Dive Brief:

• Nonprofit U.S. cotton promotion group Cotton Incorporated debuted a new limited-time online shop on Amazon. The store is called the Cotton Style House Collection, and will be live through the end of August, the organization announced in a press release.
• The shop stocks a variety of cotton summer apparel from an assortment of brands for various occasions. The store carries brands including American Apparel, J. Crew and Adidas, among others. The looks were put together by eight social media influencers and are inspired by the Hamptons, an exclusive seaside area of New York. The collection is curated by celebrity stylist Irma Martínez.
• The store will also feature a pop-up component on July 26-28 in Montauk, New York. The event features several free activities, including wellness workshops and panel discussions.

Dive Insight:

This campaign benefits both Amazon and Cotton Incorporated by bringing celebrity cache and social media heavy-hitters to this limited-time online store. By utilizing a celebrity stylist and a collection of social media influencers, Cotton can drive interest with millennial consumers. Earlier this year, Amazon reportedly expanded its influencer marketing program in an effort to reach new audiences and leverage microinfluencers' followings.

By promoting various hip brands that use cotton through influencers, Cotton Inc. can build awareness and make these items seem like must-haves for the summer season. The group has seen success with Amazon in the past, with banner ads on the site for Cotton Inc.'s Fashion Delivered campaign scoring about a 5% click-through-rate (CTR), compared to an average of 1% CTR.

The summer campaign's use of a pop-up shop will help to get the word out on a busy July weekend in a fashionable hotspot. By creating free events about fashion and wellness that consumers can join, the group is increasing the likelihood for user-generated social media content. Pop-ups continue to be a key tactic in experiential marketing, especially targeting millennial consumers.

Amazon has increased its exclusive partnerships with outside brands and these collaborations now outnumber Amazon's private label offerings across most product categories, according to a Gartner L2 study published earlier this year. At the end of last year, Amazon had 119 private labels and 223 brand partners in the Amazon Exclusives program. Offering exclusive products could help Amazon expand its marketplace offerings, and beef up its ability to differentiate itself from other retailers. By partnering, Amazon saves the effort and money of investing in building out its own product line.