Do Fashion Brands Need Creative Strategy?

Creative strategy is one of the hottest topics in the online eCommerce community, especially now that brands are feeling the impact of Meta's Andromeda update.

Johnny Hickey, the co-founder of PerfectWhiteTee–recently shared that he doesn't have a creative strategist role at the brand. He doesn't think that fashion brands need "creative strategy":

I partially agree–fashion brands don't need creative strategy the way that problem/solution brands define it.

But they do need some data-backed principles guiding their merchandising and creative decisions, as those relate to Meta ads. In this issue, I will break it all down for you.

What Is Creative Strategy?

The "creative strategist" job description is slightly different within every organization. But these are the core duties of the role:

• Determine which angles, avatars and creative formats the brand should prioritize based on research and ad performance data
• Brief those ads to graphic designers, creators and video editors
• Review ad performance, determine which ads to iterate on, and use learnings to guide go-forward creative priorities

In some organizations, creative strategists do double-duty as video editors, graphic designers or creators. In larger brands, a senior strategist oversees the roadmap and manages juniors who handle specific types of creative (statics, creator videos, VSLs, etc).

The underlying assumption: the brand has a "problem-solution" narrative that can be communicated through a direct response marketing framework.

The strategist's job is to determine which angles the brand can credibly use, the best way to support those angles via copy and claims, and the most effective way to communicate those ideas to the target audience.

And that's exactly why this role isn't a good fit for many fashion brands.

Why Is This A Bad Fit For Fashion Brands?

Most fashion brands aren't problem-solution products. You buy fashion because you like the way it looks and the way it makes you feel. And explaining those things overtly can cheapen the brand.

When you're developing Meta ads for fashion products, the product itself is the angle. Ads that feature best sellers almost always outperform ads featuring any other products.

For that reason, the majority of the creative strategist's traditional job description becomes irrelevant.

There are a few exceptions to this rule:

First: some wearable products have a major functional component. Kizik shoes are one example. In the brand's early years, it ran a large number of direct response, problem-solution style ads.

Second: as fashion brands move "up the funnel"–beyond the in-market audience for the specific item they're selling–they need to broaden scope and speak to use cases or emotionally driven angles that have some overlap with direct response.

Donni runs several ads with use case/persona based messaging. This probably evolved naturally as the team reviewed customer feedback. But a fractional creative strategist could scale this approach.

What Should Fashion Brands Do Instead?

Fashion brands need less help with angle selection/development, and more help bringing the design, merchandising and creative teams into alignment.

If I had to write a "creative strategist for fashion" job description, this is what I would put into it:

• Develop the shot list for core seasonal asset development–which products should be shot in which visual style(s)?
• Create the testing plan for each new delivery–how will the brand place products into ad sets to determine its "scalers"?
• Evaluate winning ads weekly and determine the best path for iterating on those ideas.
• Put an influencer and/or in-house creator program in place to ensure that the brand gets net-new photo and video assets weekly.
• Communicate with merchandising–keep them in the loop of Meta best sellers and ensure "Meta-friendly" products are included in every new drop.
• Mine reviews, comments and customer service logs to determine opportunities for use case and persona messaging.

Here's the catch–it's hard enough for problem-solution brands to find creative strategists. The role I outlined above basically doesn't exist yet.

A founder who is hands-on in the ad account can probably do a lot of this him- or herself. That's exactly what Johnny is doing at PerfectWhiteTee.

But if you need help sorting through creative/merchandising strategy for your brand–I can be that partner. Click here to book a call with me and learn more.