The Cultural Marketer | How Japanese Fashion Brands Use Instagram Live to Promote Their Latest Collections

We have all seen plenty of fashion influencer posts in North America where the video post shows the influencer trying on a variety of outfits in fast motion. There are so many of this style of posts that this type of content now blends in with everything else on Instagram. 

However, on the other side of the world, we are seeing Japanese fashion brands leverage Instagram Live in a more innovative way that is more likely to lead to conversions.

Japanese fashion brand 'Select Moca' uses Instagram Live to engage with their fans by doing a live styling demo with their shop staff. In Japan, fashion brands often feature their own shop staff and how their staff style items from the latest collection. Staff at the Aoyama shop vs. the Ginza shop may style the same item in an entirely different way, providing inspiration for prospective shoppers. 

Shop staff host a live styling session to share details of the latest collection.

If you have ever picked up a clothing item and asked yourself whether it's worth it because you aren't sure how you would wear the item with everything else in your closet, then you would appreciate these styling live stream sessions hosted by Japanese fashion brands. 

For those of us who have purchased wide-legged pants or a dress online and then discovered (the hard way) that we don't have a 6 ft model figure, we would appreciate another detail in Select Moca's Instagram Live, which is the pinned comment at the bottom of the screen; the pinned comment mentions the arrival dates of the new collection and more importantly, the height of the two staff members who are wearing the items. This helps the prospective buyer gauge the fit of the item, and the easier you can make the purchasing decision, the more likely viewers are more likely to buy. 

This type of content, where shop staff is engaging with their fans and showing them 'real-life' ways of how to wear the items, makes it more personal and also more approachable than a simple live stream of a fashion runway show. 

This scenario also highlights how the same tools can be used differently in each culture, even though it's the same digital platform. With our Cultural Marketer segments on Youtube, Instagram, Podcast and here on our blog, we will continue to share how different cultures (and prospective new markets for your business) utilize digital in their world. Stay tuned for our upcoming Cultural Marketer posts!