New digital strategy helps Mango make fast fashion faster

In 2016, it sounds a bit late in the day to say that a brand is now putting digital at the forefront of its business model. From initial PR in December 2015 to the latest big-name-celebrity-model announcement of Kendall Jenner, all avenues of what high street fashion giant Mango are calling a “revolutionary” communications strategy are leading to its launch on February 1st 2016.

The brand is hoping to bring itself to the forefront of the fast fashion scene, as it will unveil a new micro advertising campaign every month for the spring season. A new ad will drop in the months of February, March, April and May, and each will have a different brand ambassador as the face of the campaign. As Kendall Jenner was recently named by Time Magazine as the most influential girl in the world, it’s clear to see why Mango chose her to launch the concept. Supporting this new concept, the brand will also be publishing new content online fortnightly to communicate the latest trends in the most immediate way possible. This of course, is not a new concept.

In the midst of this digital shift for the brand, Mango’s usual 22 million printed catalogues each year have now been axed, freeing up more time and energy to make online its biggest focus.

“Speed and immediacy will be the key factors in this new strategy”, the company said in a press release. “Which is why all the Mango teams are focusing their efforts on getting the right product in the store at the right time.” Although the brand are calling this shift a “major revolution”, they are actually unveiling a model that its competitors have been doing – and doing very well – for years.

Arguably, the difference here is with the new celebrity face every month. Is this short burst of influencer presence going to be enough to hold onto consumers as loyal customers, or do they prefer a brand face that they can get to know?

Today, as the strategy is initiated fully in-store, we will hopefully see the brand’s online presence changing and adapting the way it should. The key success in an ever-changing digital world is now social media influence (study from AdWeek revealed that 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals), the consumer is more in control than ever and retailers are racing to keep up.

While the brand’s new strategy is bringing them into the 2016 digital age as we know it, we are yet to see how well the quick-paced change of the face of the campaign will affect their sales. Then again, if each of their ambassadors has a social media following in excess of 50 million, they’re sure to get something out of it.