There are many ways fashion brands are looking to expand their marketing outside of the digital world, but out-of-home advertising isn’t one of them.
According to a survey conducted by Glossy and Modern Retail of around 60 fashion brands, IRL events are the No. 1 form of advertising that brands are focusing on this year. Sixty-three percent of brands surveyed said events are an area of increased investment this fall. Comparatively, the next most popular areas of investment are direct mail and print media at 37% and 39%, respectively. Print media was described as ads in magazines and newspapers.
One area that isn’t in focus for brands, however, is out-of-home advertising. Only 29% of surveyed brands said they’re investing in out-of-home. That data is backed up by other reports, like a July analysis from eMarketer that found out-of-home was making up only 2% of total ad spend across the industry and would likely continue to decline.
Events, on the other hand, have been an increasingly useful tool for fashion brands. Brands are doing everything from hosting activations at larger established events like the U.S. Open, to throwing store opening parties and product launch events, to investing in influencer trips, like the one Pacsun held this summer for its new baggy denim campaign.
On the digital front, Instagram is the dominant platform for ad spend among the surveyed brands. Over 83% had purchased ads on Instagram in the last month. But Instagram’s Twitter alternative Threads fared far worse, coming in at the very bottom of the list with only 1.4% having spent ad dollars there. TikTok also came in far below Instagram, with only 41% of surveyed brands having spent any money on TikTok ads.
However many brands reported that TikTok is still a major priority. Thirty-six percent said they’re selling on TikTok Shop, and 55% said that they’re making moves to increase their presence on TikTok throughout the rest of the year.
Pinterest is another platform seeing growing interest from brands. Around a fifth of the surveyed executives said they’d spent money on Pinterest ads in the prior month. Pinterest recently passed the 500 million monthly active user mark, and its popularity among Gen Z makes it a particularly potent platform. Gen Z saves more pins than any other generation, according to Pinterest.
Lastly, the power of discounts can’t be ignored. Discount retail is outpacing full-price retail, according to data from Bank of America. And while fashion brands may prefer to sell full-price only, it’s clear from the data that they’re not doing so. When asked how often they run a discount-based promotion, the most common answer from brands, at 23%, was once a month. That was followed by “6 to 12 times a year,” at 18%. But some brands still make it work with little or no discounts. Sixteen percent of respondents said they offer discounts once a year, and another 16% said they never give discounts.
