Title	GREEN LOOK
Brand	ROMANI DESIGN
Product/Service	GREEN LOOK TOP
Category	G04. Social Behaviour
Entrant	WAVEMAKER HUNGARY Budapest, HUNGARY
Idea Creation	WAVEMAKER HUNGARY Budapest, HUNGARY

Name	Company	Position
Orsolya Szladovics	Wavemaker Hungary	Creative Director
Marton Jedlicska	Wavemaker Hungary	Chief Creative Officer
Zoltán Mendrei	Wavemaker Hungary	Head of Art
Julia Kegyes	Wavemaker Hungary	Senior Copywriter
Agota Benedek	Wavemaker Hungary	Senior Copywriter
Eszter Kovács	Wavemaker Hungary	Senior Art Director
Nóra Lakocky	Wavemaker Hungary	Account Director
Krisztina Bozzai	Wavemaker Hungary	Art Director

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Pandemic has fundamentally changed people’s clothing buying habits because they spend their days in quarantine and virtual monotony. Suddenly, they didn’t really need new clothes, or if they did, they sought wallet-friendly solutions. In other words, they ordered cheaper, fast fashion pieces, and even that they felt guilty about because their desire for renewal had not gone away even while living only online. That's why small fashion brands got into trouble around the world. Romani Design's Green Look top is a simple green top that answered this problem by giving customers a virtual wardrobe with endless possibilities.

Background

During the coronavirus, small fashion brands got into trouble around the world. This is how it happened in Hungary with Romani Design. Sales of the brand, which preserves traditional Hungarian and Gypsy patterns in its modern collections, fell to almost zero with the spread of the virus. The mass-produced clothing market, despite the virus, they came out with newer and newer collections every 2 weeks, nonetheless. As a local small business, Romani Design wanted to compete with this in the market for women and men aged 18-50, bearing in mind that their customers had spent their working hours and lived their social life virtually in the past year, mostly with the help of the Zoom app.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Green Look top is a single green top that provides a virtual wardrobe with endless possibilities in the name of slow fashion because customers get enough online outfits for several weeks for their virtual meetings. The idea came from using the green effect feature built into Zoom. Buyers received dozens of Romani patterns with the green top they bought, so they didn’t have to spend unnecessarily on fast fashion pieces. In fact, they were able to dress variedly in the name of slow fashion from the price of a single designer top. The idea has proved so successful that after Green Look was launched, Romani Design’s sales increased by 85% compared to the average of previous months. As a matter of fact, Green Look has become so popular that it has been shared by prominent representatives of the Hungarian fashion industry as well as the most important fashion magazines.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Spending on new clothes during the COVID pandemic is a ridiculous, yet very human need. The members of the target group, however, also crave renewal and pretty, new clothes, even while they’re caged between four walls. At the same time, they buy new garments with a guilt-trip, especially from fast fashion brands, as they are also characterized by the importance they attach to environmental protection. This is what Green Look responded to: by purchasing their top, customers would not only support a local fashion brand, but also make an environmentally conscious decision without having to give up on refreshing their wardrobe.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The way the Green Look top worked was very simple: the t-shirt ordered from the Webshop was sent by mail with access to additional, virtually usable patterns. The top was promoted on social media through Romani’s channels with Facebook and Instagram fashion tutorial videos explaining how it works. Influencers that were fans of the brand shared the Green Look top sent to them for free, thus spreading the word among the target group. We advertised Green Look on Facebook and Instagram in short fashion videos, and our PR material was taken over by the biggest Hungarian fashion magazines such as Glamour and Marie Claire.

List the results (30% of vote)

The idea quickly spread among Hungarian fashion bloggers, influencers and magazines, so many people shared it right away, bringing the brand to roughly EUR 115,000 earned media from its EUR 1,000 campaign budget. Romani Design was invited as a guest on several TV and radio channels and conversation began in the trade about how difficult times local small fashion brands were facing. As a result, the brand’s sales grew by 85% compared to the average of previous months following Green Look’s product launch.

Please tell us about the social behaviour that inspired the work

During the coronavirus, small fashion brands got into trouble around the world. This is how it happened in Hungary with Romani Design. Why? During the epidemic, people didn’t really need new clothes, or if they did, they sought wallet-friendly solutions. In other words, they ordered cheaper, fast fashion pieces, and even that they felt guilty about, because their desire for renewal and trendy attire had not gone away even while being confined between the walls of their room.