Agenda, Krush Announce Social-Media Deal
Agenda wants the more than 350 brands showing at its upcoming trade show to take some of the risk out of selling their Spring 2012 collections.
For the upcoming West Coast show, scheduled to run Aug. 3–4 in Huntington Beach, Calif., Agenda exhibitors will be able to ask consumers on social-media site Krush what they like and dislike about their Spring 2012 line sheets. Los Angeles–based Agenda and Krush, headquartered in Massachusetts, announced a partnership on July 6. Some Agenda exhibitors have been testing their wares on Krush since early June, said Aaron Levant, the trade show co-founder and president.
“You’re taking out some of the guesswork,” Levant said of Krush’s mix of social media and focus-group marketing. Rather than going to a trade show with a gut feeling of what would sell, designers and salespeople could sell their wares to buyers equipped with a quantifiable reaction from consumers on Krush.
Krush started business in 2010 and counts Orange County, Calif.–based action-sports companies Quiksilver Inc. and C1RCA as clients. At the Krush website, consumers vote on whether they like or dislike new garments and products. Consumers can win prizes and the products exhibited on the website if they discuss and blog about the item on Facebook, Twitter or other forums and consequently convince people on their social networks to like them.
“When fans see a new product they like and then move it out across their own online networks, it’s the best PR a brand could ever have,” said Krush Chief Executive Gina Ashe in a prepared statement.
After the show, Agenda and Krush will release the “Krush Agenda Report.” The research paper will spotlight trends, styles and specific brand items across categories such as top picks for men and women, the most-popular items on the East Coast versus West Coast, and the most-popular colors on items. Levant said Agenda will seek to embrace other new technologies in its show experience.—Andrew Asch
