Retail sales might be slow but Vogue Fashion’s Night Out (VFNO) showed it can still pull in a crowd, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.
The event by the News Corp magazine had a record 700 stores participating across both Sydney and Melbourne, with brands such as American Express, R.M. Williams and David Jones onboard.
The Sydney event attracts more than 200,000 people to the CBD, according to Vogue, and the City of Sydney claims VFNO delivered more than $30 million to the CBD retail economy last year.
Events such as VFNO have become important both for retailers fighting sluggish sales, with the Australia Bureau of Statistics showing retail sales continued to decline in July despite expectations it would be lifted by tax cuts, and for magazines looking for alternative revenue streams in the face of declining ad sales.
Diana Kay, Vogue Australia marketing director, says the event has remained strong 10 years in by meeting consumers’ rising demand for experiences.
“VFNO gives consumers the insider access they are seeking by making them feel valued more than ever with experiences and value added offers throughout the CBD,” Kay told AdNews.
“We deliver our retail customers shoppers ready to spend; and with like-minded brands such as our naming rights partner American Express, their investment in the event better connects our participating retailers and the Vogue audience.”
This year also marks the launch of Vogue’s VIP Members Lounge for subscribers at the event.
Last month the magazine launched its Vogue VIP offering which has already seen an increase of more than 300% on average monthly new subscriptions.
“We're absolutely thrilled with the results,” Kay says. “Seeing how engaged our customers are with the program has exceeded our expectations with subscribers pre-registering in droves to attend last night's Vogue VIP members lounge.
“Importantly, we're converting our digital customer on platform with over 65% of the acquisitions coming via the Vogue platform.”
The launch event with Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Edwina McCann and Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore.
Vogue VIP is part of News Corp’s subscription-based business model, a shift many publishers have taken to replace falling advertising revenue.
“We did extensive research to tightly map our consumer needs and wants and through this process it became very clear that readers value more access to the brand and that a rewards program would positively impact their consideration to subscribe,” Kay says.
“Vogue VIP’s core verticals provide our customers with exclusive offers, insider access and events allowing them to get as close to the brand and the people behind it as possible.”
Vogue Australia’s Vogue Codes was the winner of last year’s Event of the Year at the The Australian Magazine Awards. Entries for 2019 have opened, with a range of new categories across journalism, photography and research.
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