Trending: The Denim Start-Up Winning at Instagram
Stevie Dance's new label FEEL is the new denim brand to watch. Natalie Hughes investigates how they won a 20k+ strong audience before launch...
© FEEL
I’ve long admired the work - and personal style - of Stevie Dance. When she was at the helm of RUSSH, I’d buy it religiously, lapping up that dreamy, makeup-less, sun-kissed Australian-girl aesthetic Dance epitomised.
All considered, it was fairly likely I’d like the brand she launched last month - FEEL, a denim line launching with just one perfectly cut, perfectly true blue pair of jeans. Except I didn’t discover FEEL via Dance; instead, I spotted the brand’s inaugural jeans on Instagram upon Eva Alt, Glossier’s Social Media Editor. Hello, community marketing! I wonder what other scrumptious digital marketing techniques they’re using, I thought, before penning this piece. Here are three ways FEEL is winning at digital marketing...
1. Community Marketing
Stevie Dance has a not-to-be-sniffed-at Instagram following of 53.4k, but why limit your brand messaging to your own audience? Especially if you can take beautiful photos, style and happen to have a network of stylish and connected friends. Dance styled and photographed the aforementioned Eva Alt, as well as blogger Devon Carlson and model Olivia Anakwe, amongst others. The result? An abundance of beautiful content to be shared with the models’ audiences, as well on FEEL’s own Instagram. Plus an impressive 20k+ Instagram followers for @feeljeans before launch, and within a mere fortnight.
2. Savvy Data Collection
It’s a time-old tale; navigate to a website, see annoying pop-up, click away. The brand has lost the chance to capture your email address and details, sign you up to their email list and follow you around social media to their heart’s content (GDPR-permitting). Not FEEL. They’ve cleverly created a 10-question form that has two functions: firstly to determine your perfect size and fit. Secondly and most importantly, to get your email address AND precious info such as your jeans preference, body shape, and more. You feel compelled to enter in all of your information because, well, narcissism and THAT’S why this is a genius method of data collection.
3. A Direct Approach All of the most talked-about emerging brands are eschewing wholesale for direct-to-consumer selling, and FEEL is no exception. Anyone in fashion retail knows that wholesale, despite the obvious advantages when it comes to visibility and marketing, means reduced profit margins for the brand. D2C ensures not only the best deal for the brand but that the messaging remains undiluted. I’ll be interested to see if FEEL keeps things this way.
Words by Natalie Hughes