Burberry kills in digital

Burberry CCO Christopher Bailey is relentlessly focused on modernizing the classic luxury brand and building relevance among a younger audience. Due to his efforts, the brand is fast becoming known as a digital superstar.

• 1,149, 287 Facebook fans and counting - 'nuff said. Explore the Eyewear tab.
• The Autumn/Winter 2010 collection is being marketed as a fully interactive, motion-responsive experience. Users are able to click, drag and control how they view each item in the campaign, including merchandise, products and a very interesting cast. Behind-the-scenes video below.
  
• Their recent men's show launched Burberry Acoustic, a new ongoing initiative with emerging British musical talent, curated by Bailey. The first track is "Alleyway" by Life in Film. More cultural integrations are sure to follow.
  
• Simple but brave, they've used digital to erase the exclusivity of fashion shows. The brand has been streaming runway shows since 2009, and were the first to do so in 3D. This year, they made items available for purchase during and immediately after the show.
• If you're not familiar, their most famous initiative was the Art of the Trench, an amazing Sartorialist-meets-flickr sensation that's had over 7MM page views since Nov 09 (dare you to resist...you can even sort the portraits by weather!)

Burberry recently posted a 7% increase in sales, and credit much of this to the success of their digital efforts. Which means more's on the way.

The top 20 most valuable global retail brands

The 2010 "Most Valuable Global Retail Brands" report was released today (pdf here). While this focuses on the big guns, it's a good indication of where the industry is headed. A few highlights:

• Value remains critical. Brands that combine value with a more emotion‐based connection did well last year, and will continue to engage consumers post-recession.
  
• Successful retail brands increasingly will be built on intimate knowledge of shopping behavior. Retailers that invest in this capability will thrive.
• Coming out of the recession, retailers will fight to keep shopping trips gained during the downturn by keeping shoppers from returning to the outlets they abandoned.
• Mobile commerce will be a game-changer in how, when and where shoppers purchase products.
• Brands must become active participants in digital conversations surrounding purchases or risk becoming irrelevant.
• Best‐in‐class retailers will maximize share of wallet from their most profitable shoppers.

Suffragette-chic women's collab: Vans x Stussy

To celebrate So-Cal based Stussy's 30th anniversary, they've created a shoe with Vans. Available in July, the menswear-inspired Bailie oxford comes in two colorways - black patent with a pop of purple and brown leather with orange accents - and retails for $65. It's their West Coast take on the American heritage trend, and they're gone all out: the Stussy store on La Brea has been transformed into a 1940s speakeasy, the shoebox looks like a little suitcase, and every shoe comes with a keepsake tote. Visit the site for rapping hipster chicks and an interesting vision statement. Not clear what this has to do with 30 years ago...but I want those shoes.

Urban Outfitters skins NYC store to look like NYC

NYC - now overrun with chain store - doesn't look like it used to. To remind kids of the good old days, Urban Outfitters is skinning a new Upper West Side location to resemble bodegas and other 'authentic' establishments. It's meant to be an ironic take on old-school NYC...huh? This has already been done by J Crew as well as Target; curious to see the execution.

Urban Outfitters develops mobile POS system

Urban Outfitters has announced the development of a mobile POS system using iPod touch. The app will be platform/OS-independent and integrate with inventory management systems to increase store efficiency and reduce costs. It's like the Apple store only better (given the amount of product).

This will decentralize the transaction, provide new marketing opportunities and personalize the service experience. So you like that Hurley shirt you saw in Nylon? Let's check for other colors, match it with some Bullhead jeans, find a store with in-stocks, and pre-pay...right here and now.

Mobile is the true glue between platforms, and certainly something to think about for PacSun. US retailers have been slow on the uptake with retail technology, but I imagine that will change rapidly in the years ahead.

Giant model plucks & chucks Times Square visitors

Supporting the Forever 21 launch, an amazing interactive billboard uses spy software to track the crowd below. A giant model occasionally leans over and "plucks" someone out of the crowd. Sometimes they stink and she tosses them back. Other times, she kisses them and they turn into a frog. Some end up in her bag, or the subject of a zoomed-in Polaroid.

It even picks up the yellow of Forever 21 bag, so that anyone holding one is more likely to get noticed by the model. If someone actually goes into the store, there are now heat sensors that detect them, and cause a bunch of flash bulbs surrounding the threshold to go off, simulating dozens of paparazzi. Pretty damn cool...

Abercrombie revives the catalog!

In an e-mail to customers, Abercrombie announced the July return of A&F Quarterly, the magazine-catalog it quit producing in 2003, famous more for what its models don’t wear than what they do. The $10 publication will be available in stores and online and will feature the Bruce Weber photographs it was known for. The theme will be a Hollywood screen test and the timing is to push back-to-school products. No word on whether it would include alcoholic drink recipes, sex tips or porn star interviews — all features that had drawn the ire of parents and conservative groups in the past.

Forever 21 opens 90,000sf store in Times Square

Forever 21 is launching a NYC flagship in the former Virgin Megastore space this Friday. The sprawling four story store - the size of 1.5 football fields - includes three subterranean floors, 151 dressing rooms and 32 cash registers. According to their Sr Marketing Manager (the founder's daughter), "We want it to be an experience, not just a store that you just kind of drop by at the mall."

Moving into cavernous spaces like this (and the upcoming 120,000sf store in Vegas) is forcing the chain into new categories that service the whole family like menswear, children's clothing and beauty. "Filling a larger footprint with more of the same product is not a long-term strategy," says Jeffrey Klinefelter, senior analyst on the consumer team at Piper Jaffray. "We have to watch how their assortment evolves. It's unclear whether or not it's sustainable."