Dive Brief:

• As part of its new campaign, "Find the Remarkable You," Macy’s has created an Instagram Live hack that will help customers put together outfits with help from influencers and Macy’s stylists, a news release announced. Macy’s is partnering with Wendy Nguyen of Wendy’s Look Book and other influences, who, along with Cassandra Jones, Macy’s SVP of fashion, will help users “find the most remarkable version of themselves” by hacking Live Share, a new Instagram Live Video feature that let’s two people live stream a video simultaneously. 
• For its #FindRemarkable Instagram thread, Macy’s is providing influencers with the same article of clothing. Each influencer will uniquely style the item using other Macy’s clothing and accessories and then tag and challenge a fellow influencer to re-style the clothing item. Users are encouraged to join the conversation by sharing how they have styled the same item.   
• In addition to the Instagram campaign, Macy’s launched a 90-second commercial running through April 7. The spot tells the story of six women who are surprised when they catch a glimpse of different versions of themselves as they go about their daily activities. 

Dive Insight:

Instagram has become a place for fashionistas to show off their favorite OOTD (outfit of the day) and get inspiration from fashion influencers. Macy’s is showing that it is a forward-thinking fashion retailer by taking advantage of the latest features on Instagram with a strategy that taps into the platforms network of fashion influencers while engaging consumers with fashion advice and outfit inspiration. The use of live streaming helps add some excitement and a sense of authenticity to the engagements. 

Though Macy’s campaign includes a 90-second commercial, the retailer likely realizes a TV ad is not enough to reach younger consumers. Including Instagram Live Share in the mix helps Macy’s foster conversations between consumers and influencers and make a direct play for millennials and Gen Zers, who are heavy Instagram users and have a growing purchasing power.

Fashion brands and retailers, including Coach, Nordstrom and Forever 21, have seen success with fashion influencers on Instagram through increased brand engagement. Among luxury brands, 73% have active influencer marketing campaigns, according to a study by Klear. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, doubled the number of posts using the #ad hashtag to 1.5 million in 2017 over the previous year. Female influencers posted 84% of posts tagged #ad as part of a sponsorship from fashion, beauty, food and beverage brands, and about 90% of sponsored posts received up to 1,000 likes, the study found.

Marketers continue to put more focus on influencer campaigns using video, and last year, companies were predicted to spend 2x more on online video than other ad formats. Live and mobile-focused video campaigns are often less costly for marketers than heavily produced TV spots and often drive higher levels of engagement.