The Challenge
The objective was to make sure the clothes and energy of the runway translated properly on screen, the shows reached a large audience reliably, and Topshop had a direct route from viewer interest to purchase.
At the time, live streaming was becoming a major part of London Fashion Week. Topshop and Topman were established fixtures on the calendar with a captive audience watching online.
The production needed to preserve the colour, aesthetic and excitement of the runway while delivering consistently across an increasingly fragmented range of platforms and devices. With one opportunity to capture the show, the camera coverage, creative design, technical infrastructure and distribution all had to work together, often in venues that didn’t have infrastructure in place for traditional events.
Topshop also saw a wider commercial opportunity. As a brand that connected the runway with the high street, it wanted viewers to do more than watch the collection. Its ambition was to let them shop selected Fashion Week looks directly from the live experience, turning the attention around the show into genuine retail activity.
It was clear to us that this meant bringing together the production, platform delivery, website functionality and shopping data together as a single approach.
The Approach
Flux worked closely with Topshop’s internal marketing and development teams and the event agency throughout planning and delivery.
Quality video sat at the centre of the approach. The commercial features and wider digital experience would only work if the runway itself looked right, so every part of the workflow was planned around protecting the visuals and delivering them consistently to each destination.
Each show had its own creative concept and we needed to shape how the show would translate from the room to the screen, designing and delivering the infrastructure needed to both capture and get the programme reliably to a much wider audience.
For the Topshop AW17 show, we devised a solution that would deliver the live programme in both landscape and portrait formats, then a relatively new approach, with outputs designed specifically for desktop and mobile audiences.
One of the boldest parts of the partnership was the bespoke shoppable video experience. Working with Topshop’s design and development teams, we built a live streaming video player that integrated live metadata from the show, website and topshop socials so products could be highlighted as they appeared on the catwalk, giving viewers a direct route from the runway to their basket.
The finished broadcast was distributed across Facebook Live, the Topshop homepage, Topshop Hub and syndicated media partners. Viewers could follow the runway as it happened and shop available clothing directly from the show.
The Impact
Flux was Topshop’s live streaming and digital delivery partner across five consecutive AW and SS seasons, while also supporting Topman across four seasons during the same period.
The AW17 show generated more than 130,000 views on Topshop.com across the day, with on-demand viewing continuing into the evening. Topshop also reported a marked increase in sales of the clothing made available through the experience.
Across multiple seasons, the partnership gave Topshop and Topman a reliable way to extend a major Fashion Week moment beyond the in-person event itself. The work brought the runway production, digital audience and retail opportunity together as a single experience.
The result was more than coverage of a fashion show. It was a high-quality live experience designed around the brand, the audience and what Topshop wanted the moment to achieve.
Live fashion has moved through different cycles since then, but the strongest productions still reflect the visual identity of the brand, extend the moment beyond the room and give the content a clear purpose. With Topshop and Topman now back in physical retail, and Topshop once again investing in shoppable runway experiences, the thinking behind this work feels particularly current.
Today, Flux brings that same approach across the full production, from creative development and camera planning through to technical delivery, live distribution and post event content. More than that though, it’s a great example of our approach to projects. Even though there was no off-the-shelf solution we took on the challenge, shaped the idea and made sure it worked live and that same instinct remains relevant to Flux today, taking ambitious ideas that might not have an obvious route to delivery and building one that works.