Short Format Content Strategy for Proenza Schouler
Proenza Schouler (PS)
is a luxury womenswear and accessory brand targeting “intelligent, adult, and urban women of today.” Known for its sharper and form fitting silhouettes, the brand competes with many “quiet luxury” brands. As a digital content strategy intern, I was tasked with creating social media contents with the understanding of the brand’s creative vision.
Problem Proenza Schouler Faced:
How to resonate with Gen Z and Millennial who mainly consume short-format content
How to go viral without sacrificing current customer base and brand identity
Solution I Provided:
Develop a content strategy that creates a dialogue with relevant internet culture
Develop a content strategy that is true to what the brand and its garments stand for
Content production based on these strategies
My Process
Research
Cultural and Trend Insights: With the prevalence of short-format content in 2019-2020, many creators and brands must take advantage of the short-attention span of the average social media users. That means the first few seconds of the video must garner attention by being relatable and dynamic. I specifically researched trends and sub culture that were popular amongst Gen Z and Millenials.
Competitive Analysis: PS’s competitors are Jil Sanders, Sportmax, and Stella McCartney. However, when aiming to reach an online sensation, it was competing with brands like Loewe, Jacquemus, and Coperni. These brands understood the importance of gimmick in the fashion industry: performance and theatricality that highlight the brand value.
Loewe, Pixelated Hoodie, Spring 2023
Jacquemus, Giant Bag Vehicle Video
Coperni, Spray Dress, Spring 2023
Brand and Visual Audit
Brand Analysis: PS’s target audience intertwines with its brand identity: modern, intellectual and practical, but still maintains artistic appreciations. Although the brand values functionality, fashion-forwardness is woven into the brand identity. It goes without saying that PS garments are made with highest quality even though their target audience seeks subversive tailoring the brand is known for.
Garment Analysis: PS products are made with urban sensibility, highlighted by cutting-edge tailoring, subverted details, and thoughtful prints. Having a unique detail is crucial brand code PS follows in every one of their products, such as the semi-cropped hem-line, wavy patterns, and duvet-like skirts.
Content Analysis: Reflecting the branding and garment qualities, the visual content takes a minimalist approach where product details and unique craftsmanship are highlighted. The campaign and social media imagery are professional due to their crisp lighting and focused images.
Planning and Executing
Distilling relevant trends: As a fashion brand with intentional visuals and identity, I needed to be very selective of endless trends that circulated the internet. ASMR was a macro-trend that was popular even before the short-format content was prevalent. It spoke to the pleasurable aspect of wearing clothes, highlighting the unique details on the garments (such as fur, spike, and beads) through the mixture of audiovisual. It was also a trend where PS could explore its artisticness and fetishism without seeming clownish or overtly sexual. In other words, the content would still be modern and smart.
Story Boarding: I illustrated scenarios for how the content would look and shared it on a group presentation.
Production Resources: Because of the limited budget, we needed to create a resource list, estimate cost, and how to best utilize them.
Results
Taking in the ASMR-esque aspect of our content direction, we have also created video content focusing on excellent craftsmanship that Proenza Schouler is known for.
The result is a content direction focused on the dynamic sounds and sharp visuals which are on brand with cutting-edge quality of Proenza Schouler’s garments. The audiovisual of swaying fabric, ground-hitting heels, and squishing leather goods are reflective of urban (working) women and their daily activities. However, when they are isolated in a studio, we have no choice but to focus on these sounds. Knowing that such tactile pleasures are visualized, we have created a fetishistic content that are intriguing, intelligent, and sharp.
On the left is one of our most successful creations, where the video garnered over 1.1 million views, 29.5k likes, and 197 comments which are over 1000% of their average engagement.