Lenovo stunts becoming unfashionable
Lenovo isn’t having much luck with its sponsorship of fashion weeks, or so they’d like us to think.
First there was that incident with the bloggers not allowed to use their own tablets at Melbourne Fashion Week, and now it is claiming its free gifts for a group of hard up VIPs were pilfered from its show at Sydney Fashion Week as well.
Dr Mumbo was surprised to receive a release from Lenovo’s agency Digivizer trumpeting how national treasure Jessica Mauboy, GQ editor Nick Smith and model Maddison Brown all had the tablets they’d been given by the tech brand pilfered.
He was even more surprised when he put an inquiry into the NSW Police to see if this heinous crime had been reported – only to discover it had not.
How did Lenovo become a sponsor anyway? Surely there is criteria for potential sponsors to be compatible with the Fashion week brand/image. Lenovo is about as far from fashionable and design forward as you can get, will we see Big W gifting granny undies in the swag bags next year? I also wouldn’t be promoting that the named celebrities couldn’t even be bothered to take a free one home with them (stolen *snort*), keep that sort of thing quiet, don’t try to spin it in a release.
Worth inserting the facts into this conversation I think…
Lenovo (our client) agreed to support the collaboration with designer Toni Maticevski facilitated by fashion website Couturing.com.
And it was a collaboration, not a sponsorship.
No fee to the designer, no buying of any rights, no payment for coverage, anywhere. The use of the technology in the show was the designer’s design choice. Lenovo recognised the benefits of the association and were happy to support the concept.
Any and all coverage has been at the discretion of each journalist and blogger.
The tablets were donated, for use by the models on the runway (showing the live feed), and as personalised items as part of the show-bag to the front-row guests, including celebrities. And, once again, neither Lenovo nor Couturing has any commercial relationship with any of those front-rowers – editors, bloggers, celebrities, fashion opinion former. All were chosen by Toni Maticevski and his team.