(see Figure 7.4). PowerPoint is the world’s most popular tool for public speeches. There are four hundred million copies of the software in circulation, and a typical PowerPoint slide contains forty words, about eight seconds’ worth of silent reading. But PowerPoint is often misused or overused, so it is crucial to remember that visual aids should supplement what you have to say, not replace it. Don’t use visual aids that are so complex that the audience will spend its time trying to read them instead of listening to you (Patterson, 1983).
4. Be clear. Remember, speaking is different from writing. Listeners have one chance to hear your talk and cannot rewind your live presentation when they get confused, and they usually have to wait until the end of the speech to ask questions. To communicate effectively, tell your audience what you are going to speak about at the beginning of the presentation and summarize what you told them at the end (Hill, 1997).
5. Be positive. Show that you are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about your subject. Speak with confidence. Maintain eye contact, and make certain you connect with everyone in the room so that they feel you are talking to them directly. Use natural hand gestures, but not to the point of distraction (Patterson, 1983).
leading-edge techniques As with every other aspect of our lives, advances in technology have affected the forecasting business. Global digital communication has radically expanded the vari- ety of formats for trend forecasts. For example, DVDs are used to provide access to the runway shows and the latest street fashions from Paris, New York, or anywhere else in the world. Video is another ideal medium for fashion reporting. Videofashion News, which offers collection coverage and behind-the-scenes designer interviews, appears regularly on Style Network, USA Cable Network’s Trio Popular Art Chan- nel, and Cablevision’s Metro TV. Videofashion News is even available on DVD (Frings, 2008). To communicate the latest seasonal trends, some forecasters develop video packages that cover silhouettes, styles, colors, fabrics, and patterns.
Countless fashion trend sources are scattered throughout cyberspace. Al- most every major forecasting company, manufacturer, and retailer has a Web site (Frings, 2008). For retailers interested in private labeling, for example, the entire merchandising team can access sites to keep up on industry trends. In 2007, Pro- mostyl embarked on a venture to provide information to its clients. A variety of products can be accessed online, making it easy for clients around the world to get up-to-the-minute information on trends and hot items as fast as the click of the mouse.
The growth of social networking sites allows nonindustry experts to post opinions and gain a following. Forecasters use these sites as a key source for mining informa- tion regarding consumer preferences. Companies from Best Buy to Louis Vuitton now consider social media a fundamental part of their marketing strategy. At the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010, Worth Global Style Network (WGSN) reported that social networking is vital to success in the industry (Arthur,
tool. Technorati, a blog search engine, tracked 35.5 million weblogs in 2007, with the number doubling every six months (Rickman & Cosenza, 2007). In 2006, two million blogs mentioned fashion specifically. Seventy-seven percent of blog readers are women, more than 49 percent are between the ages of twenty-two and thirty, more than 60 percent have a college degree, and 22 percent are students; these are demographics that exhibit tremendous interest in fashion and have significant spending power (Rickman & Cosenza, 2007). Three-quarters of global consumers use social networks and blogs, up 24 percent between April 2009 and April 2010, and 22 percent of online time is spent on social network or blog sites—one hit every four and a half minutes (Arthur, 2010b).
As mobile devices become increasingly indispensible consumer tools, with the number of shopping applications (or apps) (e.g., Frugalytics, Pongr Beta, Shopago) increasing exponentially, fashion marketers have taken notice. Smart phones are expected to overtake PC sales worldwide by 2012, and the future of marketing is increasingly going mobile. Mobile devices are far less expensive and, in many ways, far more convenient than desktop or laptop computers, and people from all demographics are now planning and organizing their lives via the handheld mobile device of their choice, whether for forging and maintaining relationships, keep- ing up with business and work, or redefining constant streams of entertainment, all of which ultimately relate directly to consumption. Therefore, it is important to understand the targeted audience well and learn how best to reach it. Speak- ing at Federated Media’s CM Summit, Mary Meeker, of Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, said that marketing today comes down to finding “new ways to do old things faster, better, cheaper, and increasingly in the palm of your hand” (Arthur, 2010a).
The iPad is another innovation that has fueled the mobile wireless revolution. The iPad has innovative new software applications designed especially for it and is able to run most of the 140,000-plus existing iPhone apps. For example, “SketchyPad” is an app that allows you to sketch Web sites and make an interface of apps, including iPhone and iPad apps. This app will make designers’, programmers’, and interface designers’ lives much easier. Easy-to-use interface and a variety of stencils will help users to mock up any Web sites and soft interfaces. Another app, “Digital Post,” is a virtual newspaper for the iPad (Chapman, 2010). It allows users to receive hun- dreds of articles from dozens of sources through just one app without downloading a bunch of different newspaper apps. In 2010, ABC News announced the release of a new application for the Apple iPad, available in the Apple App Store. The new application takes full advantage of the form and functionality of the iPad, using as the principal navigation tool a unique interactive three-dimensional globe on which news stories appear. The launch of the ABC News iPad app marks the second time in recent months that the Disney/ABC Television Group has created an innova- tive video offering for the new platform. In April 2010, DATG became the first to bring ad-supported video to the iPad via the acclaimed ABC Player app, which
has proven to be tremendously successful, with more than 928,000 downloads and 5.9 million episodes started in just over three months (“ABC news,” 2010):
iPad has provided a great impact on the fashion industry. Jefferson Hack told WGSN: The tablet revolution is a definite game-changer for fashion because fashion is about detail. When you start to be able to see detail, when you can get into really seeing high-quality moving images or still images, the fashion language can come alive. . . . The clothes, the texture, the fabric, the way they’re worn, the way they move can really be seen, so someone can get an idea of what it is rather than have to make a guess. For me, it’s the dawn of a new digital beauty. (Arthur, 2010c)
Gap, in collaboration with the digital agency AKQA, has been one of the first fashion retailers to launch its own app specifically for the iPad: “1969 stream.” EDTI, an online trend service, uses the iPad as a trend platform (see Figure 7.5). Represen- tatives from EDTI have noted some of the uses of these apps:
iPad is perfect for fashion as a trend book with thousands of pages that you can zoom, organize and search, and will never be out of date. . . . You can actually touch our world-beating forecasts and Trend Science with your fingers. Pinch to
Figure 7.5 The iPad as a platform for trend forecasts used by EDITD, an online trend service. Source: EDITD (2010). EDITD + iPad. Retrieved from http://editd.com/ipad/.
zoom, touch to get colors, and browse around easily and quickly. It’s the best plat- form for trend information we’ve used, ever. . . . You can hold a life-size picture of a pocket up against a garment and see how it looks. Or see a swatch in full size. Or place a print on a piece of fabric. (Arthur, 2010c)