DKNY digital strategy has been the DKNY PR Girl whose Twitter account has been increasingly of interest for young people. The person behind these influential tweets is Aliza Licht, the senior vice president of Global Communications of Donna Karan International. Her Twitter page claims her to be a ‘well-placed fashion source bringing you behind-the-scenes scoop from inside Donna Karan New York and DKNY’ and that she is a PR girl living in NYC. This pioneering PR has been referred to as "a maven, an expert, in this fashion industry and embraces totally the potential of social media to engage with followers and presents an entirely new slant on what it means to work in public relations" - (Kelsey manning, Levo Magazine, 2014)
The Twitter page is updated hourly with comments about celebrities wearing DKNY, up and coming campaigns, interviews with ENews and retweets from fans who are wearing their favourite piece of DKNY. aliza licht says "I love the constant real time global interaction" (interview with steve adubato, youtube, 2014). PR Girl aims to keep in touch with all her followers to ensure they maintain the appeal of the brand, promoting interaction with fans and followers, asking questions and showing interesting pictures and posting comment. all to keep fans following her and the brand; the whole point of social media advertising.
The Twitter page is, as a result of its content, much more personal than the website. It is aimed at the young fashionista, single or married, but one who has time to check social media. The page is about the merchandise but also brings in the evolving career and lifestyle of a woman who works in public relations tweeting about her life in general, about television programmes and conversations with friends. It could be argued that DKNY PR Girl, does not tweet enough about dkny. aliza licht said in an interview "I don't tweet about clothes, it is really a view into my job" - (interview with Star luxe, youtube, 2012). she is recognised for her witty, clever comments and informative and fashionable approach but do the prospective, or existing, clients like or appreciate this? It could be a downside of DKNY advertising and it needs to be asked whether some of these lifestyle comments perhaps should be cut out leaving more space and time for the merchandise. Quoting Aliza talking, in her book, about social media she has commented: ‘If you wish to start establishing a digital presence from the ground up, then find things you like and turn them into social moments.’ - (Licht.A, 2014: 6). So here the advertising department of DKNY clearly believe that there should be this connection between merchandise and ‘social moments’. Obviously all good advertising connects with environment and social or working time, depending on what is being advertised. Yet it still could be argued that DKNY PR Girl is tweeting too much about her personal likes and dislikes. It needs to be proved that the public like this and, most importantly, that it encourages buying.
Are these tweets relevant? Should these tweets be more relevant to DKNY rather than her career? Should she develop a much stronger connection with DKNY website to help promote herself and the brand?
