fashion through the looking glass:investigating the role of “spatial” proximity in brand...
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Presentation of research in progress project at VW Workshop run by Roskilde in June 2010TRANSCRIPT
Fashion through the Looking Glass:Investigating the role of “spatial” proximity in
brand building in virtual worlds
Workshop: Making sense of VWs and user-driven innovationDenmark, June 2010
Robin TeiglandStockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Serdar TemizRoyal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Dominic PowerUppsala University, Sweden
Linda Björg ÁrnadóttirIcelandic Academy of Arts, Iceland
We are living in a brandscape!?
“The power of a brand derives from a curious mixture of how it performs and what it stands for. When a brand gets the mix right it makes us, the people who buy it, feel that it adds something to the idea of ourselves.” – Olins 2002
“Successful industries and firms are customer oriented rather than product oriented - there are no commodities only consumer desires.” - Levitt 1960
Brands in action and in space
• Brand building is not just a question of firm centric action…
• Brands are constructed by networks of actors involved in
– Production chain– Construction of origins– Construction of outlet
• There is often a highly spatial aspect to branding and the institutions of brand building
Fashionable places: Place matters in creation of immaterial value
Fashion Industry• Construction of origin
– Clearly not “Made in Sweden” – but “designed in Stockholm”
• Construction of outlet– “These jeans are cool in New York
so they will be really cool in Stockholm.”
Key relationships in brand building
Retailers & shop assistants
Local market & lead consumers
Stylists
Media & information
intermediaries
Rival firms
Fashion: one of the fastest growing industries in virtual worlds
Research Question
• Fashion is based on volatile knowledge that is quickly negotiated and relies upon different spatial relationships.
• RQ: What role do “spatial” relationships play in brand building in the fashion industry in virtual worlds?
Qualitative Study
• In Second Life and Entropia Universe– Interviews with entrepreneurs/designers,
fashion stores, resellers, media producers, photographers, customers
– Observation– Secondary data
• Data from research in ‘real’ world fashion clusters
Additional Questions
• Does “spatial” proximity play a role in trust building between actors?
• What are “localization” and “globalization” in the context of virtual worlds?
• What role do ‘place-making’ and “spatial proximity” play more generally in the creation of immaterial value?
Art produces ugly things which become beautiful with time. Fashion on the other hand, produces beautiful things which
always become ugly with time.
- Jean Cocteau
Join us in exploring virtual worlds!
www.nordicworlds.net