Italian Fashion Brand Fendi Uses ‘X-Rated’ Video Series to Keep Facebook Fans Coming Back

A successful f-commerce campaign should contain two essential elements: give Facebook fans something first and something exclusive. Oh, and perhaps a third as well – use the term “X-rated.”

It’s a simple formula that Italian fashion label Fendi has tapped into. The brand is providing fans with behind-the-scenes access to its fall 2012-13 collection runway shows via a series of pre-show videos on its Facebook page. Called “X-rated,” the series shows footage of makeup, hair, models and clothing from the brand. (Sorry guys, no nudity is involved; it’s not that kind of X-rated.)

According to an article in Luxury Daily, the goal of the campaign is to keep fans coming back for more. ”Serialized content creates regular touch points and users are brought back into that Fendi world every time a new video is released,” said industry expert Ron Schott. The videos are well-received too, said the article, with some getting as many as 1,000 likes and multiple comments.

The use of fan-first, exclusive videos is a course other luxury brands are beginning to follow states Luxury Daily writer Rachel Lamb. “Many luxury brands are using social video as a way to connect with consumers. This is especially true in the case of behind-the-scenes footage,” she said, citing such brands as British automaker Bentley Motors, Louis Vuitton and Champagne brand Moët & Chandon.

In addition to those mentioned, I see at least two other benefits accruing from the use of social video, as well:

• It builds fan loyalty – The more a customer is exposed to and gets involved with a brand – in this case through repeat visits to Fendi’s fan page – the more likely she is to remain loyal to it.
• It stimulates fan advocacy – Thanks to its easy viral sharing capabilities – like, comment, share – Facebook is an advocacy engine. The hundreds of likes, dozens of shares and scores of comments for each of the videos provides empirical proof of that assertion.

For Fendi, hopefully, that will translate into another benefit – increased sales. And, who knows, maybe use of the term “X-rated” won’t hurt either.

Here are some of the videos contained in the series: