What better way to start a blog about PR in fashion then to discuss the role of PR in fashion? A public relations practitioners job in any organisation or brand is to communicate messages to the target audience and create and maintain a positive reputation through different media channels appropriate to the organisation. PR in fashion can therefore have quite a big impact on the brand.
1. Image and Reputation
A PR practitioner assists in creating and maintaining a positive image and reputation of the fashion brand. This makes the brand more appealing to potential stakeholders. If a brand has a poor reputation, then the PR professional must work to address this issue to ensure they are gaining a positive reputation so customers want to purchase from them and people want to work with them.
Utilising corporate social responsibility is one way a PR practitioner can address this by making sure the brand has philanthropic values and is working towards them. It’s gives the brand a positive reputation of ‘doing good’ for the environment to create sustainability. Many big fashion labels do this by donating to charity or sourcing ethical clothing to give back to society. I have attached Pretty Little Things corporate social responsibility statement below.
2. Working with Celebs and Influencers
Celebrities and Influencers have a big impact on fashion brands. A small clothing brand can gain more attention through the use of celebrities, models or influencers with a large following of the same target audience by showcasing an item of clothing on their platform. This can be done in smaller scales such as exchanging an item for an Instagram post with an influencer or a large scale by a celebrity wearing their brand in a major fashion magazine such as Vogue or a model wearing it on the runway. The brand, however big or smaller therefore gains attention from their followers.
Molly Mae, for example, is one of the most sought after influencers/newly celeb for any fashion brand. She is in everyone’s mouth and could post a picture in a binbag and her followers would go out and buy it. In past YouTube vlogs she explained with her manager how she has turned down a 2 million fashion deal because she didn’t shop there which shows how you have to choose the right people with the same target audience.
3. You must use different media channels
The PESO framework is one which should be naturally known to any PR practitioner. It is a planning tool that PR practitioners use to market their brand.
In a fashion brand, the PR practitioner will decide which media channels would be most effective when creating fashion campaigns to promote them. PAID media is essentially a bought area to promote content. A fashion brand is going to pay an influencer or celeb to wear their clothes or pay to put out an advertisement. EARNED media is content that is organic about the brand, essentially the brand ‘earned’ that publicity such as a press release. SHARED media refers to content being generated through other users through channels such as social media utilising likes and comments. OWNED media is pushing content through the brands own channels.
4. Dealing with crisis
Not everything goes to plan unfortunately, and when it doesn’t for a particularly large fashion company, it gets plastered all over the media and can damage the brands reputation, thus losing custom. Not all issues are a PR crisis, but those that go viral and end up on the news, they are a little more tricky to deal with. A large fashion brand will have a crisis management team with strategies and actions to prevent more damage.
In 2019, GUCCI found itself in a PR nightmare crisis where they marketed a sweater which resembled blackface and quite rightly ended up going viral for its shear lack of common sense or sensitivity to the issue. GUCCI released a statement apologising for the offence and removed it from their stores. The importance of having a PR crisis team to respond to these wrongdoings is quite vital to prevent further damage, upset and crisis.
A PR practitioners role in fashion is quite clearly extensive. From working with high end celebs to dealing with crisis and creating successful campaigns for the brand. There is probably a lot more a PR practitioner does too, but this is just a short snippet of my PR journey so far.
Emily x
PR Fashion Label 
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