Bloggers are the latest tool fashion brands are using to promote their products – and one need look no further than the multiple collaborations some brands have orchestrated with bloggers for proof that this is true.

 

Over the past several months, brands big and small have increasingly reached out to bloggers, hoping gain a competitive edge over the competition. And their collaborative efforts are everywhere. The jewelry company DanniJo in August unveiled a line of baubles co-designed by the popular style blogger Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller. Macy’s launched a clothing concept early this year called Bar III, curated with the help of Elizabeth Spiridakis, who writes Feels Like White Lightning; Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs, who write the men’s style blog Street Etiquette; Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast; and Jane Aldridge, who writes about footwear and fashion at Sea of Shoes. Even Kmart is in on the blogger game. Its recent ad campaign features the fashion model Christina Caradona, writer of the blog Trop Rouge, jumping around a bedroom clad in the retailer’s private label clothing. The tagline on the ad reads “Money Can’t Buy Style.”

 

But outside of these highly visible sponsorships and collaborations, it’s not strange to see bloggers working with fashion brands in smaller ways. Sometimes a temporary partnership goes no further than hosting a party, as the 15-year-old fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson did for Miu Miu during Fashion’s Night Out in September. Sometimes it can mean styling a few photographs and posting them online, the way Unabashedly Prep’s F.E. Castleberry did for Ralph Lauren’s Rugby line this summer. And on occasion, digital promotion can be as easy as mentioning a brand's name or product in a tweet or a Facebook post, something fashion-obsessed bloggers do nearly every day.

 

No matter what the level of interaction, one thing is clear: As far as fashion brands are concerned, bloggers are in.

 

 

Still, it’s not as though blogging is a new concept. Ever since blogging became popular in the late 1990s, people have been sharing on the Internet what they think about products and the companies that make them. It’s only been within the past few years that bloggers have been able to cut through the clutter of Web chatter and turn their musings and personal tastes into influence. Thanks to social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook, anyone can share his or her opinion with potentially millions of people (complete with a handy link to his or her blog). Some fashion bloggers have managed to distinguish themselves as tastemakers.

 

That’s why Coach, the American leather goods and accessories company, reached out to Danny Chung, a 24-year-old social media strategist who writes about personal style and the fashion industry on his blog the modman.

 

“We’re in a time where there’s so much competition among brands that are vying for consumers’ attention, especially when it comes to digital and social,” Chung said, explaining that brands such as Coach works with bloggers “largely because they want to tap into the audience and be exposed to a new consumer base.”

 

In late March, Chung announced that he would become a Coach guest blogger, a month-long gig previously executed by 11 other bloggers to date. The bloggers use Coach bags and apparel to create three looks that are featured on the brand’s website. In exchange, the bloggers feature posts about Coach products on their own sites. Chung used items on loan from Coach to show his readers how to work the brand’s bags into their own wardrobes. A post offering an inside look at the inner workings of Coach’s leather goods workshop followed in July.

 

It’s worth noting that Chung featured the brand on the modman both before and after his stint as guest blogger. He said this partnership was a natural fit for him because he owned Coach products before the collaboration and had seen his mother carry its bags since he was a child.

 

“There have been other brands that have approached me to do similar work, and I’ve passed on the opportunity, only because I didn’t feel that I connected fully with the brand or the product,” he said.

 

“My style is very distinct. Most bloggers have their own style, and if they take on a product that they don’t necessarily connect with, sometimes it shows. And I would never want that to be an issue for the sake of compensation.”

 

 

Chung declined to say whether he was paid for his work with Coach, saying that he expected the exposure his blog would get from the partnership would be payment enough. But there are some bloggers who aren’t afraid to demand money in exchange for their services outright. Saucy Glossie blogger Lindsay Calla, who has also been a Coach guest blogger, said in a recent New York Times article, “anybody that renders their services wants to be compensated.”

 

Calla and some 50 other bloggers leave those details to The Digital Brand Architects, a social media consulting agency and talent management firm that makes sure bloggers get their due. In the same article, Karen Robinovitz, who co-founded the agency in August 2010 with Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, said, “We really approach this from the perspective that a literary agent would with an author … We’re focused on their talent.”

 

And not unlike a literary agency, The Digital Brand Architects gets a slice of whatever its talent gets paid. Thanks to DBA’s overtures, Calla got a starring role as “the voice of real girls” in one of retailer TJ Maxx’s fall commercials.

 

Do bloggers really have enough influence (and make enough money?) to warrant professional management? Some of them do. The blogger known as BryanBoy recently signed a contract with Creative Artists Agency, the firm that counts Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Jamie Foxx among its clients.

 

 

But Chung, who characterizes his online following as “modest,” says partnering with even a lesser-known blogger can still be highly valuable, because bloggers tend to have a preexisting connection with their readers that brands can’t create through advertising or traditional promotions.

 

Readers connect with bloggers “because they have similar interests or similar style,” he said. “When a brand is introduced to me that way, I’ll consider it more for purchase than I would if I saw it on a celebrity.”

 

Still, he’s careful to mention that not every brand needs to run out to find a blogger to partner with. When he’s not blogging, Chung consults fashion and beauty brands on how to create their own digital footprints – and that can include partnering with a blogger.

 

However, Chung says he only advises working with a blogger if a brand’s “objective is to gain a new audience or potential consumers,” adding that “if the objective is completely different, like stronger ecommerce, there are definitely other platforms to pursue.”

 

But for now, when it comes to brand building and audience feedback, collaborating with bloggers can be an interesting way for brands to delve into an untapped market, or simply to change the way they’re perceived in the digital space.

 

“When working with bloggers, you give them freedom for the communication to be in their own voice, and it’s definitely much more organic in that way,” Chung said. “It’s put in the context of the lives of the bloggers, instead of how the brand sees it.”