My final multimedia project encompasses an overall fashion motif, but it is stitched around two major appliques: the NYC Garment Center and consumer shopping patterns on Black Friday.   The first two videos, Made in the Garment Center and NYC Hanging By A Thread, as well as a podcast with designer Richard Chai focus on the Garment Center.  The third video, Black Friday and the photo slideshow, Black Friday Discounts, track the shopping patterns of New York City consumers on Black Friday amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

* Video 1: Made in the Garment Center, a profile of milliner Arnold Levine

* Video 2: NYC Hanging By A Thread

* Video 3: Black Friday

* Podcast with designer Richard Chai

* Photo Slideshow: Black Friday Discounts
]]> http://nychangingbyathread.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/final-product-2/feed/ 0 dylee160 http://nychangingbyathread.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/podcast-with-designer-richard-chai/ http://nychangingbyathread.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/podcast-with-designer-richard-chai/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:53:03 +0000 dylee160 http://nychangingbyathread.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/podcast-with-designer-richard-chai/ ]]>

For my third and last video, I decided to capture the shopping behavior and retailing mood of Black Friday during one of the worst economic climates since the Great Depression.  Notwithstanding my technical nightmare, this video was difficult to shape since I didn’t know the outcome of the story until I recorded all of my footage.  The end result wasn’t ground breaking per se.   The combination of deep discounts and picky shoppers offset the heavy traffic.  Still, according to the NY Times and other news publications, Black Friday performed well.  The most interesting part of my video ended up being an element I didn’t think to use.  I asked most of my interviewees who they were shopping for.  And with the exception of one European tourist, everyone provided the same answer: “me.”  Everyone seemed to be shopping for themselves.  Gifts weren’t expected to be lavish this holiday season and as one shopper put it, “they’ll understand.”

Here are useful websites for future reference: 

* Podcast:  Podbean allows free podcast uploads of up to 30MB.  Unfortunately for me, my file is 31.5 MB, so I’ll have to figure out another way. 

* Vimeo:  Youtube does not own the monopoly on video sharing online.  Vimeo is another website where you can upload videos.  And unlike the new Youtube model which doesn’t provide an estimate of how long the upload will take, Vimeo does.

I recently interviewed a blogger who sold his blog two months ago.  For privacy infringement reasons, I cannot post the Q&A.  The company has not made a public announcement of the acquisition yet, so the blogger – we’ll call him Bobby – and site will remain anonymous.  Nevertheless, the interview was inspirational and provided fascinating insights.

Bobby had never sold a blog prior to this one.  But he turned his blog into a full-time job, committing 14 hour days, 7 days a week even before the blog proved lucrative.  He had full confidence he could make his blog profitable and even sell it one day.  All it cost him to launch his business was $2500 ($500 to set up the corporation,  $500 for a custom illustration and $1500 for the URL because he really wanted it).

When I asked Bobby to tell me about his blog, he referred to it as a community.  He invited writers from other blogs to contribute and eventually had volunteers to write on his blog – for free.  I wondered why anyone would want to offer their services for free but Bobby said he had so many offers, he turned down 90% of applicants now.  Blogging, he explained, was a way for his users to organize their thoughts and strategies.  And there was a whole community behind the blog.  He hung out with his writers.  He provided user-generated articles and even added a reality TV element on the blog where visitors of the blog could chat with people.  People lived on his blog.  He started the blog because he was unsatisfied with the resources out there.  It wasn’t so much that his idea was innovative.  He said you just need a unique perspective.  To keep and increase the amount of viewers, Bobby blogged 20 times a day when he first started out.  He gave a reason for his readers to come back day after day, sometimes hour after hour.  He didn’t take vacation for 3 years.

He also tracked his traffic consistently.  What intially started out as 500 readers from his personal blog shot up to 3.5 million readers in three years.  After a year and a half of blogging, the ad revenues generated enough for him to support himself.  His blog provided a service for people looking to shop so they clicked on his ads.  This was key he said.  Also crucial was his timing (there weren’t many blogs like his then).  Soon, contacts from companies for ads were followed by inquiries from venture capitalists and eventually companies who wanted to buy his site.   He sold his blog but still runs it.  The company has given him complete control of the blog.

I decided to forego Clothes Swapping for Black Friday as the story for my third video project.  Late Thanksgiving evening after stuffing myself with a whole turkey, I managed to break through my food coma and trekked over to Best Buy and Circuit City on 44th Street and 5th Avenue. En route, I saw a ridiculous line that stretched for several blocks.  I got excited.  I took out my video camera and started filming, but noticed that the queue was predominately made up of young girls.  I never even knew this many children lived in Manhattan.  When I inquired what the line was for, an overly-excited teenager informed me they were awaiting a book signing for Jonas Brothers. 

The Best Buy and Circuit City lines weren’t quite as impressive but the line wrapped around the block at a quarter to midnight.  Some were playing cards, some were wrapped in blankets and trying to catch shut eye.  One guy took the back seat out of his car and used it as a chair while he waited in line.  I braved the cold for over an hour and asked roughly ten strangers for an interview.  Four people conceded.  But when I got home and downloaded the video, only one of my interviews recorded.  Apparently, I shut off the camera when I intended to record and recorded when I intended to stop.  AHHHHH!!!!!  

Day 2

Undismayed, I put on my best optimistic face and caught footage of actual Black Friday the following day. My first stop was Century 21.  It was difficult to find patrons willing to interrupt their shopping for an interview.  But I managed to find some cheerful givers.  The bigger challenge was finding sales people who would go on camera.  A store manager who initially agreed to be interviewed rescinded his offer when he learned it was against company policy.  Moving on.  Outside of Century 21, I located a man who appeared to have done some considerable shopping.  He agreed to be interviewed, but in the middle of it, the battery ran out.  It seems the NYU equipment room equipped me with uncharged battery.  URrgggh.  I know, I know.  I should’ve checked, although I’m not sure how you can check for this.  

I went home to recharge – the battery as well as my motivation. 

I left for a second round of shooting on my second day of shooting.  This time to Macy’s.  It was utter chaos, which made for great footage.  But people were hesitant to speak to me.  Since I couldn’t get any sales people to go on record, I approached vendors – and struck gold.  The $10 bags an ebullient man named Dean and his cohorts were selling flocked a large crowd.  And he gave an insightful and entertaining interview.  He says Macy’s loss was his gain because Macy’s was selling the same bags for three to four times the price.  And compared to last year, he generated $3500, up from $2500 the same day last year.  I interviewed yet another vendor who, unlike Dean, reported stark sales.  His interview was insightful as well. 

While I wasn’t able to get any sales people on camera, I was happy with Dean’s alternative perspective as a vendor selling bags at a kiosk.  When I went to download the video, there was no audio.  I nearly cried. Somehow the on/off switch to the lavalier mike switched off and so no sound was recorded.  I went to bed after drinking several glasses of wine. 

Day 3

I set out to re-record the interviews from the vendors.  I prayed they would both be there.  When I arrived at 33rd Street and 6th Avenue, the purse kiosk was in the same location but there was no Dean.  ”He didn’t show up today,” said his colleague.  They told me to check out another purse kiosk one street down on 34th between 7th and 8th Avenue.  I located the purse kiosk, but Dean wasn’t there either.  As I was walking back, I saw the other vendor I interviewed from the night before.  Luckily I was able to catch him on camera!  I also interviewed a couple shoppers.  And I spotted a Macy’s sales person taking a smoke break, who agreed to go on record!  Yay.    

Day 4

On my home from my internship on Monday, I stopped by the purse kiosk in search of Dean.  He was no where to be found.  I will try him one more time on Thursday.  What a nightmare.

The verdict is in: Black Friday performed well but did not vindicate retail pressures this year.  The New York Times reports that combined sales for Friday and Saturday were up nearly 2 percent from the period a year ago, specialty apparel sales were up 1.6 percent compared with last year, and luxury goods rose 2.4 percent.  But WWD reported hefty losses in shares despite heavy foot traffic on Friday and Saturday.  Even mild and unexpected profits from last year could not plug the bottom line from plummeting – for brick-and-mortar retail stores that is.  

According to today’s story in the Media Post News, ‘Consumers Search, Spend on Cyber Monday,’ online sales on Cyber Monday showed much more promise.  Cyber Monday is a term that was coined by the trade group National Retail Federation in 2005 as a day that unofficially kicked off online shopping following Thanksgiving weekend. 

Consumers spent 27% more this year compared to 2007 via the 28 retailers Seattle-based Mercent, an online marketing company serving the retail industry. 

Online loyalty marketing service MyPoints said traffic rose 7% from Cyber Monday in 2007 and unique visitors increased 15% over site traffic last year.  MyPoints is a site letting consumers earn points when they shop that are redeemable for gas cards, airline miles, hotel discounts, or gift cards to nearly 100 stores and restaurants.

Some online-only retailers such as Amazon.com scored big even on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. 

Overall web traffic for brick-and-mortar store Web sites declined 16 % on Thanksgiving and 10% on Black Friday compared with the same period a year ago, but visits to online-only retailers rose 11% on Thanksgiving and 10% on Black Friday, according to Hitwise. 

Following Black Friday following Cyber Monday is Green Monday: December 15^th.  Green Monday is anticipated to be a big shopping day for procrastinators taking advantage of the last day for free shipping before the holidays. 

With the economy progressively taking on a macabre demeanor, black Friday began early this year.  I did some reconnaissance after work on Wednesday near Rockefeller Center to gauge the consumer and retailing mood during one of the biggest retail events of the year.  Not surprisingly, sales started early during what has been coined the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.  

Sale signs were shamelessly plastered on store windows.  There was no sugar coating the bitter economy.  Not even  luxury labels feigned exclusivity.  Jimmy Choo welcomed in all walks of life with a big “Sale” sign juxtaposed underneath “Jimmy Choo.”

H&M, Benetton, Faconnable, Kenneth Cole, Armani Exchange and Lacoste were just some of the stores that had started sales early, some taking off an additional 50% on sale prices while others slashed 20% off the entire store.  Jewelry stores seemed hardist hit; one store offered discounts up to 70%.  Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s lured customers – at least to the window – with Christmas displays and attraction for kids.  There was a considerable queue that formed outside a decked out Saks Fifth Avenue near Rockefeller Center.

Mounds of clothes were piled atop tables for swappers to dive into.  The cluttered clothes didn’t look appealing at first, but there was treasure to be had.  One girl – with a Chanel purse swung across her shoulder – was carrying three overflowing bags while I interviewed her.  Of the plethora of articles she grabbed was a peasant dress, t-shirts and a cropped leather jacket!  A cute leather jacket.  I couldn’t help wishing I had snagged it first.  And all it cost her – all it cost any swapper – to walk home with a limitless pile of clothes was $5 (with a bag of unwanted clothes) or $10 without.

For swappers who found clothes that needed alterations or embellishments, fashion designers who manned sewing machines and print machines took cues from customers.  Swappers cut out appliques from old t-shirts and had them attached to bags, or created bags out of t-shirts.  At the print stations, swappers waited in queues to have Obama’s profile printed on plain t-shirts.  Quite a deal considering Obama t-shirts are selling for upwards of $20 in New York City’s sidewalks.

I interviewed several swappers and Lori Petitti, a TV producer, who sponsored the Los Angeles event out of her own pocket.  Wendy Tremayne created Swap-O-Rama-Rama, but it was Petitti who brought the event to LA after she fell in love with a Swap-O-Rama-Rama event she attended a few years ago.  Petitti estimated a total of 400 swappers for the day and expected 40 pounds of residual clothes even after an entire day of clothes swapping.  Leftovers would be donated to charity, Petitti said.  For a charred city battling both a fire and an economic crisis, Swap-O-Rama-Rama Los Angeles scored a win-win all around: fashion aficiandos, charity organization, the planet and even Petitit. She wasn’t quite sure if she would break even but she counted it a profit to do a little good and inspire creativity in people.