British Fashion Council Celebrates ‘25 Years of British Fashion’ The British Fashion Council is ‘Celebrating 25 Years of British Fashion’ throughout 2009: 25 Years of the British Fashion Council, 25 Years of London Fashion Week and 25 Years of British Fashion Awards. This year will see the BFC focus on developing a legacy of support for British designers.
The BFC will also partner with organisations and individuals within the industry to celebrate British fashion. On 20th February at 9.50am, Harold Tillman, Chairman of the British Fashion Council will launch the first of this year’s celebratory fashion weeks and will outline a year of actions and events that will contribute to these 25 year goals.
The past 25 years has seen London earn its place as one of the four leading fashion capitals alongside New York, Milan and Paris. Known for cutting edge fashion and giving a platform for emerging designers to grow and develop, London Fashion Week continues to showcase exciting talent. 25 years ago ground-breaking designers included Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood and Betty Jackson; the 90s saw John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan launch their careers; today London Fashion Week showcases iconic designers and brands as well as championing new stars such as Giles, Erdem, Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab and Louise Goldin.
Web 2.0SM is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004. It refers to the perceived or proposed notion that a second generation of the Internet has evolved based on social networking sites that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among its users.
These social sites are built to encourage sharing, and few things are more effective and inexpensive than viral marketing. While maintaining your own Web site will always be a priority, there are other ways to spread your organization’s story via the Internet. Below are some of the more popular Web 2.0SM sites and trends, along with ideas on how to use them to give your nonprofit an edge in 2007.
myspace®
As one of the most popular Web sites in the United States, MySpace® has become an increasingly influential part of our culture. Every day, millions of people log on to MySpace® to access an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. There is no cost to set up a profile, and with the use of templates, you can have a page set up in minutes that is tailored to your organization’s unique image and culture.
Your donors are getting younger, or at least they are acting younger, and so should you. Reach out to them via MySpace® this year. Set up a page for your organization; gather friends; blog about issues facing your organization and community; post bulletins of upcoming events and volunteer opportunities; post photos of staff, donors, and events; and point people back to your online donation page. The opportunities and ideas for using MySpace® to promote your mission are endless.
YouTube®
YouTube® is a widely popular, free, video sharing site that lets users upload, share, and view video clips of just about anything. In its short time on the Web, YouTube® has received an enormous amount of attention and was recently purchased by the most popular search engine today: Google®.
You can benefit from the YouTube® online video technology by engaging your donors with real-life moving pictures. YouTube® has put the whole world in the director’s chair, and that includes you. Get your promo videos out there, start a video blog, and begin to integrate new videos into your campaigns. People like people, and your donors will appreciate seeing you.
Flickr®
Flickr® is a popular photo sharing Web site and online community. The site is popular among bloggers, who may also use it as an online photo library. Flickr® submitters easily categorize their images by tagging them with keywords that allows them to be easily searched.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so even a few can help demonstrate to supporters that you’re delivering on your mission. Set up an account at Flickr® and start tagging! Add desktop wallpaper and posters that your supporters can download.
Start your own blog
It is estimated that there are 100 million blogs currently being maintained and another 200 million former bloggers who have ceased posting. Those numbers are astounding! The term “blog” is derived from “web log.” A blog is a user-generated Web site where entries are made in journalistic language and displayed, usually in a reverse chronological order. Blogs provide commentary on almost any subject matter you can imagine.
It’s 2009, which means it’s time to start a blog! Your donors are doing it, the organization down the street is doing it, and your kids are probably doing it. You can get one set up and running in a matter of minutes with the free tool Blogger®.
Wikipedia®
Wikipedia® is the largest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet — it has more than two million entries, and is growing daily. It is unique because the content is written and edited by its users. Wikipedia entries are constantly updated with thousands of edits per hour.
Do a search at Wikipedia®— is your organization there? Get it added as soon as you can. Not only are Wikipedia® entries becoming the go-to reference source, but they are showing up very high in organic search engine results at Google® and Yahoo!®.
Go in-world with Second Life®
Second Life® is an online virtual world were users (“esidents”) explore, meet other users, participate in individual and group activities or events, and buy items, services, or even virtual property from one another
Get an account started at Second Life®, and take your nonprofit into the virtual world! This is cutting-edge Internet marketing, so getting started now may get you closer to tech-savvy donors who are looking for something different. Have a meet-up in Second Life® to discuss your annual campaign or just chat about issues. And who knows, if you do it right, Reuters™ might show up and cover the event in the real world!
Start Podcasting
The spoken word is a powerful way to convey a message, and this is even more pronounced in the nonprofit world. The written word is a powerful force, but is easily trumped by speech. A downloadable interview with your board, director of development, or donors is a great way to share your mission with Web visitors.
Bring the Social Web to Your Site
This one is easier said than done. Even if it’s just a discussion forum or blog, get something on your site that will allow visitors to participate. Go further and implement team fundraising or giving circles — these provide your supporters vehicles for engaging one another and for furthering your mission.
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion.
Her influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
