Marc Jacobs: Fashion Week Recap

Marc Jacobs has taken Mercedes Fashion Week by storm, introducing new innovative ways for his fans to catch the runway show. Fellow fashionistas comment on Jacobs' use of social media to live-stream the catwalk.

Seeing the Opportunity in a Crisis

An ancient Chinese proverb states that "a crisis is an opportunity riding a dangerous wind". It has been shown time and again that this statement is true. From every crisis comes the opportunity for an organization to learn from past mistakes and take action to prevent a similar crisis from occurring in the future.

The steps to organizational learning are clear. According to our textbook Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape, you should first assess "what went right and what went wrong" with you crisis communication plan. From there, changes can be made to the plan to ensure the stability and safety of your company in the future. This is why learning from previous mistakes is one of the most essential steps in crisis communication.

Throughout this blog, I have outlined several potential and realized crises surrounding the fashion-house Marc Jacobs. Most recently, my post discussed how Jacobs faced a crisis at the company's NY Fashion Week after party, when company President Robert Duffy uploaded a nude photograph of a model to his Twitter page. This offended many publics and was scrutinized by the media. Duffy publicly apologized for the post, and eventually closed his Twitter page.

Although the crisis had little effect on the overall image of the Marc Jacobs brand, the company can still learn from this event. I would suggest making changes to the company's decision to launch a twitter page. Instead of using Duffy to carry out this tactic, I believe that a member of the PR team would be more successful. Through changing who controls the Twitter page, Marc Jacobs can continue 2-way communication with their audiences while monitoring what it tweeted and therefore decreasing the chances of a similar crisis occurring again.

Fashion D-Day

"In fashion, one day you're in and the next you're out"

These words are spoken by famous model Heidi Klum on every episode on Project Runway and have quickly become words to live by for many aspiring and established fashion designers. In an industry where there is a constant fight to get to the top, and an even harder one to stay there, it becomes imperative for all designers to know that their downfall will not be because of their communication team.

With this in mind, communication (especially in the time of a crisis) has become an essential part of almost every well-established fashion house and for most upcoming designers. Chapter 8 of Crisis Mangement in the New Startegy Landscape states that when a crisis occurs, it is necessary to communicate with internal stakeholders in a different manner than you would external stakeholders.

The fashion house Marc Jacobs has been at the top of American fashion for many years now due to the inventive runway shows and trendy designs. While I do not know what the Jacobs team communication plan is, I believe they must be doing a good job in order to remain at the top of the industry.

If Marc Jacobs were to face a crisis today, they would need to designate a spokesperson to communicate with external publics such as the media, customers, and other public groups. I feel that within the Marc Jacobs company, the person best suited to handle this responsibility is company President Robert Duffy. He is a well-known man in the fashion industry and would therefore be take seriously by publics.

On the other hand, while dealing with internal stakeholders such as management and employees, the best person to communicate with them would probably be Marc Jacobs himself. This is because Marc is the owner of the company, the most respected, and the only reason the company exists. It is his brain child, and more often than not, any crisis that may occur would directly effect him.

Crisis on the Runway

New York Fashion Week has come and gone leaving in its wake a plethora of stories and updates about the major designers. Opinions on which designer runway shows topped the list began circling across the media immediately, more often than not, placing Marc Jacobs right at the top! Reviews were rave, applauding Jacobs simple background and wearable Fall line. The high of this runway success however, did not last long. As always, the company's next crisis was right around the corner at the shows after-party.

It seems Marc Jacobs President Robert Duffy can't help but to stir up controversy on his recently removed Twitter page. At the fashion shows after party, Duffy decided to upload so pictures from his phone to his Twitter page. While I am sure fans were excited to get an inside look at the happening of a party that was privy to fashion insiders Rachel Zoe and Bee Shaffer, they may have gotten more than they bargained for when Duffy uploaded a photo of a naked man to the page.

Crises like this can occur at the drop of a hat, which is why it's important to have a PR team that can effectively manage it. Responding quickly and mitigating the effects of the crisis show to be extremely important while a crisis is occurring. While Duffy quickly admitted that posting the photo was not showing the best judgement, it seems the Marc Jacobs PR department may have had enough of how Twittering mishaps.

This was not the first issue the Jacobs brand has seen since Duffy began Twittering a mere month ago, so it was no surprise to me when a few days later, he bowed out of the twittershpere. So it makes me wonder... Did Duffy choose to say goodbye to Twitter, or was the site just causing the company too many issues?