LEA SEYDOUXbares all!

£ 12

CAROLINACOMESTO TOWN

BAGS OF STYLEWhat will you carry?

INSIDE LONDON’S Hottest Niche Agency…

FRONT ROW

INSTORE

2

4

Established 12 years ago as a niche agency to specialise in the luxury sector, we are a full-service communications agency working with clients in fashion, beauty, grooming, luxury lifestyle and the travel sectors.

We believe that, in the current climate especially, agencies should be highly accountable and that a campaign only works if it is creative, strategic, different and highly visible across all the most appropriate media channels.

We have extensive experience in the creation and implementation of dynamic campaigns for our client base – campaigns that achieve media stand-out and that ultimately drive sales and help our clients to achieve their desired goal – and have won international awards for our campaigns for both Carolina Herrera and Prada.

We are extremely well connected - not only with top journalists and leading bloggers but also with stylists, agents, celebrities, opinion formers, creatives, venues and events, ensuring that we get you covered, worn, carried and seen in all the most appropriate places. Our creative and thoughtful approach has seen us retain big brands over long periods.

If you are seeking the best results and a campaign delivered with a flair and imagination, we would like to tell you more about Front Row and how we can help you build your ideal communications campaign.

Best, Maria and Matt Directors - FRONT ROW PR

DIRECTORS Maria Blake and Matt Forbes-Dale

FASHION DIRECTOR Emma Kelleher

BEAUTY DIRECTOR Rosa Sibaja

SENIOR ACCOUNTS EXEC Samantha Bentley

ACCOUNT ASSISTANT Lucy Cox and Harbie Pearman

SPECIALIST CONSULTANTS Kate Piesse, Matt Thomas and Jenna Tinson

EVENTS Sam Ward

EVENT PRODUCTION Maurits Van Der Rudhe

DESIGN AND WEB This is ABCD

FRONT ROW PR Unit C6, The Depot, 2 Michael Road, London SW6 2AD

Tel: +44 (207) 7731 6077

E: matt@frontrowcom.co.uk

www.frontrowcom.co.uk

Twitter: @FrontrowPR

F R O N T R O W P R

Helloand welcome toFRONT ROW

8 WHAT CAN FRONT ROW DO FOR YOUR BRAND?

Introducing niche agency Front Row PR and how we can help to build

your ideal campaign.

32 BEAUTIFUL!Front Row beauty clients in the

media eye.

26 WELL GROOMEDMen’s scents in the style press.

34 IN THE PICTUREA peek into our Instagram archives!

24 HEAVEN SCENT! Everything’s coming up roses with Front Row’s fragrance coverage.

30 SU MAN, SUPERSTAR!

A look at our campaigns for super-facialst, Su Man.

20 CAROLINA COMES TO TOWN!

A case study of our work with designer Carolina Herrera.

16 DOWN ON THE STREET AT LFW

Inside Aspinal of London’s London Fashion Week “street style” event.

35 FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Front Row Directors Maria Blake and Matt Forbes-Dale spill the beans.

12 FASHIONA stylish selection of our fashion

coverage.

14 BAGS OF STYLEIt-bags make a splash on the fashion pages and get carried by the hottest

faces in town.

C O N T E N T S

18 MEN’S STYLEA hot pick of men’s fashion in the press.

8

As a full service communications agency with extensive experience in all areas of PR and communications

we are in a position to offer

WHAT CAN FRONT ROW DO FOR YOUR BRAND?

STRATEGY

Based on our extensive experience in public relations, we can help you to develop the right strategy for your campaign, with actions and focuses that will get you noticed by media and consumers alike.

1

CONSULTANCY

We can assist you in terms of how to best position your brand and offer (pre or post launch), consulting on all elements of the marketing mix and presentation, from visuals and advertising creative, social media and web design, to product presentation, packaging and the way you define and describe yourself. We are also connected to a network of creative teams who can assist in terms of photography, styling, web creation, copy writing and printed collateral.

2

TARGETED CAmPAIGNS

Our press connections, both with print and digital media, are second to none and we have vast experience of how to best run a press campaign, from implementation and launch through to retaining media attention during the harder, shoulder periods. From first contact through to added special touches, we ensure that your campaign is faultlessly executed and highly visible throughout. We are tenacious and think as much about your more fallow periods as we do about your big launch event.

3

WHAT CAN FRONT ROW DO FOR YOUR BRAND?

ENDORSEmENTSWe are connected with a wide network of celebrities, stylists, fixers, bloggers and personal assistants and can deliver the most appropriate celebrity connection for your brand. Whether you are looking for a special guest designer, someone to carry your new “it-bag” or the hottest face to attend your launch, we’ll help you achieve your goals.

6 EVALUATION

When the time comes to evaluate your campaign, we are here to support and can provide regular reporting or evaluation criteria in the format you desire. We will collate clippings, supply reports, keep press cuttings books for you, evaluate your media campaign as required and scan and send coverage directly on publication, so that you can track and evaluate your campaign from start to finish.

7

RELATIONSHIPS & PARTNERSHIPS

We work hard to help our brands and see the bigger picture. For example, you might need help in terms of reaching the attention of key buyers as well as key media, and we have helped many of our clients achieve listings in the retail environments they have been seeking. In addition, we are well experienced in the creation of strategic brand partnerships and linking synergistic brands on projects for mutual benefit, whether this be sourcing drinks sponsors for an event or forging a creative collaboration around a product launch.

5

EVENTSWe put on great events, small and large-scale, working within your budget and always delivered with imagination and flair. From celebrity cocktail events to a secret gig, an underground rave to a formal luncheon – we deliver something that is not only project-relevant but works as hard as it can to deliver turnout and ensuing coverage. We don’t advise “events for events sake”, but when the time is right, be assured, we will pull out all the stops.

4

INSTORE

10

12

FASHION

FASHIONWe’ve got it covered!

14

FASHION

It-bags and it-girls in the press

16

FASHION

Front Row were tasked with involving retained client Aspinal of London with London Fashion Week, and decided on an event themed around street style but designed with customers in mind, as London Fashion Week can often be something of a closed book to fashion industry outsiders. We negotiated a media partnership with Glamour magazine and the Marylebone Hotel as location partner, and organised a Saturday brunch event, to be compered by TV presenter Angela Scanlon. The event was pre-publicised on Glamour’s website and via Glamour and Aspinal’s social media. A creative display of Aspinal’s Marylebone bags (appropriate to the venue) were set up in the space, plus a step and repeat board where attendees were snapped in their own street style looks. The best street style look of the day won a bag and guests also engaged with a talk on street style where Glamour’s Executive Fashion Director Claudia Mahoney was in conversation with blogger Ella Catliff/ La Petite Anglaise. Models 1 were also in attendance scouting for new faces and guests enjoyed complimentary breakfast canapés and smoothies plus a goodie bag which included an Aspinal gift, Marylebone Hotel discount card, Nails Inc nail varnish and a copy of the latest issue of Glamour. Guests were then invited to the Aspinal store around the corner, where special discounts awaited them as well as manicures by Nails Inc in colours designed to match the latest Spring/Summer bags. The event generated extensive social media activity and press coverage and also resulted in high-level takings for the Marylebone High Street store, plus an even longer waiting list for the sold-out Marylebone Tech bag.

#wHIcHmArYLEbONEArEYOU

DOwN ON tHE StrEEt At

LONDON FASHION WEEk

18

FASHION

MEN’S STYLE Tailored coverage that measures up!

INSTORE

20

CAROLINAcomes to town

A household name in the States, a legend in Spanish speaking countries, Carolina Herrera’s name was yet to resonate in the UK when Front Row were first asked to assist in profile-raising for the brand. The mission: “We want the name to be big enough in the UK for us to open standalone stores in this territory.”

We started by immersing ourselves in the brand, the family and its fascinating history, from Carolina’s dressing of each and every First Lady through to her party days in Mustique and at Studio 54 and Andy Warhol’s factory . Ensuring that there was a route to news and sales, we pitched features initially around the Carolina Herrera New York bridal lines, available at Browns, and the possibility to purchase or order CHNY looks from Harrods. We seeded in key fashion pieces to major shoots and made sure all the key UK fashion press were invited to Carolina’s New York Fashion Week shows. We created updated biographies and sold in the fascinating story of the life of Mrs Herrera, her family and working relationships with her daughters Carolina and Patricia. We had soon secured features and cover stories across all the most important target media, including Vogue, Harpers, Tatler, The Telegraph and The Times.

We also created a UK initiative, the 212 Innovation Awards, linking the brand to the arts and, under the patronage of daughter Carolina who had worked as a film producer, set up a competition for aspiring young filmmakers in conjunction with the National Film and Television School, Marmalade and Little White Lies magazine, with a gala awards ceremony held at the Electric Cinema and the chance for directors to attend courses at the NFTS and to shadow a major director as prizes. This afforded additional brand exposure across the arts and features pages.

When major features – from at homes to Q&A’s and family-orientated profiles – had appeared across every major target and fashion items had been seeded into top shoots, the brand decided the time was indeed right to bring CH Carolina Herrera to London.

To celebrate the launch of the first store in Mount Street, Mayfair, we partnered with Vanity Fair magazine and Graydon Carter and his wife hosted a special lunch for Carolina across the road from the store at the Connaught Hotel. Guests could then walk across for a first view of the store in the company of Mrs Herrera, and she also met with all top editors to give them a personal tour as well as sitting for interviews and London portraits.

Such was the success of the store that a site was sought for a second London outlet and found opposite Bibendum at Brompton Cross. For the opening, coinciding with the launch of Mrs Herrera’s iconic White Shirt Collection, we filled the windows with outsize white shirts, dressed celebrity guests including Amber Le Bon, (who also DJed) , Julia Restoin Roitfield and Olivia Palermo in key pieces from the collections. Martinis were served from retro pop up trolley bars, Mrs Herrera and Carolina made a special appearance and a film made by Carolina about her mother’s special affinity with the white shirt was shown on screens throughout the store.

The brand is now planning a third London store in addition to bringing “red carpet “brand Carolina Herrera New York to the capital. Front Row PR won first prize for their coverage levels in a competition against all international press teams and continues to work as retained agency for the brand across fashion, fragrance and personalities.

INSTORE

22

24

bEAUtY

HEAVEN ScENtA pick of our fragrance coverage

26

bEAUtY

WELL GROOMEDSpruce up with the best grooming coverage

INSTORE

28

Front Row PR is the UK agency behind the world’s biggest male fragrance success story of recent years, Paco Rabanne’s 1 Million. Number 1 in the male fragrance charts since its launch four years ago, a bottle is sold every 5 seconds. Now with the launch of Invictus, currently riding at number 3 in the male fragrance charts, Paco Rabanne have another smash success on their hands!

30

bEAUtY

SU MAN,SUPErStAr

When facialist Su Man was introduced to us, she already had an enviable client list, having worked on the faces of “faces” including Anne Hathaway and Juliette Binoche. She was receiving clients at home in Crouch End, North London - one meeting and facial with Su Man and we were hooked, not only on her incredible and entirely unique technique but also her personality and astonishing life story. She had grown up as one of the daughters of a poor farming family in Taiwan, but had made her own luck and fortune, first saving to go to Germany and knocking on the door of dancer Pina Bausch to ask to dance for her, then combining her dance training with an innate love of nature and beauty to devise a totally different method of facial beauty.

Knowing the typical habits of fashion editors, we thought a central London residency was imperative, and had Su Man introduced to the newly opened Away Spa at the W Hotel. Here, Su Man could more easily receive beauty editors, opinion formers and celebrities. Such was the sell-out success of this weekly residency that the W have annually toured Su Man to W Hotels across the globe, from New York to Singapore and the Maldives, resulting in international coverage in Self, Town & Country magazine and WWD, plus celebrity meetings with Sienna Miller, Jenna-Louise Coleman and Naomi Campbell to name but a few.

Having garnered an array of rave reviews, it was time to take the next steps and start to help establish the Su Man beauty brand. We consulted on all aspects of the brand, from product design and packaging to copy, and introduced the brand to the most appropriate retail doors, securing listings on launch at Selfridges, Cult Beauty and Net-a-Porter.com.

The product range was launched with a series of one to one workshops led by Su Man herself, and we achieved saturation coverage with products reviewed alongside major brands in titles including Vogue, Harpers, Tatler, Marie Claire, In Style, Sunday Times Style, Mail on Sunday YOU magazine, The Times and Stella magazine. Products were also gifted to celebrities for testing, resulting in endorsements from the likes of Kylie Minogue.

We additionally entered the products into the most appropriate beauty awards: Su-Man won Best Anti-ageing product for her Velvet Skin Brightening Serum at the Beauty Shortlist awards, “Best Cleanser” at the Tatler Beauty Awards for her Purifying Cleansing Gel Oil, Best New Premium Skincare Product for her Exfoliating Facial Polish at the Pure Beauty Awards and Best Face Exfoliator at the Women’s Health Future 50 2014 awards.

Additional activity for Su Man, including special appearances for mini facials at Selfridges, The Carlyle in New York and a further residency at the Beauty A La Carte rooms at Fortnum and Mason, have resulted in the rise and rise both of her brand and facial business.

A super-facialist is born!

32

bEAUtY

BEAUTIFUL!

Let your brand shine

34

In theThey say a picture says a thousand words - in our experience, sometimes less, sometimes even more! We love sharing all our news and musings via social media, so please follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest from Front Row and our world.

@FRONTROWPR

FRONTROWPR

PICTURE

36

With over twenty years PR and Marketing experience, Matt Forbes-Dale started out as a journalist before entering the world of PR. He has been co-director of Front Row PR for the last 12 years.

How did you get into the business? I studied film and creative writing at UEA, and worked originally in film and film journalism. One day a friend asked me to help out in a press office, writing releases for a week. I stayed for three years! I moved around in the industry from in-house to agency for a variety of clients ranging from fashion designers to retail concepts, Channel 4 Television to Red Bull and Absolut. It was useful to have a writing and journalism background and I found that my strengths were also in creative partnerships and events . Along the way I met Maria Blake. When she started Front Row and asked me the question, I said yes, without hesitation!

What’s your favourite part of the job? The people and the creative bits.

What do you do in your spare time? Watching movies, reading, writing, G&Ts, music, friends and travel...

How do you think PR is changing? Social media, bloggers and the rise and rise and unstoppable rise of celebrity culture. You have to think fast and you have to think faces!

Describe one of your favourite projects/ campaigns. The 212 Innovation film awards we set up for Carolina Herrera. I like projects that involve the creative arts, partnerships, helping new talent and putting something back, if possible. This did all of the above, and more!

What's a typical day like for you? Often starts with eggs somewhere in the West End, catching up with media contacts. A client update or meeting, scanning the media back in the office, then emails, emails, calls, more emails, internal meetings and out for more meetings . Sometimes an event to organise or attend or switching off over something subtitled and odd!

How do you deal with stress? Usually with laughter!

If you weren’t in PR, you would be..? A writer, a journalist, another sort of storyteller...

Your motto? “Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”

mATT FORBES-DALE

5mINUtESwith...

Maria worked in the sales side of media for Condé Nast and the Guardian before realising there was a gap in the market for accountable PR in the luxury sector. She set up Front Row PR 13 years ago and has not looked back.

How did you get into the business? I started off on the advertising and marketing side, first selling airtime at Capital Radio. Enjoying the sales aspect of the role, I moved onto becoming Advertising Manager at Vanity Fair Magazine and soon became Advertising Manager across both Vanity Fair and Tatler. I was poached by Guardian Newspapers to run their fashion advertising sales across the Guardian and Observer and to re-launch the Guardian Weekend magazine. I left to become Marketing Director at Rapier advertising agency, running marketing and PR and from there left to set up Front Row PR.

What’s your favourite part of the job? Meeting great people, clients and journalists alike, dashing from meeting to meeting, and covering a breadth of topics from digital to print, to sales to online. PR has become so much more fast-paced in this digital age and I love it!

What do you do in your spare time? Train for marathons, yoga, passion-fruit martinis, surfing and kite surfing.

How do you think PR is changing? Digital has had a huge effect on PR -we can now hit millions with one tweet from an exceptional blogger. It‘s a very interesting time and I’m very happy to be taking part in this transition.

Describe one of your favourite projects/ campaigns. The Aspinal campaign, which started as promoting an online business and now, well...

What's a typical day like for you? I never start the day without hot water and lemon – our super facialist Su-Man has taught me well! Then it’s off to a breakfast meeting and a follow up coffee with another title that I will have top and tailed to save my time. Then a quick cycle back to our Kings Road offices and the email and phone won’t stop for the rest of the day with numerous requests and proactive sell-in.

How do you deal with stress?Mediation, yoga and cycling between meetings gives me breathing space

If you weren’t in PR, you would be..? Running yoga retreats in Bali!

Your motto? ‘You can choose to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. ’

mARIA BLAKE

ASPINAL OF LONDON www.aspinaloflondon.com

CAROLINA HERRERA NEW YORK www.carolinaherrera.com

CH CAROLINA HERRERA www.carolinaherrera.com

COmmE DES GARCONS PARFUmS www.come-des-garcons.com

ICON HOUSE Coming soon

LA mAISON www.lamaisonghana.com

LETOONIA RESORTS www.letooniaresorts.com

NINA RICCI www.ninaricci.com

PACO RABANNE www.pacorabanne.com

PRADA PARFUmS www.pradaparfums.com

REALINE BEAUTY www.realinabeauty.com

mOTUS STRENGTH www.motusstrength.com

SANTOKU www.yoloxperiences.com

SU mAN www.su-man.com

SYNERGY www.mrs-ritchie.com

VALENTINO GRAGRANCES www.valentino.com

O U R C L I E N T S

INSTORE

38

T H E M A RY LEB O N E “ T E C H ”R E C H A R G E Y O U R T E C H G A D G E T S O N T H E G O

ASP

INA

LOFL

ON

DO

N.C

OM

• +

44 (

0) 1

428

6481

80

ASPINAL_Grazia_MonochromeMarylebone_Nov14.indd 1 20/11/2014 12:53:33