Eight years after she secured her break as a backstage runner for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, Elle Persson was still toiling behind the scenes.
Having spent the intervening years working across events in Australasia and Europe, she was now running production of a different scale. The kind reserved for a company with market capitalisation of $7 billion and a network stretching the Americas, Asia, Europe and the emerging economies. Prior to being poached as IMG Australia director of strategy and brand development just last month, Persson was the global production manager for luxury giant Burberry.
“We were responsible for all event production globally including showrooms and retail in-store activity,” Persson says of the former position, which she held from February 2010. “It was my first real exposure to the retail environment and communicating directly to the customer. I soon realised how much our industry was changing – Burberry held events to create beautiful, emotional content that was then streamed online via multiple digital platforms to support brand consistency and customer relationship marketing.”
This meant executing multi-channel campaigns across various markets, ranging from collection shows and store openings to social media activations and brand partnerships. It also meant managing a London-based department of eight event and production managers and coordinators, as well as related staff in other regions. What prompted Persson, who had also worked on other large-scale global events since leaving Australia in 2006, back onto local shores?
“Personally, returning to Australia permanently after almost five years away was a big move to make,” she says. “Professionally, taking this role with IMG Fashion would allow me to return with the experience I have gained and help evolve the Australian fashion industry from a stategic point of view. My role will be initiating the connection between our local indusry and the global office to looking for interesting strategies for designers and our partners to work together to build brands.”
In the same way she was appointed to Burberry at a time of great transformation – her position was newly created within the fast growing creative media department – Persson joins IMG Fashion during a significant changing of the guard.
Following the departure of long-serving executives such as marketing honcho Graeme Lewsey and event director Lucia Labbate last year, the local team has since moved under global management. This is something Persson is familiar with, having worked on IMG events from Hong Kong, Berlin and Turkey to her first global role as Singapore Fashion Festival project manager in 2006. Prior to this she was employed at Spin Communications from 2003 to 2005, the public relations firm launched by Australian Fashion Week founder Simon Lock.
“After one and a half years in Singapore, and learning a huge amount about retailers and consumer behaviour, I worked for IMG Fashion for the next three years on various events around the globe,” she reflects. “After a few seasons working in Germany and Hong Kong, I knew what designers on-site would be arguing about even when arguing in a different language! I would often just stand there and wait for a break in the heated discussion to suggest the solution and they would reply to me in German or Cantonese. I would then explain I don’t speak their language and they became even more confused as to how I had the answers. We always got there in the end somehow!”
It was Persson’s role at Burberry however, which would allow her to bridge the greatest barrier.
“I realised the more Fashion Weeks I produced with IMG, there was a gap in my experience which was the inner workings of a fashion brand from creation to consumer. I wanted to work for one brand rather than hundreds to understand business beyond a Fashion Week event. What did a platform like that do for a brand? How did that transcend to sales?
“IMG was also invaluable preparation for my time at Burberry. I had learnt how to be always mindful of resources and budgeting, and became very time efficient – 60 shows in a week will do that to you. Also, having worked in Europe and Asia, I had developed great regional contacts and a global awareness of the fashion industry at large.”
It was a different set of circumstances which led to her appointment at Burberry. After being commissioned to produce an upmarket brand event in Istanbul, Persson met two of the largest luxury brand show producers in the world; Gabriella Mazzei and Andrea Leonardi of Without Productions. Roberto Cavalli, Vivienne Westwood, Ferragamo, Missoni and Gian Franco Ferre productions soon followed and Persson eventually set herself up in London. Miu Miu and Burberry became clients and so came her introduction to the British icon, where she relished the multi-channel challenge.
Burberry’s spring/summer 2012 parade saw the brand introduce ‘Tweetwalk’, in which backstage shots were shared with followers on Twitter prior to models hitting the runway. The move catapulted #Burberry and ‘Christopher Bailey’ into Twitter’s worldwide Trendings list and the images received more than 50,000 views within half an hour of the show.
“Creating world firsts within the digital space such as Tweetwalk – which was a challenge – is a career highlight and being part of a team leading the charge in the digital landscape,” she says of her career so far, before moving on to future challenges: “Trying to stay ahead of the dramatic changes the fashion industry has gone through in recent years. From the steep uptake and popularity of e-commerce, the recession, the effect social media has had on consumer behaviour and creating solutions to assist brands to reach their consumers through so many digital channels.”
Just two weeks into her new role at time of press, Persson hints such strategies could become a more olid part of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.
“After deciding to return to Australia permanently, I spoke to [IMG Fashion global production director] Jarrad Clark who talked me through the changes that were taking place at IMG Fashion and the vision for the future of the events in our Australian portfolio. I was excited by the opportunity to return home and apply my global experience to the industry I first cut my teeth on 10 years ago.”