LupRocks Gossip

Introducing....Do it Yourself P.R.

We hear from designers all the time, "I really want to promote myself, I just don't have the money to hire an agency and I don't know how to do it myself!"  Believe me, we hear you.  We manage to keep ourselves busy all day every day marketing and promoting other people's designs.  How are you supposed to keep coming up with new designs if you're busy promoting yourself?  But then, why keep designing if you don't promote yourself so everyone can know about all of your good work (and start buying up your designs)?  It's a Catch 22 if I ever saw one. 

LupRocks.com already offers its members amazing product placement opportunities at an amazing value; we aggressively promote the site to media to ensure that the site gets used and our members benefit.  But, we realized, other than our full-scale retainer services, we've never really offered our designers the tools to aggressively promote themselves....until now! 

Introducing our new Do It Yourself P.R. Service.  Available as a package or a la cart, the DIY kit includes targeted media lists, customized press releases, customized biographies, and personal consultation services.  Contact us if you're interested or if you want more information.   

Dos and Don'ts of Product Placement

LupRocks HQ has been all abuzz lately with all kinds of amazing product placement activities!  We're currently working with a world renown costume designer on a pilot for NBC, we're about to send out a call for product for Entourage (one of our fav shows!), we've got a new television series for USA Network in the works, and we're prepping to work on a new movie starring the always gorgeous Jennifer Lopez. 

In addition to all of this, we're also working with the property departments for yet another NBC pilot, and for "The Best Show Ever" Gossip Girl.  Typically, when we work with the property department of a production it's for the type of featured placement that designers dream of--the girl searching through her closet to select the perfect bag, the insert shot of the ring box for the wedding proposal, Cindarella's shoe...because these placements are so important to the plot line, they are decided upon by a number of people--the prop master, the director, the art director, the producers, you name it!  So when you, the designer, submit something for consideration for these placements, it is crucial that you are actually able to provide the product in the timeline that is given.  Don't submit a picture of something in platinum if you really only have it in gold, don't submit a brown leather bag when you only have it in red (unless you disclose this information), because nobody is going to be able to wait for the extra two weeks or even two days for you to produce what they're asking for!   What's worse, since the decision has been agreed upon by all of those players, you've put the entire production, our contacts, in a compromising position and they now have to either a) go back to the drawing board (and in film and television, time is definitely money), or b) scramble to find an alternative that closely resembles your original submission.  Neither is a desirable outcome, neither fosters good will and healthy working relationships and neither is going to put you at the top of the list for the next opportunity.  In fact, you might just go all the way to the bottom. 

Yes, this scolding tirade is coming from a particular situation but I'm not going to name names.  The problem has been solved after several mini-heart attacks and the loss of quite a bit of sleep, so all is right in the LupRocks world again, but we just thought it was valuable information for you to have.  Maybe it's our fault because we try to make everything look so easy, but the designers we work with have a job to do too, and doing this job successfuly means being honest about what you're capable of delivering.  Nobody is going to be mad if you can't provide something, but many people will be mad if you say you can and you can't. 

Jessica Kagan Cushman on "Ugly Betty"

We just love it when something we've already embraced as the hottest new trend is seen on one of the hottest shows on television!  I mean, I knew that my "Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?" and my "No Wire Hangers! EVER!" bracelet by Jessica Cushman was a huge hit, getting compliments everywhere I go, and the "Martini, Shaken Not Stirred" bracelet that I gave to my very important editor friend has been worshiped by all of the other fashion editors she hangs out with, but to see "Amanda" from Ugly Betty, a veritable icon of "what's hot" rock the look just fills us with a little flutter of self-love....

Look for Jessica Kagan Cushman on LupRocks.com. 

Getting excited...

With still images of Catherine Zeta Jones and cast flooding the pages of the web, I began to get really excited for the upcoming movie The Rebound. If you had jewelry pulled for this flick, I suggest doing some surfing, becasue i found a lot of great images out there in cyberspace.  I can't wait to see the movie to see who is featured, but I do have an inside scoop that RedStart and Amelia Rose had jewelry placed on Catherine herself.  See an image below from Amelia Rose. Congrats Ladies!

 

Not So Ugly Anymore

Now that Gossip Girl has started, I find myself yearning for my other favorite shows to return with new episodes. Namely, my Thursday night fixes – Grey’s and Ugly Betty. I am specifically excited for Ugly Betty, which is now featuring LupRocks.com members! So far, I know Diana Heimann, Gemma Redux, and Judith Bright had placements in this very cute, and at times very funny, show. Let me know if you had product pulled for Ugly Betty and I didn’t mention it here!  With all the beautiful jewelry our designer have to offer it is nice to know some beauty will be add to the "Ugly" in the show - although, come to think of it - no one on the show is actually ugly at all, but you get my drift.  Plus this season will feature some exciting cameo appearances!  Ugly Betty returns on September 25, at 8/7c. 

 

Also don’t forget that tomorrow when you hit the theaters to see The Women to keep a keen eye out for all the jewelry!!

Designers featured on Gossip Girl

OMG! Gossip girl is back, and I could not be more excited. Hence, my ridiculous expression of the shows famous acronym. Whether you are a fan of the show or just a fan of seeing your jewelry on the show, everyone can admit the show is serving a great purpose: mindless entertainment, addicting plot stories, amazing product placement opportunities.

From the first two episodes, I am proud to say that at least three LupRocks.com designer’s jewelry was spotted on the lovely ladies of GG. Alex Woo had a “BW” diamond necklace worn on Blair in last nights party, Laura James had a cameo necklace featured on Vanessa, and Marya Dabrowski had two necklaces featured on the new character Catherine the Duchess.

 

Was your jewelry also spotted on our favorite leading ladies?! Let me know…

 

Reaching that next level…

The reason product placement is important for a designer is because it gives your brand exposure. When you combine that exposure (press) with an established aesthetic, product, style, name, symbol, etc., you begin the process of branding. Branding is what you want to achieve. When you have branded your collection, your company, you have given it an identity. 

Take Gemma Redux for example. This LupRocks.com designer had several designs placed on Blake Lively in the first season of Gossip Girl. Both the character, Serena Vanderwoodsen, and the actress, Blake Lively, instantly fell in love with Gemma Redux. The costume designer (as well as Lively) mentioned Gemma Redux as a favorite designer in an interview with Vanity Fair, and Lively has been photographed around town in her personal life wearing Gemma Redux jewelry. Type "Gemma Redux and Gossip Girl" into Google. It is pretty inspiring!

If people are talking about your brand, and recommending it to others, then you are well on your way to being branded. If a blogger can recognize a piece from your collection on an actress, then you should take a moment to stop and smile from ear to ear.

That’s what we did when we heard about Gemma Redux. Congratulations! 

Photo from Just Jarred.com.

3 more things to consider

Crosby had three great suggestions for leveraging press:

1. When you find the photo of the necklace in question, get permission to use it. Or request a photo or film still directly from the stylist or production company. With that in hand, you are golden! Send out information about the piece with the photo to fashion and celebrity bloggers.

2. Send out a notice to your email newsletter about the piece, highlight the celebrity connection on your site, and if you have a blog/myspace/or facebook page (or all of the above!) share the posts from bloggers writing about the movie.

3. Email the blogger directly and say that you are owner/buyer/whatever of the brand of necklace/watch/whatever and that you are so excited to see that the item made it into the movie. Ask if they would mind updating their post with the purchase information of your item.

 

From Screen To Green

I know I promised that I would not post about Gossip Girl anymore this week, so consider this a post to a FAQ instead.  This is another one of those questions that I constantly find myself answering, and today the New York Times dropped the answer into my lap – literally the paper rest on my lap as I write this. 

How does a great placement translate to sales? 

Besides what you have to do to get the ball rolling (another topic altogether), today’s article in the NYT – I’m sorry I meant to say front page article – explains what Gossip Girl is doing for fashion industry sales.  To sum up, although I am providing the link and strongly recommend you read the entire article, the fabulous Ruth La Ferla reports that, “Merchants, designers, and trend consultants say that ‘Gossip Girl’…is one of the biggest influences on how young women spend.”  According to the retailers quoted throughout the article, the clothes, bags, jewelry, and other accessories seen on the show are immediately sought out – and more importantly bought out- by the large fan base that watches the show.  Now there is a formula I think designers can be happy with: See, want, buy!

Read the whole article!

Free R

Everyone knows what PR is, and almost everyone knows what PR costs, but what about Free-R? A term probably used most widely by the ones dispensing it, free-R is PR or marketing that you get for free.

There are many ways to get Free-R, but mainly it happens when you are pushy about asking questions to people you don’t pay, or (the better way) you are lucky and the universe sort of hands it to you.  Example: Back in the days of the Sex and the City television show, some clever jewelry designers tapped into the SATC message board and "anonymously" dropped the name of some of the jewelry that was seen on "Carrie." This low-effort tactic led to several direct sales of those and similar pieces by the designers.

Try to avoid the first way of getting Free-R, and just hope for the organic/lucky method. 

Organic/Lucky: You know you have lent jewelry to a production, and you know they have used it. For the months that you know the film is in production leading up to when the film is released to the public you should have a Google Alert set for that actor’s name. Set your Google alert for blogs only. Then Google will email you anytime a blogger posts about that actor. Follow the links, and you may just find a picture that some celebrity stalker took of the actor in your jewelry. 

Now here is where you come in: Comment on the blog! It is even more effective if you do it anonymously from a different email (which you can create for free with gmail), like “who’s jewelry is she wearing?” Then a few days later, you can reply from your email answering the question – “oh that happens to be the work of (insert name here).” This gets your name, and usually URL, up on the blog. 

(Google alerts and Gmail accounts are very easy to set up, free, and great tools to be familiar with. You can set up both from the Google homepage.)