The Marketing Value of Fashion's Night Out & How It Could Improve

Instead of taking part in New York or Los Angeles, I stayed home in Orange County (recap here) and ventured to Fashion Island, an outdoor mall located in one of the three most wealthiest cities in Orange County.

I knew LA and NYC would be reflective of what happened the year before (online media, Forbes and brand professionals shared my sentiment in recent coverage); I figured that Orange County, a place where shopping comes in just behind Botox, Sprinkles cupcakes and cycling, would be the perfect environment to show see what consumers are doing. The results dismal, the wealthy kept their wallets shut.

I attended well organized events at Fluxus, Lululemon, Trina Turk, Jonathan Adler, Room Service and Nordstroms and the same thing I saw everywhere was happening – people were walking and browsing, drinking all the free alcohol and eating all the free desserts they could find

Half the retailers at Fashion Island didn’t participate in the event. With the exception of Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Fluxus, Lululemon, Jonathan Adler and Max Studio, the retailers that did participate offered very small promotions or discounts. Ummm, if we’re having an international shopping event, shouldn’t there be sales, incentives or really good promotions?

This morning, I tweeted out to followers, asking them about their experiences. Out of 25 responses, only ONE person said they shopped, and that could have been false. Most of the tweeters stayed home or went out to people watch.

Could Fashion’s Night Out Be Turned Around?

I think it can. The concept of Fashion’s Night Out is correct, promoting consumer purchases in the areas they live in. Instead of focusing on celebrities and events showing off designers and other notable figures in fashion (which people are frankly tired of), what if retailers truly tried to do some good and kept the event hyper local? I mean, hyper local as in a 1.5-2.5 mile (walkable radius) distance of their community.

For instance, could the retailers in the downtown Los Angeles area, within a six block radius of the California Market Center, use a geolocation service like Foursquare and a customer discount service like Groupon, partner with local area food trucks, restaurants and other business? Could they all create a community event (much like our monthly Art Walk) that benefits a local area non-profit (like Union Rescue Mission) or charitable cause that has a direct effect on the community on a daily basis?

Can you imagine if we, as downtown LA business owners or residents, could raise $50,000 for Union Rescue Mission, Hope Gardens or Raven + Lily?

Again, I think this was set in motion last year when local Brooklyn retailers found some interesting uses of the FNO promotion to drive longer lasting marketing and publicity of their stores.