getting
ready for Coachella is compiled and different topics are discussed. Next to topics
such as line ups, sets, singers and campsites, also the topic of fashion comes up.
Questions such as “are we all gonna wear the same thing this year and match?” and
“how did you feel what you were wearing last year?” reveal the high importance
of the topic. The answer “I had my cut off shorts, those are definitely gonna make
Fig. 10.2 The Instagram 28

feed of Coachella 2018
100 33
Photo posts Film posts Fashion Others

Table 10.5 Fashion films on Coachella’s Instagram account

Date Views Likes Comments Tag Content
April 13th 230,869 24,842 653 None Get ready for
Coachella
April 14th 56,805 4771 79 NewEraCap Advertisement
headwear collection
on festival area
April 15th 181,509 23,785 148 Deansnuts, Advertisement
rotterandfriends, limited edition of
petervermin, Coachella items
liver_ideas
April 19th 76,240 10,010 472 None “Suiting up”, outfits
daily life versus
outfits at Coachella
April 20th 29,705 4705 88 NewEraCap Advertisement
headwear collection
on festival area
an appearance again” supports the important role of fashion during the festival. On
both Coachella weekends, April 14th and April 20th, two films were published in
cooperation with the fashion brand New Era Cap. Both films advertise the official
2018 headwear collection Coachella created with the brand; however, they have the
least numbers of views, likes and comments. Whereas the films only show different
products such as caps, snapbacks, beanies and bandana, the caption invites event
visitors to shop the collection on the festival grounds. Film viewers that are not
attending the event have the possibility to buy a limited amount of the headwear
collection at NewEraCap.com. The film with the second most views and likes was
posted on April 15th and advertises the limited edition of Coachella items “fresh
threads at the merch stand—find them next to Yuma.” The film is cut together to
present a boomerang. That means a short movement is filmed and repeated over and
over in fast forward mode. The people wear a different outfit in each sequence. The
film with the caption “suiting up,” was posted on April 19th and has the second most
comments. The purpose of the film is showing how outfits of the daily life differ from
outfits at Coachella. Whereas in daily life people mostly wear simple and not flashy
clothes, jeans and dull colors, at Coachella everything turns colorful and exciting with
high amounts of glitter and reflective jewelry. Referring to the film, Coachella is not
real life and people can try to be that person that they are but cannot be in daily life.
The five films have an average of 115,025 views, 13,623 likes and 288 comments.
In three of the films, fashion brands are tagged. Looking at the Zara Instagram feed
within the defined timeframe, a total of 44 posts can be counted, compounded of 32
photograph posts and 12 film posts. However, none of the film posts show a direct
relation to the Coachella 2018. In the defined timeframe, H&M shows 92 Instagram
posts. From them, 69 posts can be assigned to photograph posts and 23 to film posts.
Though, the fashion retailer does not post any film posts directly related to the event
itself.
208 P. Bug et al.
Regarding YouTube, a total of 354,000 video results are shown when searching
for “Coachella 2018 fashion,” sorted by the highest number of clicks. The first ten
films were analyzed. They prove a connection to the event 2018 and its fashion, as
well as the shown outfits. Due to a high number of different outfits, same stylistic
elements were combined in one trend. For example, the bejeweled body and cape are
recapped in the stylistic element “bejeweled,” the see-through dress and see through
kimono are recapped in the stylistic element “see-through” and the element “floral”
can be combined out of floral skirt, floral pants and floral kimono. Table 10.6 shows
the five most shown stylistic elements, their particular rank, celebrities, designer as
well as number of counting.
The stylistic element that was discussed the most was the bejeweled body and
cape, worn by Beyoncé during her concert. Her outfit was custom made by Balmain.
In total, the stylistic element bejeweled was shown twelve times and only received
positive feedback. The second place of the most shown stylistic elements was a set.
These were either matching combinations of pants and jackets, pants and tops or
skirts and tops. Influencers such as Tana Mongeau, Kylie Jenner, Loren Beech and
Meredith Foster wore such to Coachella 2018. A total counting of ten was recorded,
the designers of the element were not mentioned; however, the trend only gained
positive comments. The stylistic element of see through was counted eight times in
total. See through dresses and kimonos were worn by influencers such as Lele Pons,
Jessie Paege, Bella Thorne and Nikita Dragun. The designers were not mentioned,
and the fabrics varied from being transparent to being netlike. In general, the trend
mostly received positive feedback, only a few commented negatively by saying it
was “too mainstream.” Rank four and five share the same number of counting. Both,
the trend floral and yellow, were counted seven times in total. The stylistic element
floral was expressed in outfits worn by Lele Pons, Camilla Menders, Erica D. and
Griffin Arnlund in different product groups such as skirts, pants and kimonos. The
designers were not mentioned, and the trend received mixed feedback. Whereas some
commented about the trend being cute, others pointed out that floral elements were
already worn the last years and therefore not interesting anymore. Beyoncé wearing
Table 10.6 Stylistic elements at Coachella

Rank Celebrity Stylistic element Designer Counting
1. Beyoncé Bejeweled Balmain 12
2. Tana Mongeau, Kylie Jenner, Set Not mentioned 10
Loren Beech, Meredith
Foster
3. Lele Pons, Jessie Paege, See-through Not mentioned 8
Bella Thorne, Nikita Dragun
4. Lele Pons, Camilla Menders, Floral Not mentioned 7
Erica D., Griffin Arnlund
5. Beyoncé Yellow Balmain 7
a yellow sweater was also pointed out seven times. This outfit was also custom made
by Balmain and only positive feedback was given concerning the color yellow.
In the following market analysis, the outstanding stylistic elements are conducted
more closely on the basis of Zara’s and H&M’s online shops. The categories for
both retailers were limited to tops, trousers, skirts and dresses for women’s wear.
With a total amount of 3619 items at Zara and 2971 items at H&M, the main Inditex
brand offers a bigger assortment. Table 10.7 provides more detailed information of
the count.
In the category Bejeweled, Zara offered the trend more than twice as much as
H&M. 2.6% of the items were counted at Zara’s online shop, whereas at H&M only
1.18% could be found. At the same time, it represents the least found trend at the
H&M Web shop. In the trend category Set, 0.94% of Zara’s and 0.40% of H&M’s
assortment was counted regarding the stylistic element. The trend represents the
lowest amount of percentage in both online shops, however, Zara still offers twice as
much as H&M. The trend See-through was counted 102 times at Zara and 78 times
at H&M. Those numbers represented 2.82 and 2.63% compared to the analyzed
assortment and are almost equal. The fourth stylistic element, Floral, represented
with 10.03% the highest counting at Zara’s Web shop. In comparison, H&M only
offered 3.77% of their assortment that was correlated to the trend floral. Whereas
the stylistic element Yellow represents with 4.07% the highest counting at H&M
online shop, 8.15% of Zara’s assortment was counted in regard to the color trend.
Therefore, Zara offered double the number of products featuring one or more of
the identifies trends online. The table and the figure show that Zara had a higher
percentage amount in all five stylistic elements than H&M. Therefore, 24.54% of
their analyzed assortments can be linked to the defined trends, whereas at H&M’s
online shop only carries only 12.05% of products with a coherency to the stylistic
elements.
Table 10.7 Analysis at Zara and H&M based on Coachella

Rank Stylistic Element Zara Counting (%) H&M %
1. Bejeweled 94 2.6 35 1.2
2. Set 34 0.9 12 0.4
3. See through 102 2.8 78 2.6
4. Floral 363 10.0 112 3.8
5. Yellow 295 8.2 121 4.1
Total counting 888 24.5 358 12.1
Total items 3619 2971
210 P. Bug et al.
10.4 Comparison and Discussion
As mentioned, both the Academy Awards and Coachella belong to eternal, infotain-
ment, as well as occasion and brand oriented events. Basically, The Academy Awards
is mainly about the award ceremony, whereas Coachella is a music and art festival.
However, fashion plays a role in both events. At the Oscars, the actors’ evening wear
is presented and discussed in the video broadcasts on the red carpet. Whereas in
Coachella it is more the influencers and musicians who present the fashion. In both
events, it is celebrities that make fashion speak for itself. However, Coachella works
with a higher proportion of influencer marketing. Table 10.8 shows the number of
postings from the Instagram accounts of the events and the fast-fashion retailers Zara
and H&M within the particular defined timeframes.
In general, every account published more photograph posts than film posts. Con-
centrating on the film posts, however, Coachella posted with 33 posts the most films
in total. The fashion retailers posted in both conducted timeframes between 12 and
23 film posts, whereas H&M always showed a higher performance with 20 and 23
film posts. Zara posted 17 and twelve film posts in total. The Instagram account of
The Academy only posted one film post within the timeframe and therefore per-
formed the lowest in this category. Whereas both fashion retailers did not show a
direct event correlation within their film posts, a fashion correlation from the event’s
point of view was clearly noticeable. This can be seen in the fact that the events
tagged fashion brands, whereas the fashion brands Zara and H&M did not mark any
events in their posts. Even though The Academy Awards only posted one film post,
it showed a clear event and fashion relation though showing celebrities on the red
carpet. Through a zoom in and slow motion, the focus clearly laid on the outfits. On
the other hand, Coachella posted five out of 33 films that showed a clear event and
fashion relation. The fashion films on Coachella’s Instagram mostly included adver-
tisement and collaborations with fashion brands as well as pointed out Coachella’s
dress code. The high number of postings could be assigned to the younger target
Table 10.8 Instagram counting comparison

Instagram account Number of photograph Number of film posts Number of film posts
posts in total in total regarding event and
fashion directly
The Academy Award 2018
Academy 41 1 1
Zara 34 17 0
H&M 61 20 0
Coachella 2018
Coachella 100 33 5
Zara 32 12 0
H&M 69 23 0
group of Coachella, which is more active on social media. Even though both events
almost have the same number of followers, 1.6 million following the Oscars and
1.7 million following Coachella, the analyzed film posts show a big discrepancy
considering the amount of likes and comments. The average of the Coachella film
posts showing a fashion coherency was lower than the single film post of the Oscars.
Whereas the five Coachella event films only had an average of 13,623 likes and 288
comments, the event film of The Academy gained 81,029 likes and 651 comments.
In regard to the YouTube analysis, the search term “The Academy Awards 2018
fashion” gained a total of 859,000 results, whereas the search for “Coachella 2018
fashion” only yielded 354,000 results. The trend results also varied. Trends such
as “metallic,” “ribbon” and “strapless” emerged at the Academy Awards analysis,
while “set,” “floral” and “yellow” were mentioned as top trends for Coachella. The
different designers of the outfits played a greater role at the Oscars than at Coachella.
In most videos that were uploaded about the Oscars, the designers are named and
credited to the various outfits of the celebrities. In comparison, in Coachella’s videos,
only the designer of one celebrity was named and discussed.
Comparing the two selected retailers, the overall assortment was narrowed down
and defined precisely. The total number of products in the defined range was 3619 for
Zara and 2971 for H&M. These numbers were used to measure the percentage shares
of the trends found. At The Academy Awards, “ribbon” with 6.63% for Zara and
“strapless” with 10.5% for H&M emerged as the strongest trend in each retailer. On
the other hand, the weakest trends were Zara with 2.16% for “strapless” and H&M
with 0.34% for “cape.” Looking at Coachella, the strongest trends were “floral”
10.03% for Zara and “yellow” with 4.07% for H&M. The worst trends in each case
were made up of 0.94% “set” at Zara and an even lower 0.4% for “set” at H&M. It
is interesting to note that the “set” trend was the least visible in both companies and
thus performed worst.
Figure 10.3 shows all stylistic elements, independently of the event and the fashion
retailer. In general, it can be said that the trends “floral” with 6.9%, “strapless”
7 6.33 6.9
6.11
Share of Assortment in %
6
5
3.7
4
2.7
3 2.27 2.27
1.89 1.89
2
0.67
1
0
Fig. 10.3 Stylistic elements

212 P. Bug et al.
with 6.33% and “yellow” with 6.11% performed the best within the retailers’ online
assortment. In contrast to that the trends “cape” with 1.89%, “bejeweled” with 1.89%
and “set” with 0.67% performed the worst and could be found the least within the
assortment. However, all stylistic elements could be found in the two online stores.
This shows that there is in any case a correlation between the event films and their
retail assortment.
Figure 10.4 shows the shares of trends summarized, measured against the overall
product range of the retailers. Looking at the Oscars, a percentage share of 17.99%
of trends can be found within the analyzed assortment at Zara. In contrast, H&M
assortment only consisted of 14.91% of trends. Looking at Coachella, Zara’s assort-
ment existed of 24.54% of trends, and therefore offered twice as much trendy clothes
than H&M. Trends found in H&M’s assortments only summed up to a percentage
share of 12.05%.
When summarizing the figure and looking at them in general and independently
of events, 21.26% of Zara’s total range reflects the trends. At H&M the figure is only
13.48%. This suggests that Zara clearly has the higher trend factor in their online
shop (Fig. 10.5).
Looking at the influence of the identified trends on the retailers was a further part
of the evaluation. Comparing the numbers for the events itself, it becomes clear that
considering the full product range, 18.3% for Coachella and 16.45% for the Oscars
100
80
60 82 85 75
88
40
20
18 15 25
12
0
Academy-Zara Academy-H&M Coachella-Zara Coachella-H&M
Trends Other
Fig. 10.4 Share of trend articles within the assortment

100
80
60 79 87
40
20
21 13
0
Zara H&M
Trends Other
Fig. 10.5 Trend articles regarding fashion retailers, event-independently

Share of Assortment in % 100
80
60 84 82
40
20
16 18
0
Academy Coachella
Trends Other
Fig. 10.6 Trends and events, fashion retailer independently
have been influenced by the identified trends. Basically, more trends were offered
for Coachella than for the Oscars (Fig. 10.6).
Neither H&M nor Zara have offered a collection in relation to the Oscars. Only
H&M released a Coachella collection, before the actual festival. Basically, it could
be said that H&M and Coachella should therefore be more closely related to trends.
As the findings have shown, something to the contrary emerged. Coachella and Zara
showed a bigger relation towards each other than Coachella and H&M. This might
be because H&M’s Coachella collection was already available before the actual
festival at the online store and was therefore sold out at the time of the count. It
seems clear that event films are closely intertwined with the world of fashion. This
finding indicates that event films are used as a marketing tool for fashion. Fashion
brands use sponsoring and the power of celebrities to show off new collections and
draw attention to emerging trends. Many celebrities are idolized by their fans and
because of this exalted status, the clothing they wear takes on positive associations and
becomes a desired commodity. Further, influencer marketing and collaborations can
be used to increase brand awareness. The same counts for offering special collections,
such as the #HMlovesCoachella collection, aiming specifically at the event. This
awareness contributes to an image creation, acquisition of new customers, a higher
customer retention, increased traffic, a higher conversion rate, and overall possibly
a higher margin in the end. Showing fashion in event films can also be used for
communication and to set a statement. Such was used at The Golden Globe Awards
and The Academy Awards. This communication was a message towards the fashion
industry and consumers and animates to think and act. However, when looking at the
Instagram analysis, it can be seen, that under the given circumstances, there is no film
reference towards events from the fashion retailers’ point of view. On the other hand,
there is a clear film correlation to fashion from the event’s point of view. It can be
stated that visual and digital media have a huge impact on fashion and the consumer.
But it stays not so sure, to what extent event films ultimately influence fashion. Are
event photographs more influential? However, since emotions are especially well
transferred through films, there is an indication that they contribute. For limitations
and further research, the chosen sample size of only two events, two fashion retailers,
214 P. Bug et al.
two social media platforms, as well as a short assessment period of one month after
the event is limited. In addition, the count was limited in the assortment range and
to the German online shops only. The trends are merely general stylistic elements
derived from the outfits worn at the events and subsequently declared as trends.
Moreover, the trends at Zara as well as at H&M were reviewed during the course of
one day. However, as the fluctuation of a fast-fashion retailer is very high, there is a
constant change in the product range. There is no other reference on how trends were
in stock before the event. Because of this, no development and no measured sales can
be considered. Further, interviews with event participants could be conducted to gain
more qualitative data about outfits and brands. Further, not including only films, but
also different visual and digital media could help for gaining a broader result range.
References
Britannica. (2018). Academy Award. Facts & History. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from https://www.
britannica.com/art/Academy-Award.
Business of Fashion. (2016, April 13). At festivals, fashion taps the “Currency of Cool.” Retrieved
June 6, 2018, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/at-festivals-fashion-
taps-the-currency-of-cool-coachella-alice-and-olivia-calvin-klein-tag-heuer-h-and-m.
Coachella. (n.d.). Festival history. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www.coachella.com/
history/.
DigitalMusicnews. (2017, July 4). The 10 most expensive music festivals in the world.
Retrieved June 26, 2018, from https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/04/expensive-best-
music-festivals-world/.
Draper, J., Thomas, L. Y., & Fenich, G. G. (2017). Event management research over the past
12 years: What are the current trends in research methods, data collection, data analysis proce-
dures, and event types? Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 19(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.
1080/15470148.2017.1404533.
Eonline. (2018). 5 online stores to shop for Coachella & Other Festivals. (2018, April 10).
Retrieved June 25, 2018, from https://www.eonline.com/news/926200/5-online-stores-to-shop-
for-coachella-other-festivals.
Fenich, G. G. (2012). Meetings, expositions, events, and conventions: An introduction to the industry
(3rd ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.
Ferla, R. L. (2010, March 3). Film’s influence on fashion wanes. The New York Times. Retrieved
from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/fashion/04COSTUME.html.
Gala. (2017). Coachella 2017: Stars feiern das Hippie Festival. (2017, April 18). Retrieved
June 14, 2018, from https://www.gala.de/lifestyle/coachella-2017–stars-feiern-das-hippie-
festival–21348768.html.
Getz, D., & Page, S. J. (2016). Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism Man-
agement, 52(1), 593–631.
Ghezzo, M. (2014, April 29). Eventfilm-3 Erfolgsfaktoren für erfolgreiche Eventfilme-Ivan
Siljic im Interview. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from http://confare.at/die-3-erfolgsfaktoren-
fuer-erfolgreiche-eventfilme-filmemacher-ivan-siljic-zur-premiere-des-ersten-interaktiven-
oesterreichischen-veranstaltungsrueckblicks/.
Inditex. (2017). Annual report 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2019 from https://www.inditex.com/
investors/investor-relations/annual-reports.
Madden, A. (2018, May 3). Surprise: You Probably Missed Who Wore Zara to the Oscars. Retrieved
June 25, 2018, from https://www.whowhatwear.com/zara-oscars-outfits–5a9d86b8d3bc2.
Modaes. (2017). Revenue of the leading global clothing and accessories retailers 2016. Statis-
tic. Retrieved June 24, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/455287/leading-global-
clothing-and-accessories-retailers-based-on-revenue/.
Statista. (2018a). Most watched telecasts in the U.S. 2017. Statistic. Retrieved June 24, 2018, from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/320934/primetime-programming-viewers-usa/.
Statista. (2018b). Highest grossing festivals worldwide in 2017. Statistic. (2018). Retrieved June 24,
2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/306095/highest-grossing-festivals-worldwide/.
Vip. (2018, April 13). Coachella 2018: Das tragen die Stars auf dem Musik-Festival. Retrieved June
25, 2018, from https://www.vip.de/cms/coachella-2018-das-tragen-die-stars-auf-dem-musik-
festival-4148383.html.
Vogue. (2018). Golden Globes 2018: Schwarze Outfits werden für “Time’s Up” versteigert-
Vogue.de. (2018, January 18). Retrieved June 25, 2018, from http://www.vogue.de/mode/artikel/
golden-globe-outfit-versteigerung.
Jacqueline Diefenbach is enrolled as student at “Reutlingen University” of Applied Sciences in

the “International Fashion Retail” bachelor’s program since 2015. During her study at the “School
of Textiles & Design,” she has worked with several textile and apparel companies including E.
Breuninger GmbH & Co., Marc O’Polo GmbH, and Holy AG. She gained deep insights into the
purchasing, distribution, event management, and marketing departments. Furthermore, she deep-
ened and expanded her knowledge through her semester abroad at the “Tecnológico de Monterrey”
in Guadalajara, Mexico. Contact: use LinkedIn.
Anna Heller graduated with distinction in 2013 from her studies as a state-certified actress and
theater pedagogue BUT. After two years in her profession, she decided to enroll as a student at
Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences 2015 in the bachelor’s program International Fashion
Retail. During her studies at the School of Textiles & Design, she gained initial experience in
product management at the Porsche Design Group. There she got insights into the processes of
purchasing, sales, and product development. In addition, she expanded her knowledge of textile
contexts by spending a semester abroad at Udayana University in Denpasar, Indonesia. Contact:
use LinkedIn.
Chapter 11
Overview of Product Presentation
with Moving Images in Fashion
E-Commerce
11.1 Background and Problem Definition
The Internet gains significance as the proportion of Internet users in the world’s popu-
lation is increasing (Statista, 2018, p. 10). More and more people possess smartphones
and gain access to the Internet (Statista DMO, 2018, p. 4). Today’s users consider
the Internet a daily-use digital tool, a fun destination and the first place to search for
information (Google Connected Consumer Survey, 2017). In fact, the video-sharing
Web site YouTube is after Google the second biggest search engine in the world
(Harris, 2017, p. 122). This leads to an increase in time spent online and results in
a rise of online purchasing processes all over the world (Statista, 2017a, 11; Statista
DMO, 2018, 4). Since costumers increasingly choose to purchase online (Statista,
2017b, 8), the importance of online markets is rising. Fashion is particularly popular
online. With revenues of US$417.1 bn, fashion was the largest electronic commerce
(e-commerce) segment in 2017 (Statista DMO, 2018, 4).
As offline sales are slowly but surely declining and online sales are increasing,
the examination of online fashion sales is relevant (HDE, 2018, 13). Yet, selling
apparel online differs from selling it in-store, and as a result, online fashion retailing
requires different approaches. When buying in brick-and-mortar stores, customers
can see the garment, try it on, feel the material, and get advice from sales staff.
Those are underlying foundations of stationary purchase decisions. However, these
purchase decision bases are not available to online customers, since there is a lack of
interaction between people and products in online markets (Orús, Gurrea, & Flavián,
2017, 662).
In online stores, the consumers are deprived of actual touch prior to making a
purchase (Overmars & Poels, 2015, 272). This “presents a major hurdle for compa-
nies in persuading shoppers to buy” (Lee & Park, 2014, 117). The impossibility of
P. Bug (B) · J. Helwig


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_11
218 P. Bug and J. Helwig
physically examining products on the computer screen is a key deterrent of online

shopping. Anyhow, in order to consider a purchase, customers need to be able to
create an accurate impression of the product. To overcome this hurdle, consumers
have to base their purchase decision in the digital environment differently. Online
retailers cope with the lack of physical contact between costumers and products,
for example, by offering detailed product descriptions, photographs from different
angles and detail shots. The unsuccessful translation of tangible products into the
digital world is likely to lead to customer dissatisfaction. If the apparel ordered on
the Internet does not meet the customer’s expectations when it is received, it is very
likely that the customer will return it. This implies unnecessary administrative effort,
a bad reputation and the costs of sending items back and forth. It is therefore of the
utmost importance that this translation is done in the best possible way. The more
precise a product is presented, the lower the number of returns. Because what has
already been seen has less unpleasant or unwanted surprises in store (Jansen, 2018,
2).
According to Reinhold, the current results of the e-KIX, for which the ECC
Cologne conducts a monthly survey of German shop operators—mainly from small-
and medium-sized companies, show that detailed product descriptions are currently
available from 85% of the online retailers surveyed. Images showing the article from
different perspectives are also standard for 69% of e-KIX participants. In contrast,
3D and 360-degree views, product and application videos or customer ratings are still
used rather rarely (Reinhold, 2017). The application of motion picture for the transla-
tion of tangible products to the digital world offers the chance to reduce mistakes and
thus minimizes negative surprises for customers. Camberwell Studios (2017) states
that 57% of customers who have seen a video of the product prior their purchase are
less surprised when receiving it (Camberwell Studios, 2017). Motion pictures allow
for supporting the decision bases for online purchases. It has been claimed that the
application of motion picture builds trust and increases sales (Camberwell Studios,
2017; Schoenmakers, 2017; True Focus Media, 2018).
More and more videos are being used for online appearances, for example, on Web
sites, blogs, and on social networks. Thanks to the ability of video content to display
color, texture, fit, motion, and how garments look in use, it is especially popular in
fashion (Harris, 2017, 122). Despite its extraordinarily positive impact on consumers,
video-content-based product exhibition is still an underutilized e-commerce strategy
(Cheng, Wu, Liu, & Hua, 2017). The purpose will be reached with an overview of the
current literature by analyzing which different video types are possible for fashion
retail Web sites.
11 Overview of Product Presentation with Moving Images … 219
11.2 Literature Analysis Findings
11.2.1 Fashion E-Commerce Videos
The research was conducted in German and in English and also included studies that
were not aimed exclusively at German, British or American clothing consumers.
The aim was to obtain as much and high-quality information as possible in order to
draw meaningful conclusions. Yet, in order to outline the picture of the video formats
used in the fashion retail environment, it was necessary to search in online stores for
types of application of motion pictures. Therefore, to be able to summarize the most
common usages for motion picture, the 100 online shops with the highest revenues
in the fashion sector, who operate in the German, British or American markets were
viewed. The video formats discovered there were integrated in the literature research.
Peck and Childers (2003) claim that physically examining products is crucial for
customers to assess products that may differ in their texture, hardness, temperature or
weight (Peck & Childers, 2003, 35). McDonald (2017) writes that prior to purchasing
garments and accessories, customers want to try them on (McDonald, 2017, 10).
Overmars & Poels (2015) point out that haptic information is refused to the consumer
before purchasing an item (Overmars & Poels, 2015, 272). Ho (2014) illustrates
that for Web-based purchase decisions customers have to rely on text and graphics
displayed in the online shop of the retailers, whereas in a stationary shop customers
are in direct contact with products (Ho, 2014, 146). Flavián, Gurrea, and Orús (2017),
Lee and Park (2014) and Verhagen, Vonkeman, and van Dolen (2016) all predicate
that not being able to feel, touch, or try products on the computer screen remains a
main hurdle for online retailers when it comes to convincing customers to make a
purchase (Flavián et al., 2017, 1544; Lee & Park, 2014, 117; Verhagen et al., 2016,
460).
Orús et al. (2017) imply that when customers are unable to physically examine
products, their imagination becomes more pertinent for their purchase decision. In
order to take a purchase on the Internet into consideration, customers have to be able
to easily develop an appropriate image of how a product would be and perform (Orús
et al., 2017, 662).
Petrova & Cialdini (2008) note that the processing of images may have a significant
influence when evaluating products (Petrova & Cialdini, 2008, 516). Flavián et al.
(2017) draw attention to vivid information as a trigger for imagery, which may have
a substantial effect on product evaluations (Flavián et al., 2017, 1547). Orús et al.
(2017) claim that online retailers try to assist customers to deal with the lack of haptic
information by creating rich virtual product experiences that attempt to simulate
reality (Orús et al., 2017, 662). Results of the study of Flavián et al. (2017) emphasize
the necessity of providing online users with vivid information. The availability of
online product presentation videos had an impact on individuals’ attitudes to the
product and their intentions to purchase, which proved the value of vividness of online
product information. Presenting a realistic and objective video had a great impact
on the intentions to purchase and the consistency between attitudes and intentions
(Flavián et al., 2017, 1554). Orús et al. (2017) point out that online customers have
an active role in an interactive information search process. They no longer receive
marketing messages passively, but are more actively involved in the communication
process. Choosing information themselves, they handle self-selected content and
actively examine in order to obtain an exact impression (Orús et al., 2017, 662). Hasan
(2016) points out that it is crucial not to create unpleasant situations for customers
or make them feel irritated, since they otherwise abandon their shopping cart and
leave the store without making a purchase (Hasan, 2016, 224). He also insinuates as
visual Web site design demonstrates a strong negative impact on perceived irritation
in online shopping, “visual website design features that could increase feelings of
irritation such as poor layouts, small fonts, eye glaring colors, and inappropriate
graphics should be avoided” (Hasan, 2016, 228).
Jiang & Benbasat (2007) emphasize that the perception of products is a striking
determinant that influences consumers’ attitude and intensions in regard to online
shopping. They also point out that the presented product information substantially
influences consumer satisfaction with electronic shopping (Jiang & Benbasat, 2007,
pp. 475–476). Also Szymanski and Hise (2000) agree that the site design and con-
venience play important roles in consumer e-satisfaction (Szymanski & Hise, 2000,
319). Text, graphics and color are standard-style elements for Web sites according to
Lightner and Eastman (2002). They argue that text typically provides more in-depth
product information, whereas videos and pictures are rather used for illustrating the
product and for embellishing the Web sites (Lightner & Eastman, 2002, 176). Jiang
and Benbasat (2007) indicate that text and static images are not adequate to illustrate
substantial product information “particularly for experience attributes, such as the
feel, try, and touch of a product” (Jiang & Benbasat, 2007, 476). Buckwalter (2013)
claims that video gives a richer experience when it comes to visual elements and
brings customers as close as possible to the product in a manner that even high-
quality glossy magazine ads cannot (Buckwalter, 2013).
Kientzler (2018) claims that videos are at the center of the consumption of content
on the Internet. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world with three
billion search queries processed every month. Due to their potential to generate more
interest, increase the user experience and promise more user interaction, Facebook
and Google videos would be played out more frequently to users. The video format
would offer a higher reach than a blog post with the same content (Kientzler, 2018).
Cheng et al. (2017) claim that video-content-based product exhibitions are underuti-
lized (Cheng et al., 2017, 1170). Although plenty of sites already use online videos,
there is still quite a number of sites that could benefit from using them (Charlton,
2011). The next chapters will illustrate different types of video content to show how
videos are currently used for the presentation of products in online shops.
11.2.2 Catwalk Videos
Classical catwalks are fashion shows in which models present the latest collection
of a brand. Thereby, models walk back and forth on a runway. There are invited
guests sitting in the front rows (usually important representatives of opinion for the
fashion industry) and oftentimes there is a big show associated, with lots of decoration
and music to match the theme of the collection. For the presentation of products in
online shops, however, such catwalk videos are rarely found. On the one hand, not
every brand organizes a fashion show and on the other hand, only rarely all parts
of a collection are presented in such fashion shows. For the online presentation of
apparel products, though, slimmed down versions of these catwalks are produced
from time to time. In this type of catwalk videos, a model walks into the video
while wearing the garment. The models walk forward on a plain background, strike
a pose turns around and walk back again. Usually, this happens without any audience,
decoration or music. The first impression when analyzing fashion Web stores was
that the duration of this kind of video is no longer than 20 s.
The benefit of a catwalk video is that the clothes are worn by a model and presented
in motion. “A video can display much more than what is currently possible with a
photograph series or 360-degree photography. Only on the body garments unfold
their full effect. Above all, this makes it possible to assess the quality of the material.
In addition, there is the model as an emotional component: movements and facial
expression give the presented articles a personal touch. Coupled with additional
product photographs, videos significantly increase the desire to buy” (Schoenmakers,
2017).
The British online fashion retailer ASOS, for example, hosts catwalk-style video
showing models wearing the product as part of an outfit. According to Kaye (2016),
this is beneficial for three reasons: firstly to get an idea of how items fit and how
they look with movement, secondly to provide inspiration for additional purchases,
and thirdly, to be used on all international Web sites and to be understood by ASOS
customers of any nationality as they contain no speech (Kaye, 2016). As per Cam-
berwell Studios (2017), ASOS has some of the lowest returns in the fashion industry
because they showcase each product realistically (Camberwell Studios, 2017).
Zalando examined with some of its customers, what fashion clothing items they
find most difficult to shop online and which presentation format they would favor.
For women, dresses and denim jeans were identified and the most popular solution
was a “short video of a model wearing the product and moving.” They concluded that
with introducing catwalk videos their customers would have a better online shopping
experience (Amicis, 2017).
While examining various online shops as part of this chapter, three different kinds
of catwalk videos could be identified. The product presentation videos that were most
similar to catwalk videos of fashion shows were videos in which a model walked
into the video in an outfit, walked forward, stopped there for a while, then turned
around, walked the catwalk back and out of the video again. In those videos, there
were sometimes multiple filming angles. This kind of videos will be referred to as
“Catwalk” in the quantitative analysis of this research. In Fig. 11.1, an example from
the retailer Zalando is displayed.
Most commonly there was a model wearing an outfit, who was walking a few
steps, but mainly swaying and turning on the spot, while sometimes the camera
changed the angles of filming her. This will be referred to as “walk–sway–turn”
video in the quantitative research of this chapter. Figure 11.2 provides an example
of Asos.
In the context of this chapter, also videos in which a model does not walk at all
will be referred to as catwalk videos. There were videos detected, in which the model
does nothing more than slowly turn on the spot. Still, these videos contribute to a
better impression of the garment and resemble the other catwalk videos identified in
this research. These videos will be referred to as “sway–turn” video. In Fig. 11.3,
an example of Amazon (Amazon.com, 2018a) is given.
“Catwalk,” “walk–sway–turn,” as well as “sway–turn” videos belong to the cat-
walk videos in the context of this chapter. This circumstance is illustrated in Fig. 11.4.
Fig. 11.1 Screenshots: “catwalk” video (own representation)
Fig. 11.2 Screenshots: walk–sway–turn video (own representation)
Fig. 11.3 Screenshots: sway–turn video (own representation)

catwalk videos
‘walk-sway-turn’ video
‚real‘ catwalk video ‘sway-turn’ video
and turning on the spot’
Fig. 11.4 Relation of catwalk videos (own representation)
11.2.3 3D Simulation and 360° View
As described, a major disadvantage of online shopping is the inability to physically

examine products, whereas in brick-and-mortar stores people can interact with prod-
ucts and inspect them from every angle. 3D simulation and 360° views of products
are approaches of translating this asset to the online world. The weakness of classical
static product photography is that it does not show the product from every possible
angle; hence, it does not compete with holding a product in the hands. 360° views
and 3D simulations are tools which not only visualize products from every possible
angle, but also enable customers to interact with the product, as if they were holding
the product in their hands (Allen, 2016).
According to Snap36 (2018), a 360° view provides customers with the most accu-
rate and visually engaging information, while enabling them to see every stich, seam,
sequin and stripe (Snap36, 2018). They can zoom, rotate or even customize the prod-
uct (exempli gratia (e.g.) change colors). The interactive 360° or 3D visualization
“offers a method for consumers to simulate the functionality of a product by incor-
porating visual, tactile, and behavioral affordances” (Li, Daugherty, & Biocca, 2003,
406). This allows consumers of vicarious consumption of the product, which can
impact cognitive and affective evaluations. Li et al. (2003) reported an improvement
of consumers’ attitudes toward the product as well as an enhancement of their pur-
chase intentions. They speculate that “better attitude and purchase intentions result
from these virtual affordances although their need for touching is not met” (Li et al.,
2003, 406).
Charlton (2010) claims that when only providing static product pictures, cus-
tomers are not satisfied with the view of the product and demand to see it from
angles which have not been displayed. He states that providing a 360° view besides
static pictures can lead to a 20% rise in conversion rates for these product pages
(Charlton, 2010). There are two approaches to creating 360° views of products.
Either a bunch of photographs of the product are shot from different angles, while
the camera does not move a bit and the product rotates on a 360° turntable (Allen,
2016) or the product is fixed and an avatar of the product is created within a fraction
of a second inside a photography machine (Biris, , 2015). As per a survey of Wyzowl
(2018), “15% of marketers have used 360° video. Of those who used it, 62% found
it to be an effective strategy. 16% of marketers plan to use 360° video in 2018”
(Wyzowl, 2018, 9). However, there may be possible disadvantages of 360° views.
Producing a 360° view of good quality can be expensive and time consuming. The
costs for the right equipment and personnel must not be overlooked either. According
to Charlton (2010), 360° “views tend to work better for smaller products, and don’t
suit all product types” for example “clothing can be difficult to display in this way”
(Charlton, 2010). Compliant with Reinhold (2017) 360° views of products are used
rather rarely (Reinhold, 2017).
11.2.4 Livestream Videos
Another option of using motion picture in order to present products is Livestreaming.

According to Kientzler (2018), live video content already outdates all other content
formats. Livestream videos are omnipresent and have a major influence on the media
behavior of users. Whether via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat -
live video content leads to a fusion of public relations (PR), socialmedia and content
marketing (Kientzler, 2018). The direct and immediate character of the live content
gives the user a proximity to the company, the brand and the products. He asserts
that users want convincing, honest appearing content that allows an emotional con-
nection and at the same time offers the possibility to form own opinions. This can
be achieved with live videos. According to him, the credibility of carefully prepared
articles is surpassed by first-hand and immediate information. Therefore, the main
merits of Livestream videos are authenticity and proximity. Live videos are direct,
unembellished, and immediate and justify a lower production quality. The users have
the feeling of being part of the action—they perceive the content like an experience.
They consider it to be credible. Simultaneously, the users get the feeling of establish-
ing a direct line to the company, individual persons or brands. They feel like partners
and co-actors of the events (Kientzler, 2018).
It is quite simple: Users have the ability to create videos from their personal
devices (computers, smartphones) and share them in real-time with their communities
(Sitbon, 2017). It is for this reason that “Livestream videos are becoming more and
more popular. Through channels like Facebook Live and Periscope, businesses are
able to broadcast live to their audience whenever they want” (Siu, 2017). Longer
live videos are better as they use every moment to attract a new viewer and potential
customer (Sitbon, 2017). Since livestreams can last several hours, they are more
popular on social media platforms like Facebook, whereas on YouTube, short and
better-produced videos are favored (Schindler, 2017). The Livestream videos provide
a maximum of currentness and form an interface between communication and event.
Platforms like Snapchat or Instagram try to increase this effect by deleting the videos
after a short period of time. The evanescence of the moment increases curiosity
(Kientzler, 2018). A main motivation why live videos attract people is the fear of
missing out. For that same reason, people like to hear “breaking news” on TV, and
keep checking their Facebook feeds to see what their friends posted recently. “Live
videos are suspenseful because we don’t know what’s going to happen next and we
often get the feeling that we’re missing something if we don’t tune in” (Siu, 2017).
According to Siu (2017), livestreams get 10× more engagement than regular
videos. They have the capability to satisfy “our deep need for instant gratification.
We are able to interact with a community in real time and potentially get noticed by
the broadcaster. Livestreams can make us feel like we are at an actual, live event.
This is why they work so well for businesses—you can use them to broadcast a new
product launch, do a live Q&A, and share a “behind the scenes”. However, companies
must be careful and strive to remain interesting. Just playing with curiosity is not
enough to build a community. They have to continuously deliver relevant content in
order to build long-term trust with the target group and to establish the company and
the brand as a contact point for really interesting live video content in the awareness
of the user. In case of failing to continuously delivering relevant content, they will
most likely no longer be perceived as value-added suppliers, but simply ignored
(Kientzler, 2018).
To use live videos for the presentation of fashion products, live broadcasts of fash-
ion shows are suitable, for example (Indvik, 2016). Fashion brands can livestream
their fashion shows and allow customers to buy products straight from the runway.
Burberry did this in 2016, when “every ensemble was made available for purchase
online and in flagship stores around the world immediately after its debut on the
catwalk” (Indvik, 2016). The audience is the main advantage for fashion retail.
Livestreaming helps to reach millions of people and enables them, for example,
to witness fashion week. “Everyone can watch the show in real-time” (Nazarova,
2017). “Burberry was the first brand to live stream a fashion show in 2010. (…) In
2014 90% of London Fashion Week shows were live streamed” (Harris, 2017, 114).
Fashion weeks have own official channels, which they announce and promote on all
social channels before the events, and redirect the social audience to their official Web
sites. The audience loves live video (Nazarova, 2017). “In 2012 over 2 million peo-
ple from 100 countries watched video footage of Topshop’s spring/summer Unique
show in the first three hours after it was broadcast on Topshop’s website and Twitter
page and shown on screens at its Oxford Circus flagship store in London. Viewers
could click on clothes and accessories to browse color options as they appeared on
catwalk and create screenshots and video clips to share on Facebook. The video was
also “shoppable”; make-up, clothes, and accessories could be ordered for delivery
before they arrived in store. Several looks sold out within an hour and at least one
sold out before the show was over” (Harris, 2017, 114).
11.2.5 Shoppable Videos
Video has the potential to trigger customers’ desire. Therefore, most online content
is designed to drive users’ attention and action. For years, there have been comments
under videos, asking where specific products displayed in the video could be bought
(LaGattuta, 2018). Unfortunately, the attention span of consumers is only limited,
“when users see something they want online, they either put it in their basket, or they
generally forget about it” (LaGattuta, 2018). When it comes to online purchases,
customers increasingly look for the least friction (LaGattuta, 2018). Shoppable videos
shorten the purchasing path for customers. They have the potential to satisfy the
immediate purchasing desire that customers get after seeing a product in a video and
to translate video views into sales (Ertekin, 2017, 580; Shukla, 2018). This type of
video content encourages engagement and interaction with brands, saves time and
effort for consumers and provides an entertaining new venue for purchases (Ertekin,
2017, 580).
Shoppable videos “are short clips that feature a company’s products, which allow
consumers to click and buy them” (Ertekin, 2017, 579). “Shoppable video technology
consists of online video streaming with embedded clickable links that direct the
viewer to further information about the item clicked on or to a page that allows them
to purchase the product” (Weinswig, 2018, 2). Presented information may include
“available sizes, prices, colors, and other attributes related to the items on the videos.
(…) The links to products are usually available over the video or on the side of the
screen” (Ertekin, 2017, 579). “This creates a seamless journey from inspiration to
purchase, making it as easy as possible for the consumer to explore and shop items
from videos” (Styla.com & Smartzer, 2016, 17). Shoppable videos are typically
displayed on a landing page of a company’s Web site and spread on social media
channels. They are hosted either on the company’s Web site, on a branded channel
of the business or on popular video search engines such as YouTube (Ertekin, 2017,
580; Shukla, 2018). This type of video content can generate millions of clicks by
users (Ertekin, 2017, 580).
Ertekin (2017) used the focus group method to gain insight on consumers’
thoughts on shoppable videos (Ertekin, 2017, 581). Their approach supported the
idea that shoppable videos offer significant benefits for consumers (Ertekin, 2017,
579). Participants of their study reported on the simplicity of using shoppable videos
(Ertekin, 2017, 583). They also “indicated that shoppable videos for products such as
clothing would help consumers build their own self-identity and style through provid-
ing ideas on how to match the products together” (Ertekin, 2017, 584). Respondents
of Ertekins (2017) study preferred shoppable videos over product pictures because
they would allow for seeing how the clothing fits on actual people, enabling for
judgment of size and fit (Ertekin, 2017, 584). “Participants listed the most useful
attributes of shoppable videos as convenience of one-click shopping, which elimi-
nates the need to manual search; ability to pause and rewind, which makes learning
possible at consumers’ own pace; entertainment; and learning new product use and
ideas for fit such as in fashion products” (Ertekin, 2017, 586).
Entertaining videos, to which consumers can relate to and have fun while watch-
ing, were identified as the most favored feature of shoppable videos. The accessibility
on all platforms such as PCs, tablet computers, and smartphones, as well as the ease
of ready-to-click links that eliminate the need for manual search for products were
also indicated as attractive features (Ertekin, 2017, 586).
The respondents of Ertekins (2017) study felt that shoppable videos enhance the
experience of consumers who decide to purchase apparel online and that they were
a better alternative than merely viewing a picture of the item on a Web site (Ertekin,
2017, 586). Participants of Ertekins (2017) study without prompting brought up the
idea that shoppable videos might increase their impulse purchases (Ertekin, 2017,
584). “Shoppable videos save time and effort for consumers, give them ideas and
information on how to use products, and provide entertainment at the same time.
Overall, shoppable videos are ubiquitously accessible and are more effective than
still pictures or text alone in the online shopping context” (Ertekin, 2017, 579).
It should be emphasized that the videos should not be too long or boring, or else
viewers may dislike them or get distracted from making an actual purchase (Ertekin,
2017, 586). Ertekin (2017) concluded there were significant positive attitudes among
consumers toward shoppable videos, with the consumers indicating that they would
use them in the future (Ertekin, 2017, 587).
The growth of companies offering the production of shoppable videos points to an
equally large growth of this video format. For example, the British company Wire-
wax, which specialized in interactive shoppable content, experienced 100% growth
over the last three years (Baron, 2018). In a bid to enhance their digital marketing
campaigns, high profile brands have had an increased adoption rate for shoppable
video on their Web sites (Styla.com & Smartzer, 2016, 22). “Fashion brands including
Burberry, Ted Baker and Sandro have already embraced shoppable video technolo-
gy” (Weinswig, 2018, 3). Nowness.com, the eight-year-old LVMH Moët Hennessy
Louis Vuitton-owned property that specializes in fashion, art and media content,
launched on the March 10, 2014, its first shoppable video. The short film show-
cased products from Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, La Perla, Kenzo, Maison Martin
Margiela, Haider Ackermann and Rick Owens (Strugatz, 2014, 2). LaGattuta (2018)
deems it a great idea to partner shoppable video with a well-liked influencer. For
example, JC Penney teamed up with Meredith Masony to create a shoppable video
for Christmas gifts.
The video had a 33% click-through-rate (CTR), three interactions per viewer and
an average of 45 s spent interacting with content within overlays (LaGattuta, 2018).
This is extraordinarily high; for comparison, the average CTR of online advertising
videos in the UK is only 0.67% (Videology, 2018).
Another platform where shoppable videos can be featured is Snapchat. Blooming-
dales, for example, worked with Cotton to create a shoppable video for Snapchat. In a
60-s video, over 40 looks were displayed through which users could click themselves.
The outfit components of these looks could easily be purchased by clicking on them.
The video shown on Snapchat reached a CTR of 10%. Ted Baker created a shoppable
interactive 360º video experience, called “Keeping up with the Bakers,’ and was also
rewarded with decent engagement rates (LaGattuta, 2018). Shoppable videos also
work for fashion shows. For instance, Burberry’s shoppable runway enabled viewers
to click on the items on the models to get additional information as well as direct them
to a page where they could purchase the items (Weinswig, 2018, p. 3). Also Zalando
used shoppable videos for their fashion fair Bread&&Butter to enable anyone to be
part of this event. Recordings of the live fashion shows were provided with clickable
tags that led directly to the item in the Fashion Store (Zalando, 2017).
11.2.6 Mood Videos
Mood videos in the context of this chapter will be defined as videos that convey
certain moods from a brand or product to potential customers. There is basically
no literature about mood videos. However, these were discovered again and again
during the writing of this chapter.
Those videos seem to be designed to put viewers into a certain mood, usually
matching the items on offer for sale. Sometimes, they seem to be used as design
elements for the product presentation of the lister page (the subpage that lists products
that are for sale) or on the landing page (LP) to give the potential customer a feeling of
the brand. Emotions seem to be an important part of many of these videos. Typically,
people are displayed. The people are often smiling or laughing, dancing or closing
their eyes with pleasure, while they inhale deeply. In several of these videos, music
plays in the background (e.g., Ted Baker, Fashion Nova, American Eagle), yet not
in all of them (e.g., Zara, Nordstrom, Prada). Classical advertisement videos can be
mood videos, but not all mood videos are classical advertisements.
Mood videos are usually presented quite prominently, e.g., on the LP0 (the first
landing page that arises when a customer lands on the Web site; e.g., American
Eagle), on the LP1 (a main LP but not the first that arises, for fashion online shops
this could be the LP after clicking on “Women” or “Men”; e.g., Ted Baker), or while
scrolling through a lister page. Figure 11.5 (Zara.com, 2018a) offers an example of
a mood video.
11.2.7 Animated GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format, better known by its abbreviation GIF, “is the
second most common image format used on the World Wide Web after JPEG” (Paiz-
Reyes, Nunes-de-Lima, & Yildirim-Yayilgan, 2018, 262). Originally, GIFs were
created to allow for easy viewing and interchange of image data (Tiwari & Shandilya,
2010, 2). As the GIF format can be used to display animation (Zhang, 2015, 190), it
became popular on social media (Paiz-Reyes et al., 2018, 262). “A GIF is an image
file and not a video file, but it has the characteristic of frames as video files do”
(Paiz-Reyes et al., 2018, 263). “An animated GIF file comprises a number of frames
Fig. 11.5 Screenshots of a mood video (own representation)

Fig. 11.6 Screenshots of a GIF-like video (own representation)
Fig. 11.7 Screenshots of a GIF (own representation)
that are displayed in succession, each introduced by its own GCE (Graphics Control
Extension), which gives the time delay to wait after the frame is drawn. Global
information at the start of the file applies by default to all frames” (Zhang, 2015,
190).
Since GIF formats are the most popular format for displaying small animations,
the name “GIF” was chosen to title smaller animations found on Web sites of online
retailers. This title is also used in this chapter for videos that do not actually have the
GIF format but strongly resemble a GIF. During the investigation of various online
shops within the scope of this chapter, GIFs or GIF-like videos were occasionally
used for the presentation of products. In Fig. 11.6 (Zara.com, 2018b), an example of
a GIF like video can be found, which has been retrieved from Zara.com. Figure 11.7
(Amazon.com, 2018b) represents an example of a GIF.
11.2.8 Descriptive Videos
Another type of video content, which has been detected during the analysis of the
highest-grossing fashion retail Web sites operating in the German, British and Amer-
ican markets are descriptive videos. While in the fashion sector video is mainly used
to convey the effect of the product, more expert advice is required for functional
clothing. For this need, users expect the product to be demonstrated in detail and are
also willing to watch a longer video. For this cause, products can be explained by a
video. The characteristics and advantages of products can be shown. The situation
in the video is similar to the consulting situation in a brick-and-mortar business. The
almost personal consultation can create trust among users and eliminate uncertainty
(Metzger, 2013). Dresses, however, are not so much in need of explanation. How
often are descriptive videos used for the presentation of dresses?
Fig. 11.8 Screenshots of a descriptive video (own representation)
Fig. 11.9 Screenshots of a descriptive video (own representation)
Since a simpler assortment was chosen for the examination, there were not many
videos of this kind detected. Yet, in the ones which were identified, there was an expert
(either the designer of the clothes, a professional moderator or a shop assistant) who
described the product, its material, how it can be worn best and pointed out the
benefits of the described garment. This type of video content can be very similar to
infomercials, which are a form of advertisement aimed at educating the customer
about a product or a series of products via television in the form of a program and
typically last longer than a regular advertisement and therefore are more detailed
(The Economic Times, 2018). The videos that have been categorized as descriptive
videos in this work tended to be longer than the other types of videos. In some of
these videos, the garment is only hung on a hanger and a person is standing next to
it talking about it; an example for this is displayed in Fig. 11.8 (Nordstrom, 2018).
Often this even happens without the person who is talking touching the product.
In other videos assigned to this category, several people talk about the advertised
garment and multiple people wear it; an example for this is illustrated in Fig. 11.9
(qvc.com, 2018). This allows viewers to make judgments about how the garment
might fit to their body types.
11.2.9 Customer Review Videos
Several online shops provide the opportunity for customers to write product reviews.
Some allow customers to upload review pictures or even videos. For example, Ama-
zon allows customers to review products in form of a video. For some products, they
even embed those videos in the product details (Amazon.com, 2018a) (Fig. 11.10).
Fig. 11.10 Screenshots of a customer review video (own representation)
“We are all influenced by the opinions of others to some extent. The phenomenon
of social proof actually speaks directly to that idea” (Boast.io, 2018). According to
Cullinan (2017) making use of positive customer review videos is a good idea, since
this provides a personal, authentic and human connection that promotional video
typically does not (Cullinan, 2017). Cullinan (2017) also claims that most consumers
read online reviews prior to the purchase and that online reviews portray trust as much
as personal recommendations do. The effect of customer review videos has also been
recognized by Alsever (2011) who named the example of ShoeDazzle. Alsever (2011)
argues that “ShoeDazzle’s most persuasive spokespeople is an anonymous teenage
girl” whose review video was viewed more than 37,000 times. Individuals can have
the power to persuade like-minded individuals. Alsever (2011) claims that “the best
spokesperson for a new business might very well be, literally, the girl next door”
(Alsever, 2011).
11.2.10 Instagram Haul Videos
During the completion of this chapter, there were additional video formats discov-
ered, which contribute to the presentation of products employing motion pictures.
They were not detected on retailers’ Web sites but on social media channels. How-
ever, since the focus on this research was the retailers’ e-stores and not their social
media channels, this topic is now dealt with only briefly and makes no claim to
completeness.
In the following, one possible way of presenting products applying motion picture
on the social media channel Instagram is presented. Instagram describes itself as
follows “Instagram is a free photograph and video sharing app available on Apple
iOS, Android and Windows Phone. People can upload photographs or videos to our
service and share them with their followers or with a select group of friends. They
can also view, comment and like posts shared by their friends on Instagram. Anyone
13 and older can create an account by registering an email address and selecting a
username” (Instagram, 2018).
With one billion monthly active users, Instagram represents a significant platform
to be seen by potential customers (Statista, 2018b, 8). Ignoring these figures would be
fatal according to Faßmann & Moss (2016). For this reason, social media marketing
is of great importance (Faßmann & Moss, 2016, 1). The rather young and female
user group mainly uses Instagram as a source of inspiration for lifestyle topics.
Contents therefore often refer to areas such as sports, cooking, fashion, music and
photography (Faßmann & Moss, 2016, 28). That is why Instagram is in particular
appropriate to target fashion-conscious young women. 400 million users use the
function “Instagram Stories” (Insta Stories) on a daily basis (Statista, 2018b, 10).
Instagram Stories is a feature on Instagram that enables users to post image and video
content in a slideshow format (Rouse, 2018). After 24 h, the story is automatically
deleted, unless the user saves it in his story highlights, which can also be viewed after
this period of time has elapsed. During the timespan of the investigation of fashion
retailers’ Web sites for this chapter, the German Instagram celebrities Caro Daur and
Pamela Reif both posted the so-called NA-KD Hauls in their Insta Stories. Pamela
did so on Sunday, the July 29, 2018, and Caro on Thursday, the August 2, 2018.
Haul Videos “are short videos in which young women not only present their fashion
and beauty purchases but express their evaluations and opinions as well” (Harnish &
Bridges, 2016). These videos can be created by normal customers or by people with
a high followership. If someone with a high followership creates such Haul Videos, it
can be assumed that he was paid for it. Tanaka (2010) indicates that haul videos “are
viewed sometimes tens of thousands of times and influence buying. For instance, a
Guess watch endorsed in a haul video sold out immediately online” (Tanaka, 2010).
A NA-KD Haul is therefore a video of someone who recently received items from the
fashion e-shop na-kd.com, shows those articles, wears them and talks about them.
The influencers record their impressions of the products. They explain styling ideas
and tips, as well as options of how to wear specific items in their Shopping Haul
videos (Pur, 2018). The Haul videos by Caro Daur and Pamela Reif were most likely
initiated by NA-KD. The NA-KD influencers are provided with discount codes, with
which followers receive a 20% discount on their purchase and shopping cart (Pur,
2018). Also Pamela and Caro received discount codes for their followership. Pamela’s
was “PAMELA20,” and Caro’s was “Carodaur20.” With those codes, their followers
were able to get a discount for 24 h, the exact same amount of time, in which the
Insta Stories were online. As discussed in Sect. 11.2.4, one of the main reasons why
people like Livestream videos is that they get deleted after a short period of time and
that the customers fear of missing out. This curiosity can also be transferred to Insta
Stories, as they usually also get deleted within 24 h. Also since both Pamela and Caro
have more than a million subscribers on their Instagram channels, Pamela currently
4.1 million and Caro 1.8 million (as of 02/19/2019), it is highly likely that many
people have seen their stories. It is also very likely that many people have seen the
stories that correspond to the target group that NA-KD favors. As both influencers
and in particular Caro Daur are known because of their excellent style choices, they
are presumably subscribed by most women because of their style. This implies that
they are interested in what styles they like and why.
Their codes as well as the call-to-action “swipe up” were displayed right in the
beginning of their haul videos. Caro presented her order in an approximately 4 min
and Pamela hers in a 3-min-long video. In both videos, the influencers wore most
of their garments and displayed them in a short video. Throughout the videos, their
viewers were repeatedly asked to swipe up. After swiping up, they got redirected to
a landing page on na-kd.com with the styles shopped by their influencer.
11.3 Opportunities and Things to Consider
Wyzowl (2018), a company that produces online explainer videos, conducted an

annual State of Video Marketing Survey for the last four years. Their most recent
study was gathered by surveying 570 unique respondents in December 2017. Those
respondents consisted of marketing professionals and online consumers (Wyzowl,
2018, 10). Their survey indicates various benefits that arise from the application
of videos in general. Their results suggest an improvement of the understanding of
products by users, as well as an increase in traffic, sales and the dwell time spent
on Web sites (Wyzowl, 2018, 6). The annual State of Video Marketing Survey 2018
also points out that people are more likely to be persuaded to buy a product after
watching a brand’s video and are happy to share valuable content with their friends
(Wyzowl, 2018, 7).
Their results are supported by other authors who get to similar conclusions. For
example, Shukla (2018) also alleges that shoppable video search results increase
conversion rates. They would motivate customers to stay longer on a Web site and
rather make a purchase (Shukla, 2018). Likewise Kaye (2016), Schoenmakers (2017),
Metzger (2013) and Charlton (2011) all indicate a rise in the conversion rate caused
by the use of videos for the presentation of products online (Charlton, 2011; Kaye,
2016; Metzger, 2013; Schoenmakers, 2017). Kaye (2016) claims that the unique
user experiences created with videos does not only improve conversion rates but also
brand engagement and repeat purchases (Kaye, 2016). Tesseras (2013) interviewed
Margaret Herrera, who is affiliate manager for House of Fraser, about online videos
that enable customers to click and buy products instantly. Herrera also argued that
video content encourages engagement and interaction with brands. She hopes to
bring excitement to the purchase of their customers, to increase demand and to
simultaneously reduce returns. With a 360-degree view, she furthermore plans on
giving their “online customers a better insight into the actual products on offer”
(Tesseras, 2013).
The expectation of decreased returns is also expressed by other authors. Charl-
ton (2011) suggests that return rates tend to decrease when videos are applied to
the product pages of a Web site (Charlton, 2011). Camberwell Studios (2017) indi-
cate that product videos help to reduce returns due to a more realistic presentation
(Camberwell Studios, 2017). Buckwalter (2013) contends that videos capture visual
elements that even the highest-quality glossy magazine ad cannot. She claims that
video provides customers with a level of confidence in their purchases that even
a crystal-clear image cannot (Buckwalter, 2013). Texter (2017) affirms that videos
can provide customers with more accurate impressions of what the clothing would
look like on them than pictures can (Texter, 2017). Amicis (2017), who is an inno-
vation project manager of the content creation team of Zalando, confirms that the
use of moving images provides a unique opportunity to highlight elements that pho-
tographs alone cannot. He believes that applying catwalk videos for the presentation
of products support the purchase decisions of customers (Amicis, 2017).
Amicis’s (2017) assumption, that videos can backing customers’ decisions, is
shared by Bonelli (2016), Li et al. (2003), Tesseras (2013), Texter (2017) and Wyzowl
(2018). Li et al. (2003) deem that “by creating compelling online virtual experiences
with products, marketers can potentially increase the value of product information
presented, engage consumers in an active shopping experience, increase the number
of unique and repeat traffic visitors for a site, and ultimately establish an online
competitive advantage” (Li et al., 2003, 406). Bonelli (2016) emphasizes that most
users find product videos helpful in their decision process and that after watching a
video they are more likely to buy a product online (Bonelli, 2016). Also Charlton
(2011) indicates that video demonstrations of products can lead to increased sales. He
alludes that customers who viewed videos on products are more likely to add those to
their cart. Metzger (2013) agrees that the probability of buying increases significantly
for users who watch a video. She points out that videos for the presentation of products
in online fashion shops can transport mood, experience and character (Metzger,
2013). Schoenmakers (2017) conforms to the increased sales with fashion videos.
He also claims that videos help to enhance the search engine optimization (SEO)
ranking (Schoenmakers, 2017). According to Kaye (2016), videos are also beneficial
because they offer the opportunity to view garments in motion, provide inspiration
for additional purchases and can be understood by customers of any nationality when
they contain no speech (Kaye, 2016). In conclusion, the opportunities arising from
the use of product videos for the presentation of fashion articles in online shops can
be summarized as follows in Table 11.1.
Otto Spokesperson Frank Surholt reports that they experimented much with videos
on their fashion sites. He admits that swinging skirts or softly falling dresses can be
displayed more vividly in moving images. However, as Surholt says, the test was soon
stopped again. He reports that the efforts involved in creating and post-processing
Table 11.1 Summary of opportunities (own representation)

Increased traffic (Li et al., 2003; Decreased return rates (Camberwell Studios,
Schoenmakers, 2017; Wyzowl, 2018) 2017; Charlton, 2011; Tesseras, 2013)
Increased sales (Bonelli, 2016; Charlton, Increased conversion rate (Charlton, 2011;
2011; Metzger, 2013; Schoenmakers, 2017; Kaye, 2016; Metzger, 2013; Schoenmakers,
Shukla, 2018; Wyzowl, 2018) 2017; Shukla, 2018)
More realistic product presentation (Amicis, Supported purchase decision (Amicis, 2017;
2017; Buckwalter, 2013; Camberwell Studios, Bonelli, 2016; Li et al., 2003; Tesseras, 2013;
2017) Texter, 2017; Wyzowl, 2018)
Increased dwell time (Wyzowl, 2018) More repeat purchases (Kaye, 2016)
Content shared by users (Wyzowl, 2018) Improved brand engagement (Kaye, 2016;
Tesseras, 2013)
Mute videos can be understood by any View garments in motion (Kaye, 2016)
nationality (Kaye, 2016)
are very high, especially as far as time is concerned. And time is a very critical factor
in the turnover rate in the fashion segment. In some cases, fashionable articles that
are photographed today are already available online two days later. He reports that
the photograph production is more like an assembly line production, too complex
technical processes are not helpful (Jansen, 2018, 1).
Another factor to consider is that video production or 3D simulation can quickly
become expensive (Lee & Park, 2014, 118). According to Schoenmakers (2017), the
costs per video range from 80e to 400e, depending on the scope of the series pro-
duction (Schoenmakers, 2017). In compliance with Dominiko Exposito, Managing
Director of Seven Squard in Hamburg, you simply have more opportunities if the
margins on the products you offer are high (Jansen, 2018, 2). In order to be effective,
the application of a 3D simulation or motion picture has to make sense. It has to
present the right message to the right audience at the right time and in the right way.
Otherwise, it has very limited potential to succeed (Gross, 2018). It is pointless to
expect a video to automatically be more engaging just because it is a motion picture
(Buckwalter, 2013). In the worst case, a bad video can annoy the consumer, pre-
vent him from buying and jeopardize the stores reputation. Consumers’ feelings of
displeasure can lead to “negative effects on online consumers’ attitude, satisfaction,
word of mouth, intention to return, perceived ease of use, and purchasing behavior”
(Hasan, 2016, 225). Metzger (2013) points out that even if the content of the video
is great, it is of little use if the user overlooks it. According to her, more attention
can be drawn to the video by an automatic start (auto-start). However, one has to
be very careful about this. Automatically starting videos may remind the users of
advertising, which can overwhelm them and trigger a click-and-go reflex. This is
why Metzger (2013) recommends the video to be very unobtrusive and slow and not
look out of place. She mentions Amazon as an example of how to do it right. Their
videos would start playing automatically when someone opens the product details
page. Yet, this would be neither intrusive nor overwhelming as they manage to create
a seamless transition from the product image to the video.
The video starts with a frozen sequence that lasts about five seconds. One has the
feeling of looking at a product image. Then, the product image comes to life; the
model rotates and presents the product. Then, the last sequence resembles the product
image that follows (Metzger, 2013). Another factor that Metzger (2013) stresses is
that catwalk videos would be far too hectic for an online shop. She purports that
catwalk would be good for fashion shows, but users would complain in usability
tests that such videos were too fast so that the products could not be viewed in detail.
Respondents would have rated product videos without catwalks better. Some would
have argued that they could see the product better all around. A runway video, on the
other hand, would seem hectic, out of touch and unrealistic. Metzger (2013) favors a
podium presentation as an alternative to catwalk videos. Again she uses the example
of Amazon, where the models only move slightly in one place and then turn around.
This would not cause any rush for the user and would be sufficient to recognize
how the material falls (Metzger, 2013). An example for those videos is displayed in
Fig. 11.3. Table 11.2 summarizes aspects to consider, when planning on applying
videos for the online presentation of products.
Table 11.2 Summary of things to consider (own representation)

High time efforts involved in creating and Potentially too complex (Jansen, 2018, 1)
post-processing (Jansen, 2018, 1)
Potentially entails high costs (Lee & Park, Potential displeasure caused by an irritating
2014, 118) video (Hasan, 2016, 225)
Chance to overlook the video (Metzger, 2013) Potential risk to remind the users of
advertising (Metzger, 2013)
Not necessarily more engaging (Buckwalter, Potentially too fast to display details
2013) (Metzger, 2013)
11.4 Discussion
With the continuous advancement and improvement of technical possibilities, as

well as the increase of people with access to the Internet, the popularity of videos is
growing. At the same time, a rising number of people purchase fashion items online.
The use of videos for the presentation of products can facilitate the decision of poten-
tial customers. With the representation of products in form of catwalk videos, 3D
simulations, 360° views, Livestream videos, shoppable videos, mood videos, ani-
mated GIFs, customer review videos or fashion hauls, customers are more inspired,
informed and entertained. It can be made easier for them to find suitable products
and to get the most accurate idea of them. Motion has the potential to depict move-
ments of material and to give a better impression of fits than static pictures can. The
results of the literature research suggest that the use of videos for the presentation of
products is not yet widespread and that there is still potential for improving the use
of this option.
The main reasons derived from literature not to apply videos for the presentation
of products were costs for the production and preprocessing of the videos. It can be
concluded that a retailer who has already had to bear these expenses will also use his
produced videos for the presentation of his products. The product detail page provides
the biggest benefit for customers in order to gain an impression of the product as this
is the place they search for when they want to inspect the product. One main benefit
derived from the literature why to apply videos for the presentation of products was
the ability for customers to receive a better impression of the product. This is best
achieved by displaying a product on a model, whereby the model moves. It can
be assumed that a mood video is more complex to produce than a catwalk video,
since catwalk videos possess a higher degree of standardization. Catwalk videos are
usually produced in a studio with a simple background like a white wall, whereas
mood videos are rather produced outside or on a more complex set. To save costs
and to keep the effort as low as possible, it would be logical to produce catwalk
videos more often than mood videos. Retailers with higher revenues rather have the
structures and the capital to realize the creation and the preprocessing of product
presentation videos than those with lower revenues
As consumers need to be able to easily develop an appropriate image of how a

product would be and perform (Orús et al., 2017, 662) and the processing of images
may have a significant influence when evaluating products (Petrova & Cialdini, 2008,
516), applying motion pictures for the presentation of products represents a great
opportunity. The use of motion picture for this purpose is not yet widespread (Charl-
ton, 2010; Cheng et al., 2017, 1170). In Germany between four and eight images from
different perspectives and with zoom function seem to form the standard of product
presentation for e-retailers (Jansen, 2018, pp. 1–2). This fact is also illustrated by the
results of this observation, in which only 12% of all observed articles were presented
using videos.
Since customers actively choose the information they like to see (Orús et al., 2017,
662), it is important to provide them with a pleasant process of information search.
Consumers should be able to find the information they are looking for as easily as
possible. A shoppable video or a product review video of a customer can be one
way of doing so. If they cannot find the information they are looking for, they might
abandon their shopping cart and leave the store without making a purchase (Hasan,
2016, 224). Therefore, it should be ensured that the videos provided can be easily
detected by customers. The presentation of most of the videos on the examined Web
sites could have been more prominent. Only 30% of the videos were embedded in
the top of the product details, and just 18% started to play automatically.
Text and static images are not adequate to illustrate substantial product informa-
tion, and videos provide a richer experience when it comes to visual elements (Jiang
& Benbasat, 2007, 476). Video provides a richer experience when it comes to visual
elements and brings customers as close as possible to the product in a manner that
even high-quality glossy magazine ads cannot (Buckwalter, 2013). In order to meet
this demand, the product presentation videos must be produced in high quality and
enable the customer to see the key product features. On the one hand, the highest
video quality was discovered within mood videos, and on the other hand, catwalk
videos allowed for better inspection of the garments. Nevertheless, both video for-
mats are suitable to do justice to Jiang & Benbasat and Buckwalter’s statements.
References
Allen, M. (2016, March 22). 360° product photography, a beginners guide. Retrieved August 12,
2018, from https://www.ecwid.com/blog/guide-to-360-product-photography.html.
Alsever, J. (2011, December 7). Video testimonials turn customers into spokespeople.
Retrieved August 18, 2018, from https://www.inc.com/magazine/201112/video-testimonials-
turn-customers-into-spokespeople-shoedazzle.html.
Amazon.com. (2018a). AUSELILY women’s sleeveless pockets casual swing T-shirt dresses.
Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/AUSELILY-Womens-Casual-Cotton-Dresses/
dp/B06XS2T52H/ref=lp_1045024_1_4?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1533046212&sr=1-4&
nodeID=1045024&psd=1.
Amazon.com. (2018b). New arrivals. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Womens-Fashion/
b/ref=nav_shopall_sft_women?ie=UTF8&node=7147440011.
Amicis. (2017, March 20). Never stop moving—A “how-to” for catwalk videos. Retrieved May
15, 2018, from https://corporate.zalando.com/en/newsroom/en/stories/never-stop-moving-how-
catwalk-videos.
Baron, K. (2018, July 16). Content with benefits: The now, next & future Of shoppable video.
Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebaron/2018/07/16/content-
with-benefits-the-now-next-future-of-shoppable-video/#3f87b6643b91.
Biris, , C. (2015, May 28). The future of products presentation in ecommerce. Retrieved April 30,
2018, from http://loopaa.ro/the-future-of-products-presentation-in-ecommerce/.
Boast.io. (2018). Why video testimonials? | Collect video testimonials. Retrieved August 18, 2018,
from https://boast.io/video-testimonials/.
Bonelli, S. (2016). How to use easy video marketing strategies. Corridor Business Journal, 13(18),
21.
Buckwalter, C. (2013, September 9). Video and the fashion industry—Part 1. Retrieved May 20,
2018, from http://greenbuzzagency.com/video-and-the-fashion-industry-part-1/.
Camberwell Studios. (2017, June 29). Using video content to sell fashion. Retrieved May 20, 2018,
from http://www.camberwellstudios.co.uk/blog/studio_life/using-video-content-to-sell-fashion.
html.
Charlton, G. (2010, November 10). Why online retailers need product videos. Retrieved June 11,
2018, from https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/6834-why-etailers-need-product-videos.
Charlton, G. (2011, August 24). E-commerce product videos: Best practice tips. Retrieved
July 25, 2018, from https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/7919-e-commerce-product-videos-best-
practice-tips.
Cheng, Z.-Q., Wu, X., Liu, Y., & Hua, X.-S. (2017). Video ecommerce++: Toward large scale online
video advertising. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, (6), 1170. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM.
2016.2647386.
Cullinan, E. (2017, April 6). How to use customer testimonials to generate 62% more revenue.
Retrieved August 18, 2018, from https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/customer-testimonials/.
Ertekin, S. (2017). Shoppable videos are in: How do consumers respond? In M. Stieler (Ed.),
Creating marketing magic & innovative future marketing trends (pp. 579–588). https://doi.org/
10.1007/978-3-319-45596-9_110.
Faßmann, M., & Moss, C. (2016). Instagram als Marketing-Kanal. [Elektronische Ressource]
: Die Positionierung ausgewählter Social-Media-Plattformen. Wiesbaden : Springer VS.
Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00207a&AN=reu.
477151957&lang=de&site=eds-live&authtype=shib.
Flavián, C., Gurrea, R., & Orús, C. (2017). The influence of online product presentation videos on
persuasion and purchase channel preference: The role of imagery fluency and need for touch.
Telematics and Informatics, 34(8), 1544–1556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.07.002.
Google Connected Consumer Survey. (2017, October). Connected consumer survey 2017. Retrieved
July 24, 2018, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-145/perspectives/local-articles/
connected-consumer-survey-2017/.
Gross, A. (2018). Yes, you can do video-and you should! Journal of Pension Benefits: Issues in
Administration, 25(3), 40–41.
Harnish, R. J., & Bridges, K. R. (2016). Mall Haul videos: Self-presentational motives and the
role of self-monitoring. Psychology & Marketing, 33(2), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.
20858.
Harris, C. (2017). The fundamentals of digital fashion marketing. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Hasan, B. (2016). Perceived irritation in online shopping: The impact of website design character-
istics. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 224–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.056.
HDE. (2018). Handel digital ONLINE-MONITOR (p. 43). Berlin: Handelsverband Deutschland.
Ho, H.-F. (2014). The effects of controlling visual attention to handbags for women in online shops:
Evidence from eye movements. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 146–152. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.chb.2013.08.006.
Indvik, L. (2016, September 19). Burberry offers instant purchase & live orchestration at ground-
breaking show. Retrieved August 12, 2018, from https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/
lifestyle/7511382/burberry-instant-purchase-live-orchestration-fashion-show.
Instagram. (2018). What is Instagram? | Instagram Help Center. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from
https://help.instagram.com/424737657584573?helpref=uf_permalink.
Jansen, M. (2018, March 29). Video statt Foto - wann bewegte Bilder dem Verkauf auf die Sprünge
helfen. Versandhausberater, p. 8.
Jiang, Z., & Benbasat, I. (2007). The effects of presentation formats and task complexity on online
consumers’ product understanding. MIS Quarterly, 31(3), 475–500.
Kaye, M. (2016, April 18). 3 ecommerce shops using video to create a unique user experience.
Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.demoup.com/blog/3-ecommerce-shops-using-video-
create-unique-user-experience/.
Kientzler, F. (2018, February 12). Wie live video content marketing zum Erlebnis macht. Retrieved
June 12, 2018, from https://suxeedo.de/live-video-content-marketing/.
LaGattuta, D. (2018, May 31). Top retail brands bag online sales thanks to shoppable video.
Retrieved August 13, 2018, from https://www.wirewax.com/blog/post/shoppable-video-retail-
brands/432134.
Lee, E.-J., & Park, J. (2014). Enhancing virtual presence in e-tail: Dynamics of cue multiplicity.
International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(4), 117–146.
Li, H., Daugherty, T., & Biocca, F. (2003). The role of virtual experience in consumer learning.
Journal of Consumer Psychology (Taylor & Francis Ltd), 13(4), 395–407.
Lightner, N. J., & Eastman, C. (2002). User preference for product information in remote purchase
environments. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 3(3), 174–186.
McDonald, C. (2017). Metail fashions new models to improve the online clothes-buying experience.
Computer Weekly, 10–13.
Metzger, A. (2013, April 30). Produktvideos - aktuelle Trends & Empfehlungen. Retrieved July 12,
2018, from https://www.usabilityblog.de/produktvideos-aktuelle-trends-empfehlungen/.
Nazarova, N. (2017, June 15). 4 marketing ideas from the fashion industry every business can use.
Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293693.
Nordstrom. (2018). Felicity & Coco Devery Crepe Shift Dress. Retrieved from https://shop.
nordstrom.com/s/felicity-coco-devery-crepe-shift-dress-nordstrom-exclusive/3924132.
Orús, C., Gurrea, R., & Flavián, C. (2017). Facilitating imaginations through online product pre-
sentation videos: Effects on imagery fluency, product attitude and purchase intention. Electronic
Commerce Research, 17(4), 661–700. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-016-9250-7.
Overmars, S., & Poels, K. (2015). Online product experiences: The effect of simulating stroking
gestures on product understanding and the critical role of user control. Computers in Human
Behavior, 51(Part A), 272–284.
Paiz-Reyes, E., Nunes-de-Lima, N., & Yildirim-Yayilgan, S. (2018). GIF image retrieval in cloud
computing environment. In A. Campilho, F. Karray, & H. Romeny (Eds.), Image Analysis and
Recognition: 15th International Conference, ICIAR 2018, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal, June 27–29,
2018, Proceedings (pp. 261–268). Springer International Publishing. Retrieved from https://
books.google.de/books?id=YHJgDwAAQBAJ.
Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003). To have and to hold: The influence of haptic information on
product judgments. Journal of Marketing, 67(2), 35–48.
Petrova, P. K., & Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Evoking the imagination as a strategy of influence. Handbook
of consumer psychology (pp. 505–523). Taylor & Francis Group/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates:
New York, NY.
Pur, V. (2018, February 20). NA-KD Rabatt Code - Erfahrungen, Lieferung, Größenerfahrung,
Haul. Retrieved June 25, 2018, from https://www.vanessapur.com/nakd-rabatt-code-erfahrungen-
ruecksendung-lieferung-groessenerfahrung-haul-video/.
Qvc.com. (2018). G.I.L.I. peached knit elbow length sleeve dress with cutout. Retrieved from
https://www.qvc.com/GILI-Peached-Knit-Elbow-Length-Sleeve-Dress-with-Cutout.product.
A310070.html.
Reinhold, K. (2017, July 12). Markt: Jeder zweite Online-Händler arbeitet an Produktpräsenta-
tion. Retrieved May 15, 2018, from http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/business/unternehmen/Markt-
Jeder-zweite-Online-Haendler-arbeitet-an-Produktpraesentation-205485.
Rouse, M. (2018, March). What is Instagram stories?—Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved
August 21, 2018, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Instagram-stories.
Schindler, C. (2017, Dezember). Warum Video Content immer wichtiger wird und was Sie dabei
beachten sollten. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from https://www.takeoffpr.com/blog/warum-video-
content-immer-wichtiger-wird.
Schoenmakers, P. (2017). Fashion-video, catwalk-, mode-video vom Profi, viele Beispiele [com-
pany’s website]. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.bishop-productions.de/fashion-
video/.
Shukla, S. (2018, July 20). Shoppable videos: The untapped gold mine in ecommerce retail.
Retrieved August 14, 2018, from https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/shoppable-videos-the-
untapped-gold-mine-in-ecommerce-retail/.
Sitbon, J. (2017, April 5). 5 types of videos every business needs on its website. Retrieved June 7,
2018, from https://www.wix.com/blog/2017/04/5-types-of-videos-every-business-needs-on-its-
website/.
Siu, E. (2017, December 13). 12 engaging types of video content that viewers love to watch.
Retrieved June 7, 2018, from https://www.singlegrain.com/video-marketing/10-useful-types-of-
video-content-viewers-love/.
Snap36. (2018). If the way you present your products hasn’t changed in 20 years, that’s a problem.
Retrieved May 15, 2018, from https://www.snap36.com/industries/fashion/.
Statista. (2017a). Dossier: Internetnutzung in Deutschland. Retrieved July 24, 2018,
from https://de.statista.com/statistik/studie/id/22540/dokument/internetnutzung-in-deutschland-
statista-dossier/.
Statista. (2017b, April). E-commerce worldwide. Retrieved May 14, 2018, from https://www.statista.
com/study/10653/e-commerce-worldwide-statista-dossier/.
Statista. (2018). Dossier: Internetnutzung weltweit. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://de.statista.
com/statistik/studie/id/6331/dokument/internet-weltweit-statista-dossier/.
Statista DMO. (2018, April). Ecommerce report 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018, from https://www.
statista.com/study/42335/ecommerce-report/.
Strugatz, R. (2014). Nowness adds shoppable video. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily, 207(48), 2–2.
Styla.com, & Smartzer. (2016). Defining shoppable content—How shoppable articles and inter-
active videos turn content consumers into actual buyers. Retrieved from https://www.styla.com/
wp-content/uploads/2017/02/defining-shoppable-content.pdf.
Szymanski, D. M., & Hise, R. T. (2000). e-Satisfaction: An initial examination. Journal of Retailing,
76(3), 309–322.
Tanaka, W. (2010, December 15). Names you need to know: Haul video. Retrieved August 21,
2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/wendytanaka/2010/12/15/names-you-need-to-know-
haul-video/.
Tesseras, L. (2013). Will digital ads be the queen of catwalks? Marketing Week, 1–3.
Texter, L. (2017, February 21). Video marketing for your small business: Clothing boutiques.
Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://sproutvideo.com/blog/video-marketing-clothing-boutique.
html.
The Economic Times. (2018). Definition of infomercial | What is infomercial ? Infomercial meaning.
Retrieved August 17, 2018, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/infomercial.
Tiwari, N., & Shandilya, D. M. (2010). Evaluation of various LSB based methods of image steganog-
raphy on GIF file format. International Journal of Computer Applications, 6(2), 1–4.
True Focus Media. (2018). Professional video to help you better market, train, sell and promote your
products or services [company’s website]. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from https://truefocusmedia.
com/dayton-ohio-video-production/.
Verhagen, T., Vonkeman, C., & van Dolen, W. (2016). Making online products more tangible: The
effect of product presentation formats on product evaluations. Cyber Psychology, Behavior &
Social Networking, 19(7), 460–464.
Videology. (2018). EMEA video benchmarks 2017 (pp. 5–13).
Weinswig, D. (2018, January 23). Shoppable video: A key marketing channel to engage with online
shoppers. FGRT The Fung Group. Retrieved from https://www.styla.com/wp-content/uploads/
2017/02/defining-shoppable-content.pdf
Wyzowl. (2018). The state of video marketing 2018 (The State of Video Marketing) (p. 11). South-
port. Retrieved from http://info.wyzowl.com/state-of-video-marketing-2018-report.
Zalando. (2017). Bigger. Bolder. Bread & Butter.: ZALANDO SE | Annual Report 2017.
Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://annual-report.zalando.com/2017/magazine/bigger-bolder-
bread-butter/.
Zara.com. (2018a). Patchwork print dress. Retrieved from https://www.zara.com/us/en/woman-
dresses-l1066.html?v1=1074622.
Zara.com. (2018b). Rubberized print T-shirt. Retrieved from https://www.zara.com/us/en/woman-
new-in-l1180.html?v1=1074660.
Zhang, Y. (2015). The studies and implementation for conversion of image file format. In 2015 10th
International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE) (p. 190).
Julia Helwig studied B.Sc. in international fashion retail and M.Sc. in textile chain research at
Reutlingen University. As a student, she went for an abroad semester to study at Udayana Univer-
sity in Indonesia and worked for two years in Digital Business and Multichannel with Breuninger,
a leading German fashion retailer, and with Häberlein and Mauerer for her intern semester. After
completing her studies, she works now with Porsche Design Group as E-Commerce Specialist.
Chapter 12
Current Use of Moving Images
for Product Presentation in Fashion
E-Commerce
12.1 Introduction and Research Question
Otto spokesman Frank Surholt admits that they experimented with videos and tried a
lot on their fashion pages. He concedes that swinging skirts or softly falling dresses
are naturally to be depicted more vividly in the moving picture (Jansen, 2018, 1).
However, as Surholt says, the experiment was soon stopped again. He states that the
effort involved in creating and post-processing is very high, especially as far as the
time required is concerned. As time is a very critical factor for the turnover rate in the
fashion segment. In some cases, fashionable articles that are photographed today are
already available online two days later. Photograph production is more reminiscent
of assembly line production, technically too complex processes can interfere (Jansen,
2018, 1). The purpose of this chapter is to analyze how online fashion retailers cur-
rently apply motion pictures for the presentation of fashion articles. It will contribute
to an understanding of the accompanying complexity involved when moving images
are used and implemented in the fashion industry. The aim is to find out what types
of product representations through motion picture exist in the online fashion retail
environment, how frequently they occur, when they are mainly used and how they
occur. This leads to the research question of this chapter, ‘how are motion pictures
currently used for the product presentation of fashion articles in the leading online
shops in the German, American and British markets?’
We cover the application of motion pictures in the fashion industry for the online
product presentation. The aspects of use and value of motion pictures is only included
to a limited extent, as it often concerns information that is not commonly communi-
cated or part of public information and is thus hard to acquire. In the scope of this
chapter, it was unfortunately not possible to identify how the sales of articles changed
when a product video was made available. Neither was it possible to investigate the
P. Bug (B) · J. Helwig


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_12
real costs per product video or to what extent the return rate changes if product videos
are provided as opposed to when they are not.
The organizational frame of this chapter is limited to the top online stores by rev-
enue, with their main markets in the UK, USA and Germany. Those shops were picked
according to ecommerceDB, as well as the most frequently mentioned online stores
by German trade and fashion journals. Those shops were ranked by the estimated
net sales volume with fashion. Through literature research, it was to be assumed
that certain products were presented as videos rather than others. For this reason,
the dresses assortment was selected to analyze the frequency of product presenta-
tions with motion pictures. It is for this reason that the top 100 e-shops, which could
be accessed from Germany, and stocked dresses were analyzed. Those e-shops will
not represent the online fashion industry as a whole but are appreciated to give a
good insight of the application of motion pictures for presenting products online in
general. First, we introduce the selected scientific method to collect data and infor-
mation that is to be interpreted and analyzed. The chapter also describes the quality
of the study. It represents the theoretical framework, i.e., the structure of analyzing
the collected data. Second, we visualize how motion pictures are currently used for
the representation of products in fashion e-commerce in the German, British and
American markets on the example of the product assortment dresses. Third, we dis-
cuss how motion pictures are used, valued and applied in fashion e-commerce. It
also includes thoughts on how brands can integrate motion pictures to display their
products. Fourth, we summarize reflections regarding the application of motion pic-
tures in the fashion e-commerce environment. At last, reflections concerning future
research and academic and general contributions are provided.
12.2 Methodology and Empirics
The market research used in this work was a contemporary market research, which
means that the current market situation was illustrated (Weis & Steinmetz, 2012, 21).
This is a one-time online communication research conducted by observation (Weis
& Steinmetz, 2012, 22).
A market research begins, as displayed in Fig. 12.1 (Mooi et al., 2018, p. 12),
with the identification and formulation of a problem. In the case of this article, the
problem was the lack of information about the application of motion pictures for the
presentation of fashion products in online shops, which led to the stated research
question. The second step of the process is defining a research design. Since there
has been no prior work on the use of motion pictures for the presentation of products
in online shops, the work initially had to be approached explorative. With the aid of
an explorative approach, an overview of the various ways in which motion pictures
can be utilized was attained; see the preceding article. Since this work is intended
to make a statement about online fashion retailers operating in the German, British
and American markets, a full survey would mean that one would look at all online
retailers operating in these markets who sell clothing. Due to time, organizational
12 Current Use of Moving Images for Product Presentation in Fashion … 245
Identify and formulate the problem
Determine the research design
Design the sample and method of data collection
Collect the data
Analyze the data
Interpret, discuss, and present the findings
Follow - up
Fig. 12.1 Market research process (own representation)
and financial constraints, this is not feasible. As the partial survey should allow for
conclusions on the basic population, the sample would have to be selected in such
a way that the ratios of the total mass could be concluded as precisely and reliably
as possible from the result of the partial survey. In this case, the sample would be
representative of the basic population. For this reason, it was decided not to consider
all online shops that sell fashion as a basic population, but only the most relevant
ones in terms of their turnover (Berekoven et al., 2009, 45). This chapter was based
on a conscious selection (Berekoven et al., 2009, 45). In order to find out how motion
pictures are currently used for the product presentation of fashion articles in online
shops, it is necessary to observe the most important online retailers for fashion.
According to Statista (2017a), the countries with the highest revenues in apparel e-
commerce were China, the USA, the UK and Germany (Statista, 2017). With a total
revenue of 10,715 million Euro, Germany ranked place four. Consequently, the focus
lies on the German, British and US American markets. The Chinese market was not
considered, since the authors of this chapter do not speak Chinese. As emerged from
literature research, it is suspected that product presentation videos are in particular
used for presenting features of clothing like fluttering materials. This is why the
focus of this examination lies on apparel and especially dresses due to their ability
to flutter.
According to Interbrand, a brand consultancy that evaluates brands regularly, the
top valued apparel brands were Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) with a brand value of
US$20,488 m and Zara with a brand value of US$18,573 m (Interbrand, 2018). Part
of the best brands referring to Interbrand were also various luxury brands, like Louis
Vuitton with a brand value of US$22,919 m, Hermes with US$14,210 m, Gucci with
US$9,969 m, Burberry with US$5,135 m, Prada with US$4,716 m and Dior with
US$4,587 m. Those brands serve the German, British and American markets. Conse-
quently, the online shops of these brands had to be included into the basic population.
Statista DB & EHI Retail Institute helped to identify the ten online clothing shops
with the highest sales in the German, British and American markets each (Statista
DB & EHI Retail Institute, 2018a, 2018c, 2018d). Since some shops were mentioned
twice, a total population of 35 shops could be identified. In order to get an even bigger
total population, the Web site ecommerceDB was searched for further online shops to
be investigated. For this purpose, the 20 online shops listed for Germany, the USA and
the UK were adopted. To avoid duplicates, multiple listings of shops were avoided
by adding shops to the list only once, even if they run under several domains (e.g.,
Asos.de and Asos.com). In these cases, the main shop was analyzed. The 140 online
retailers with the highest turnover who sell fashion were sorted in descending order
of their turnover with their fashion assortment. Retailers who did not offer dresses
on their Web sites or were not accessible from a German IP address were excluded.
This is why sunfrog.com, rue21.com, ctshirts.com, jacamo.co.uk and monsoon.co.uk
were excluded of the sample. The resulting 100 online merchants with the highest
turnover were then selected as the basic population.
This led to the following 100 online shops (sorted in alphabetical order), which
have been analyzed: 77onlineshop.de, abercrombie.com, aboutyou.de, ae.com,
albamoda.de, allsaints.com, amazon.com, anntaylor.com, argos.co.uk, asos.com,
bananarepublic.com, baur.de, belk.com, blair.com, boden.co.uk, bonprix.de,
boohoo.com, brands4friends.de, breuninger.com, burberry.com, burlingtoncoat-
factory.com, c-and-a.com, charlotterusse.com, davidsbridal.com, def-shop.com,
dollskill.com, emp.de, esprit.de, everything5pounds.com, express.com, fashion-
nova.com, fashionworld.co.uk, figleaves.com, forever21.com, gap.com, gucci.com,
happy-size.de, harrods.com, hermes.com, hm.com, hollisterco.com, jcrew.com,
jockey.com, johnlewis.com, kohls.com, landsend.com, lanebryant.com, lidl.de,
llbean.com, loft.com, louisvuitton.com, lulus.com, macys.com, mandmdirect.com,
marksandspencer.com, missguided.co.uk, na-kd.com, newlook.com, next.co.uk,
nordstrom.com, oldnavy.com, otto.de, patagonia.com, peterhahn.de, prada.com,
prettylittlething.com, qvc.com, ralphlauren.com, rebelcircus.com, revolve.com,
riverisland.com, ruelala.com, sainsburys.co.uk, schwab.de, sheego.de, sierratrading-
post.com, simplybe.co.uk, soliver.de, ssense.com, stories.com, superdry.com,
tchibo.de, tedbaker.com, therealreal.com, thredup.com, tkmaxx.com, top-
shop.com, usc.co.uk, venus.com, very.co.uk, victoriassecret.com, walmart.com,
whitestuff.com, wish.com, witt-weiden.de, zalando.de, zalando-lounge.de, zap-
pos.com, zara.com, zulily.com.
As data collection method, an observation of the retailers’ Web sites was chosen.
Since there was no existing work found in which someone did something similar
before, all choices of what to analyze had to be defined by the author. After the
sample was picked, it was necessary to define aspects of interest. Since the aim of
the work was to investigate to what extent motion pictures are used, the first question
was how many retailers use motion pictures at all? How prominently are the videos
displayed? How many use them for the presentation of products? If they use motion
pictures on their Web sites, where are they embedded? Are they used for the detail
view of a product? And if so, for how many products do they use them? How long are
the videos? What exactly is displayed in the videos? Is there a sound included in the
videos or are they mute? Are the article prices of the products which are displayed
with a video rather low, middle or high? What overall impression do the videos
make?
To gather all that information an Excel file was created. This Excel file consists
of multiple spreadsheets. To avoid redundancies, the spreadsheets were linked with
Excel’s VLOOKUP function. The first spreadsheet was used to figure out which
online e-shops should be analyzed and to gather information about them. Table 12.1
illustrates an extract of the first 20 URLs out of the first spreadsheet’s table (Statista
DB & EHI Retail Institute, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2018d, 2018e, 2018f).
The second spreadsheet was used to note the results on a shop level. Meaning
that it was noted which e-retailer was analyzed, if that retailer used videos for the
presentation of his products in his e-shop and if so, whether he used it for the main
Landing Page (LP0), for the Landing Page Women (LP1 Women), for the lister
page of the products, or for the detail view of the product. In each of the e-shops,
the first 20 dresses were examined. The table lists how many of these 20 dresses
were presented in video form. A percentage was calculated from this, which should
roughly indicate for how many dresses the shop generally offers product presentation
videos. The table also displays an overview of the average answers for questions that
were noted for each video. These include ‘Where are the embeddings mainly located
on the site?’, ‘Do most videos start playing automatically?’, ‘Which video content
is mainly given?’, ‘How long are the videos mainly?’, ‘Is there a sound or music in
the background?’, ‘How do I feel by watching?’, ‘What is the range of the average
article price?’, as well as an average grade for the videos displayed in the e-store.
The Web sites of the 100 e-retailers were analyzed as follows: The URL was
copied into the Google Chrome Browser, all Ad Blockers were deactivated, and the
LP0 was accessed. First the LP0 was scanned for motion pictures. Then, The LP1
Women, the LP of the dress category and the lister page of the dress category was
scanned for motion pictures. If it was not possible to access all types of dresses at
once, the first ‘dress category’ in the navigation tree was selected. The first 20 dresses
to appear in the lister page were successively viewed in detail. The product detail
page of each of these dresses was accessed. Thereby, it was noted how many videos
are displayed with the application of motion. All detected videos were analyzed in
detail.
The following properties were recorded for all videos examined. Video Ident—
Composed of the retailer’s name; Embedding—On which subpage is the embed-
ding? Description—How is the garment displayed in the video? Screenshot—
Screenshot of the video; Multiple videos for color options?—Are there extra videos
for different color options? Wrong color of the garment embedded in the video?—
Is a video of another color option embedded on the style? For example, you clicked
on a red dress in the lister page and the model in the embedded video wears a green
dress. Price—Price of the item displayed in the video (the price was always based
on the original price without reduction and if more than one item is displayed, it’s
referred to the most expensive item in the video); Click-to-Buy possible?—Is it
possible to directly buy the product while or after seeing it? Position on the page—
Where is the embedding located on the page? Position in the Details—Where is
the video embedded in the details of the product? Auto-Play—Does the video start
playing automatically? Content—Which content is given? Duration—How long is
the video? Multiple filming angles?—Does the video have multiple filming angles?
Table 12.1 20 online shops in G, GB and USA with highest fashion sales
248
URL Company/parent Main category Main market Global digital net Estimated fashion Estimated net sales
company sales 2017, million share (%) fashion, million
US$ US$
1 zalando.de Zalando SE Fashion Germany $4,974 90 $4,226
2 amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. Electronics and USA $65,263 4 $3,789
media
3 macys.com Macy’s, Inc. Fashion USA $4,022 79 $3,178
4 wish.com Wish, Inc. Fashion USA $3,196 78 $2,493
5 asos.com asos.com, Fashion GB $2,172 94 $2,463
Ltd./ASOS Plc
6 hm.com H&M Hennes & Fashion Germany $2,676 90 $2,408
Mauritz
AB/Ramsbury
Invest AB
7 kohls.com Kohl’s Corporation Fashion USA $3,608 50 $1,804
8 walmart.com Walmart Stores, Electronics and USA $14,005 11 $1,470
Inc. media
9 victoriassecret.com Victoria’s Secret Fashion USA $1,514 93 $1,408
Direct, LLC/L
Brands, Inc.
10 qvc.com QVC, Inc. Fashion USA $3,421 41 $1,402
11 next.co.uk Next Retail, Fashion GB $1,995 70 $1,396
Ltd./Next Plc
12 johnlewis.com John Lewis Fashion GB $2,576 50 $1,288
Plc/John Lewis
Partnership Plc
(continued)
P. Bug and J. Helwig
Table 12.1 (continued)
URL Company/parent Main category Main market Global digital net Estimated fashion Estimated net sales
company sales 2017, million share (%) fashion, million
US$ US$
13 zara.com Zara USA, Fashion USA $1,313 95 $1,247
Inc./Inditex S.A.
14 zulily.com Zulily, LLC/Qurate Fashion USA $1,758 65 $1,143
Retail, Inc.
15 oldnavy.com Gap, Inc. Fashion USA $1,174 95 $1,116
16 otto.de Otto GmbH & Co. Furniture and Germany $3,332 30 $999,8
KG appliances
17 jcpenney.com J.C. Penney Fashion USA $1,751 55 $963,3
Corporation, Inc.
18 landsend.com Lands’ End, Inc. Fashion USA $971 85 $825,7
19 jcrew.com J.Crew Group, Inc. Fashion USA $784 100 $784
20 gap.com Gap, Inc. Fashion USA $740 90 $666
12 Current Use of Moving Images for Product Presentation in Fashion …
249
Sound—Is there a voice or music in the background? Mood—How do I feel by

watching? Moreover, the URL of each video as well as the date of accessing were
noted. Furthermore, all motion pictures except of GIFs and user generated reviews
were graded according to German grades from 1 = best to 6 = worst. The following
characteristics were evaluated:
The discoverability of the video, the quality of the video, the length of the video,
the model (in particular the general choice and the styling of the model), the choice
of the background, the view of the garment, the representation of the garment in
motion, the capturing of details and the triggered emotions through the video. In
the last column an average grade was calculated for each video. In order to evaluate
all videos as steadily as possible, a table with guidelines was created according
to which the grades were distributed. The next step of the market research is the
analysis of the collected data. Survey procedures generally provide a large amount
of diverse information. The task of the data evaluation is to organize, check, analyze
and summarize this data to a manageable extent. In the scope of this article both the
absolute and the relative frequency distributions were applied. For the analysis of
the data, cross-tabulations were used especially for the overview of the results, e.g.,
Table 12.2.
In Table 12.2 the relation between the duration and the type of video content is
displayed. For example, it is emphasized here that catwalk videos are the shortest
type of video content whereas descriptive videos tend to have the longest duration.
Also, it can be read off that the most common duration of videos for the presentation
of products in fashion e-commerce is 5–9 s. Not one single video took longer than
10 min. Only for descriptive videos, the duration of the video exceeded five minutes.
After analyzing the data, it has to be interpreted, discussed and presented. The last
step in the market research process is the follow-up. If findings of a market research
were to be implemented, further research is sometimes required. For this reason, the
data collected in the context of this work were collected in the shortest period of time
Table 12.2 Type of content versus duration of video (own representation)

Duration/content Catwalk Mood GIFs Descriptive User
videos videos videos generated
review
1–4 s 0 1 3 0 0 4
5–9 s 114 17 1 0 0 132
10–14 s 67 12 0 0 0 80
15–19 s 7 3 0 0 0 10
20–59 s 8 5 0 15 0 28
1–5 min 0 2 0 0 0 2
5–10 min 0 0 0 20 0 20
More than 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 min

196 40 4 35 1 = 276
possible. All 100 online shops were scanned within six days from the 30th of July
until the 4th of August, 2018.
12.3 Findings
12.3.1 Overall Evaluation
The examined online stores with the main market in the USA had the highest fre-
quency of applied motion pictures for the presentation of dresses, as it is displayed
in Fig. 12.2. In total, 35% of all online stores who operate mainly in the American
market used motion pictures at all. That is 9% points more than in the UK where
26% of the retailers uses motion picture and even 10% points more than Germany,
where only 25% of all retailers used them. In total, 70% of the examined e-retailers
did not apply motion pictures for the presentation of their products. Reasons for this
could be, for example, a lack of experience or expertise, the fast-moving nature of
their product range or a general lack of interest in videos. At the beginning of writing
this work, fewer videos were spotted in Germany than toward the end. This fact is
noticeable, for example, on zalando.de, on whose Web site videos for the products
are now displayed more and more frequently. With the advance of technology, the
implementation of product videos is becoming increasingly easier.
In average, about 12% of all dresses viewed in online shops in the scope of this
chapter were displayed with a video. Thus, as you can see in Fig. 12.3, Germany
Fig. 12.2 Frequency of apply motion pictures don't apply motion pictures
videos per main market (own 50
representation)
40
32
30
20
18 20
10 17
6 7
0
Germany United Kingdom Unites States
Fig. 12.3 Share of dresses 15%

14%
displayed with videos per 12%
market (own representation)
10% 8%
5%
0%
Germany United Kingdom United States
was exactly on average. The UK only displayed 8% of its dresses with a video and
the USA 14%. In general, it can be stated, that the potential for the application of
motion pictures for the presentation of dresses in e-shops is not yet exhausted. There
is still room for improvement in all three markets.
Catwalk videos were provided most frequently with 71% in order to present
dresses in the examined online stores. Although mood and descriptive videos were
also used fairly frequently, with 15% (mood videos) and 13% (descriptive videos),
3D simulation or 360-degree views were not detected with the analyzed retailers.
However, it should be noted that the results could alter with a different selection of
a sample or assortment (Fig. 12.4).
Figure 12.5 highlights the fact that most of the videos were embedded in the
product details in the e-stores. The second most frequent embeddings were detected
on the LP0. Yet, there were videos detected at zara.com which present products
they offer and that were not embedded in the product details of the products. Those
videos could be valuable to customers who consider purchasing those items but are
still unsure about it. Since a well-produced video that beautifully showcases a product
0% 1%
13%
catwalk
3D simulation or 360 degree view
15%
mood
description
0% user generated review
71% GIF
Fig. 12.4 Distribution of the presented video contents (own representation)
12%
2%
2%
LP0
LP1 women
LP category dresses
Product detail
84%
Fig. 12.5 Distribution of the embeddings (own representation)

has the potential to increase consumers’ propensity to purchase and minimize their
uncertainty, an opportunity was missed here.
Videos were most frequently embedded in the product details (Fig. 12.6). Thereby
emerge mostly catwalk or descriptive videos. On the LP0 there were mostly mood
videos embedded. As videos are most beneficial for customers when they search for
more detailed information on how the garment looks this distribution was plausible.
Yet, the opportunity to inspire and trigger the customer’s needs should not be under-
estimated. Applying videos on earlier stages within the e-store might also be useful
(Fig. 12.7).
According to the analysis within this chapter, the percentage of videos displayed
in online shops has no correlation with their revenues. Although the creation and
processing of videos involves monetary and administrative costs, these costs seem
to be bearable also for retailers with comparative lower revenues. For example,
superdry.com offered a video for each offered dress even though their revenues with
fashion are lower than, for example, these of Amazon. Even if Zalando was identified
to have the highest revenue of the inspected e-shops, they only offered product videos
250
200 User generated review

150 Descriptive videos
100 GIFs
50 Mood videos
Catwalk videos
0
LP0 LP1 women LP category Product detail
dresses
Fig. 12.6 Frequency of embeddings per video content format (own representation)
Revenue of the E-Shop with fashion (in million US $)

Percentage of dresses displayed with video
100%
$4,000
80%
$3,000
60%
$2,000 40%
$1,000 20%
$0 0%
Fig. 12.7 Video proportions and revenues of the online shops (own representation)
for 30% of their dresses. It is not entirely clear what criteria these retailers use to
decide whether or not to display a product in connection with a video. However,
since Zalando and Amazon are marketplaces on which other suppliers can also offer
their goods, it is understandable that some of these retailers offer videos and others
do not.
12.3.2 Frequency of Video Types in Relation to Their Price

Levels
Figure 12.8 indicates that products in the ‘low price’ or ‘upper low price range’ are
displayed most frequently with videos. However, it could be assumed that products
of the higher price levels also have higher margins. It cannot be assumed with cer-
tainty that the items had lower or higher margins, as the margin depends on multiple
factors. For example, the number of items to be sold also represents a crucial fac-
tor. Thus, basic items that are sold at low prices often have higher margins, as they
sell significantly higher quantities than other items. Furthermore, it was notable that
especially the descriptive videos appeared frequently in the low price and upper low
price levels. Descriptive videos were only used for products up to middle price. Mood
videos were only rarely detected within the lower low price level but most frequently
in the low price, upper low price, middle price and high price level. Catwalk videos,
on the other hand, were more common up to the middle price level. For the high
price level only real catwalk videos of fashion shows were embedded.
Catwalk Videos Mood Videos GIF Descriptive videos User generated review
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
lower low price low price upper low price middle price upper middle high price n.a.
(0 - 20€, 0 - (20 - 50€, 25- (50 - 100€, 60- (100 - 150€, price (over 200€,
25$, 0 - 20£) 60$, 20 - 45£) 115$, 45 - 90£) 115-175$, 90 - (150 - 200€, over 235$, over
130£) 175-235$, 130 175£)
- 175£)
Fig. 12.8 Video type frequency and their price level (own representation)
200
180
160
140
User generated review
120
80 GIFs
60 Mood videos
40 Catwalk videos
20
0
Garment on Garment on Garment without Garment on a Garment worn
model on white model not on model on white hanger and by a customer
background white background person
background describes it
Fig. 12.9 Video type frequency and garment is display (own representation)
12.3.3 Frequency of How Garments Are Displayed Per Video

Type
As captured in Fig. 12.9, with a total frequency of 184, the garments were most
frequently presented on a white background, worn by a model. By this means, the
garments were most often shown with a frequency of 166 within a catwalk video.
The second most common way to present the garments was also worn by a model
but not on a white background. For example, the garments were exhibited with a
colorful background or on an outdoor setting. This way of presenting the garment
was in particular popular for mood videos as well as descriptive videos. A model on
a meadow with a blue sky and fleecy clouds in the background may present specific
moods, like serenity better than a white studio could. In almost all videos the clothes
were worn by models. Surprisingly, there were also garments presented which were
not worn at all. For example, Patagonia and Nordstrom offered videos in which the
garment was presented on a hanger while someone talked about it. The potential of
videos to more realistically display how apparel looks like when its worn was not
used in those videos. Instead they concentrated on input which could also have been
provided in form of text or as an audio file.
12.3.4 Frequency of Sounds Per Video Content and Duration
Most of the videos didn’t contain sound as shown in Fig. 12.10. This way they do not
bother customers even if they play the videos in an environment in which they do not
want to play out sound, for example, if someone wants to order something quickly
at work or if they are in public transport on their way home. However, it should also
250
200
Descriptive videos
150
GIFs
100
Mood videos
50
Catwalk videos
0
mute voice music voice and
music
Fig. 12.10 Frequencies of sounds in the videos (own representation)
be noted that there are presettings for videos which turn off the sound by default but
it can be activated manually. In this way, consumers can consciously decide to have
a suitable sound played. A tone that the customer likes can be advantageous and lift
his mood. However, a tone perceived as unpleasant by the customer can also have
the opposite effect.
For short durations, mute videos were most common as displayed in Fig. 12.11.
Videos with a length of 20 s or more were more likely to include sound. Voice was used
in particular long videos, i.e., videos that were longer than 5 min. This correlation
is probably due to the circumstance that it is quite annoying for customers to hear
a short audio frequency, whereas in rather longer videos the sound can be used to
create a certain mood or to provide more information about the product.
140
120
100 voice and music
80
voice
60
music
40
mute
20
0
1-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-59 1-5 5-10 more than
seconds seconds seconds seconds seconds minutes minutes 10
minutes
Fig. 12.11 Frequency of sounds per duration (own representation)

250
200
100 GIFs
Mood videos
50
Catwalk videos
0
prominent on after clicking within the page on the bottom
top of the page on the product of the page
Fig. 12.12 Frequency of the video’s position on the page (own representation)
12.3.5 Frequency of the Video’s Position on the Page Per

Video Content
Most videos were only displayed after clicking on the product, when accessing the
detail page as illustrated in Fig. 12.12. Most catwalk videos and all descriptive videos
were embedded in this way. Other than that, some videos were displayed within the
page. These were primarily mood videos. As mentioned before, embedding the video
right where the customer will search for information about it has potential to add
value to the purchase experience of the customer. Producing videos and risking them
not being seen involves the possibility of unnecessary effort. This is why one could
think that they are usually presented very prominently. On the other hand, if the
video is presented too prominently consumers could be reminded of advertising,
which could lead them to associate negative connotations with the video.
12.3.6 Frequency of Video Position in the Product Details Per

Content Type
When the video is embedded in the product details, it is most commonly embedded in
between pictures, as shown in Fig. 12.13. There were a few catwalk videos which were
not embedded in the details of the product, but this was due to the circumstance, that
those were videos of real fashion shows. A lot of catwalk videos were also embedded
in the end of the product details, this bears the risk of being overlooked. Yet, this
risk can be minimized by using a prominent play button or an automatic start of the
video.
100
80
Descriptive videos
60
GIFs
40
Mood videos
20
Catwalk videos
0
in the beginning in between in the end not embedded
in the details
Fig. 12.13 Frequency of product details embedding position (own representation)
12.3.7 Frequency of Auto-Starts Per Video Content
With respect to Fig. 12.14 most videos didn’t start playing automatically. If they did,
they were mostly mood videos or descriptive videos. Catwalk videos most commonly
didn’t start playing automatically. Since mood videos are usually not embedded in
the product details, customers don’t search for them specifically. Zara, for instance,
embeds mood videos in their lister page. When scrolling through Zara’s feed you
occasionally see mood videos that stand out visually from the other pictures on the
page just because of their movement. There are also never many mood videos shown
at once, but care is taken that everything remains harmonious. Other e-retailers also
show videos that start playing automatically. For example, the Web site of American
Eagle included a music video. This video was placed at the top of the LP0 and took
up almost the entire screen. Although the video actually has sound, the sound was
turned off by default. However, it could be switched on manually. Placing the video
on ae.com was the most prominent application of a product video discovered in this
work. Another example for automatically playing videos was provided by Amazon.
There a video was found, on which a model moves only slightly back and forth. This
video was played as soon as the product detail page was opened. When the video
ended, a photograph appeared that looked almost exactly like the last sequence of
200
150 User generated review
Descriptive videos
100
GIFs
50 Mood videos
Catwalk videos
0
starts playing doesn't start playing
automatically automatically
Fig. 12.14 Frequency of videos playing automatically (own representation)

Table 12.3 Average grading of video content types (own representation)

Content type/grade Catwalk videos Mood videos Descriptive videos ∅
Discoverability 2.4 1.4 2.0 1.9
Quality 1.6 1.1 1.3 1.3
Length 1.7 1.9 4.1 2.6
Model 1.3 1.2 2.8 1.8
Background 1.9 1.6 2.3 1.9
View of the garment 1.2 1.8 1.9 1.6
Representation in motion 1.3 1.7 1.8 1.6
Capturing of details 2.0 2.0 1.6 1.9
Emotions triggered 2.4 1.4 2.2 2.0
∅ 1.7 1.6 2.2 1.8
the video. The video literally merged with the other images shown on the product
detail page. This ensured that the advantages of a product video, i.e., the presentation
of clothing in motion, were guaranteed, while avoiding the risk of an association of
advertising.
12.3.8 Grading Video Types
Only the catwalk videos, the mood videos and the descriptive videos were included
in the grading. The GIFs and customer generated reviews were excluded because
they have a different focus and do not fit into the rating scheme. As exhibited in
Table 12.3, Mood videos were graded the best with an average score of 1.6. The
quality of the mood videos were a distinctive feature with an average score of 1.1.
Mood videos were in general shot very professionally. The poorest average result
was obtained by descriptive videos with the characteristic duration. This valuation
was based on the above-average length. Often these videos were several minutes
long. If a customer has to watch several of these videos before making a purchase
decision, he is busy for a very long time. Consumers are impatient by nature. For this
reason, lower ratings were given here. Nevertheless, it must be said that due to the
remarkable length of the videos more information can be presented to the customer
and he may be better encouraged to purchase the item.
12.3.9 Catwalk Videos
Three types of video were discovered in the online shops, which were very similar
and therefore all were classified as catwalk videos. In these videos, models wear
the garments and the main focus was the presentation of the clothes on a model in
motion. Those three types were called in the scope of this work ‘catwalk’, ‘swaying
and turning on the spot’ and ‘walking but mainly turning on the spot’. Videos in which
the model was ‘walking but mainly turning on the spot’ were the most popular kind
of catwalk videos. They were presented in 72% of all as catwalk classified videos.
This type of video could be detected among all price levels and was in particular
common for the low price level. This circumstance is shown in Fig. 12.15.
29% of the inspected dresses were available in other colors but there was no
separate video for other color options provided. Only 23% of all inspected dresses
were available in another color and offered a video for each color. 5% of the inspected
dresses were available in other colors and had multiple videos for different color
options but did not offer a video for each of those colors (Fig. 12.16).
Most videos, with 85% offered product videos, display the item in the correct
color. The correct color refers to the color that was displayed on the lister page and
that is also used for the detail pictures embedded in the product details. In 15% of the
catwalk videos, the garment in the video had another color than the garment that was
walking but mainly swaying and turning on the spot
swaying and turning on the spot
catwalk
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
(0 - 20€, 0 - (20 - 50€, 25- (50 - 100€, 60- (100 - 150€, price (over 200€,
25$, 0 - 20£) 60$, 20 - 45£) 115$, 45 - 90£) 115-175$, 90 - (150 - 200€, over 235$, over
130£) 175-235$, 130 175£)
- 175£)
Fig. 12.15 Frequency of catwalk videos and their price level (own representation)
23%
29%
seperate video for all colors

5% seperate video for some colors
product has no other color options
no video for other color options
43%
Fig. 12.16 Distribution of color options for catwalk videos (own representation)
clicked on in the lister page or the other photographs of the item that were displayed
(Fig. 12.17).
Mood videos have been classified because of their ability to create a certain
mood among consumers more than other videos. For this reason, the kind of mood
that can be created is especially evocative in these videos. The mood most often
triggered within the investigation of mood videos was joy (Fig. 12.18). Customers
can potentially transfer the positive feelings generated by the videos to the product
and thus, increase their willingness to purchase.
As displayed in Fig. 12.19, this type of video content is used among all price
levels that were predefined for the research. Most commonly, it was applied for the
low and upper low price sector as well as for the high price sector.
The most common duration for a mood video was five to nine seconds as displayed
in Fig. 12.20. This duration was detected among all price levels. In the highest price
level mood videos had the most diverse durations, lasting anything only a few seconds
or even up to five minutes.
It can be assumed that products in the higher price ranges also generate higher
margins. With higher margins it is possible to realize more complex videos. Because
0% 5%
26%
calmed
26%
joyful
informed
bored
inspired
3% irritated
0% rushed
40%
Fig. 12.17 Mood distribution through mood videos (own representation)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
(0 - 20€, 0 - (20 - 50€, 25- (50 - 100€, 60- (100 - 150€, price (over 200€,
25$, 0 - 20£) 60$, 20 - 45£) 115$, 45 - 90£) 115-175$, 90 - (150 - 200€, over 235$, over
130£) 175-235$, 130 175£)
- 175£)
Fig. 12.18 Frequency of mood videos per price level (own representation)
18
16
n.a.
14
12 high price
(over 200€, over 235$, over
175£)
10 upper middle price
(150 - 200€, 175-235$, 130 -
8 175£)
middle price
6 (100 - 150€, 115-175$, 90 -
130£)
upper low price
4
(50 - 100€, 60-115$, 45 - 90£)
2 low price
(20 - 50€, 25-60$, 20 - 45£)
0
1-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-59 1-5 5-10 more
seconds seconds seconds seconds seconds minutes minutes than 10
minutes
Fig. 12.19 Relation of duration and price level (own representation)
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
(0 - 20€, 0 - (20 - 50€, 25- (50 - 100€, 60- (100 - 150€, price (over 200€,
25$, 0 - 20£) 60$, 20 - 45£) 115$, 45 - 90£) 115-175$, 90 - (150 - 200€, over 235$, over
130£) 175-235$, 130 175£)
- 175£)
Fig. 12.20 Article price levels for descriptive videos (own representation)
mood videos are a more demanding type of presentation video, they can’t be created
on any budget.
The most common duration of descriptive videos is five to ten minutes. None of the
other video formats has such a length. The reason for this is the descriptive character
of those videos. They describe the garments in detail, give suggestions on how to
wear it, for example, and are thus reminiscent of the advisory character of a shop
assistant. This was also the only video format in which the garment was on a hanger
and someone was standing next to it talking about it. As displayed in Fig. 12.20,
descriptive videos were only used for low price, upper low price and middle price
articles. This video format can be reminiscent of sales shows on television. Probably
because of this potential association, the descriptive videos will not be used for higher
priced articles.
Within the whole research there was just one user generated review detected.
This displayed a woman who had received a dress from Amazon.com. She was more
than happy to share her delightfulness with everyone who was interested in it. As a
sample of one is not enough to draw conclusions, no statistic will be created from
this. Nevertheless, the form of product presentation by means of a user generated
review is a promising way, as it contains a particularly high degree of authenticity.
Consumers trust other consumers almost as much as their friends when it comes
to product recessions. A video of a customer who is convinced of the product can
therefore be very valuable and, if one exists, should also be available for interested
customers.
The GIFs examined in the study did not have much added value for consumers.
Their function was mostly merely their existence as a design element. Using them
for the product presentation of fashion articles is therefore possible but does not offer
much value.
This study has shown that the use of moving images for the presentation of fash-
ion articles in online shops is underutilized. Only 30% of all retailers regarded in
this study used videos at all for the presentation of their products. The average num-
ber of articles displayed with videos, meanwhile, is even lower. Only 12% of all
dresses examined in the context of this work were represented with a video. The
most common formats for presenting products were catwalk and mood videos. Most
frequently the videos were included in the detailed view of the products and had a
duration of 5–9 s. They were most commonly used to display products in a price
range from 20–100e, 25–115$ and 20–90£. The average video was mute and did not
start playing automatically. Most of the time the videos made people feel informed
(79%). But it also often occurred that got joyful (7%) or inspired (8%) after watching
the video.
The average video graded in this study would get a German mark of 1.8. The
best rated features of the videos were in average the view of the garment and the
presentation of the garment in motion, with a score equivalent to a German grade of
1.4. The lowest rated properties were the discoverability of the video, as well as the
emotions triggered by the video with a German grade of 2.2.
Apparel is rarely displayed with a 360° view. When apparel is presented in a
video it is mostly worn by a model. Catwalk videos are more often applied for the
presentation of products on the retailer’s Web site than Mood videos. Tendencies in
video use can be derived which can point in the direction of the real circumstances.
Answering the research question ‘How are motion pictures currently used for
the product presentation of fashion articles in the leading online shops in the
German, American and British markets?’ we may state:
– In general, rarely (12%), (Germany 12%; UK 8%; USA 14%)
– Mostly in form of a catwalk video (71%),
– Typically, the garment is worn by a model (95%)
– In general, the model walks but mainly sways and turns on the spot (51%)
– For 5–9 s (48%).

– Commonly without any sound (81%)
– Most often the video is embedded in the product details (84%)
– Usually the video does not start playing automatically (72%)
– And after watching you feel informed (79%)
– Most common price levels are low and upper low price (20–100e, 25–115$,
20–90£)
– And the video is in general good (average German grade 1.8)
12.4 Discussion and Reflection
As consumers need to be able to easily develop an appropriate image of how a prod-

uct would be and perform (Orús et al., 2017, 662) and the processing of images may
have a significant influence when evaluating products (Petrova & Cialdini, 2008,
516), applying motion pictures for the presentation of products represents a great
opportunity. The use of motion picture for this purpose is not yet widespread (Charl-
ton, 2010; Cheng et al., 2017, 1170). In Germany between four and eight images from
different perspectives and with zoom function seem to form the standard of product
presentation for e-retailers (Jansen, 2018, pp. 1–2). This fact is also illustrated by the
results of this observation, in which only 12% of all observed articles were presented
using videos. Since customers actively choose the information they like to see (Orús
et al., 2017, 662), it is important to provide them with a pleasant process of informa-
tion search. Consumers should be able to find the information they are looking for as
easily as possible. A shoppable video or a product review video of a customer can be
one way of doing so. If they can’t find the information they’re looking for they might
abandon their shopping cart and leave the store without making a purchase (Hasan,
2016, 224). Therefore, it should be ensured that the videos provided can be easily
detected by customers. The presentation of most of the videos on the examined Web
sites could have been more prominent. Only 30% of the videos were embedded in
the top of the product details and just 18% started to play automatically.
Text and static images are not adequate to illustrate substantial product informa-
tion, videos provide a richer experience when it comes to visual elements (Jiang &
Benbasat, 2007, 476). Video provides a richer experience when it comes to visual
elements and brings customers as close as possible to the product in a manner that
even high quality glossy magazine ads cannot (Buckwalter, 2013). In order to meet
this demand, the product presentation videos must be produced in high quality and
enable the customer to see the key product features. On one hand, the highest video
quality was discovered within mood videos, on the other hand catwalk videos allowed
for better inspection of the garments. Nevertheless, both video formats are suitable
to do justice to Jiang and Benbasat and Buckwalter’s statements.
The production of videos for the presentation of products on the Web is tied to
high expenditures. Monetary and in terms of time. But these expenses may result
in a decrease in return rates, increase sales and generally lead to higher customer
satisfaction. According to the results of this study, only 12% of the retailers in the
German fashion online landscape use moving images to present their products. One of
the online shops that use motion picture and operates in Germany is Asos. Delivering
to over 230 countries worldwide they create catwalk videos of the garments, that can
be understood in all of those countries (ASOS, 2017). For example, in such a case,
the use of motion pictures can be worthwhile.
This study contributes to filling the knowledge gap regarding the use of product
videos for the presentation of products and especially fashion articles in online shops.
As there is not enough literature dealing with this topic so far, explorative research
had to be carried out. This research provides a basis for future research. The only
clues that relate to the current status of product presentation videos were those, that
this type of presentation is underutilized. This can be supported by this research.
In order to be able to use product presentation videos meaningfully, one should
consider before exactly what is the purpose of these videos. For example, if a func-
tional article requires a lot of explanation, the use of descriptive videos is recom-
mended. If the customer is to be inspired and put in a good mood, it is better to
use mood videos. If the desire is to improve the presentation of the products in the
shop and to allow the customer a closer inspection of the garment, as well as the fall
of the clothes and their behavior during movement, catwalk videos are best suited.
In any case, if one has a good video, it is advisable to use it. It makes sense, for
example, to include a mood videos presenting an article also in the product details
when it is already available. All videos should not be too long. Consumers’ attention
span is limited and they do not want to be bored. Shoppable videos from which
products can be purchased directly or live fashion shows from which products can
be ordered during the show are interesting content for users, for example. Also, the
use of Instagram Stories or the development of the store’s recession system should
be considered. However, retailer should obtain enough information in advance to
assess whether they can afford the production and post-processing of these videos.
Not only in terms of monetary costs, but also in terms of time.
In this chapter it was investigated to what extent videos are currently used for
the presentation of fashion articles in online shops. This was done by means of a
state-of-the-art survey of the highest-turnover online shops operating on the German,
British or American markets. Thus, a basis for future investigations was laid. The
LP0, the LP1 women, if applicable the LP of the examined assortment, dresses, and
the lister page of this assortment were always examined. For future research, for
example, one could make slight adjustments to the research data sheet on the basis of
the investigation carried out and carry out the investigation of the same online shops
at temporal intervals from each other. Alternatively, another product group could be
examined instead of dresses. For example, it would also be interesting to see to what
extent motion picture is used for the presentation of more static products such as
shoes and bags.
With the amount of data that was manageable within the scope of this chapter,
no valid generalizations can be made. All described results must be understood as
an indication. Especially for the motion picture formats ‘user generated review’ and
‘GIF’, of which only five videos were found, generalizations are not supported.
However, these low frequencies indicate that these video formats are only used in
exceptional cases for the product presentation of fashion articles in online shops.
In order to enhance the quality of a research, applying already tested guidelines
is useful. Since there was no prior research detected that had similar intentions,
applying an already tested method was not feasible. The video content type of 360°
views was detected in the literature research of the previous chapter. Yet, there was
no single 360° view identified during the qualitative research of this chapter. This is
probably the result of the selected product type ‘dresses’. A 360° view is not suitable
for the presentation of dresses, as it cannot justify the fall or the fluttering of the
fabric nor the fit of the dress. The probability of coming across 360° views would
have been higher if a more static product category such as ‘handbags’ had been
chosen. This work focused on the use of videos for the presentation of products in
motion. Since static products tend to be better represented by static photographs than,
for example, dresses that have the possibility of fluttering in the wind, the evaluation
of the category handbags was deliberately dispensed with. By concentrating on the
product presentation of products with more motion, a focus on catwalk videos and
Mood videos has emerged.
References
ASOS. (2017). ASOS—annual report and accounts 2017.

Berekoven, L., Eckert, W., & Ellenrieder, P. (2009). Marktforschung: Methodische Grundlagen
und praktische Anwendung. Wiesbaden : Gabler, 2009. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.
com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00207a&AN=reu.309513162&lang=de&site=eds-live&
authtype=shib.
Buckwalter, C. (2013, September 9). Video and the fashion industry—Part 1. Retrieved May 20,
2018, from http://greenbuzzagency.com/video-and-the-fashion-industry-part-1/.
Charlton, G. (2010, November 10). Why online retailers need product videos. Retrieved June 11,
2018, from https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/6834-why-etailers-need-product-videos.
Cheng, Z.-Q., Wu, X., Liu, Y., & Hua, X.-S. (2017). Video eCommerce++: Toward large scale
online video advertising. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on,
IEEE Trans. Multimedia, (6), 1170. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMM.2016.2647386.
Hasan, B. (2016). Perceived irritation in online shopping: The impact of website design character-
istics. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 224–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.056.
Interbrand. (2018). Best brands. Retrieved May 2, 2018, from http://interbrand.com/best-brands/
best-global-brands/2017/ranking/.
Jansen, M. (2018, March 29). Video statt Foto—wann bewegte Bilder dem Verkauf auf die Sprünge
helfen. Versandhausberater, p. 8.
Jiang, Z., & Benbasat, I. (2007). The effects of presentation formats and task complexity on online
consumers’ product understanding. MIS Quarterly, 31(3), 475–500.
Mooi, E., Sarstedt, M., & Mooi-Reci, I. (2018). Market research. The process, data, and methods
using stata. Singapore: Springer.
Orús, C., Gurrea, R., & Flavián, C. (2017). Facilitating imaginations through online product pre-
sentation videos: effects on imagery fluency, product attitude and purchase intention. Electronic
Commerce Research, 17(4), 661–700. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-016-9250-7.
Petrova, P. K., & Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Evoking the imagination as a strategy of influence. Handbook
of consumer psychology (pp. 505–523). Taylor & Francis Group/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates:
New York, NY.
Statista. (2017a, September). Dossier: E-Commerce-Markt für Bekleidung in Deutschland.
Retrieved April 30, 2018, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/studie/id/31481/dokument/e-
commerce-markt-fuer-bekleidung-in-deutschland-statista-dmo-statista-dossier/.
Statista. (2017b, April). E-commerce worldwide. Retrieved May 14, 2018, from https://www.statista.
com/study/10653/e-commerce-worldwide-statista-dossier/
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018a, June). Top apparel online stores by revenue in Ger-
many|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/en/ranking/
de/apparel.
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018b, June). Top fashion online stores by revenue in Ger-
many|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/en/ranking/
de/fashion.
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018c, June). Top online apparel stores in the United King-
dom by revenue|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/
en/ranking/gb/apparel.
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018d, June). Top online apparel stores in the United States
by revenue|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/en/
ranking/us/apparel.
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018e, June). Top online fashion stores in the United King-
dom by revenue|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/
en/ranking/gb/fashion.
Statista DB, & EHI Retail Institute. (2018f, June). Top online fashion stores in the United States
by revenue|ecommerceDB.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://ecommercedb.com/en/
ranking/us/fashion.
Weis, H. C., & Steinmetz, P. (2012). Marktforschung. Herne : Kiehl, 2012. Retrieved from http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00207a&AN=reu.346934869&lang=de&
site=eds-live&authtype=shib.
Julia Helwig studied B.Sc. in international fashion tetail and M.Sc. in textile chain research at
Reutlingen University. As a student, she went for an abroad semester to study at Udayana Univer-
sity in Indonesia and worked for two years in Digital Business and Multichannel with Breuninger,
a leading German fashion retailer, and with Häberlein and Mauerer for her intern semester. After
completing her studies, she works now with Porsche Design Group as E-Commerce Specialist.
Chapter 13
Analysis of Moving Images in Fashion
Stores in Stuttgart
Peter Bug, Marcus Adam and Katharina Moessle
13.1 Introduction
Digitalization has a significant impact on the retailing sector (Hagberg, Sundstrom &
Egels-Zandén, 2016). Apart from transforming business models or procurement pro-
cesses, its importance is getting most visible in the integration of digital devices in the
purchasing process (Pauwels, Leeflang, Teerling, & Huizingh, 2011). One example
is the placement of screens at the point of sale to display moving images related to the
product. Previous studies indicate that such in-store video advertising can increase
brand awareness, brand familiarity, and positively affects consumers’ purchasing
decisions (Yim, Yoo, Till, & Eastin, 2010). For example, around 68% of surveyed
shoppers annotated that in-store advertising has an impact on their purchase intention
(Blum, 2006). Other studies indicate that even 85% of ad-viewers plan purchasing
the promoted product in the future, whereas only 62% of non-ad-viewers reported
this intention (TNS, 2008). Another benefit of in-store advertising for retailers is the
possibility to reach their target group at relatively low costs (Meiners, 2007). How-
ever, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study so far that provides quantitative
data on how common the display of moving images is. The aim of this study is there-
fore to provide a first estimation on the current state of motion picture distribution in
stationary retail stores. With the fashion industry, this study focuses on a traditional
retail industry. The chosen setting is the city of Stuttgart in southern Germany, with
an agglomeration of 2 million inhabitants.
P. Bug · M. Adam (B) · K. Moessle (B)

e-mail: marcus.adam@reutlingen-university.de
K. Moessle
e-mail: katharina.moessle@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_13
270 P. Bug et al.
13.2 Method
Data were collected through a comprehensive store check between 18th and 29th of
October 2018. Points of analysis were location, store, genre, store format, screens,
position of the screen, level, size of screen, sound, and content of the located moving
images. All points are explained below.
Location The setting of the study was Stuttgart, a city in the southwest of Germany.
With about 628,000 inhabitants, it is the biggest city in the greater region and one of
the most profitable cities in Germany regarding retail sales (GfK, 2014). Three dif-
ferent locations in Stuttgart were chosen: Königstraße, a shopping street in Stuttgart,
Milaneo, a shopping mall, and Marktplatz, a historical spot which mostly attracts
tourists.
Genre Different price levels were chosen to determine the genre: luxury, premium,
mid-price and low-price. Because there is no standardized definition of fashion price
categories, the four different genres were developed by means of the price for a
pullover: Low-price are fashion stores which offer pullovers within a price range
between 10e and 60e. Stores which offer pullovers to a mid-price start with a price
of 50e. Premium stores start with prices of 100e for a pullover and luxury stores
offer a pullover starting with a price of 400e.
Store format To analyze the store format, stores were divided into department
stores, smaller department stores, specialty stores, discounter and off-price retailers.
The categorization was based on certain characteristics that are illustrated Table 13.1.
Content The content of the motion picture embraces if the motion picture is related
to the firm’s image, if it contains product information, if it refers to a campaign, a
special offer, a catwalk show, or if it is a company film. Position relates to the location
where the screens can be found in the store. Possible positions were front, back, close
to the elevator, exit, cash point, window, entrance, building facade, in connections
with products, fitting rooms, stairway or visibility from the entrance. Level refers to
Table 13.1 Characteristics of the store format

Format Size Offer Service/price level
Department store Over 3000 m2 ; huge Wide assortment; Consulting; different
salesrooms about 100,000 items price levels
Smaller department 1500–3000 m2 ; big Deep assortment; no Consulting; different
store salesrooms groceries price levels
Specialty store 200–600 m2 High quality; deep Consulting by trained
assortment personnel
Discounter 400–800 m2 1000–1400 items No consulting; low
prices
Off-price retailer Second-quality; Low prices
seasonal items
13 Analysis of Moving Images in Fashion Stores in Stuttgart 271
on which story the screen is installed. Color It is determined if the main colors of
the moving images match with the colors of the offered goods, with the brand logo,
with the actual collection, or with the atmosphere of the store. Sound Three different
categories were used to categorize sound: mute, voice and music. Functionality
describes if the screens working or out of order. Actors describe who is acting in the
film. It was distinguished between models, celebrities and influencer. Interaction It
is examined how often the screens offer additional services like ordering options or
click and collect and how often they refer to other platforms like social media or the
online shop.
13.3 Findings
13.3.1 Observed Fashion Stores and Characteristics
In total, 152 fashion stores were observed. 90 stores show moving images while 62
stores do not. Most moving images are displayed in the mid-price segment. 34 mid-
price stores have moving images while only 22 low-price fashion stores have. One
possible explanation could be that low-price retailers do not attach much importance
to the store layout. In contrast, it could be assumed that mid-price retailers want to
differentiate themselves from online shopping and give customers a shopping expe-
rience with special features. Among the explored stores, Dior is the only premium
or luxury store that shows moving images. One possible explanation for the low
diffusion of in-store moving images among luxury and premium retailers could be
that luxury goods need a lot of space. The product is supposed to appear enough and
videos could distract from the product itself (Fig. 13.1).
Fig. 13.1 Total number of

observed fashion stores
62 stores
90 stores
fashion stores with moving images

fashion stores without moving images
272 P. Bug et al.
100
number of screens
80
60
98
40 screens
57
20 22 screens
screens
0
Marktplatz Milaneo Könisgstraße
Fig. 13.2 Number of screens
13.3.2 Number of Screens
Figure 13.2 shows the total number of screens in all of the three different locations.
It is remarkable that a lot of stores have many small screens composed to one big
screen. These small screens were counted as one combined screen since it broadcasts
only one motion picture. The reason for this might be that huge screens are very
expensive. For this reason, these fashion stores assemble some smaller screens to a
big one to save costs. While many stores that display moving images are located in
Milaneo and in Königstraße, it is interesting that stores that have no moving images
in Königstraße do not have motion picture in Milaneo neither. But stores which
have moving images in Milaneo mostly also display moving images in Königstraße.
Obviously, all observed stores follow a uniform retail strategy. Most of the stores at
all locations only have one screen. The highest number of screens have department
stores or smaller department stores which could be explained by the available space
that these types of stores have. Since they dispose large sales areas, they can install
screens without appearing overloaded.
13.3.3 Preferred Position and Level
The mostly observed position of moving images is in connection with products or

brands followed by moving images is at the cash point counter. It could be assumed
that customers are supposed to get entertained while waiting at the cash point to stay
more patient. Furthermore, they obtain additional information which encourages
follow-up purchases. The position back and front were not common positions at all
three locations. No clear pattern can be detected concerning the preferred level of
moving images. Some multilevel stores have screens on all stories while others do
not (Fig. 13.3).
in connection with products

cash point
window
entrance
stairway
fitting rooms
back
front
exit
close to elevator
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
number of screens
Marktplatz Milaneo Königstraße
Fig. 13.3 Position of moving images
Fig. 13.4 Functionality 10%

= 2%
18 screens =
3 screens
88%
=
156 screens
out of order partly defect working
13.3.4 Functionality
Out of 177 screens, three screens are partly defected and 18 screens are completely
out of order (Fig. 13.4).
13.3.5 Sound, Actor and Color?
Interestingly all examined moving images are mute and no screen has sound. How-
ever, all moving images are accompanied by the regular music played in-store. Prod-
uct information or conversations between people are subtitled. With regard to the
actors in the film, only two moving images have a celebrity as an actor. The store
274 P. Bug et al.
Camp David shows Dieter Bohlen, a German singer-songwriter, and his wife in their
motion picture. Dieter Bohlen has been an important brand ambassador for Camp
David for many years. Furthermore, Calzedonia shows Ann-Kathrin Götze, a Ger-
man model and their brand ambassador. Interestingly, no store shows influencers in
the moving images. Every store that displays moving images shows persons who fit
to the image of the store. For example, a store like Birkenstock shows a very natural
family with little kids, Ulla Popken shows women in plus size, sports shops present
very sporty persons of all ages, Diegel shows young successful and elegant men.
Trendy and fast fashion brands like Zara, Bershka, Pull and Bear, Snipes, Jack &
Jones, Vero Moda present all very young persons or models from all cultures and
countries. They show many different characters and persons. With regard to colors,
moving images about sale are in red since the color red in retail stands for cheap
prices and sale. Brands like Desigual which has a collection in very bright colors and
patterns present their moving images also in this type of color. Birkenstock presents
their moving images in natural colors while Reserved presents their moving images
in glittery and dark colors. In sum, the colors of the moving images support both the
atmosphere of the store and the colors of the collection and the brand.
13.3.6 Content of Moving Images and Mood
Many young fashion stores like Zara or Bershka show moving images about very
young people having fun, going out with friends and being free and independent.
Obviously, this addresses their target group. All moving images were mute, so it was
placed importance on showing very strong facial expressions that allow customers
feeling the atmosphere. Especially natural, happy and joyful settings and scenarios
are common and give the consumers a good feeling. Stores which sell high-quality
products and have families as a target group often use moods like calm, relaxing,
coziness to convey deceleration and comfort. Moving images of sport stores have
a very sporty, active and adventurous mood and animate their target group auto-
matically. Successfulness, strongness and elegance are diffused moods of moving
images for business or more expensive clothes. The contents of all the explored
moving images are very similar. Basically, they are aimed at informing the costumer
about special offers, giving additional information about a product, animating and
inspiring customers with new outfits and feelings and especially representing their
brand, image and fashion (Fig. 13.5).
13.3.7 Interaction
Out of 159 screens only twelve screens are interactive. Three retailers offer a tablet
at the exit of the store with a survey on the experience and atmosphere of the store.
Four stores provide access to online shops or to product information. Two stores offer
young
party natural
free happy
indepen- joyful
dent
inspiring calm
dynamic
animating relaxing
passionate
to buy cozy
emotional
factual romantic
successfu sporty
l high
active
strong fashion advent-
exclusiv urous
elegant
Fig. 13.5 Mood
interaction beyond surveys and access to further information. Snipes has a special
camera integrated between the shoes where you can post a picture of your new shoes
on social networks or scan the QR-code for further information. Intersport offers a
very special service where everyone can measure his foot (Fig. 13.6).
2
number of screens
0
H&M
Intersport
Deichmann
Snipes
Snipes
S'Oliver
Saks of fifth
Breuninger
Pull and Bear
Shoetown Werdich
survey access to online store/ camera linked foot

product information with social mea-
networks suring
and QR-code
Milaneo Königstraße Marktplatz
Fig. 13.6 Interactive screens

276 P. Bug et al.
13.4 Conclusion
The purpose of this article was to provide a first estimation of motion picture dis-
tribution in stationary fashion retail stores. For this purpose, data of fashion stores
in Stuttgart were analyzed. Findings indicate that most fashion retailers do not dis-
play in-store moving images. However, it was found that almost one-third of the
observed stores have installed screens to show moving images. Findings reveal that
most moving images are displayed in stores of the mid-price segment. The mostly
observed position of moving images is in connection with products or brands fol-
lowed by moving images at the cash point counter. All examined moving images are
mute, only two moving images have a celebrity as an actor and the content of all the
explored moving images is very similar. This opens up different avenues for further
discussion and future research.
First of all, findings provide information on the current state of fashion motion
picture diffusion in stationary retail. To get an idea of the development, it will be
crucial to conduct follow-up studies and determine whether this trend continues or
not. In this context both external and internal factors of the organization should be
taken into consideration. How is the diffusion affected by the economic development?
What impact do shifts in consumer preferences have? What role real estate prices
play? Secondly, findings provide no information on the effect that different types
of moving images have on the consumer. Future research could investigate how
consumer react on different types. While previous research points out that screens
that display advertising have an impact on consumers’ purchasing intention (Yim
et al., 2010), it is unclear whether moving images do so as well. Thirdly, this study
is limited to data from the City of Stuttgart, a relatively wealthy city in an economic
strong region with high real estate prices. On average, Stuttgart residents possess
relatively high disposable incomes which makes Stuttgart an alluring hub for retailers
of all price segments. It would be interesting to enrich and compare findings with
data from economic weaker cities with lower real estate prices and a lower consumer
income level. Furthermore, it would be important to compare it with data of fashion
metropolises or cities that attract tourists from beyond the regional catchment area.
References
Blum, L. (2006). In-store TV ads sway consumers. Adweek Online. Retrieved February
16, 2019, from http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-miscellaneous-business/
4783974-1.html.
Hagberg, J., Sundstrom, M., & Egels-Zandén, N. (2016). The digitalization of retailing: An
exploratory framework. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 44(7),
694–712. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-09-2015-0140.
Meiners, J. (2007). 30 percent increase in online advertising in 2008. Marketing Pilgrim, 2007.
Retrieved 16 February, 2019, from http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/10/30-increase-in-
online-advertising-in-2008.html.
GfK. (2014, March). Umsatzstärkste Städte in Deutschland nach Einzelhandelsumsatz 2014 |

Statistik. Retrieved November 22, 2018, from https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/3811/
umfrage/prognose-der-einzelhandelsumsaetze-pos-in-stadt–und-landkreisen-in-2009/.
Pauwels, K., Leeflang, P. S. H., Teerling, M. L., & Huizingh, K. R. E. (2011). Does online information
drive offline revenues? Journal of Retailing, 88(1), 1–17.
TNS. (2008). TNS media intelligence reports U. S. advertising Expenditures grew 0.2 percent in
2007. Retrieved February 16, 2019, from http://www.tns-mi.com/news/03252008.htm.
Yim, M. Y. C., Yoo, S. C., Till, B. D., & Eastin, M. S. (2010). In-store video advertising effectiveness:
Three new studies provide in-market field data. Journal of Advertising Research, 50(4), 386–402.
Marcus Adam holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Munich University of
Applied Science (Germany), a master’s degree in international business from Linnaeus University
(Sweden), and a Ph.D. from Ulm University (Germany). From 2013 to 2015, he worked as busi-
ness consultant with a focus on risk management. Since 2015, he is Research Fellow and Lecturer
at the School of Textiles & Design at Reutlingen University (Germany). His research and edu-
cational initiatives are majorly focused on sustainability in the fashion industry, digitization, and
entrepreneurship. He is reviewer for several well-known journals and involved in different initia-
tives to promote research and education on sustainability and innovation in the fashion industry.
Katharina Moessle studies International Fashion Retail at the School of Textiles & Design at
Reutlingen University since March 2018. Since April 2019, she works at the Prada outlet store
in Metzingen. In August 2019, she will move to Hong Kong for studying abroad for one semester
at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is expected to graduate in February 2022 with a bach-
elor’s degree of science.
Part IV
Future Forms of Moving Images
for Fashion Business
Chapter 14
The Future of Fashion Films
in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Peter Bug and Melina Bernd
14.1 Research Question and Literature Review
14.1.1 Research Question
What will be in the future? How will retailers and fashion brands develop their fashion
film business? What new technologies will help create fashion films?—These are
questions dealing with unpredictability what makes it difficult to give an appropriate
answer. This paper will help to understand the future of fashion film and will give an
outlook what can be a possible development in the future of fashion films. The recent
futuristic progresses in fashion films, especially augmented reality (AR) and virtual
reality (VR) are going to be presented and can be understood as an indicator of the
future development in that specific area. Nowadays cutting-edge technology will lead
the industries’ path to the future which means that current digital trends may have an
impact on the future outcome. The digital trend and latest technology effort of virtual
reality, for instance, may have an impact on the future as it is further developed and
implemented in various ways. For today’s fashion managers it is important to keep in
mind future developments for their business. Keeping up with the business and being
competitive is important to survive in the highly competitive fashion industry. By
analyzing the future in fashion film, the company can gain first-mover advantages and
create new consumer interest and publicity. By doing future research the company
will be prepared for future investments and changes and can react in a professional
and reconsidered way to gain advantages in the industry. Therefore, this chapter is
investigating the research question: How does AR and VR influence the future of
fashion film? To answer this question especially the fashion film development in AR
P. Bug · M. Bernd (B)

e-mail: melina.bernd@student.reutlingen-university.de
P. Bug
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9542-0_14
282 P. Bug and M. Bernd
and VR is investigated. These two technologies are increasing in popularity in the

fashion business and some retailers recently started to use these technologies for
campaign videos, display windows and virtual fashion shows. By using AR and VR
fashion films are transported in a brand-new way and may create excitement as well
as curiosity to consumers.
Fashion films are defined as mostly short films that build up a story, present and
explore a thought and create atmosphere that stick in the consumers mind while
triggering sensitivity of style, design and in general a particular way of life (Ulita,
2016). In the past, some retailers already started to use the AR and VR technology
to create and present fashion films to their customers, for instance, in the way of VR
fashion shows. AR and VR have to be explained in detail with its use as a fashion film.
Subsequently, relevant excerpts about retailers who started to implement AR or VR
have been compiled for an investigated timeframe from 2010 until 2018. Moreover,
the literature research on AR and VR related to fashion film was limited to consumer-
related implementations. Back-end improvements in the fashion industry with the
help of AR and VR, such as the usage of VR for designers, were not included because
the fashion filming focus for this study is the consumer.
14.1.2 Virtual Reality
In technical terms, virtual reality is used to describe a three-dimensional computer-

generated environment. That environment can be explored and interacted with by
a person using VR technology. Virtual reality systems enable users to view three-
dimensional images in life-size (VRS, 2018). Virtual Reality already has been inves-
tigated years ago and was already defined in the early 1990s:
“Virtual reality is electronic simulations of environments experiences via head-mounted eye
goggles and wired clothing enabling the end user to interact in realistic three-dimensional sit-
uations” (Coates, 1992). “Virtual Reality is an alternate world filled with computer-generated
images that respond to human movements. These simulated environments are usually vis-
ited with the aid of an expensive data suit which features stereophonic video goggles and
fiber-optic data gloves”. (Greenbaum, 1992)
Figure 14.1, adapted from KPMG (2017) and Virtual Reality 12 (2016), shows
major milestones in the VR technology development. Since 2017 more and more
companies have started to work on creating their own VR headsets. These include
companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Sony, Facebook and many others (Dormehl,
2017). In the present time, VR technology is gaining a widespread availability
because of decreasing costs. VR technologies can be used in many areas, for instance,
telecommunications, arcade and home entertainment, production and assembly man-
agement, health care, digital design and product and sales marketing (Bricken &
Byrne, 1992).
The term VR gives new aspects of reality by referring to computer-generated
interactive, non-physical, lifelike changes of the environment around the user. VR
describes the levels of reality that are perceived with the help of technical systems in
14 The Future of Fashion Films in Augmented Reality … 283
1968
The first VR head-
mounted display was
created by Ivan
Sutherland
1982
The movie "Tron" depicts VR
1994
1990
Sega introduces VR
First virtual games
glasses
1995
Nintendo virtual boy 2014
Google Cardboard,
Facebook buys Oculus VR
2015
Samsung VR Gear, YouTube and
Facebook support 360° video
Fig. 14.1 VR history timeline
the user’s mind as being real without them existing in the actual reality. The objects,
the location and/or the event are not being physically available at the viewers near
location. Technical tools enabling this experience include VR glasses and all other
“closed” systems that enable to complete immersion into a virtual world. Users of
VR devices will experience the highest image quality, fast and various reaction and
interaction possibilities as well as a widespread field of vision. By this means the
virtual world seems very real to the user and can appeal especially to the emotional
level of consumers (KPMG, 2016). The user is thereby placed completely inside a
computer-generated environment (Schmalstieg & Höllerer, 2016). By using VR, the
person is given the feeling to become a part of the virtual world. VR removes us from
our surrounding and immerses us in another one (Nila, 2017). In best practice, VR
systems respond in real time as the person explores its surrounding. This interaction
makes people to forget to be in an artificial surrounding. VR systems also offer an
entertainment value to users and are more widely seen to “humanize” our technology.
Moreover, VR is using the concept of presence, as presence is defined as the sense of
being at an environment (Steuer, 1992). Virtual Reality creates a virtual environment
that is present to the human senses in a way that we experience it as if it was real.
Through the decreasing cost of VR technology, it becomes more widespread in the
today’s world (VRS, 2018). Throughout the use of VR a more direct and intuitive
interaction with information is made up (Bricken & Byrne, 1992).
With VR, the consumer sees not a 2D film or moving images, he is able to act in a
3D film. According to KPMG, VR is set to have a medium relevance in the future retail
sector. VR is mainly being used for customer acquisition and engagement through the
delivery of vivid product demonstrations (KPMG, 2017). Nevertheless, VR can be
used by the fashion industry in diverse ways. These include the usage of VR software
for building virtual fashion stores or watching a virtual fashion show (VRS, 2017).
In-store VR application includes digitally enhanced mirrors for a virtual trial of the
product, recommendations and product location in store (Zagel, 2016). Furthermore,
VR headsets have been adopted in-store by fashion retailers that enable consumers to
view virtual catwalk shows or virtually experience the craftsmanship behind the prod-
ucts (Jung & Tom Dieck, 2018). With the help of cutting-edge technology, fashion
shows can be filmed in 360-degree video and viewed using virtual reality headsets.
The technology allows users to look around at the fashion show and focus on detail
and angle that is in their interest. Fashion shows are no longer a place for the invited
elite, but moreover a place all consumers can go and experience the atmosphere, get
a front-row view or look behind the scenes which then limits the exclusivity of the
event. With VR fashion shows a wider range of people gain access to the show (ITPP,
2016). Virtual reality mirrors can record body measurements and display clothing
items on a virtual version of the customer. This experience offers convenience for
shoppers because the process of waiting, going in and out of the fitting room and
changing is eliminated. Customers can view different outfits on a virtual version of
themselves. Plus, the mirrors offer important customer data. Retailers can ensure
better sizing for clothes (Huffingtonpost, 2017). VR can also contribute to online
shopping. For instance, VR offers a new experience when shopping from home by
interacting with clothing items. With online shopping VR, a more natural interac-
tion in online retailing is being produced and improves the user experience (Alshaal
et al., 2016). Pictofit is a suitable example for a virtual dressing room application that
enables consumers to virtually try on clothes of online fashion stores on their own
bodies. The application can extract clothes from e-commerce sites and adjust them to
match an image of the customer. In addition to that, body measurements are estimated
and provided to assist in the entry of purchase data (Schmalstieg & Höllerer, 2016).
A virtual shopping experience is provided and its aim is to create a virtual shop. Con-
sumers can view the range of clothes immersed in a virtual shop by 360 photography
and the filming of live models. Users can walk behind the model and see how the
garment falls from every angle. Consumers are no more bothered with flat images of
a model as it is mostly status quo in e-commerce (ITPP, 2016). Ipsos (2016) found
out that 52% of the German population is interested in VR solutions in online shop-
ping. VR application in e-commerce can lower the distance between online customer
and product. Since a disadvantage in online shopping is that customers can not try
the product before buying, VR can contribute to lower the online retailing distance
between customer and product (Zimmermann, 2016). Online shopping with custom
avatars is another approach to click on clothes and see them on a digital self by a VR
headset. A different Web-based use of VR is the concept of virtual fashion. It is the
concept to buy fashion for our digital selves. Since people already pay money for
virtual items in computer games it is not far-fetched users would pay money to shop
virtual clothes (ITPP, 2016). Moreover, VR applications often offer users to share
the experience on social media. Shared VR allows brands to connect with consumers
and friends. Sharing the experience through social media enables a “three-way con-
versation.” Sharing an experience makes people rate those more intensely compared
to undergoing the experience alone. (Eventual, 2017). Experts think that technology
will turn the fashion industry inside out very soon (Eventual, 2017). In general, VR
is a booming segment in digital marketing which is slowly establishing its place in
sectors of fashion retail business by creating a better store experience. The important
question to ask now is how quickly and effectively fashion brands can implement
VR to engage modern-day consumers.
The wave of VR is shaping the future, and now it is the perfect time to hop on board.
(Huffingtonpost, 2017)
Several fashion brands already paved their way through implementing VR in their
stores. Topshop, a forward-thinking brand in VR, geared up its Oxford Street flagship
store with VR devices by teaming up with the agency Inition. The shoppers were
able to livestream the autumn/winter 2014 show with Oculus headsets (Plummer,
2016). Topshop held a competition to win this virtual experience of a fashion show
during London fashion week in 2014 (Cosco, 2016). The retailer created a brand
engagement through VR and appealed to the tech-savvy demographics. Topshop
smartly combined the in-store and virtual reality experience. The VR campaign
drew much attention to Topshop which was the reason why the retailer created a new
experience later in 2017. The company then transformed the Oxford Street store into
a VR waterslide through the city. Shoppers were able to use a real slide in-store in
combination with VR gear. Topshop is a retail brand that is on its way to creating
ways with VR to engage its shoppers (Kendal, 2018). Tommy Hilfiger introduced
VR headsets in stores in October 2015 and thus was the first major retailer to do so.
Shoppers were able to immerse themselves in a 360-degree experience watching the
autumn/winter fashion show (Jiang, 2017). Moreover, the Rebecca Minkoff autumn
2015 fashion show was filmed in VR. Using several high-tech cameras to capture
a 360-degree view of the show the film was available for Oculus Rift and Google
Cardboard viewers who immersed into a VR experience and virtually attended the
show (Dimitrova, 2015). At North Face stores shoppers experienced a virtual tour
through California’s Yosemite National Park and the Moab desert alongside hiking
celebrities (Kendal, 2018). The retailer teamed up with the technology company
Jaunt to provide truly immersive cinematic VR experience (Jauntxr, 2015). Dior went
far beyond and designed its own virtual reality headset called Dior Eyes that was
introduced in selected Dior stores in 2015. The VR experience provides immersive
experience including virtual backstage access of the Dior runway show. The VR
headset includes state-of-the-art technology and was created in partnership with
DigitasLBi Labs France (LVMH, 2015). The British fashion brand Gucci introduced
its first VR fashion film in 2017 which was called Soul Scene. The film displays a
dance party directed by Glen Luchford together with art director Chris Simmonds. At
first hand, the video shows dancer queuing up to buy tickets all dressed in the Gucci’s
pre-fall collection. Then the party kicks off in a 1970s nostalgia feel that the designer
is now synonymous with. The film can be viewed in 360-degree format on desktop
or on a mobile device as a VR video. The last option requires the use of VR glasses
(ELLE Team, 2017). In 2017 Coach introduced VR headsets in stores in ten malls
across the US to provide virtual access to the latest runway shows (Jiang, 2017). An
example for a virtual online shop can be found at Swarovski, a company for luxury
jewelry and fashion accessories. In partnership with Mastercard and the technology
company YouVisit, Swarovski launched a virtual reality shopping experience in 2017.
Consumers can make use of a VR shopping app on their smartphone to purchase the
Atelier Swarovski home decor line. While using the app consumers are immersed in
a decorated home where they can wander around and finally purchase the Swarovski
pieces with Masterpass, a digital payment service of Mastercard. Swarovski is using
a new and engaging way to highlight the value of the pieces, the story behind the
inspiration, the complex manufacturing process, and the designers’ creative journeys.
To enter the experience, consumers need to use a compatible VR headset in addition
to their smartphone. In the created VR environment, it is possible to learn more
about the story behind each product, see detailed descriptions, view the pricing, and
watch videos about the product’s craftsmanship. The VR app allows a fully immersive
shopping opportunity and a seamless purchase within the experience. With the help of
the cutting-edge VR technology consumers can fully realize the scale and thus engage
more deeply with design details before making the purchase. When the session gets
started the consumers can navigate through the different rooms and see the collection
by moving their heads left to right or up and down. After deciding on one product to
purchase they can add it to the cart and checkout only by focusing the gaze on the
Masterpass button that will appear on the bottom of the product description. After
logging out or removing the headset the customer is automatically logged out to
prevent unintended purchase (Mastercard, 2017).
“There’s no question that immersive technology will transform how consumers shop online,
and we are really proud to be the platform Swarovski and Mastercard selected to become
first movers in this space” Abi Mandelbaum, CEO and co-founder of YouVisit. (Mastercard,
2017)
14.1.3 Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is known for creating direct automatic, and actionable links
between the physical world and electronic information. A simple user face for an
electronically enhanced physical world is provided through AR technology. AR is
having the ability to overlay computer-generated information on views of the real
world and therefore extend the human perception and cognition. Unlike VR, AR
presents information that is directly connected to the physical environment and closes
the gap between the virtual world and the real world. From the users’ point of view,
the digital information seems to become part of the actual world (Schmalstieg &
Höllerer, 2016). According to Azuma (1997) AR must have three characteristics: It
combines a real world, is interactive in real time and registered in 3D. AR in general
refers to the term of extended reality. It does not relate to a virtual world—more
likely it is an extension of our own perceived reality. The real world is supplemented
by computer-generated additional information like images, videos or virtual objects.
The elements aim to overlap the real perception and refer to the so-called open sys-
tems that do not hide the real world like it is the case in VR. The technical challenge
of AR is to perfectly fit the virtual elements into the real world in such a way that
it shows a harmonious impression (KPMG, 2016). A visual technique puts digi-
tized virtual information on top of the “real-world” view captured by the camera
of a device, e.g., smartphone, computer or others (Kounavis, Kasimati, Zamani, &
Giaglis, 2012). AR not only enhances the real world but also allows the user to per-
form a number of functions (Nila, 2017). AR technology has the ability of immersing
users in a virtual enhanced real world (Di Serio, Ibáñez, & Kloos, 2013) and it might
appear to the user that virtual and real-world objects enter a coexistence in the same
place (Azuma, 1997). An advantage of AR is that it does not require dedicated hard-
ware like headgear goggles and gloves like it is the case with VR technology. AR
is designed to work with smartphones and tablets which means that the dedicated
hardware is already in possession of many consumers (Bloom, 2017). AR can be
accessed not only via a mobile phone but also through a head-mounted display like
Microsoft Holo Lens or the Google Glass 2.0. Nevertheless, AR for smartphones
is the most accessible AR because it is available on modern smartphones (KPMG,
2017).
From 2017 on a mass consumer uptake was expected because of the AR smart-
phone integrations. In 2017, Apple introduced its ARkit, a developer platform for AR
application running on iOS 11. This paved the way for apple users all over the world
to use AR on IPhones and IPads. Simultaneously, Google’s ARvore brought the new
technology to Android users. The consumer adoption of AR has already started with
the smartphone application Snapchat, which allows user to put virtual filters on their
faces by looking through the smartphone camera. Moreover, the Pokémon Go app
showed that AR has been already adapted by many consumers. The role of AR is
set to be transformative in the future world and it is expected to influence various
industries. Forward-thinking retailers start to incorporate AR into customer expe-
rience in-store and online. Already 70% of consumers expect that retailers launch
an AR app within the next six months but nearly two-thirds of companies still do
not use AR at all (Sheehan, 2018a). AR is expected to transform fashion and retail,
thus influencing the future of fashion film. The leading tech companies like Apple
and Google facilitate this happening. According to KPMG, AR is expected to have
a high relevance in future retailing. AR offers customers the ability to customize the
product or test the size of the product at home. Also AR-commerce which is still in
an early stage, allows users to identify, view and purchase objects seen in real life,
for instance, at a fashion show (KPMG, 2017).
Many clothing retailers use AR interactive technology to demonstrate the qual-
ity of their products and facilitate online fittings (Kim and Forsythe, 2008a). In
e-commerce, it enables consumers to try on clothes and shop as if they were in a
physical store by witnessing a simulated shopping experience (Huang & Hsu Liu,
2014). Current applications of AR in the online retail sector include the use of per-
sonalized or non-personalized virtual models that enable to virtually try on clothes
and test product combinations (Kim, Fiore, & Lee, 2006). Moreover, in virtual fitting
rooms consumers are using the camera to virtually see how the products would fit on
them (Kang, 2014). This tool, for instance, is offered by Zugara and called “Web-
cam Social Shopper.” The AR company Zugara provides retailers with a system that
allows shoppers to use their webcam as a magic mirror and try on items virtually
(Zugara, 2018). Zugara mentions that shoppers using their platform have a higher
conversion rate than shoppers that do not make use of it (Zugara, 2018). AR integra-
tion in-store and online is said to enhance the customer experience (Sheehan, 2018a).
For instance, a retailer can enhance the in-store experience by in-store navigation.
A study found out that throughout this approach the time spent in-store is reduced
while the number of purchase made is increased. The purchase process is then more
convenient for the customer. Another approach to enhance the in-store experience is
to virtually try on products and giving detailed product information with AR tech-
nology (Sheehan, 2018b). Moreover, it is possible to extend the in-store experience
by bringing products and the store experience to the customers’ home. The retailer
can thereby reach a wider audience and build a stronger customer relationship to
drive loyalty and sales, for example, through the approach of gamification. With the
usage of AR retailers can also increase their geographic reach. E-commerce used to
be the channel to reach for a larger geographic area but lacked the in-store experi-
ence. AR technology enables to create virtual versions of the retailer’s store to extend
its reach outside the store’s geographic location. This approach is currently mainly
used by furniture retailers to allow shoppers to see how products would look in their
homes (Sheehan, 2018c). With this method, another interactive communication and
sales channel through AR shopping is created. Beyond that, AR deepens the product
experience by using a dedicated mobile app to scan products and get presented other
relevant content to improve product experience. Overall, AR can be used for pre-
and post-purchase stages (Sheehan, 2018c).
At the Topshop flagship store in Moscow a trial virtual fitting room was installed
for several days in 2011. AR and Microsoft Kinect was used to select a product of
the rack without having to try it on physically (Retail-Innovation, 2013). The system
overlays 3D AR clothes on the customer and with the help of gestures and on-screen
buttons the users can try on different products (Houston, 2011). In 2013 Uniqlo
presented AR-enabled changing rooms which allowed customers to try on different
colors by swiping their phone’s touchscreen to see the look in a Magic Mirror (Zaidi,
2018). Converse introduced an app that uses AR to allow customers to virtually try on
any shoes from their range, just by pointing their phone at the leg. Customers then see
the shoes appear on their foot and are able to directly make a purchase through the app
(“10 Examples of Augmented Reality in Retail,” 2014). Burberry counts to the view
luxury fashion retailers that experiment with new technologies. The luxury fashion
house cooperated with Apple in order to implement AR technology in its app. With
the implementation of Apple’s AR platform, ARKit, a new feature for Burberry’s
mobile app was developed that lets users virtually add “Burberry-inspired” drawings
by the artist Danny Sangra to their environment. The app also gives the opportunity to
share the adjusted photos to social media (Hendriksz, 2017). Another approach is the
augmented- reality dressing room from Gap in 2017. Gap created an app that enables
shoppers to try on clothes from home and thus creates a creative way to engage with its
customers. The innovative application was developed in collaboration with Google
and Avametric that enabled customers to try on clothes without having to step into a
store. After setting information like height and weight a 3D virtual model is placed
in front of the user through AR. After that, the consumers can see how different items
would fit on their body. Additionally, a purchase function directly from the app is
provided. The application runs exclusively on Google Tango smartphones (Alvarez,
2017). The fashion brand Gucci introduced a AR campaign named Hallucination.
Scannable ads in print allow users of the Gucci app to discover the campaign in an
AR experience (Zaidi, 2018). Lacoste created an AR app for smartphones that could
be used by customers to virtually try on shoes. The app could be also used for creating
AR experience with window displays, in-store signage, and promotional postcards.
With the purpose to engage a younger customer group the app promoted the LCST
shoe model. As a result, more than 30,000 users engaged with 3D products while
using the app. American Apparel provided its customers with an app similar with
the one from Lacoste. Customers using the app are able to scan a picture of signage
and the app would show product details, including customer reviews, color variants,
and pricing (Sheehan, 2018a). Zara, owned by the world’s biggest clothing retailer
Inditex introduced AR technology in April 2018. The fast fashion retailer aims to
lure millennials into the stores with AR displays. The brand created an innovative
consumer experience by implementing AR for its 120 flagship stores. Consumer must
download the retailer’s smartphone app to make use of the new technology in store and
at home. The customers are advised to point the camera of their smartphone toward
designated graphic signage at store windows and models will come to life and walking
around in a twelve-minute clip with the latest collection on (Apparelresources, 2018).
Consumers can click through the looks and make purchases from their smartphone.
The technology will also work when pointing the smartphone camera to one of the
packages of online purchases. It will enable models to pop up on the boxes and
showing alternative outfits (Dowsett, 2018). The AR experiences at Zara moreover
can be shared on social media (Apparelresources, 2018). Plus, the app gives the
possibility to share the experience with other users. The AR app tool from Zara was
developed by Ezra Pedroni together with the agency Holooh and the French research
institute Inria which examines and designs technologies (Dietz, 2018). Timberland
created a virtual fitting room together with the Kinect technology company. By
installing it into one of the stores main window displays intended to drive more foot
traffic. Shoppers were able to stand in front of a camera and see a virtual version of
themselves on a large screen in the window display. They were then able to choose
different products to try on virtually even without having to walk into the store at
all (Sheehan, 2018a). Adidas introduced a line of sneakers that unlocked an AR
experience for customers at home. After the purchase of the sneaker, the customer is
able to hold it up to the computer webcam and customers would then find themselves
in a virtual world in which the sneaker is used as a controller (Sheehan, 2018a).
Another creative solution in the fashion business is Airwalk’s “invisible” pop-up
shop. The retailer uses geolocation in combination with AR to let customers find and
explore a virtual pop-up shop to promote a limited-edition sneaker. The consumer
had to download the app to learn about the location of the pop-up store. Airwalk thus
provided a unique and fun shopping experience for its customers (Sheehan, 2018a).
14.1.4 The Purpose of Investing in the Future of Fashion

Film
Clothing retailers need to invest in memorable product demonstrations and store-

specific content. New technologies like AR and VR will especially attract consumer
in their twenties and early thirties (Dowsett, 2018). Innovations and developments
like Oculus Rift and Google Glass are technologies that compel the fashion industry
to think of fashion beyond physicality of clothing and accessories (Nila, 2017).
There is more to virtual and augmented reality than gaming. Fashion is just getting started
with immersive technology, creating out-of-this-world experiences and revolutionizing the
way the industry operates. (Nila, 2017)
A significant advantage of AR is that the technology shows low entry barriers for
the mass consumer market. A smartphone is all that is required and needed to make
use of AR. The camera in the smartphone is needed to capture the real-world view
and must be capable to display 3D graphics or videos (Henrysson, Billinghurst, &
Ollila, 2005). Since there has been a growth of penetration rates of smartphones,
since the app-based AR is accessible to a wide user range (Lee, Chung, & Jung,
2015). A prediction of 900 million AR-enabled smartphones by the end of 2018 is
set (Digi-Capital, 2018). The launch of the Pokémon Go app in 2016 was the first
indicator that AR has the potential to be a global consumer phenomenon. Since the
release, the app has been download 750 million times and driven $1.2 billion in
sales (status 11/08/2017). Indeed, Pokémon Go is a lightweight AR experience but
showed the potential of an immersive, mixed reality consumer phone application. In
fact, the app has driven 500 million in-person visits to sponsored physical locations
which reveals a great potential for brands (Bloom, 2017). Another advantage is that
AR has lower barriers to adoption than VR because it is not as costly and does not
come with a steep learning curve for consumers (Jiang, 2017). Especially in online
shopping AR helps to decrease the perceived cognitive consumer risk of not seeing
products and combinations (Poncin & Ben Mimoun, 2014). The virtual interaction
when buying online delivers important product information that are nearly similar to
in-store buying information and thus stimulates consumers’ mental imagery (Poncin
& Ben Mimoun, 2014). AR reality can ease online shopping while simulating the
product use and assists consumers in identifying products benefits and its value in an
accurate and efficient way. Throughout this approach risk and low buying intention is
mitigate by information asymmetry (Klein, 1998). Furthermore, AR adds enjoyment
and playfulness to the shopping experience and increases consumer willingness to
purchase online (Kim & Forsythe, 2008a, 2008b; Mathwick, Malhotra, & Rigdon,
2001). With the help of the technology it is possible to reveal more product attributes
than in traditional online shopping (Li, Daugherty, & Biocca, 2001). Also in-store
AR is considered as a use full tool to enhance customer experience (Sheehan, 2018a).
61% of consumers prefer stores that offer an in-store AR experience and 40% of them
would pay more for a product if they have the chance to experience it through AR.
Furthermore, 71% of shoppers would shop more often at a retailer if it offered AR
(Retailperceptions, 2016).
VR technologies in physical stores result in positive reactions of consumers,

enhancing the shopping experience and hence appear more appealing to con-
sumers than traditional merchandising techniques (Mann, Liu-Thompkins, Watson,
& Papelis, 2015). VR moreover shows a significant high potential for the fashion
e-commerce sector: “Interactivity leads to immersion, and immersion leads to con-
version” CEO of YouVisit. For cross-sells and upsells new possibilities are emerging
by wandering through a virtual store rather than shopping at a static 2D product page
(Booth, 2016). “Try before you buy” is another noteworthy aspect of VR usage. Not
only seeing but also holding, wearing and trying on are key steps in the purchase
process which online retailers are still lacking. This lack is causing lower online
conversion rates compared to those of brick-and-mortar stores (2–4% compared to
20–40%) (Booth, 2016). Additionally, with the interactive nature of VR fashion cam-
paigns appear as far more impactful to consumers. Consumers engage in an emotional
level plus aligning products to exciting and visceral experiences which they want to
share. Even if some consumers may be still hesitant to purchase a VR headset, when
having the facility to view VR experience through their mobile device the barriers
of adoption will be reduced because they are already familiar with the technology
that is involved (Howland, 2016). Sales of VR headsets are expected to reach 22.5
million units for non-video gaming consumers by 2018 (Huffingtonpost, 2017).
In a nutshell, companies cannot afford to miss any advantage to stay competitive
in the tech-driven world. According to KMPG, AR and VR have a great potential to
fuel growth and improve customer experience. The tools will overall help to enhance
operations, processes, products and services (KPMG, 2017). Technology innovations
historically tend to have a significant impact on the retail industry. Advanced inter-
active and online technologies were already forcing retailers in the past years to avert
outdated service models and design new ones (Varadarajan et al., 2010). Especially
for brick-and-mortar stores who tend to struggle over the past years the investment
in future technologies can play an important role. Technology-based innovations
have the potential to make traditional stores more attractive and aesthetically appeal-
ing thus influencing consumers’ shopping behavior (Pantano & Pietro, 2012). The
introduction of digital technologies and the resulting enhanced shopping experience
increase the level of satisfaction and the positive patronage and recommendation
intentions of the retailer. The increasing use of digital technologies in stores can
reduce the boundaries between in-store atmospherics and e-atmospherics (Poncin &
Ben Mimoun, 2014). Shoppers tend to respond favorably to well-designed innova-
tions in store atmospherics and design (Baker, Parasuraman, Grewal, & Voss, 2002).
An appropriate application of technology innovations will change the concept of the
point of sale, add value to physical products and create an in-store experience for cus-
tomers (Pantano & Viassone, 2014). The new retail tools are capable of effectively
enriching the consumer in-store experience (Poncin & Ben Mimoun, 2014). The
new technologies might also be an opportunity for retailers to adapt their store more
toward their shoppers’ needs (Shankar, Inman, Mantrala, Kelley, & Rizley, 2011).
AR and VR used within the shopping process have the ability to merge online and
in-store retailing. On the one hand, a retailer can, for example, use VR to create an
experience of being in a store while offering the convenience of online shopping. On
the other hand, AR can revolutionize the in-store experience while making it more
pleasurable (Gardonio, 2017). Researchers showed that the Generation Z is very
interested in an experiential nature of stores and that 80% of them are more likely to
visit a store offering AR or VR (Kendal, 2018). The early adopters of cutting-edge
technologies like AR and VR are perceived as highly innovative and market leaders
in the use of technology tools by its consumers and competitors (Teo & Pian, 2003;
Pantano, 2014).
For the year 2025, it is predicted that augmented and virtual reality software
for retail will have 31.5 million users worldwide (Statista, 2016). Moreover, video
entertainment and live events are ranked with a large user base among all segments
which indicated that, for example, VR fashion films are having a high potential
in the future of fashion filming. The figure furthermore depicts that an enormous
growth of the global user base of AR and VR is predicted between 2020 and 2025
which could be a result of a more widely dissemination of those technologies. A
collaboration between retailers and AR and VR technology providers can be essential
by implementing the new technologies. Joining skills and know-how can be used
to develop a marketing and retailing strategy that enhances consumers’ shopping
experience. A collaboration is an important chance to compare views, sharing insights
and knowledge of consumers toward acceptance of the new technology and dealing
with barriers and requirements for implementation, needed innovation and market
trends (Dacko, 2017; Poushneh & Vasquez-Parraga, 2017).
Not only positive effects but also some bottlenecks of AR and VR implementation
are to be considered. The shortcomings of AR systems are still security and privacy
concerns that arise with the new technology. Although AR systems may be very
advanced they do not protect user’s privacy, as follows allowing others to access or see
information (Carmigniani et al., 2011). Some others are doubting the abilities of VR
as a useful retail tool. Although it is claimed that VR enhances the in-store experience
it is more likely to be a tool to gain consumers’ attention than being a future-oriented
in-store solution. Launching new technologies like VR experiences is costly and
time-consuming and often retailers do not go beyond the test-and-see period. The
hardware and software that are needed for VR have more immediate barriers than AR.
For instance, the customers have to learn new behaviors to interact and use the VR
equipment (Alvarez, 2017). Another drawback, especially for online retailers, is the
lack of VR hardware availability on the consumer side. But low-cost solutions like
the Google Cardboard that transforms smartphones into headsets could overcome
this problem in e-commerce implementation (Booth, 2016). Furthermore, economic
and social factors need to be taken into account, because they may obstruct consumer
acceptance of VR regarding to high cost and social acceptability of VR headsets (Jung
& Tom Dieck, 2018). Some also claim that implementing those technologies in-store
only helps to build the brand while gaining minimal return on investment (Milnes,
2016). Another problem with VR is that of motion sickness. VR motion sickness is
the cause of a not well shot or designed VR experience and effects the user’s sense of
balance which may create nausea and thus a poorly consumer experience (Cassidy,
2016).
An investment in AR and VR, without the retailer knowing the expected gener-
ated profits, prevent several retailers from adopting those new forms of technologies
(Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson, 2014). Retailers’ adoption of new technology does not
always equal to consumers’ acceptance and usage of the tools (Jung & Tom Dieck,
2018). The technology will not replace the feel and touch of the real material. Plus,
the older generations usually tend to be a little reluctant when it comes to adopting
new technologies. In addition to that, the younger audience may be perceived as
having accelerated learning but then is harder to impress. A real “wow-factor,” a
perceived value and good storytelling can overcome that problem (Nila, 2017). In
addition, cultural differences have been investigated as being a barrier for technol-
ogy transfer (Lee, Trimi, & Kim, 2013). That means that the process of information
system acceptance can be influenced by cultures (Harris, Rettie, & Cheung, 2005).
For instance, a study has examined cultural differences in the acceptance of VR on
perceived consumer enjoyment (Lee et al., 2015). Furthermore, a low-level technol-
ogy expertise and a frail commitment of employees and sales associates pose a true
challenge for retailers implementing new technologies. Especially when additional
training is necessary to familiarize sales associate with the new tools in order to
properly communicate and promote them to potential users. New technologies that
are adopted and implemented by retailers need to be promoted to make the potential
users aware of the new technology tool. The retailer must provide all necessary and
relevant information to its customers.
For implementing new technologies like VR and AR, KPMG suggests some
course of action. Firstly, the company or organization must encourage a “safe to
fail” culture that supports innovation. The next step is to invest in “social wear” for
teams to investigate how AR and VR work. It is important to encourage the digital
technology teams to experiment with the ARKit and to think about how AR could
improve processes. Afterward, it is important to examine ways AR and VR could
help engage customers or enhance the products or services. Then, a prototype and
testing is an appropriate next step with building a business case and invest. Addition-
ally, it is necessary to look ahead how AR and VR could support long-term growth
and competitiveness in a tech-driven future. Lastly, the organization must consider
creating a reusable 3D object or environment library to accelerate the pace of devel-
opment for bespoke AR and VR experiences. To sum up, it is crucial for a company
when implementing AR or VR to consider what is right for customers, the products
and the organization itself (KPMG, 2017).
14.2 Methodology
The literature research part enabled to gain insights about the AR and VR, studies
connected to AR and VR in fashion retail as well as its use in fashion companies to
create fashion films for consumers. In the empirical research part, a survey method
was used to gain much more insight about the topic and its future potential. Inter-
viewees were asked to undertake a survey relating to the future of fashion film with
regard to AR and VR devices in fashion film. An online survey design was chosen to
undertake computer-assisted Web interviews, which means that the self-administered
questionnaire was placed online for the chosen sample size to read and complete on
their own. The designing of the questionnaire was executed with the online software
Question Pro, which possess convenient methods for creating an online survey and
analyzing data. A non-probability sample size of 20 fashion business students, out
of 31 students asked, participated in the survey. A convenient sampling method has
been chosen because the participants had to possess fashion and retail know-how as
well as familiarity with the topic fashion and film which has been discussed. The
survey aim was to gain insights about how student experts think about the topic and
its potential to create future fashion films for retail. The survey helped to support or
reject the statements about AR and VR found in the literature review part, mainly
because of the reason that also non-peer-reviewed and gray literature was used in the
literature research part. Furthermore, the answers should give an insight how future
fashion retail experts think about the field of investigation. Open-ended questions for
qualitative data gathering as well as closed-ended questions which included state-
ments of the literature review helped to gain quantitative data. The data gained was
analyzed in assistance with the Question Pro online software. The appendices B and
C include the full data gained with the questionnaire and the blank survey design. A
major drawback of the chosen method is the lack of control in self-administered ques-
tionnaires. Even if the link to the questionnaire was only spread to the prospective
participants it cannot be excluded that also other participants participated. Moreover,
potential response errors can occur when interviewees randomly answer questions or
participants do not understand the question well. It is difficult to determine whether
respondents are responding truthfully because of the lack of personal contact. Addi-
tionally, the chosen method comprised limitations of in-depth details.
14.3 Findings
The study showed that 70% of the students are somewhat interested in AR and VR
but 85% have not experienced AR or VR in the context of fashion yet. The 13%
that indicated that they have used VR and AR before used AR filters on Snapchat
and Instagram or watched a VR fashion show. 55% of the questioned students think
that it is somewhat likely that AR and VR can represent the future of fashion film.
A true answer to the question in which technology they see more potential was not
found. 40% indicated AR as having more potential in creating fashion films while
the other 40% think both technologies are having the same potential. Only 20%
think that VR has more potential than AR, which corresponded to the statement
found in the literature review that AR has a lower entry barrier and does not come
with a steep learning curve like VR technology. 45% of the questioned students
mentioned that it would take three to four more years until AR and VR are widely
implemented in retail. Five or more years was given as an answer by 40% of the
students. This result shows a general long-term orientation in the students’ mind and
coincides with the forecasts found in the literature research that predict a broad user
base in 2025. For answering the question if AR and VR can replace present time
fashion film technologies a net promoter score was created. The net promoter score
resulted in −65, which means that there are more detractors than promoters of this
statement. The questioned students do not think nowadays fashion film technology
will be completely replaced by AR and VR technologies. Figure 14.2 shows that
the students mostly agreed on the statement that AR and VR cause greater in-store
experience. Moreover, the statements that AR and VR lead to better online shopping
experience, AR and VR have the potential to enhance brand image and the statement
that these technologies have the potential to enhance customer loyalty were all mostly
agreed on.
This result mainly acknowledges the statements found in the literature and sup-
ports the great potential of AR and VR implementation for fashion retailers. These
results are also supported by the subsequent question which indicated that 85% think
that retailers can boost their sales with the implementation of AR and VR technolo-
gies. The open-ended questions that asked about the benefit for customers of AR
and VR use mainly implied: better or enhanced shopping experience, fun factor and
entertainment as well as the ability to share it on social media, plus gaining more
information and engagement. The results gained with the open-ended question show
a consensus view with the statements gained in the literature review and thus can be
viewed as results how the new technologies influence the future of fashion film.
To summarize, the survey and the literature review contributed to answer the
research question: “How do AR and VR influence the future of fashion film?” AR and
VR technologies influence the future of fashion film by various fields of implemen-
tations for fashion retailers that all contribute to enhance the shopping experience as
well as cause greater entertainment in-store and online. A deeper engagement with
Fig. 14.2 Result chart, made with questionpro.com

the customer and product is generated. As a result, brand image and customer loyalty
can be enhanced which leads to boosting sales. For a prospective outlook of the topic
the open-ended question: What other technologies could be used to create the future
of fashion film? has been asked. The questioned sample size came up with ideas like
immersive wall screens, holograms and digital point of sale solutions like artificial
intelligence.
14.4 Conclusion and Implications
AR and VR will influence the future of fashion film in a way that they offer a greater
entertainment value for consumers, a better shopping experience in-store and online,
a greater engagement thus enhancing loyalty and brand image. Taking these improve-
ments into account the retailer can boost its overall sales when the technologies have
been implemented and established in a proper way. With the growing sector pro-
viding these technologies, a wide implementation of AR and VR is expected in the
future and thus can partly or fully replace nowadays fashion film technologies.
“I think that immersive 3D content is the obvious next thing after video” Mark Zuckerberg,
CEO Facebook. (Truong, 2015)
Further developments in the field are still related to technology distribution. Hav-
ing a high density of VR headsets will lead to an easy use and integration of VR
for retailers. AR enabling smartphones will lead to faster integration of consumers.
Still retailer needs to be prepared for those technology developments and propaga-
tion. Many consulting companies and studies predict AR and VR to be the next big
thing in retail. The conducted survey also showed that International Fashion Retail
students who are familiar with the topic fashion and film demonstrate in general a
positive attitude to AR and VR and think it is likely that it is implemented in some
years. Still, they do not think that it will fully replace nowadays technologies. The
research showed that it does not matter anymore if AR and VR influence the future
of fashion film rather the question arises when it will be available to a wide field of
users. As mentioned, widespread use is predicted for 2025. This is also supported
by the statement of the interviewees who mostly stated that it will take three to four
or even five or more years until those technologies are widely implemented in retail.
Reports like of the consulting company KPMG show that AR and VR are considered
as an important topic for the future. Like outlined, AR and VR technologies for fash-
ion films will imply significant benefits to consumers. A company that implements
those technologies will cater to the tech-savvy younger generation of consumers and
overall enhance the store experience. For business decision makers, it is important
to keep in mind future technology developments to keep in pace with competitors
or somewhat further to gain first-mover advantage in the retail industry. Of course,
before implementing the new tools, the retailer must provide the necessary resources
for implementing AR and or VR technologies. Therefore, managers need to develop
a model to estimate cost-benefit considerations.
Limitations of this paper can occur due to the online survey design that was cho-
sen. The computer-assisted Web interview has some drawbacks including potential
response errors. Moreover, only a specific segment group has been asked which led
to a small sample size chosen. For the generalization of the statements, a broader
sample size consisting of different consumer segments should be chosen. For future
research directions researches could conduct a research on the question: What are the
most effective uses of AR and VR in the future of fashion film? A possible approach
therefore would be to conduct a field experiment and testing AR and VR on a broad
sample size. Moreover, research on different future technologies like holograms or
artificial intelligence in fashion retail could be conducted in combination with AR
and VR.
References
10 Examples of Augmented Reality in Retail. (2014, March 17). Retrieved June

16, 2018, from http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/augmented-reality/10-examples-
augmented-reality-retail/.
Alshaal, S. E., Michael, S., Pamporis, A., Herodotou, H., Samaras, G., & Andreou, P. (2016).
Enhancing virtual reality systems with smart wearable devices. In 2016 17th IEEE International
Conference on Mobile Data Management (MDM) (Vol. 1, pp. 345–348). https://doi.org/10.1109/
MDM.2016.60.
Alvarez, E. (2017, January 30). Gap envisions a future with augmented-reality “dressing rooms.”
Retrieved June 16, 2018, from https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/30/gap-augmented-reality-
dressing-rooms/.
Apparelresources. (2018, March 14). Zara dabbles with augmented reality tech. Retail News UK.
Retrieved June 23, 2018, from https://apparelresources.com/business-news/retail/zara-dabbles-
augmented-reality-tech/.
Azuma, R. T. (1997). A survey of augmented reality. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environ-
ments, 6(4), 355–385. https://doi.org/10.1162/pres.1997.6.4.355.
Baker, J., Parasuraman, A., Grewal, D., & Voss, G. B. (2002). The influence of multiple store
environment cues on perceived merchandise value and patronage intentions. Journal of Marketing,
66(2), 120–141.
Bloom, A. (2017, November 8). Op-Ed | Why augmented reality changes everything. Retrieved
May 14, 2018, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/opinion/op-ed-why-augmented-
reality-changes-everything.
Booth, J. (2016, March 28). How virtual reality will change the way you shop. Retrieved June 10,
2018, from http://time.com/4273885/virtual-reality-shopping/.
Bricken, M., & Byrne, C. M. (1992). Summer students in virtual reality: A pilot study on educational
applications of virtual reality technology. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED358853.
Carmigniani, J., Furht, B., Anisetti, M., Ceravolo, P., Damiani, E., & Ivkovic, M. (2011). Aug-
mented reality technologies, systems and applications. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 51(1),
341–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-010-0660-6.
Cassidy, A. (2016, March 12). What does virtual reality mean for advertising in 2016?
The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/dec/03/virtual-
reality-in-advertising-2016.
Coates. (1992, March). Program from invisible site—A virtual show, a Multimedia Performance
Work Presented by George Coates. San Francisco, CA: Performance Works.
Cosco, A. (2016, August 3). A guide to fashion and virtual reality. Retrieved June 5, 2018, from
https://electricrunway.com/a-guide-to-fashion-and-virtual-reality/.
Dacko, S. G. (2017). Enabling smart retail settings via mobile augmented reality shopping apps.
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 124, 243–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.
2016.09.032.
Di Serio, Á., Ibáñez, M. B., & Kloos, C. D. (2013). Impact of an augmented reality system on
students’ motivation for a visual art course. Computers & Education, 68, 586–596. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.002.
Dietz, J. (2018, April 13). E-commerce: Zara: Augmented reality geht an den Start. Retrieved June 5,
2018, from http://www.textilwirtschaft.de/business/unternehmen/e-commerce-zara-augmented-
reality-geht-an-den-start-209695.
Digi-Capital. (2018, January). Ubiquitous $90 billion AR to dominate focused $15 billion VR by
2022. Retrieved June 23, 2018, from https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2018/01/ubiquitous-90-
billion-ar-to-dominate-focused-15-billion-vr-by-2022/#.Wy5XWKkyU_V.
Dimitrova, K. (2015, March 7). HOW FASHION PLAYS WITH VIRTUAL REALITY—Interlaced.
Retrieved June 5, 2018, from http://interlaced.co/fashion-virtual-reality/.
Dormehl, L. (2017, November 13). 8 virtual reality milestones that took it from sci-fi to your living
room. Retrieved June 16, 2018, from https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/history-of-virtual-
reality/.
Dowsett, S. (2018, March 13). Zara to lure millennials with augmented reality displays.
Retrieved June 16, 2018, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/zara-
to-lure-millennials-with-augmented-reality-displays.
ELLE Team. (2017, April 28). Gucci just released a virtual reality fashion film. Retrieved June 5,
2018, from http://elle.in/fashion/gucci-virtual-reality-fashion-film/.
Eventual. (2017, August 1). Fashion and virtual reality—The new way to impress your consumers.
Retrieved June 5, 2018, from https://www.eventual.space/fashion-virtual-reality/.
Gardonio, S. (2017, December 8). Augmented and virtual reality shopping—Retailers beware.
Retrieved June 20, 2018, from https://www.iotforall.com/augmented-virtual-reality-shopping/.
Greenbaum, P. (1992). The lawnmower man. Film video, 9(3), 58–62.
Harris, P., Rettie, R., & Cheung, C. K. (2005). Adoption and usage of M-commerce: A cross-cultural
comparison of Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research,
6, 210–224.
Hendriksz, V. (2017, September 29). Burberry taps Apple’s augmented reality platform for app.
Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/burberry-taps-in-apple-s-
augmented-reality-platform-for-app/2017092926069.
Henrysson, A., Billinghurst, M., & Ollila, M. (2005). Face to face collaborative AR on mobile
phones. Fourth IEEE & ACM international symposium on mixed & augmented reality (ISMAR 05)
(pp. 80–89), 10p. ISBN 9780769524597.
Houston, T. (2011, May 12). Kinect virtual dressing room at Topshop Lets Ladies “Try On” Clothes
| HuffPost. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/kinect-
dressing-room_n_860740.html?guccounter=1.
Howland, D. (2016, February 29). The new realities of VR and retail. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from
https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-new-realities-of-vr-and-retail/414482/.
Huffingtonpost. (2017, May 25). 4 reasons why fashion brands are adopting virtual reality.
Retrieved June 5, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/awane-jones/virtual-reality-fashion_
b_10069340.html?guccounter=2.
Huang, T.-L., & Hsu Liu, F. (2014). Formation of augmented-reality interactive technology’s persua-
sive effects from the perspective of experiential value. Internet Research: Electronic Networking
Applications and Policy, 24. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-07-2012-0133.
IPSOS. (2016, June 30). Was Shopper wirklich wollen: Aktuelle Omnichannel-Strategien.
Retrieved June 30, 2018, from https://www.ipsos.com/de-de/was-shopper-wirklich-wollen-
aktuelle-omnichannel-strategien.
ITPP. (2016, March 10). Interview: Virtual reality (VR) in the fashion industry. Retrieved June 5,
2018, from https://www.itproportal.com/2016/03/10/interview-virtual-reality-vr-in-the-fashion-
industry/.
Jauntxr. (2015, March 11). The North Face and Jaunt Create and Launch “The North Face VR” lead-
ing with breathtaking virtual reality experiences in Yosemite National Park and Moab. Retrieved
June 16, 2018, from https://www.jauntxr.com/news/the-north-face-and-jaunt/.
Jiang, E. (2017, February 28). Virtual reality: Growth engine for fashion? | Fashion-Tech | BoF.
Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-tech/virtual-
reality-growth-engine-for-fashion.
Jung, T., & Tom Dieck, M. C. (2018). Augmented reality and virtual reality. [Elektronische
Ressource] : Empowering human, place and business. Cham: Springer.
Kang, M. J.-Y. (2014). Augmented reality and motion capture apparel e-shopping values and usage
intention. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, 26(6), 486–499. https://doi.
org/10.1108/IJCST-05-2013-0055.
Kendal, R. (2018, January 3). What virtual reality means for retail in 2018. Retrieved May 10,
2018, from http://www.mytotalretail.com/article/retail-vr-what-virtual-reality-means-for-retail-
in-2018/.
Kim, J., Fiore, A. M., & Lee, H. (2006). The role of the technology acceptance model in explaining
effects of image interactivity technology on consumer responses. International Journal of Retail
& Distribution Management, 34(8), 621–644. https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550610675949.
Kim, J., & Forsythe, S. (2008a). Adoption of virtual try-on technology for online apparel shopping.
Journal of Interactive Marketing, 22(2), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1002/dir.20113.
Kim, J., & Forsythe, S. (2008b). Sensory enabling technology acceptance model (SE-TAM): A
multiple-group structural model comparison. Psychology & Marketing, 25(9), 901–922. https://
doi.org/10.1002/mar.20245.
Klein, L. R. (1998). Evaluating the potential of interactive media through a new lens: Search versus
experience goods. Journal of Business Research, 41(3), 195–203.
Kounavis, C. D., Kasimati, A. E., Zamani, E. D., & Giaglis, G. M. (2012). Enhancing the tourism
experience through mobile augmented reality: Challenges and prospects. Retrieved from https://
www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/2086/12022.
KPMG. (2016). Virtual und Augmented Reality: Neue Dimensionen der Realität | KPMG
| DE. Retrieved from https://home.kpmg.com/de/de/home/themen/2016/04/neue-dimensionen-
der-realitaet.html.
KPMG. (2017, November 23). AR and VR—New realities for business | KPMG | AU. Retrieved June
9, 2018, from https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2017/11/augmented-reality-virtual-
reality-for-business.html.
Lee, H., Chung, N., & Jung, T. (2015). Examining the cultural differences in acceptance of mobile
augmented reality: Comparison of South Korea and Ireland (pp. 477–491). https://doi.org/10.
1007/978-3-319-14343-9_35.
Lee, S.-G., Trimi, S., & Kim, C. (2013). The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption.
Journal of World Business, 48(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.06.003.
Li, H., Daugherty, T., & Biocca, F. (2001). Characteristics of virtual experience in electronic com-
merce: A protocol analysis. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 15(3), 13–30. https://doi.org/10.
1002/dir.1013.
LVMH. (2015, June 12). Dior creates its own virtual reality headset. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from
https://www.lvmh.com/news-documents/news/dior-creates-its-own-virtual-reality-headset/.
Mann, M. K., Liu-Thompkins, Y., Watson, G. S., & Papelis, Y. E. (2015). A multidisciplinary exam-
ination of 3D virtual shopping environments: Effects on consumer perceptual and physiological
responses. In Ideas in marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 752–755). Springer,
Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10951-0_277.
Mastercard. (2017, September 25). Mastercard and Swarovski launch virtual reality shopping
experience. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/
mastercard-and-swarovski-launch-virtual-reality-shopping-experience/.
Mathwick, C., Malhotra, N., & Rigdon, E. (2001). Experiential value: Conceptualization, measure-
ment and application in the catalog and Internet shopping environment✩11✩This article is based
upon the first author’s doctoral dissertation completed while at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Journal of Retailing, 77(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4359(00)00045-2.
Milnes, H. (2016, April 19). “VR isn”t scalable’: Bursting the in-store digital tech bubble—Digi-
day. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from https://digiday.com/marketing/retailtech2016-vr-isnt-scalable-
bursting-the-in-store-digital-tech-bubble/.
Nila, A. (2017, August 5). Virtual and augmented reality in fashion: How brands like Burberry
and Bulgari are increasingly adopting immersive VR and AR technology. Retrieved May
1, 2018, from https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/virtual-augmented-reality-in-fashion-
brands-like-burberry-bulgari-are-using-immersive-vr-ar-technology.
Pantano, E. (2014). Innovation drivers in retail industry. International Journal of Information Man-
agement, 34, 344–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.03.002.
Pantano, E., & Pietro, L. D. (2012). Understanding consumer’s acceptance of technology-based
innovations in retailing. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 7(4), 1–19. https://
doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242012000400001.
Pantano, E., & Viassone, M. (2014). Demand pull and technology push perspective in technology-
based innovations for the points of sale: The retailers evaluation. Journal of Retailing and Con-
sumer Services, 21(1), 43–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.06.007.
Piotrowicz, W., & Cuthbertson, R. (2014). Introduction to the special issue information technology
in retail: Toward Omnichannel Retailing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(4),
5–16. https://doi.org/10.2753/JEC1086-4415180400.
Plummer, L. (2016, May 16). High fashion is finally embracing virtual reality. Retrieved June 5,
2018, from http://www.wired.co.uk/article/virtual-runway-high-fashion.
Poncin, I., & Ben Mimoun, M. S. (2014). The impact of “e-atmospherics” on physical stores. Journal
of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(5), 851–859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.
02.013.
Poushneh, A., & Vasquez-Parraga, A. Z. (2017). Discernible impact of augmented reality on retail
customer’s experience, satisfaction and willingness to buy. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, 34, 229–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2016.10.005.
Retail-Innovation. (2013, January 1). Topshop in Moscow had a virtual fitting room on trial.
Retrieved June 11, 2018, from http://retail-innovation.com/topshop-in-moscow-had-a-virtual-
fitting-room-on-trial.
Retailperceptions. (2016, October). The impact of augmented reality on retail. Retrieved June
11, 2018, from http://www.retailperceptions.com/2016/10/the-impact-of-augmented-reality-on-
retail/.
Schmalstieg, D., & Höllerer, T. (2016). Augmented reality : Principles and practice. Boston, MA;
Munich: Addison-Wesley, [2016].
Shankar, V., Inman, J. J., Mantrala, M., Kelley, E., & Rizley, R. (2011). Innovations in shopper
marketing: Current insights and future research issues. Journal of Retailing, 87, S29–S42. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2011.04.007.
Sheehan, A. (2018a, February 21). How these retailers use augmented reality to enhance the
customer experience. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.shopify.com/retail/how-these-
retailers-are-using-augmented-reality-to-enhance-the-customer-experience.
Sheehan, A. (2018b, March 27). High-Tech helpers: How retailers are using AR to enhance the
in-store experience. Retrieved June 29, 2018, from https://www.shopify.com/retail/high-tech-
helpers-how-retailers-are-using-ar-to-enhance-the-in-store-experience.
Sheehan, A. (2018c, April 4). How retailers bring the in-store experience into customers’ homes
with AR technology. Retrieved June 29, 2018, from https://www.shopify.com/retail/retail-ar-
technology-at-home.
Statista. (2016, June). Forecast augmented and virtual reality software users by segment 2020–2025.
Retrieved June 27, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/610126/worldwide-forecast-
augmented-and-mixed-reality-software-users-by-segment/.
Steuer, J. (1992). Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence. Journal of Com-
munication, 42, 73–93.
Teo, T. S. H., & Pian, Y. (2003). A contingency perspective on Internet adoption and competi-
tive advantage. European Journal of Information Systems, 12(2), 78–92. https://doi.org/10.1057/
palgrave.ejis.3000448.
Truong, A. (2015, July 29). Mark Zuckerberg explains why VR is going to be a huge deal for
Facebook. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from https://qz.com/467495/mark-zuckerberg-explains-why-
vr-is-going-to-be-a-huge-deal-for-facebook/.
Ulita, P. (2016, October 19). WHAT IS A FASHION FILM?—BFFF. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from
http://berlinfashionfilmfestival.net/blog/what-is-a-fashion-film.
Varadarajan, R., Srinivasan, R., Vadakkepatt, G. G., Yadav, M. S., Pavlou, P. A., Krishnamurthy,
S., et al. (2010). Interactive technologies and retailing strategy: A review, conceptual framework
and future research directions. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 24(2), 96–110. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.intmar.2010.02.004.
VirtualReality12. (2016, October 13). Virtual reality: Introduction of VR. Retrieved from https://
virtualreality12.blogspot.com/2016/10/introduction-of-vr.html.
VRS. (2017, May 5). Virtual reality in fashion. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from https://www.vrs.org.
uk/virtual-reality-applications/fashion.html.
VRS. (2018, April 19). What is virtual reality? Retrieved April 19, 2018, from https://www.vrs.org.
uk/virtual-reality/what-is-virtual-reality.html.
Zagel, C. (2016). Service Fascination. In Service Fascination (pp. 89–136). Wiesbaden: Springer
Gabler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11673-6_3.
Zaidi, D. (2018, April 15). Augmented reality (AR)—Fashion brands gear up for a “digital
makeover.” Retrieved June 16, 2018, from https://hackernoon.com/augmented-reality-ar-fashion-
brands-gear-up-for-a-digital-makeover-eb57cc738686.
Zimmermann, F. (2016, October 10). Einsatz von virtual reality im online-shopping und im E-
commerce. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from https://www.versacommerce.de/blog/virtual-reality-
im-e-commerce-next-big-thing-oder-total-ueberbewertet.
Zugara. (2018, June 9). Webcam social shopper. Retrieved June 9, 2018, from https://zugara.com/
virtual-dressing-room-technology/webcam-social-shopper.
Melina Bernd is a student at Reutlingen University at the School of Textiles & Design since
2015 where she is obtaining her bachelor’s degree in the field of international fashion retail. She
obtained a profound experience in the fashion retail sector by working part-time as a sales asso-
ciate in multiple fashion stores. Moreover, she achieved comprehensive knowledge of the pro-
cesses in a fashion company by completing an internship semester in the department of retail
buying at a recognized fashion label with headquarters in Germany. She also serves as Procure-
ment Manager for a student-led fashion start-up company at Reutlingen University. Throughout
a semester abroad at Donghua University in Shanghai, she gained international experience and
extensive knowledge about the Chinese fashion market.

Fashion and Film PDF

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Fashion and Film PDF

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Springer Series in Fashion Business

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15202

Fashion and Film

ISSN 2366-8776 ISSN 2366-8784 (electronic)

1 An Introductory Viewpoint to Fashion and Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part I Contemporary Traditional Use of Films in Fashion

Part II Social Media Altering the Use of Moving Images in Fashion

Part III New Use of Films in Fashion Commerce

11 Overview of Product Presentation with Moving Images

Part IV Future Forms of Moving Images for Fashion Business

About the Editor

Peter Bug is an international fashion retail specialist trained at Kaiserslautern

Marcus Adam School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,

Larissa Blau School of Textiles & Design, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen,

Fig. 4.1 Top 20 placed fashion product categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Fig. 6.11 Prada: views (black) and likes (gray) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Fig. 11.6 Screenshots of a GIF-like video (own representation) . . . . . . . 229

Fig. 13.4 Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Table 3.1 Weekly themes of “Shopping Queen” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38

Table 8.1 Analysis result for number of styles and articles

1.1 The Fashion and Film Relation

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

Use: Classic Social Media New Future

1.2 The Holistic View on Fashion and Film

I. Contemporary traditional use of films in fashion

Peter Bug, Charlotte L. Niemann and Lisa Welle

2.1 Film and Costume Design

What would Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) be

P. Bug · C. L. Niemann (B) · L. Welle (B)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 9

2.2 Influence of Film on Fashion

2.4 Case Study General Influence of Film on Fashion

2.4.1 The Hunger Games

Katniss’s rebellious appearance and her popularity as a thread to the dictatorship

were explained by vice president of entertainment John Butcher. He stated, “The

2.4.2 The Great Gatsby

2.4.3 Case Study Product Placement in “The Devil Wears

Fig. 2.1 Distribution of visual & verbal

Jean Paul Gaultier

Fig. 2.2 Number of brands appearing

Peter Bug, Laura Bessler and Janina Bendix

3.1 Television and Fashion

P. Bug · L. Bessler (B) · J. Bendix (B)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 29

Fig. 3.1 Classification of

3.3 Results and Discussion

3.3.1 Fashion Content in the Selected TV Channel’s

3.3.2 Fashionable Channels and Series

for example, concentrates on the subtopic “modeling.” Especially within GNTM,

Table 3.1 Weekly themes of “Shopping Queen”

Fig. 3.3 Illustration of fashion-connected subjects in “Germany’s Next Top Model”

Comparing the different channels broadcasting fashion content in German TV, it

VOX Pro7 ZDF

Fig. 3.4 Distribution of potential fashion content according to channel schedule

VOX Pro 7 ZDF

Fig. 3.5 Effective hours of fashion content broadcasted in one week

movies & news fashion content series

Table 3.3 Fashion-connected

Fig. 3.7 Length of programs

3.3.3 Success of Fashion in TV

3.3.4 Fashion Advertisement Spots in TV

travel preview fashion cosmetic

Fig. 3.9 Spot content categories ProSieben June 13, 2018