Gucci Gucci goo

I’ve talked about how different fashion houses have started livestreaming  their shows over the internet a few posts back and now that it’s Fashion Week all over again, we can expect them to once again broadcast their collections for fashionistas all over the world to see in real-time. Last night, Burberry showed its women’s Spring-Summer 2011 collection live from London and I was able to watch only snippets of it (my internet connection was rather choppy and the video host kept buffering every two seconds or so). Needless to say, it is a triumph for the brand granted that every time they do a livestream, thousands of people around the globe tune in to their website. Burberry is one of the frontrunners in innovative fashion show webcasts, having streamed their last season’s show in 3-D.  However, despite being 3-D, it still looked rather grainy. This season, they were successful in broadcasting it on high-definition. Even with that, it seems another brand is trying to top their performance with one that is more outlandish, if you will (fashion is about extravagance, after all).

Burberry women's Spring-Summer 2011

Enter Gucci. Gucci of course, is a brand that needs no introduction. Like Burberry, it too has jumped on the livestream bandwagon. Last season they did simulcasts of different cameras stationed in different locations within the venue of their show, much like what you’d see on CCTV camera screens. However, like Burberry, the quality of the video was not exactly up to par. This concern is probably a result of having so many viewers watching the stream at a time. This season, they’re being more exclusive as now they require an online RSVP for one to view the channel. I have a feeling that they too will be doing a high-definition broadcast given that Burberry has raised the bar considerably high. Apart from the live-Tweet function (which Burberry also offers), Gucci has this webcam viewing option so online guests can see each other while they watch. Now, I really don’t see the point in doing this since everyone would be fixated on whatever would come down the runway. It does give the impression of Gucci being more advanced nonetheless when it comes to its web platform. Whether they will succeed Burberry will be found out later, in approximately six hours.

http://www.gucciconnect.com interface

This display of “Who does livestreams better?” certainly shows how much companies are capitalizing on the fact that a lot of those who comprise of their stakeholders are netizens. They’re definitely bringing out the big guns to catch their audience’s attention. These PR efforts certainly makes these luxury giants more appealing to a greater number of people and thus create a bigger demand for their products. If that is the case, then wouldn’t it be nice if Philippine Fashion Week did the same? After all, gaining worldwide recognition is about as easy as doing a live webcast.