Part IV MVM in 2008 – From Online Shopping Catalogs to the Era of Personalized Fashion Magazines

Louise Guay sees the online shopping trends moving from a catalog era to a fashion magazine era – where the user is at the center. The world of catalogs has evolved and people are more into the fashion, the fun and the design  – individual creativity will be able to be expressed in the 21st century.
 

Shopping with the fashion magazine concept is something that is currently available with a product like StyleFeeder (personal shopping engine). What is different with Dressing Room and Showroom will be the user interactivity and the additional personalization, search and stylized outfitting search components.

Components like the ability to import any 2D picture on the Web – it will be like developing and creating a personalized Fashion Book. Development of a Fashion Book is what a designer creates when they are preparing a new collection for the season. The user will have the ability to bring in any product even if it’s not tryable and to move it around and rearrange it on the fashion board. It will be a great inspirational tool for students to create fashion trend boards.
 

The user can now superimpose their own face on their MVM model. With the StyleFeeder enhancements, the user can bring in any product from the Web in 2D, MVM is adding the capacity to cutout individual items and outfit – which means that the user can combine 2D and 3D items to become the fashion stylist of the personalized Fashion Book. Each product that is posted on the style display page is set to be recommendable by the user because Style Feeder has a recommendation engine.

Products can be rated by the user and when a user clicks on a particular product, it will trigger synchronous ads for similar products linked to an ad network manager, so the ads will be customized to individual.
 
Users can currently apply makeup on their personalized avatar face. MVM is currently working with another collaborator to integrate these makeover solutions – for the personalized face into the BrandMe Dressing Room application. They will be able to apply makeup, change hair color and style and place the personalized modifications to complete the look on to their own outfitting fashion style board. The user will also have the option to upload their own fashion items. The expanded Dressing Room and Showroom applications that are the result of the MVM/StyleFeeder partnership are scheduled to be released March or the beginning of April, 2008.
 
Louise Guay is very proud and believes in what MVM is developing to reflect the user centric personalization trends that retailers and users are espousing.

[end of ths series]

Part III MVM in 2008 – Adding Value and Brand Loyalty for Retailers

What can the Dressing Room and Showroom outfitting visual display solutions do for the user and the retailer? The upcoming Dressing Room and Showroom outfitting concepts will empower users to create their own individualized personal style fashion books and/or catalogs. They can add value (by increasing the average order) for retailers by driving the top line along with an expansive product assortment from 2D and 3D catalogs. The result will be to drive customer satisfaction to build brand loyalty as well as to acquire new users from the social networking world.

 

 The Dressing Room and Showroom solutions will enable customers to help make the best purchase decisions by seeing the complete look prior to purchasing. The solutions will also provide a platform for the retailer and customer to have a private conversation. The user can shop from the expansive 2D and 3D catalogs where they can visually search for the desired items for fashion including a variety of fashion and accessories or home fashion products including kitchen, bedroom, patio or recreation room.
 

For fashion the user can mix and match apparel and accessories and create their own fashion look ala fashion magazines. Every item will not be tryable because the world is not yet totally available in 3D – but 2D and 3D are combined for the user to access ALL the products.  A personalized style or look can be developed and shared with a group of friends, stored in a personal closet or posted to a fashion network. In turn retailers can then present a targeted product recommendation based on user profile and behavior.
 

The same visual search and sharing concepts and features can be integrated into the Showroom solution. The user will be able to personalize a variety of virtual rooms. Everything that lives together, from major appliances to linens, can be visualized all in one place. User can compare multiple items, to help make the best purchase decision.

The user will be able to create multiple rooms and can add items from the favorites listing to complete a look or to help make purchase decisions. The user will also be able to upload items to complete a customized style or look. They will have access to 2D and 3D catalogs that they can use to furnish and/or decorate multiple rooms (that can be compared, saved, printed, shared and published to a social networking site) with their own personalized style.

Next and last post in this series: Part IV MVM in 2008 – From Online Shopping Catalogs to the Era of Personalized Fashion Magazines

Part II MVM in 2008 – Personalized Shopping Experiences That Connects Users and Advertisers

Currently, MVM company products are being developed primarily as tools for merchants. The tools being developed are user centric and MVM is actively partnering with merchants/retailers to better serve a new era of personalization where it’s all about new personalized advertising and shopping experiences. Guay feels that the real value for merchants is for MVM to develop tools that will empower people in their lives not only to shop in the digital/virtual world but to augment and extend reality to facilitate visual goals in the real world as well.
 
According to Gray, BrandME, I am the Brand is the first social shopping platform that connects advertisers and the users. It is targeted for the apparel, footwear & accessories and home décor market segments As stated in a previous posting BrandMe is a social shopping experience that is focused on the desires, needs and wants of the user. The user can personalize, mix-and-match, create looks, and then share them with their friends and social networks.
 
What is different now with the Dressing Room and Showroom is the integration of expansive 2D and 3D catalogs and powerful search tools to empower users to create thei own personalized fashion look book. The StyleFeeder collaboration has contributed to this expansion of services to include the 2D catalogs and intuitive search tools. This translates into increased time spent on advertiser and publisher sites.

Advertisers/Publishers will also have the ability to create and serve real time targeted relevant, actionable, and non-intrusive advertisement to users as well as the ability to gain insights (correlations between selected items) on user behaviors to optimize their target strategy.

Next Post: Part III MVM in 2008 -  Adding Value and Brand Loyalty for Retailers

Part I MVM in 2008 – Actively Seeking New Partnerships & Collaborations

Exciting developments are continuing to evolve at MVM.
 
In mid-November, 2007 I posted a four part series of an interview I conducted with Louise Guay, president and founder of My Virtual Model.
 
In the Part III posting: Part III: MVM BrandME – A Social Shopping Virtual Identity Experience (SSVIE) Guay spoke of goals for MVM  to establish itself as a World Leader in virtual identity as well as for MVM to provide and enhance the real world’s shopping, personal management, and social experience in the digital world.
 
In the part IV posting: Part IV: MVM – Competitive Advantage in the Near Future (BrandME – Personal ID),   Guay spoke about the company adding BrandMe to Facebook as well as plans to enable the user to upload their face for their personalized virtual model. MVM announced the release of the of the Face application to their personalized virtual model  December 4th, 2007, [BrandMe I Am the Brand Introduces The Face]  
 
During the course of the interview in Part IV, Guay expressed MVM plans to integrate intuitive visual product searches into the BrandMe application. Guay stated that MVM is always open to establishing new partnerships that can result in a more expanded personalized shopping experience for the user.
 
Over the semester break, I contacted Ms. Guay to find out what other new applications and/or partnerships were going to be introduced in the near future. She was very excited and happy to share a preview with me illustrating MVM’s new partnership with  StyleFeeder - a bookmarking (personal shopping) fashion tool  that will substantially empower the user by expanding personalized user options and functions for the Dressing Room and Showroom BrandMe applications as well as offering a variety of personalized advertising and marketing enhancements for retailers. The current MVM agenda is virtual identity, personalization, user generated fashion lookbook creation, outfitting solution, social shopping and targeted advertisement.
 
For the user, MVM’s personalized BrandMe visual search functions will be dramatically expanded and the 3D personalized models will incorporate 2D items as well to enable the user to become an editor of their own personal fashion style lookbook. The integrated unique product search engines and personalized visual display and social sharing functions will empower the user to develop personalized outfitting visual display solutions to mix and match a variety of 2D and 3D fashion garments and accessories to create and share a unique personalized styling look. The art of fashion styling will be democratized so that every user can become the editor of their own online fashion magazine.
 
The goal for the MVM virtual model is for it to be totally user centric and at the same time invite additional brands to adopt BrandMe. New brands using the BrandMe application will have the capacity to reach a new demographic using these collaborative applications. The fashion style lookbook that can be developed using Dressing Room and Showroom can easily be placed on major publishers sites like i-village. Most important and empowering is that “any” user will be able to develop and create a variety of personalized visual display concepts that can easily be embedded on many social sites.

Next post: Part II MVM in 2008 -  Personalized Shopping Experiences That Connects Users and Advertisers

Part IV: MVM – Competitive Advantage in the Near Future (BrandME – Personal ID)

Louise Guay: Founding President of My Virtual Model feels that BrandME is a total social shopping virtual identity experience. MVM will soon be redesigning their Website based on BrandME and visual search.

 In the very near future, MVM will launch The Face. The user can activate a wizard to put a picture of their face into BrandME. The user will then trace the contour and refine it with Photoshop or a program like the Face wizard.

In January 2008, the user will be able to put facial makeup on and change hair color and hairstyles. The face, hair and makeup features will be launched separately on the Sears site but they will always be part of BrandME on the MVM site.

BrandME will also include a user ID feature to protect the users virtual identity.
MVM currently works with companies like Fidelity, Bank of America.  Big corporations are seriously looking at the virtual identity concept because as people are revealing so much personal information and storing it –they need to have the protection, safety and support of big companies.

This user ID feature would contain the users scan, size and the ability to bring it into any stores so that different brands could be mixed and matched. Sears is a very vanguard company that has partnered with MVM on several projects including the BrandME personal platform. Sport companies such as Speedo and Adidas are also very vibrant and dynamic and eager to participate. People can even try the customized T-Shirts that a company like Spreadshirt developed to allow the user to create their own designs. Or perhaps the user can create their own customized chinos and jeans with a company like Archetype or custom garments with OptiTex. The user can store their favorite fashion items in their personal closet. They can post their favorite items on StyleFeeder (a personal bookmaking tool for fashion items).

Doubleclick helps BrandME apply the affiliate program to reward the user. So with DoubleClick, MVM has a revenue model that comparable to a product placement. The brands become advertiser and they pay $5 per 1000 try ons and MVM shares the revenue with the publisher. When the user brings the brand into their personal space MVM will reward them with the affiliate program.

BramdME also has a unique visual search tool  – If you are looking for a one piece swimwear, you first select the straps, front, back that you want. Once you are happy, select the color and then search.

In the near future the user will not select from images of styling elements. In the future the user will sketch by placing points directly onto the virtual model. When they get to a point they like it, then they can search. They can search at any moment. The user can then even add texture to the swimwear and they can see what they will look like if they lose weight at any time.

The user can send their model to themselves as well as to fourteen other social sites. BrandME is very eco – friendly, friends can dress up each other virtual avatar models as well as rate them.

Louise inquired if her discussion and visual presentation about MVM’s past, present and future with BrandME matched my expectations. Her presentation was exceptional and went far beyond my expectations.  MVM is focused and positioned to achieve their mission to create the standard for the virtual identity.

Link to the MCPC 2007 Proceedings
MCPC 2007 NEWS

Part III: MVM BrandME – A Social Shopping Virtual Identity Experience (SSVIE)

Louise Guay: Founding President of My Virtual Model explained that MVM is primarily a retailer and brand oriented company, their initial revenue model was selling licenses. Today they are introducing BrandME – I am the Brand and it says everything. BrandME is all about the user because the user driving the show today.

Guay went on to say users always want to create their avatars humanlike and photorealistic when they shop but the discussion at the MCPC 2007 also focused on imagining that people will be able to control their identity which will result in a high security program for the user and the merchant.

Guay easily imagines that people controlling and managing their profiles containing multiple avatars. Sometimes they will use a cartoon avatar when they want to play games or another type of avatar if they want to attend a conference or date in Second Life or other virtual worlds. They will also use their avatar model to shop because they trust the virtual identity program.

I told Louise that I started reading about Brand ME on the MVM site trying to understand the concept. After I joined FaceBook and added BrandME as an application to my FaceBook page, I realized that BrandME was a type of social networking tool/platform.

Guay said that in the near future more and more brands will continually to be added to BrandME and the user will be able to mix and match different brands. BrandME is a kind of a social shopping virtual identity experience that will enable the user to be more mobile with their virtual model.

Maybe in the future the user will be even be able to take their virtual model into Second Life – wherever they want, and also to change it whenever they want. The mobility and the fun parts are most important as well as the ability to hook it to other social networks. Sending it to your friends or clicking and changing the background because that’s fun.

Next Posting: Part IV: Competitive Advantage in the Near Future (BrandME – Personal ID)

Part II: MVM – 3D Virtual Product Development Workflow

In addition to lifestyle, Louise Guay (Founding President of My Virtual Model) feels that it’s also all about simulation, visualization and prediction. MVM quickly saw that they needed to develop a more cost effective workflow process to justify a return on the initial investment because right now it costs $300.00 to create 3D garments from an existing garment. It would be far more cost effective and easier to produce and justify if a 3D asset is created “before” the actual garment was produced instead if after as it primarily is currently created.

Once the real product is created it’s very difficult to justify it – but if you start with 3D at the beginning then you simulate – you visualize – and you anticipate its potential for sales at the collection level, you will effectively reduce costs. You would start by designing and developing your product virtually and then test the market with a virtual collection. Louise said that MVM is doing that right now with the MVM Digital Merchandising Tool (DMT Web™) with Adidas.

The goal is to go from 2D to 3D and then to sell “before” the product is produced. Designers send their drawings online to the Product Manager and she/he creates their collection online. With this type of 3D virtual product development workflow will be easier to take the digital assets and bring them to an online store to sell, because you planned it that way from the beginning….. and viola!! Then you will cut the development time and the cost.

Sometimes it takes a long time to create a product and then people don’t buy it. Developing via a 3D virtual product development workflow can serve as part of the market test and selling process.  The company does not have to produce what people don’t rate good or well. This concept can also apply home décor.

Next Posting: Part III: BrandME – A Social Shopping Virtual Identity Experience (SSVIE)

Part I: The Roadmap; A Conversation with MVM’s Louise Guay

To begin, Louise Guay (Founding President of My Virtual Model) spoke about the MVM company road map as she put it. She explained that My Virtual Model
 started at the beginning in the B2C world, at the end of the nineties when it was very hard to shop online because the images were very poor. At that time shoppers could not try garments on. She perceived that customers wanted to see how they would look in the garments and they wanted to know how the garment size would look on their personalized figure. Many in the industry felt that the concept of personalization of the models would not work because they thought that customers only wanted to look at beautiful healthy model images

Louise stated that people are attracted to the MVM concept of image personalization and used the popularity of the reality shows as an example. “People love to see themselves as the center of attention,” she is right about that. People also were attracted to the concept of using the personalized model to lose weight and that represents positive self improvement.

At this point in the company history, retailers such as Sears asked MVM to use their technology the way Hollywood people create their set in 3D. Retailers that were working with MVM thought it would be great to create a showroom and then a planner for people to try on the products before they buy them. Soon afterward MVM extended the fashion products to include home décor which is in line with the MVM mission to create the standard for the virtual identity.

According to Louise, it’s  all about lifestyle.

Next Posting: Part II: MVM – 3D Virtual Product Development Workflow

MPCP 2007(cont.): Making Up for Some of What I Missed

I felt bad that I was not able to attend the entire MCPC 2007- HEC Program from the beginning to the end due to the fact that I was severally limited by available air travel options. Because of this I missed the opening remarks, part of the first panel and the Friday morning guided tour and multimedia presentation at My Virtual Model on “Using Virtual Models of products, Customers, and Identities for Competitive Advantage: An introduction into the latest tools, technologies, and strategies.

I took a chance and contacted Louise Guay: Founding President of My Virtual Model and requested a one-on-one telephone conference with her to ask her more about the BrandME application and the future direction of avatars for mass customization and personalization. She was delightfully gracious and not only answered my initial questions but she linked me to her computer and she presented me with the multimedia presentation that I missed at the conference.

I was very excited about the opportunity I was granted to talk with her, Louise’s presentation on the Avatar Marketing: An Extreme Makeover of the Self panel at the MCPC 2007 was one the main incentives I had for attending the conference as avatars for retail marketing and fashion product development are my current professional area of research interest.

What follows will follow this posting will be a four blog part series of Louise Guay’s presentation to me to explain the BrandME social shopping virtual identity experience and Using Virtual Models of products, Customers, and Identities for Competitive Advantage: An introduction into the latest tools, technologies, and strategies.

Part I: The Roadmap; A Conversation with MVM’s Louise Guay
Part II: MVM – 3D Virtual Product Development Workflow
Part III: BrandME – A Social Shopping Virtual Identity Experience (SSVIE)
Part IV: BrandME in the Near Future

Link to the MCPC 2007 Proceedings
MCPC 2007 NEWS

Highlights of MCPC 2007 in Montréal, Canada

 What follows are highlights of the MCPC (Mass Customization and Personalization Conference) business seminar recently hosted by My Virtual Model and held at HEC in Montréal, Canada. My comments focus primarily on areas of interest for Virtual Fashion Technology Education. (Note: I arrived at the conference after it already started – here is a link to multiple viewpoints and the MCPC Blog.)

I really looked forward to the Avatar Marketing: An Extreme Makeover of the Self panel since avatars related to fashion education are my primary research interest. Not all the presenters spoke directly about avatars and some that did, did not focus on the direct impact avatars have on the marketing sector. One such presenter was Christospher Colosi: Second Life: Colossus Linder, Business Development.

Chris spoke primarily about universal avatars. Quite honestly, this Second Life presentation was a disappointment to me. The title of this panel presentation was “Avatar Marketing” and this is exactly the focus of my professional research. Mr. Colosi proceeded to make a very general presentation about what an avatar is and how they can be modified. He also alluded to the emerging partnership between I.B.M. and Linden Lab that I had read 10/10/07 in the NY Times story “Free the Avatars,” that will open standards to allow avatars to roam from one virtual community to another. He did not go on to discuss the potential impact that avatars that can freely move from one virtual world to another can have on business. The company he represents – Second Life is a rich visual 3D virtual world – and he was the only presenter without visuals. 

Sean Ryan: CEO of Donnerwood Media Inc. (Meez) had a highly informative presentation about Meez.com. I wrote about Meez in an earlier blog entry relating to the e-Me site they developed in partnership with MVM for Sears.

Sean stated that in 2008 Meez will give users tools to modify and upload content, he also added that the staff adds 40 3D items per week – 5000 were added so far. He announced that Meez games were launched at the beginning of October 2007. He seemed very pleased that there are about 400+ Meez on U-Tube.

The results of a recent survey surprised him by revealing that mothers are the top user group. He was disappointed in the research feedback that the 3d web is still considered hard to do but was pleasantly surprised at how readily users accepted an integrated activity like Meez.  

Gregory Saumier-Finch: Project Manager – MVM.com and Lousie Guay: Founding President of My Virtual Model spoke about user centric mobility – and the current industry need for a seamless experience. MVM had the technology to be seamless in the past but the industry was not ready. 

MVM’s  latest product BrandME, I am the brand lets users display several brands in their virtual wardrobe and post them on their personal page where visitors can comment on them. Lousie Guay states that BrandME is: “a new tool that gives users the power to personalize and tailor-make their own look by manipulating collections from major brands such as H&M, Levis, and Adidas.  This tool is part of the current transformations that are reshaping retail trade.  Now everyone can follow fashion in their own way.”

She also spoke of the expanded uses of avatars and her presentation seemed to highlight the content of the “Free the Avatars” article in the NY Times. She spoke of the near future where users will own multiple avatars and move seamlessly throughout the virtual worlds.“ She feels that young people are not “stuck” with a perception of reality”

The primary presentation of interest from the Extreme Makeover for Product Creation and Merchandising panel was from Mr. Yoram Burg, President of OptiTex. But the OptiTex product is far to expansive for detailing in this summary and it deserves more then a mere mention. I will submit a separate entry focusing only on the OptiTex application.   Without a doubt, this product represents the future of fashion product development. In Mr. Burg’s words, “3D is not just a tool but the future.” I very much agree with him. The OptiTex product includes PDS – 3D modules – marker – modulate – interfaces (open architecture). 

Some examples of OptiTex partnerships can be found on Brides.com  where the user can create customized bridal gowns. Another on the Virtual Product Presentation  site where the user can order customized patterns. OptiTex worked with Nike to develop the Nike Team Uniform Builder site and the Nike Shoe Designer site. 

The conference was short, and jam packed with interesting presentations highlighting the latest developments in mass customization and personalization. Someone mentioned at the conference that an obstacle preventing wider scale use of mass customization and personalization was a system to input and save standardized measurements. As I listened to these comments I remembered that such a system was recently developed in Korea called i-fashion. I will submit a separate entry for it.