I attended the inaugural State of Style Summit yesterday, hosted by fashion and style platform, StyleCaster. The event included some of the  fashion industry’s biggest influencers and tastemakers, who discussed fashion and beauty’s changing trends in the digital age. Speakers at the event included Doug Zarkin, VP of Marketing at Kellwood Company (owner of Kaplow clients XOXO, Zobha and Baby Phat), accessories and clothing designer Rebecca Minkoff and Ann Shoket, Editor in Chief of Seventeen.

Here are some key takeaways:

Listen to Your Target Audience on Brand Social Pages:

One of the reasons social media users follow, like, or view brand pages is to be heard by the brand. Consumers regularly share their thoughts about what they like and don’t like about certain products or brand initiatives. Therefore, it is important for brands to listen and respond to these comments. For example, Rebecca Minkoff said she listens to consumer feedback from her social media pages when designing accessories. She once put up on Facebook a photo of a handbag she was working on and asked if it was too tough-looking. Based on consumer-response, she revised the design. Minkoff relishes the opinions of her brand advocates, because at the end of the day, they end up purchasing her products.

Accessible Aspiration – Style Experts, Models, Fashion Blogger Engagement:

When a brand partners with a well-known spokesperson to represent it, it’s important that the spokesperson engages in conversation with consumers via social media. Conversation, tips and tidbits from a style expert, celebrity, model, or blogger are considered a reward to the consumer. They appreciate the connection to these fashion figures because they are now on the same level and platform as they are, where before, these figures were inaccessible.

Consumer Experiences Help Shape a Brand’s Products:

Rebecca Minkoff discussed how the life experiences of her target audience shape the accessories she designs. For example, her best-selling “Morning After” handbag is based on the lives of women ages 20-29 who may be single, dating, or adjusting to life changes. Inside this purse is a faux business card with an image of a good-looking man and a number which connects to the Minkoff headquarters. By adding this personal touch and relating this bag to the experiences of her target audience, Minkoff adds a layer of authenticity

I admit I’m not sold on Google+. It’s selfish really – I don’t want another profile to update or network to build up. But, amidst reports that the social platform has surpassed 90 million users and will be rolling out its Search, plus Your World initiative, I felt I owed it a second glance.

At the start of the Global Google+ Hangout session at Columbia’s Social Media Weekend, I was happy to hear Sree Sreenivasan, the event’s organizer, mimic my feelings on the subject of new social media platforms. He shared a few wise words to consider before hopping on the bandwagon of a hot new social tool:

“Think first, does it fit into my workflow? Does it fit into my life flow?”

“Always be an early tester and a late adopter.”

Leaving us with the statement that, “Google+ is Google’s last stand with social, their last chance to make it work,” he introduced us to Daniel Sieberg of Google.

I watched with a skeptical eye as Daniel rattled off brief factoids about Google+ (200 features have been added since its launch, 3.5 billion photos have been shared through the platform, etc.), but when we hopped on a Hangout On Air video chat with Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management at Google and journalists in London, Berlin, Jakarta and Istanbul, things got a bit more interesting.

See, a Hangout On Air is not just another video conference call. Still in the Whitelist stage, Hangout On Air is the evolution of the Hangout (yes, a tool that just launched four months ago is already evolving). To summarize, Hangout on Air turns your computer into a mini broadcast tower. In their words, it’s the next generation of citizen journalism.

Here are the two key Hangout On Air stats that really struck a chord with me:

• As you video chat with up to 10 people from your Circles, the Hangout On Air can be seen live on your Google+ stream for all to see
  • This allows others to see and talk about the video chat, even if they cannot participate in it (engagement, engagement, engagement!)
  • When the video chat is over, it is automatically saved as a private or public YouTube file
    • This saves the video chat for use as future content on all social pages and guarantees additional visibility (YouTube is the top video search engine and second largest search engine, period!)

While remaining an intimate video chat among a small group of people, the whole world has the ability to listen in and discuss during real time, and can refer back and engage with the content at any point afterwards since it is a saved YouTube file.

Daniel and Bradley shared stories of rural hospitals receiving live expertise from large city hospitals during surgeries and other unique uses for Hangouts. The possibilities for this new technology are far-reaching.

I still may not be sold on Google+ for personal use, but I can absolutely see the amazing potential the Hangout On Air feature holds for brands.

Whether you’re new to social media or a seasoned user, Sree Sreenivasan’s Social Media Weekend was meant to be a learning experience for everyone. The primary goal behind this event was to share best practices with journalists and media professionals when using social media, and stress the importance of connection. A common thread seen throughout the conference was personal branding. Some savvy social media minds shared their thoughts on social media and its impact on journalism and media; here are some of the key takeaways from that day:

Know who you are.

Never shy away from being you. Pick two to three subjects that define you and demonstrate your niche. Sree Sreenivasan said: “Think about the top 10-15 people following you whenever you tweet. Aim not to bore them.” Regularly update your social media profiles to include the most up-to-date information. It is important to constantly recreate your bio; it is the one place where you can brag about your accomplishments.

Think before you tweet.

Don’t bore or more importantly, misinform your followers. Consider what you’re tweeting to them. Sreenivasan added: “Everyone will miss almost everything you do on social media.” Keep it interesting, find new ways to engage with your community, but remember that your personal brand is an extension of your parent company. Steve Rubel shared a great example – Derek Jeter as an extension of the Yankees baseball brand. Through his own personal pages, Jeter gives the Yankees a humanistic quality and acts as the face behind the brand.

Timing is everything.

Unique content becomes spreadable content when the timing is perfect. We are living in a world of real-time news, where breaking stories are reported instantaneously. There are positives and negatives to this. Reporting breaking stories first can build trust within your community, but rushing and misreporting a story can result in major issues. The false report of Joe Paterno’s death was a great example mentioned during the Sports & Social Media Panel by Richard Deitsch: “As in Paterno’s death, one blogger source was used to break the story. Leading to one blogger embarrassing a major corporation.” Had this corporation verified its sources before releasing the story, this situation may have never happened. While it can be frustrating to wait, ESPN’s Joe Schad added: “I tweet what I know when I know it.”

My colleagues Dara Cothran [When What Happens in Vegas Goes Global] and Katie Cwayna [The Sexy Way] have each shared their personal observations from their first trips to the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Skype and Case-Mate respectively. As a veteran of many CES shows, I would like to share a few general observations from CES about product marketing and social media that I believe brands should consider when participating in this or other large conferences or trade shows:

The Power of Celebrity - From former sports stars (Dennis Rodman, Robert Horry, John Salley and Carl Banks) to music talent (Justin Bieber, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Ludacris and Will.i.am) and from television stars (Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Greg Grunberg, Wayne Brady and Ryan Seacrest) to Hollywood actors (Eliza Dushku), celebrities were spotted pushing product all around CES. While having these notable names was good for booth traffic or drawing in large RSVP numbers for parties, it’s questionable whether the investment will translate into product sales. Mashable reported that 85% of social media mentions about those celebs did not reference the gadgets or companies they were promoting at CES. Brands need to re-think the put-a-celeb-in-our-booth approach going forward.

Social Media – On-Site Engagement Tool or Broadcast Channel? – Lots of brands at CES sought to use social media as a way of engaging those in the industry walking around the show floor. From contests attached to Foursquare check-ins to Twitter giveaways for retweeting different phrases or #hashtags, there were all kinds of ways to win products and/or tickets to shows or other Vegas experiences. However, brands that pursued these types of tactics forgot to factor in one big thing: network connectivity. With overloaded WiFI and 3G networks, people couldn’t get online, making it nearly impossible to engage with the brands whose booths they were patrolling. However, other brands decided to use social media as a channel to share what was going on at CES with those people who couldn’t be in Vegas. Some common approaches were hours of livestreamed interviews or reports from the show floor, as demonstrated by Panasonic Live@CES and Facebook Live, or just simple Flickr galleries posted by brands showing their booth presence and their new products. The key lesson for brands? Define the goals for using social media at large events like CES and factor in how availability of network infrastructure impacts the definition of the goals.

No Longer Consumer Electronics for Technology’s Sake – Increasingly, consumer electronics brands have fully realized and embraced the need to present their technology products as integrated into consumers’ daily lifestyles. Not only was this insight reflected in product design, as demonstrated by the explosion of thin and light ultrabooks unveiled at CES, but also in the design of booths across the show floor where the technology and products were presented in real-life settings. And the emergence of the tablet is increasingly infiltrating the workplace, as demonstrated by companies like GE, Aetna and Comcast, each of which have announced formal programs to give iPads to all of their employees. By thinking and acting this way, companies are increasingly able to set the proper context in which their new devices are to be used. Ultimately, this translates to helping consumers better understand which devices are actually right for their personal and or professional needs.

The mere mention of Las Vegas evokes sensory overload, but when you add 153,000 tech enthusiasts and 3,100 exhibitors occupying nearly 1.9 million square feet of exhibit space for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (January 10-13), it’s an explosion!. You’d better be on your best behavior as well, because with over 6,500 media in attendance, there is no chance, despite what the commercials promise, that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Thanks to the modern media mix, everything at CES was news – from the length of the cab lines to surprise celeb appearances.

This was the biggest year ever for CES and fellow Kaplow-ite Chaim Haas and I attended as part of the Skype public relations team. Skype is a CES veteran, but this was the brand’s first public appearance since being acquired by Microsoft. Our team had the enviable position of being both a part of the large Microsoft booth presence and still being able to express our fun Skype brand personality in the Skype Lounge, located in the Central Plaza outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Skype Lounge was a big draw.  Most attendees were too busy working the floor at CES to check out all the sights in Vegas, so Skype came to the rescue, bringing the sights to them! Skype’s roving reporters visited Vegas hot-spots like the Stratosphere, Indoor Skydiving, the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, the gondola rides at the Venetian and shared the moment with CES attendees back at the booth via LIVE video calls on a giant TV screen inside the Skype Lounge. At any given moment, people crowded into the booth to catch all the action. Wax Elvis even made an in-booth appearance while our roving reporters were visiting Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in the heart of the Strip.

Skype is now available everywhere and on many different devices. Through our social media channels, we encouraged CES attendees to “SpotSkype” and share the pictures with us. Big congratulations are also in order for some of Skype’s partners who launched new products this year. This includes: Panasonic’s VIERA Connect TV featuring a new Social TV feature, which allows consumers to connect with friends and family via Skype while they are watching TV; Logitech unveiled a full HD Webcam for 1080p video calling over Skype; and Sony Electronics unveiled the Sony Bloggie Live HD camera with live streaming capabilities thanks to the integration of Qik right on the device. Capping off a great week, the Sony Bloggie Live HD was named recipient of a “Best of CES” award from LAPTOP Magazine.

I am so proud that Kaplow supported the annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which held its ninth annual walk here in New York this past weekend. As a long-term partner of Avon’s, we are so honored to be able to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer through this amazing annual event. In addition to working on the series of walks throughout the year with Avon, Team Kaplow also strapped on our walking shoes and covered the 39.3 miles with thousands of other supporters and survivors. As we stood at the closing ceremonies, I was overwhelmed with such a sense of pride at being able to help Avon communicate the importance of this milestone event in so many people’s lives. Avon global ambassador Reese Witherspoon was on hand at the event to share in the stories of survival and to award over $9 million in grants supporting breast cancer organizations.

I want to thank our partners at the Avon Foundation for Women for enabling Kaplow to share in this life-changing event, celebrating people who have made a difference in so many ways to eradicate breast cancer from our lives forever. The walk will be a lifelong memory for me and Team Kaplow.

Here are some words from a few of the Kaplow team who participated in the event:

I’m honored to work with such an amazing client as the Avon Foundation. To watch thousands gather at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer New York and actually see their raised funds given to local NYC hospitals and organizations on the spot– is very motivating and meaningful. It makes me want to pitch their story until my throat is dry. – Gloria Quinn Doyle

I was so excited to participate as this was my first Walk experience and then a month beforehand I injured my ankle pretty seriously.  I was nervous about training and being able to do it at all, but made a promise to myself and my fundraising supporters that I would give it a shot.  On the Saturday of the Walk weekend, I realized, as we walked up the West Side highway, I was surrounded by a sea of pink shirts, women buzzing and laughing, many wearing signs “in memory of” or “in honor of.” In that moment my physical limitations were no longer my primary thought, and instead I was filled with pride to be part of such a powerful movement in support of such hope and strength. I was able to complete 13 miles- many more than I had thought possible due to my injury- and I can’t wait to try to complete the whole thing next year! – Melinda Templeton-Duffy

I was incredibly inspired to have the opportunity to walk with so many dedicated women, men and even children, some of which have been participating in the Avon Walk for the Cure for years.  To be surrounded by countless supporters and survivors was an amazing experience and I couldn’t be more honored to have the opportunity to be “in it, to end it” with my Kaplow-colleagues! – Jacqueline Agosta

Foursquare: Is it a game you played on the playground; or is it a game you play in the palm of your hand, with your city as the playground? Neither, actually. Though just as playful, foursquare is more useful than either gaming solution.

As a location-based mobile utility, foursquare helps you navigate your city and discover new places within it. You can either ‘check-in’ or simply ‘Explore’ nearby hotspots, niche venues and even deals, with the click of a button.

To demonstrate the relevance of foursquare’s newest features to everyday consumers, Kaplow kicked off a series of walking tours, in which we invite a few reporters on a four-block tour, using foursquare as our compass.

Just a few days ago, we recently took a handful of travel journalists with us as we “played tourist” in the charming Lower East Side of Manhattan. Strolling along Stanton street, we stumbled upon everything from discounted drinks to the greatest sweet-tooth solution known to New York.

As our fellow “tourists” learned, and consequently shared with their readers, it’s incredible what you’ll discover in a city where you’ve lived your whole life!

Kaplow is excited to help change the foursquare conversation from “Maybe I’ll win the Mayorship there” to “Man, Aziza J. just went to Mamoun’s and said the falafel was fantastic! Let’s go there.”

Kaplow showed the Halloween spirit last night at our agency “Spooktacular.” We geared up for the weekend festivities with monster mashing and sweet treats including apple cider, festive pies, and a bucket full of delicious candy. Thanks to Claire, Tori, Melinda, Joanne, and Evan for planning the party!

Tori, Claire, and Melinda dig into the pies

What's a Halloween party without a bucket full of candy?

Meghan and Jenna monster mash with a spooky skeleton

Tori and Dru show their Halloween spirit

In November, Liz Kaplow, CEO of Kaplow Communications, received the 2009 Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of America.  Kaplow’s relationship with the Girl Scouts has since grown, and today Kaplow excitedly welcomed 20 Girl Scouts of New York City into the agency.  Gold Award and Scholarship Award winners from across the five boroughs were invited to participate in a Day at Kaplow to learn about public relations and communications.

The day began with an introduction from Liz Kaplow and CFO Evan Jacobs.  Liz explained the functions of PR and shared her story, as well as the history of Kaplow.  Receptionist Tori Reitz led the girls on a tour of Kaplow, in which they stopped at the beauty, technology and lifestyle practice groups for an overview of our client work.

Senior Account Supervisor Blair Decemberle gave keys to success for communications, followed by Senior Account Executive Rob Gedarovich and Digital Consultant Adnaan Wasey unraveling the ins and outs of social media.  Next, the Girl Scouts learned about networking from Senior Vice President Chaim Haas.  The day concluded with a discussion about the importance of video in today’s culture moderated by Kaplow Vice President Dana Glaser.

Liz Kaplow, Evan Jacobs and the Girl Scouts

On a tour of Kaplow

Posing for a close up!

Liz Kaplow awards a Certificate of Participation to Girl Scout Rana Abdelhamid

Liz Kaplow and Girl Scouts with their Certificates of Participation

This evening, mark. launches the Spring 2010 beauty & fashion lineup with a NYC TweetUp. Can’t be there in person? Beauty & fashion fans around the globe can virtually meet legendary designer Carlos Falchi and other celebrity mark. experts, while getting the download on the NEW mark. & Carlos Falchi Rio collection. Follow the live feed on the mark.girl Facebook page or search for the #markgirl Twitter hashtag. See you online!