Friday, November 16, 2012

A talk by Imran Amed

Practically every day I meet new inspiring people in London, and I still can't believe how vibrant my time here has been so far. On Monday, for instance, I went to an event at UAL to hear Imran Amed - the founder and editor of Business of Fashion. I go the impression that he is one of the most infectuously resourceful people I have ever met with a great balance of right-brained work and enterpreneurial approach.    

I was stunned when I heard the story of this authoritative fashion business online edition. Imran  literally started it as a blog to practice his writing skills in 2007 and did not expect his posts on the business side of the fashion world to become such a huge success in a very short period of time.

 In 2008, the BoF team started to build the magazine's/newspaper's/blog's (they position BoF in the middle of these) identitiy. Here are variations of the logo

He talked about blogs and social media in general as well, and stressed that we are experiencing a dramatic shift not only in fashion and marketing, but in all aspects of our life. I totally agree, yet I personally believe that there will be a shift in the opposite direction, back to the basics. This, however, is a very complex argument which I am hoping to explore more deeply. 

Also, if you are into branding check out brandtags.org. It seems silly at first, but a very important point is made: brands are not necessarily percieved as they set out to position themselves. After all, customer is always right.