Instagram bests Vine for fashion marketers with video option

Luxury fashion marketers are not likely to make use of social-mobile platform Vine now that Instagram introduced 15-second video capabilities, which will be added to the application’s extensive image filtering options.

Instagram announced June 20 a partnership with Facebook that would bring video to the app, putting the platform in a position to compete directly with Twitter's Vine. However, marketers must now decide which platform will give them the creative options and the best audience.

“Video will always be a more compelling format for brand storytelling,” said Marko Z. Muellner, senior director of marketing at Shoplgniter, Portland, OR.

“But platforms that deliver both will win,” he said. “Instagram now leapfrogs Vine and becomes the only solution for creating and consuming both content formats.

“The ability to post slightly longer, but still short, videos increases the potential for value and the Instagram filters and cinema feature will go a long way towards making the videos more artistic.”

15 seconds of fame

Instagram introduced “Video on Instagram” that gives users the ability to create 15-second, non-looping videos through their Instagram accounts, according to the social platform’s blog. 

This puts the platform in competition with Vine. However, the two platforms still have some differences.

With all of the image filters Instagram provides, fashion marketers can find the perfect lighting to make an image look its best. This may give Instagram a creative advantage.

David Yurman Instagram image

“Vine has built a reputation as a comedic platform, whereas Instagram provides an avenue more supportive of artistic modification and ‘selfie’ indulgences,” said Melissa Lynn, wardrobe stylist and founder of Here+Wear, Los Angeles.

“[Instagram offers] more opportunity to glorify an image,” she said. “Now, its 15-second moments via Instagram as it has established credibility among the creative communities.”

Instagram likely made the move to offer the video component since video can be a more compelling way to tell a story. Video can also be especially helpful for fashion marketers to show off their collections.

“Getting a consumer to watch a video is always more preferable to getting one to view a picture,” said Shuli Lowy, marketing director at Ping Mobile, Beverly Hills, CA.

“For fashion marketers, video allows them to showcase more products from their current season and allows them to give the consumer a more complete picture of their offering and a more indelible impression of their brand image and tone,” she said.

Swinging on the Vine

Fashion marketers have been using Vine as more of a tool to help a brand show off its personality and lifestyle in a short moment.

The six-second, looping Vine videos seem to correlate with Twitter’s brevity in content.

“The six-second video cap is an interesting nuance which was pretty foreseeable from a Twitter product,” Ms. Lowy said.

“Many marketers believe that this ‘less is more’ theory has been partially responsible for the success of Twitter as well as many other viral campaigns including The Harlem Shake,” she said.

Currently, fashion marketers are using the platform to show off their spring/summer 2014 menswear campaigns.

Burberry gave a six-second look at its entire collection on the runway.

Burberry Vine post

Marc Jacobs showed sneak previews of the collection through videos of models interacting with one another.

Marc Jacobs Vine post

Other fashion brands use Vine to make their ad campaigns come to life or to show off the lifestyle-aspect of the brand.

For instance, Rebecca Minkoff posted a video of the balloons from New York’s Governor’s Ball Festival.

Rebecca Minkoff Vine post

Since Vine is built to have easy access to Twitter, Vine users can quickly push their message out to followers via their Twitter accounts.

However, Vine is not as widely used as Instagram, which could be a deterrent.

“With today’s Instagram video launch, I’m not sure Vine still has a compelling story for marketers,” ShopIgniter’s Mr. Muellner said. “Instagram has the users and now the ability to create more compelling and beautiful video content.

“Beyond choosing sides between Twitter and Facebook, I'm not sure why luxury brands would choose Vine going forward,” he said.

“For example, Burberry has 849,000 followers on Instagram compared to just 21,000 on Vine. If they're going to create and post short video, where should they do it?”

Final take

Erin Shea, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York