This post follows on from similar articles focusing on Coca-Cola and McDonalds

#BloomiesLovesUK

During the months of September and October, Bloomingdale’s ran a ‘Love Great Britain’ campaign in which it collaborated with 50 iconic British fashion brands such as Burberry and Reiss.

Social activity for the initiative centred on the #BloomiesLovesUK hashtag which was used to promote different product ranges and more than 60 in-store events.

The hashtag tied together social activity across all of Bloomingdale’s’ social channels, which included a Pinterest board setup in partnership with Visit Britain to promote the ‘Great British Invasion’.

British popstars were also drafted in as part of the promotional activity, with Jake Bugg and Rita Ora among those giving concerts. 

Selfie competition

What could be more perfect for promoting a fashion brand then a selfie competition?

During October, Bloomingdale’s invited Instagram users to submit photos of themselves using the hashtag #BloomieSelfie alongside details of their favourite beauty or styling tip.

This is a great way of tapping into a contemporary phenomenon to promote the brand and associate it with popular culture.

The entries were posted on Bloomingdale’s’ beauty site where people could vote for their favourite. This obviously gained additional exposure as entrants asked their social circles to vote for them.

The eventual winner was this young lady, who took home a £1,000 gift card. Her style tip was to wear lipstick…

#GivePink

Bloomingdale’s ran a series of promotions during October as part of its efforts to raise money for breast cancer charities.

Alongside a number of promotions tied to its store card, the retailer donated $1 to charity for every ‘like’ and share of its #BloomiesPink photo on Facebook and also gave Instagram users the chance to win cosmetics goodies if they uploaded a photo of their pink nails using the campaign’s hashtag.

Furthermore, Bloomingdale’s partnered with Zynga’s Words with Friends to launch game boards that had been customised by celebrities including Bob Carey, Donna Karan and Elizabeth Hurley. 

Bloomingdale’s has a long association with raising money for breast cancer charities, and tying it to social is a great way of helping to raise awareness about its charitable endeavours.

#BloomiesBeauty

This is a very simple campaign that ran at the end of last month, but managed to achieve more than 150 mentions on Twitter according to Topsy.

Users were encouraged to share their beauty routine using the hashtag #BloomiesBeauty for a chance to win cosmetics and a $250 gift card.

It wasn’t hugely successful, but it is a good example of how a very simple execution can gain decent exposure through social. 

Google Hangout

Last Christmas Bloomingdale’s hosted a Google Hangout with several bloggers to give consumers ideas for Christmas gifts.

The execution wasn’t perfect as there was some audible chatter in the background, however it’s good to see brands trialling new social formats.

Many brands are rightly unconvinced about the benefits of maintaining an active Google+ page, yet I think there is some value in using Hangouts as a way of engaging with customers on a personal level. 

People were able to submit their questions ahead of time to the bloggers or tweet them during the event using the hashtag #BloomingdalesHangout.

Judging by the fact that Bloomingdale’s hasn’t repeated the Hangout trial, it’s likely that it wasn’t overwhelmed by the results.