swashion campaign book

8/7/2019 Swashion Campaign Book

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Campaign BookletDecember 2010

Campaign BookletDecember 2010


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0ren KatzJesse KoehlerJaclyn TaricaDJ NogalskiSamantha Ganz

Swashion Mission Statement

We are a Madison community platform designed for users to engagein reducing the issue of hyper-consumption by clothing exchangeswith other people from the community. Swashion is a revolutionaryconcept for our eco-conscious and clothing-loving consumers whoare looking to exchange or donate clothing and accessories they nolonger need or wear, for FREE! We hope to continue the trend of col-laborative consumption, while allowing our users to keep their ward-robes stylish and fresh. But its more than just exchanging clothes... we

will connect members through social media and other new commu-nication technologies that will make the process of swapping clothes

fun and easy. Swashion makes swapping the new shopping.


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tableofcontents

Research

Planning & Design

Execution

Evaluation


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Research


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Situation Analysis

History of Hyper-consumption

The history of consumer culture in Americainherently explains the serious issue of hyper-consumption. Following the post-WWII eco-nomic boom, the surplus of goods led to TheGolden Age of Capitalism. Increased con-sumerism and economic materialism becamesocietal norms. Instant gratication stemming

from consumer culture and individualisticmindsets increasingly motivated pruchasedecisions overtime. The availability of massproduced goods through manufacturingprocesses and shopping online more recentlyhas put Americans on a hedonistic treadmillof consumption. Consumers are always look-ing toward to their next purchase, expandingtheir wish-list of products everyday. From ahistorical perspective, the number of posses-sions each individual America needs to simplymake it through the day has also increaseddramatically over the past 100 years.

The average American spends3-4 times as many hours shoppingas their European counterpart.

Today, Western culture has a xation withindividualisma deeply rooted cultural wayof life that is now perpetuated by persuasive

marketing. Our cultural heritage tells us thatyou need to go out there and do things foryourself.

Advertising encourages this way of life. Mar-keters can make consumers feel inadequate,ultimately evoking a desire to buy new prod-ucts as a panacea to their problems. Therepetition of these messages overtime affectsour perceptions of normalcy.

Impacts of Hyper-consumptio

Environmental

Approximately 80 percent of everything webuy ends up in a landll. Shop-until-you dropmentalities may support a capitalist econombut the excessive consumer culture that de-nes industrialized nations negatively impact

the environment. The more we consume, themore we have to produce, ultimately gener-ating massive amounts of waste.

According to the Clean Air Councils websitethe average person in the United States cre-ates 4.39 pounds of trash daily, which whenadded together, is enough to ll 63,000 gar-bage trucks every day. What is more, AnnieLeonards The Story of Stuff Project indicatethe average American spends 3-4 times as

many hours shopping as their European counterpart.

The United States currently constitutes ve pecent of the Worlds population, but consumeover 30 percent of the resources, accordingto the World Bank Development Indicators. Aemerging world powers like China and Indiacontinue industrializing, there simply wont beenough resources to go around.

Financial

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009data, consumers diversify their spendingacross various market segments, which ulti-mately drives to the economy as the notedbefore. Of this spending, the average con-sumer spends $1,881 or 3.8% of their annualexpenditures on apparel.


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Hyper-consumption and spending can con-tribute to severe debt. According to ourresearch, a signicant number of peoplespend the majority of their money on cloth-ing, ending up in severe debt as a result.. Theconsumer spending patterns of Milwaukee-Racine area indicate that Wisconsin con-sumers average a higher spending rate on

apparel at 4.6 percent or $1,880 yearly. Thenational average is 3.8 percent.

Nationally, household debt has explodedin recent years leading up to an averagehousehold debt of 123% of disposable per-sonal income. The chart below follows thetrend with all numbers listed in billions.

Community

In Madison, Wis., community members areaware of their consumption habits and whilemost individuals try to live eco-friendly life-

styles, 43 percent of respondents in a surveyabout their consumption habits indicatedthey spend between $500-$2000 on clothesevery year. What is more, 35 percent of re-spondents bought new clothes not becausethey needed them; rather, they made newpurchases on impulse or wanted to keep upwith the latest fashion trends.

Overall, the Madison community is consciousabout the fact that their actions impact theenvironment. The majority of respondents,

however, were unaware that hyper-con-sumption is a serious environmental issue - anissue that is virtually unsustainable.

Members of the Madison community consis-tently rank above average in apparel con-sumption. Generation Y spending prioritiesare related to education, personal appear-ance and fun, and their average spendingindex for apparel is 129. Madisons Genera-tion Xs index is 133 for apparel with Young

Boomers indicating a similar spending index.

Madison Combats

Hyper-consumption

A lot of Madison-area resale shops havebeen established over the past couple ofyears. There has been an increasing empha-sis on the importance of second-hand cloth-ing as an eco-friendly alternative to buying

new from consumers and producers alike.This trend positively impacts the environmentbecause it reduces waste waste generatedby manufacturing new clothing, transportinggoods and producing packaging. Stores likePlatos Closet and Rethreads in Madison, Wis.allow you to bring in gently used clothing forcash or trade. The emphasis on sharing maybe in reaction to people always wanting tobuy new when used is sufcient.


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Governmental

Federal, state, and local governments areinvolved in this issue through their ability to settaxes, subsidize certain products, and writepolicies on which we plan to effect change.Also, the local government--the city of Madi-son and Dane County in particular--leadsrecycling efforts for the community so it isinherently interested in new and innovatedways to recycle and conserve. One exampleof their interest in recycling can be seen inthe recent adoption of the E-cycle program

(detailed below).

Hyper-consumption is a seriousenvironmental issue - an issue that

is virtually unsustainable.

Government, Consumption& the Environment

The regulation of credit cards, sales taxes, taxincentives and tax breaks all affect consumerspending and business operations.

Credit cards drive hyper-consumption byencouraging consumers to spend moneythey dont have. Purchasing on credit oftenresults in excessive consumption that impactsthe environment and contributes to debt.Currently, there are no policies rewarding

consumers who purchase on credit for buy-ing environmentally friendly products thatminimally impact the environment.

Sales taxes serve as a dis-incentivize cloth-ing purchases. Increasing the sales tax onnon-environmentally friendly clothing willdiscourage consumers from buying thosegoods while decreasing the sales tax on eco-friendly products will make them appealing

alternatives. In Wisconsin the 5.5% sales taxapplies to all retail products, even those sold

at resale shops like Good Will and RethreadsPolicy changes directed at creating incen-tives for the purchase of environmentallyfriendly clothing through lower taxes andpunishments for buying non-environmen-tally friendly clothing through higher taxes (orineligibility for the discount) would help com-bat hyper-consumption.

In Wisconsin, there are no tax breaks or taxincentives for manufacturers who considerthe environmental consequences of theireconomic activities. Offering tax breaks tocompanies who commit to lean manufac-turing processes, businesses producing eco-friendly clothing or retailers distributing goodswith minimal environmental impact will helpthe environment.

Current Efforts

Advocating Change

Collaborative Consumption

CC describes the movement from the 20thcentury hyper-consumption lifestyle to the21st century collaborative consumption life-style; a lifestyle made up of traditional shar-ing, lending and swapping necessities. TheCC group effectively mobilizes their membersby providing insightful tutorial videos about


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this important movement, sharing events formembers to attend, providing guest lectur-

ers to hear speak, blogging to share opinionsand new ideas and educating members onall other organizations that support the CCmovement.

National Recycling Coalition

The NRC is a non-prot national recyclingadvocacy group that covers all aspects ofwaste management. They strive to break the

ground in how Americans think about waste.They are the largest national non-prot or-ganization decided to recycling, reuse, andwaste management. In order to mobilizetheir recycling community they provide themwith professional education and networkingopportunities, and come together to advo-cate for recycling programs locally, nation-ally and federally.

The Wisconsin EnvironmentalWorking Group

As an afliate of the Wisconsin Manufactur-ers and Commerce, the group advises Wis-consins policy makers on all environmentalissues. According to its website, the grouppushes an environmentally friendly legislativeagenda based on facts and sound research.

The state recently launched E-Cycle Wis-

consin, a recycling law that establishes astatewide program to collect and recycle

electronics. In September 2010 the law alsobanned certain electronics from Wisconsinlandlls and incinerators. This legislation ad-vances Wisconsins ability to be more envi-ronmentally friendly and reduces the statescarbon footprint to an extent. The law spe-cically addresses and affects:

ConsumersManufacturersCollectorsRecyclersRetailersGovernments

Many other legislative agendas emphasizethe importance of lowering taxes. Lower-ing taxes as an incentive for environmen-tally friendly clothing is not explicit on any ofthese agendas, but increasing awarenessabout the effectiveness of these changes will

evoke change. The Madison EnvironmentalGroup and Fregans are movements gain-ing momentum in Wisconsin. Both coalitionsemphasize the importance of scaling-backconsumption in order to preserve the envi-ronment.

Current EffortsOpposing Change

Anti-Recyclers

There is an entire community of people whocontinue to reject the movement towardsrecycling and reusing. These groups ofpeople believe that recycling in fact causesmore waste by the use of excess energy,and that the reused product is of signicantlylesser value and quality. Specically, thesepeople oppose government intervention in


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the marketplace, because they believe thatgovernment-run recycling programs tend to

use more energy than they save. In essence,this group would strongly oppose the gov-ernment intervention of public policy we areplanning on implementing.

Stakeholders

Clothing manufacturersIf taxes are raised/lower depending on theproducts impact on the environment, it will

impact clothing manufacturers future linesof clothing and the material used in them.Also, consumer trends away from hyper-con-sumption and toward recycled clothing orenvironmentally friendly clothing might ad-versely affect these manufacturers businessesif they do not respond to changes in publicopinion.

Impoverished families in Wisconsin

By implementing ways to make sure moreclothing gets passed along (and recycled),these families will be provided with usableclothing that they do not have to pay forthus reducing their nancial burdens.

Environmental advocates

Our goal toward this issue aligns with thegoals of these advocates and could helpthem push their agendas forward by makingpeople aware of how even the clothing we

wear, how we wash it and how much we buyimpacts the environment.

Clothing retailers

By lowering or getting rid of sales tax onresold clothing, these centers can improvetheir business and appeal to consumers. Alsopromoting a trend of recycling as well as do-nating used clothing will encourage commu-nity members to contribute more with these

resale centers and improve their business.

Primary Stakeholders

Consumers

This issue affects their consumption habitsas well as their social/political interest in theenvironment. Moreover, they could savemoney due to their interest in the issue whichwould in turn aid them in this hard economicclimate.

GovernmentIf we are able to cut down consumption, thais less money being spent/put into the econ-omy and if we are able to cut sales taxes forresale shops, that is less money (taxes) beinggiven to the government. However, aidingimpoverished families and reducing creditcard debt through decreased consumptionmight help renew the economy for the fu-ture.

Public Opinion

Public policy

There are several public policies issued forconsumers to follow that provide consumerswith incentives to support recycling and col-laborative consumption. For example, on allplastic bottles there is a reward for recycling,an incentive for many to recycle. In our case

we hope to see our policys implementationreward consumers after purchasing environ-mentally friendly products or causes.

Companies and corporations who promotecollaborative consumption and the de-crease of hyper-consumption have a greateffect on consumers and the products theypurchase.


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Celebrities who pro-mote and support the

movement have an ex-tremely strong impacton our society. Due toour societys tendencyto idolize celebrities,many people follow inthe footsteps of celebri-ties, trying to make thechanges they are sup-porting. Especially withthe Go Green move-ment, many celebritiesare actively gettinginvolved, and shapingpublic opinions.

MediaBy covering the movement, the changes be-ing made, the celebrities that are involved,and the industries that are turning aroundbecause of it, it becomes a societal norm,

and greatly impacts the public opinion.

Hyper-consumption inthe Media

On a national level, hyper-consumption andAmericas consumer culture is encouragedby way of reality television. Wheeler WinstonDixons article published in the Quarterly Re-

view of Film and Video argues that shows likeExtreme Makeover: Home Edition and TheSwan suggest to viewers that they can buywhat they want, when they want, in order tosatisfy their need for instant gratication.

In Madison, Wis., traditional media outletshave not dedicated any substantial cover-age to consumer culture and the resultingenvironmental consequences. Freegans,

a radical group of anti-consumerists, are agroup actively reject capitalism by living off

uses goods and is the only movement receiv-ing any notable attention from the media.

Media & NewTechnology Usage

Available Mediums

In Madison, Wis. there are various types of

media outlets. Here is the list of mediums thatengage the Madison community:

City-wide magazinesCity-wide newspaperInternetTelevisionPublic Radio

The Madison community also has new com-munication technologies available to them.

Here is a list of mediums that engage theMadison community, but are not necessarilyused:

Geo-based programs (like FourSquare,Loopt, Facebook Places, and Yelp)QR codes (for smart phone users)Smartphone applications (like GreenLaser)

Media Usage

Individuals in Madison primarily use traditionamedia.

Wisconsin State JournalPrint newspaperReaders in 20 counties in Wisconsin reaches381,392 adults in Dane, Sauk, Columbia andDodge Counties during an average week.


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Capital Times

Print newspaper76,000 copies of the cap times are distributedthroughout the Dane County area eachweek.

New Communication

Technology Usage

83 percent of Americans use a mobile phoneand 25 percent of Americans use a smartphone. The majority of consumers interact

with new communication technologies insome way, but each consumer groups de-gree of interaction varies.

Internet Usage

As of 2008, over 90% of 12-17 year-olds areonline, 88% of 18-24 year-olds, 85% of 25-29year-olds, 87% of 30-34 year-olds. Broadbandaccess has doubled for many age groups,tripled in oldest groups. Almost all age groupsare above 60% for homes with Broadbandexcept for the oldest demographics.

Interest in online shopping is signicantly low-er among the youngest and oldest groups;38% of online teens buy products online, asdo 56% of Internet users ages 64-72 and 47%of Internet users age 73 and older.

Teens and Generation Y (Internet users age

18-32) are the most likely groups to use theInternet for entertainment and for communi-cating with friends and family

Also they are more likely than older users toread other peoples blogs and to write theirown; and, considerably more likely thanolder generations to use social networkingsites and to create proles on those sites.

Older generations use the Internet as a tool

for research, shopping and bankingTo them, the Internet is a tool for informationsearches, emailing and buying products.

Generation X (Internet users ages 33-44) con-tinues to lead in online shopping. Fully 80%of Generation X Internet users buy productsonline, compared with 71% of Internet usersages 18-32.

Wireless Internet Usage

56 percent of Americans have accessed theInternet wirelessly. 32 percent of all Ameri-cans have gotten online with a mobile de-vice and in an April 2009 Pew Internet study,19 percent of Americans said they had yes-terday accessed the Internet on their mobiledevice. African Americans are the most ac-tive users of the mobile Internet

Wherever Americans can nd awireless network, whether it is WiFior one provided by a cell phonecarrier, many are apt to take ad-vantage of it for a tweet, text, or

information nugget.-2008 Pew Internet Study

Twitter and content-sharing looms large for

some mobile users. One in six (17%) say theysee posting or sharing content as a very im-portant dimension to mobile access. The 11%of online users who have Twitter accounts ormonitor Twitter updates are twice as likely asthe average to say that sharing or postingcontent is very important to why they valuemobile access.


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Using Traditional Media

for Change

The most popular ways people are usingtraditional media to get involved with hyper-consumption is by writing opinion editorials toraise awareness.

Because the green movement is one thatrequires an abundance of community in-volvement and interaction, traditional media

often lacks the interactive component thatsocial media provides. Issues covered in themedia, publications on the issues, iers andeven personal directory calls can many timesfail to actually motivate its audiences tomake change.

Traditional media tactics such as print adver-tisements, is an effective way to supplementa movement. For example, many peoplecreate traditional iers to post around com-

munities to encourage recycling and reusing.In addition to iers, green activists also usephone directories to call up local families toencourage them to join the green move-ment, as well as provide them with helpfulhints on other efcient ways to save.

Using traditional media solutions in tandemwith social media solutions can create an ex-tremely effective and benecial campaign

that raises awareness. This awareness leadsto action and change. Direct action activ-ismprotests and guerrilla tactics such asculture jamming and graftihave becomepastimes also related to the green move-ment.

Using New Media for Change

The 21st century is bringing about the conver-

gence of social technologies and a renewed

belief in the importance of community. Moreconsumers are using online initiatives andnew communication technology to solvepressing environmental concerns and costconscious are moving away from old waste-ful forms of consumerism and engaging inmore sharing, aggregation, openness, andcooperation.

Today, people have been specically en-gaging in collaborative consumption to helpsolve the issue of hyper-consumption. Peopleare doing more swap trading of purchaseditems such as books, DVDs, games, andmore. E-Bay has been a popular communi-cation technology that also serves as a mar-ketplace for sharing items. In Madison, wesee websites like Community Car that allowdrivers to share vehicles.

Activists have used new communication

technology to successfully raise awareness.Some have began to blog about hyper-con-sumption, and other have used new mediasuch as YouTube to upload videos abouthyper-consumption to raise awareness.

Throughout, there are few efforts gaining mo-mentum that encourage collaborative cloth-ing consumption through temporary swapsand trades.


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Planning& Design


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Planning & Design

Objective

The primary objective of our social campaignis to create a platform for the Madison com-munity where users can engage in reducingthe issue of hyper-consumption by clothingexchanges with other people from the com-munity. Our website will create a friendlysociety of eco-conscious and clothing-lovingpeople who are looking to exchange or do-nate clothing and accessories they no longerneed or wear. Our website hopes to continuethe trend of collaborative consumption andwill connect members through social mediaand other new communication technolo-gies that will make the process of swappingclothes fun and easy.

Our website will help raise awareness ofhyper-consumption to help members learn,share, socialize, and get inspired to partici-pate in the art of swapping. Our site will trackthe progress of our members by keeping acalendar of swaps and donations made onthe site to motivate others to participate andlet them know what is going on daily. Whileother community closet sites exists, noneare targeted towards Madison communitymembers and most of them are simply sites

for thrift stores to state their mission and di-rect people to their stores in certain areas.To differentiate our website, we would liketo mobilize people completely online usingnew communication technologies that con-nect consumers with each other and withour partners and sponsors. Our campaign willgive people opportunities to mobilize andultimately encourage policy makers to allowfor better tax incentives for companies em-

ploying environmentally-friendly manufactur-ing processes. Members will be able to makeexchanges with one another by networkingonline and posting offers for the followingitems:

Target Audiences

Eco-friendly consumers

Swashion primarily targets eco-friendly con-sumers. Primary users will be Generation Xconsumers since 80% of these Internet usersbuy products online, but we will not limit thesite to any age group or demographic. Wewant users who are interested in social mediato make the website fun and to attract us-ers who desire to help the environment.

Scenario OneTrendy mom of two swaps clothes for herselfand her kids on a budget

Kids are expensive.For a stylish mom whocant afford to keepup with the latestfashions as her chil-dren age, Swashion isa great resource. Notonly can she swap herown clothes with otherlike-minded mothers,but she can also swapclothes for her kids.

For example, a 35-year-old mother of twoalready realizes the environmental impactscaused by new clothing consumption butdoesnt really know of anything she cando to reduce her impact. Not buying newclothes would require dramatic changesin lifestyle - lifestyle changes she isnt willing


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to make. She is well aware that hyper-con-sumption is bad for the environment and hersavings account, but enjoys looking nice.

Too, it is difcult to buy clothes for herself andher kids as they outgrow their old clothesseemingly everyday. After hearing a shortPSA on the radio on her way to work aboutover consumption and Swashion, she de-cides to check out the website. While sheisnt on Twitter, she does have a Facebook

page to keep tabs on her older child. Sheconnects with Swashion on Facebook tolearn more about some of the upcomingevents and makes a prole on Swashionswebsite. She nds other members looking tomeet-up and swap clothes for themselvesand their kids, ultimately deciding she wouldlike to get involved.

After having a positive experience withanother community member and learn-

ing more about the psychology that drivesover-consumption from the resources on thewebsite, she posts information to her ownFacebook page, which is picked up by herco-workers. Her co-workers dont have kidsbut are into fashion and eco-friendly shop-ping. Eventually, the woman begins attend-ing clothing swaps with her friends, makingthe process exciting, social and an overallfun event. Three months later and she now

has increased access to outts for herselfand her growing children without spendingmoney. Spending time with her friends andco-workers in a social setting has becomesomewhat of an incentive, as well.

Generation YOur research shows that teens and Genera-tion Y (18-32) Internet users are the mostlikely to use the Internet as entertainmentand connecting with their friends and they

are more likely than other age groups to usesocial networking sites and create proles onthose sites. Also Generation Y users spendingpriorities focus on personal appearance withapparel representing a signicant outow ofmoney. Generation X (33-44) users are ourother primary target because they lead inonline shopping, but older generations arealso using the Internet as a tool for researchand shopping as well. These users are bigspenders on their children and have high

indexes for spending money on childrensapparel so they are highly affected by theissue. Aside from our primary consumer tar-get, other relevant publics include clothingmanufacturers, impoverished families in Wis-consin, environmental advocates, and cloth-ing resale sellers (details cited in the researchdraft).

Scenario Two

High School Student looking to upgrade styleon a budgetIn general, as high school students mature,they begin taking interest in issues that either

directly affect them or are relevant to theirgeneration. Dedicated to educating usersabout the environmental impacts of clothingconsumption, Swashion provides a resourcefor young users to learn more about their pur-


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chasing habits and the environment. Simul-

taneously giving them a way to take action- by participating in clothing swap events -will help shape their future behaviors as theybecome independent consumers.

Our campaign will give peopleopportunities to mobilize andencourage policy makers to

allow for better tax incentives.

For example, an 18-year-old senior at aMadison-area high school has always won-dered about whether or not their extensivewardrobe has implications beyond the obvi-ous hole in their wallet. While on Twitter, thestudent sees a popular group they followre-tweeted a blog post from Swashion. Afterfollowing the link and reading the short story,the student clicks through to the Swashionswebsite where they nd resources for the

questions theyve been pondering. Want-ing to learn more, the student reads overthe how-to section and spends time readingover how consumption affects the environ-ment. Inspired, they learn how the cloth-ing swap component works and decide tocheck out an event later in the month. Aftermaking a prole and connecting with otherswappers of a similar size and style, the usercontinues to comeback when theyre look-ing for some new threads.

Other publics

Aside from our primary consumer target,other relevant publics include clothing man-ufacturers, impoverished families in Wiscon-sin, environmental advocates, and clothingresale sellers.

Threats and Oppositions

Large retailers that sell clothing at affordableprices will pose a threat to our mission andserve as our competition. Because Swash-ion discourages new clothing consumption,large retailers will likely combat our presenceby emphasizing their convenience to shop-pers. To combat their ability to draw custom-ers in with the convenience claim, Swashionemphasizes the issue of over consumption.The site is not simply a place to obtain cloth-ing; rather, it is an active decision to help theenvironment and achieve a mindset that isnot driven by instant gratication and thenewest, latest trends. The various platformsused to promote Swashions mission will ad-vertise the harm in buying cheap clothesfrom large retailers, while providing resourceson how to improve the way in which you ob-tain new clothes.

Another threat that our group faces is thechallenge that some people may not be will-ing to share their clothes for personal reasonssuch as privacy, germophobia, or concernfor the quality of the clothing they wear.While we may not be able to completelychange some peoples minds in regard tothese mindsets we might be able to per-suade them to get involved in our cause in adifferent way such as actively contributing toour blog or to our cause on either Facebook

or Google.

The general ubiquity of conspicuous con-sumption in the lives of many Americanswill also prove a signicant opposition toour cause because they will be unwilling tochange their purchasing habits that theybelieve dene them. In our attempts to pro-mote our site and our cause we will need toremain away of this hidden threat. Branding


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our clothing swap as a trendy alternative to

clothing shopping will denitely counteractthis in part. Also simply improving the visibilityof our group and our cause will force thesepeople to reconsider their consumption pat-terns.

Opportunities

Swashion provides opportunities to learnabout over-consumption, realize the envi-

ronmental impacts of their consumption andultimately provide a way for them to takeaction.

Utilizing technologies that our stakeholdersare already using is an opportunity in it ofitself. The majority of our target users alreadyhave a presence on new communicationtechnologies. Moreover, a lot of their infor-mation comes from these sites and it is thisinformation that drives a lot of their decision-

making.

Community Building

Facebook: Facebook can be used to con-nect members and create event invita-tions to share with their friends. By creating

a Swashion fan page, we will increase

awareness of our services, as well as driveFacebook users to our website. We will alsolink our website to Facebook, by allowing ourusers to share their recent swaps, or clothingthey have to swap, on their Facebook pro-les, to increase awareness of this commu-nity closet.

Flickr: We are going to use Flickr to host im-ages of clothing that is being swapped andembed them into our social media site. With

this photo sharing site, our consumers willhave the ability to easily upload photos tomake the clothing swap a more interactive,easy and trustworthy process.

Twitter: By creating a Swashion Twitter ac-count, we will have the ability to generateawareness for Twitter users. Twitter is ex-tremely immediate and can allow consumersconnect with other users who want to self-organize for this cause. We will tweet aboutvarious news stories that we nd interestingand relevant to our cause. Also, by followingvarious opinion leaders interested in hyper-consumption or eco-friendly clothing trendswe will be able to connect with other inter-ested people and draw them to our website.

Blogger: By utilizing Blogger on our website,our consumers will have the opportunity tocreate their very own Swap diary, which will

consist of reviews and feedback of the cloth-ing they have swapped as well as the userswho are swapping. This will allow our con-sumers to personally interact with our Websites, and hopefully help us make our servicesas best as possible. We will also user Blog-ger to embed a Style Feed, which updatesour users with the latest styles in the Fashionworld. This will include breaking Style News,as well as the most up-to-date Fashion Dosand Donts.


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YouTube: We will create a YouTube channelto stimulate awareness on hyper-consump-tion. We will consistently create and postvideos about the issue of hyper-consump-tion, tutorials on how our swap works, sharinggreen tips to take better care of your cloth-ing and more!

Google Maps: We will embed a Google maponto our site, to show our consumers wherethe local thrift shop retailers, eco-friendly

retailers and clothing drop off sites that arelocated around the Madison area. Users willalso have the ability to leave feedback andreviews on the locations listed on the map, tofurther mobilize users to these places. We willalso allow users to recommend new loca-tions to place on the map.

Emphasizing Incentives

With Technology

Savings Tracker: By using a calculator thatmeasures the savings, our consumers will beaware of exactly how much they are savingfor every swap they make. When users areposting clothing to swap, they will be askedto indicate the price range. Therefore, theconsumer who receives the clothing, will beaware of their accumulated cost that they

saved on clothing on their Savings Tracker.Our website would also include an aggre-gate Savings Tracker for all users that wouldalso detail the cumulative environmentalimpact of the savings as well.

QR Codes: We will create a two-dimensionalcode in which we will place in local thriftshops and clothing stores, to mobilize con-sumers to our URL on their mobile devices.

Foursquare: Eventually, within Google Maps,our users will have the ability to add eco-friendly businesses on the map to their Four-square accounts. For example, while lookingat the map, a user may want to add localthrift shops to their Foursquare places, asa reminder to visit those stores. By utilizingFoursquare we will help with achieving ourgeneral objective, of decreasing hyper-con-sumption in the Madison area.

Raising Awareness

We plan to generate two promotional iersthat will utilize QR codes to draw people toour website. The rst will be an informationalier that will explain our goals and the swap-ping aspect of our website while encour-aging interested people to partake in thediscussion. This ier will be posted at clothingresale stores, fair trade businesses, and busi-nesses offering/specializing in environmen-tally conscious clothing because people that

visit these locations are already interestedin issues similar to hyper-consumption. Oursecond ier will appeal more to communitymembers intrigue by displaying the QR codedirecting them to our website along withenticing but mysterious statements. This ierwill be posted or handed out in areas traf-cked by our target audience such as StateStreet, Library Mall, and various Madison highschools.


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Using Twitter we will be able to connectto opinion leaders in the movements forclothes-swapping, eco-friendly clothing, andthose against hyper-consumption. Onceconnected with this leaders we will be ableto further connect with their followers whowill share the same ideals. By tweeting aboutrelevant news articles as well as our plannedgoals we will be able to draw in more inter-ested users. Also, we plan to create a Twit-

ter list of these interested parties to promotemore interaction and to increase our groupsafliation with them.

We will utilize our blog in a similar way bypublishing posts acknowledging other au-thorities on relevant topics and by interact-ing with those opinion leaders blogs throughcomments and cross-linking. This type ofinteraction will garner interest from viewersof those blogs as well as the bloggers them-selves.

In creating our own YouTube channel weplan to post videos demonstrating how ourclothing swap will work and sharing eco-friendly ways to reuse or recycle clothing. Weplan to share these videos publicly and en-courage navigation to our YouTube channeland website by including links in the videos

descriptions. Utilizing appropriate tags forour videos will increase the likelihood thatYouTube users will stumble upon them in theircasual viewing of other videos. Again, inter-acting with viewers by replying to commentswill build our visibility.

How the Target AudiencesUse Technology

Swashion draws the public in to participatein our campaign using several technologies.On our site, individuals will ll out a prole withrelevant information like their size and stylepreference. Based off information they pro-vide, ideally our site will recommend themwith people to swap with based off similarinterests and sizes. In addition, our site willhave different topic heads per item of cloth-ing, then ltered down for size and style ifmembers would like to search on their own.

Individuals will be able to nd what they arelooking for and then contribute to the discus-sion to nd another user to swap with.

Our site will also emphasize discussion usingnew technologies like a forum on our site,discussions on our Facebook Page, and al-lowing comments on any articles posted.Swashion encourages users to submit tipsabout how to recycle and reuse clothing in

these discussion topics and through videosthey can make and post to the discussion.

Swashion will encourage users to participatein our campaign by implementing a rewardsystem for posting comments and sugges-tions. Each month, we will pick the best twocomments/posts and give them a prize in theform of a gift certicate to resale shops orclothing stores that only sell environmentally


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friendly clothes.

Community PartnersCotton From Blue to GreenResale shops (such as ReThreats, Goodwilland Platos Closet)Google Cause: Oxfam ghting povertyand hunger by generating a greater baseof clothing to go to people in need (lastchain of recycled clothing)Organic Consumers AssociationSustainableStyle.org

FairTradeClothing.orgWisconsin Center for Environmental Ed.High Schools

We will specically partner with the Center tohelp promote the creation of environmen-tally conscious clubs within high schools--pos-sibly a more localized version of our cloth-ing swap. They also provide opportunitiesthrough Environmental Grants that students

can apply for to fund their clubs as well asvarious online resources.

Overtime, we plan to expand our partner-ships to eco-friendly brands to create incen-tives that reward consumers who send backtheir clothes to the manufacturer for futureproducts. For example, Gap can sponsor acampaign partnering with our campaign togive discounts to consumers who return theirold Gap clothing as a donation to receive

a discount on future clothing. While this maycounter our purpose because it will rewardconsumers if they buy more clothing, theyare essentially members of our site who arebuying clothing to swap in the long-run andare donating back to Gap to help the manu-facturer demand more product.

Traditional Media

We will incorporate traditional media directlyinto our campaign by tweeting about rel-evant news articles and linking to relevantstories on our blog and website in general.

Also we plan to launch PSA-style radio spotsthat will appear on our website and couldpotentially be featured on Madison-arearadio stations. This recording will share factsabout the current state of hyper-consump-tion as well as its environmental and social

effects. It will also encourage listeners to getinvolved in this struggle in their own com-munity by visiting our website and generallygetting active in related projects.

By issuing press releases about the effects ofhyper-consumption and the role our websiteplans to play in the discussion, we plan togarner interest from traditional media outletssuch as newspapers, television news stations

and radios.

CombatingHyper-consumption

Swashion exploits hyper-consumption andcombats the issue through clothing swapsthat replace new clothing purchases. It alsoincreases awareness among relevant pub-lics about problems associated with hyper-

consumption such as debt and excessivewaste. Swashion seeks to be a communityadvocate for policy changes. In addition,our campaign encourages relevant publicsto adopt a collaborative consumption life-style that could re-invent economic modelsof sharing, swapping and trading. The cam-paigns use of social media and peer-to-peeronline platform will build a community of like-minded individuals seeking to reduce their


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environmental impact.

Swashion will be used in conjunction with aFacebook cause to further promote theissue of hyper-consumption and ways tocombat it. Community members that areinterested in our website and/or the issue ofhyper-consumption are encouraged to sup-port the cause on Facebook. From there, wewill be able to start discussions about policychanges regarding tax incentives for eco-friendly clothing purchases. Furthermore we

will be able to organize petitions and eventswith the help of individuals passionate aboutthis issue. This base of people will help uspromote the Swashion when it launches be-cause they are more likely to be interested inengaging in a clothing trade and recyclingoutts.

Swashions Policy Proposals

Swashion endorses environmentally friendlybusinesses that are interested in, or alreadymoving toward, sustainable practices thatconsider the environmental consequences oftheir economic activities.

Through online petitions and a partnershipwith the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Coun-cil, Swashion is building support for lobbyingefforts that will benet companies investing

in green technologies, adopting lean manu-facturing processes or producing eco-friendlyclothing.

Supporting legislation through this petitionwill demonstrate Madisons commitment topreserving the environment and will help es-tablish better tax benets and tax incentivesfor sustainable business practices throughoutthe state.

Currently, Wisconsin offers assistance to smallbusinesses looking to comply with state andfederal air pollution regulations. WisconsinsClean Air Assistance Program advises smallbusinesses on environmentally friendly prac-tices, but doesnt provide any incentivesto eliminate waste or produce eco-friendlyproducts.

While Wisconsin is a great place to do busi-ness, the existing policies discourage sustain-

ability. Wisconsins low electricity rates de-crease the nancial burdens of using energy.In fact, Wisconsin offers credit for sales taxpaid on energy used in manufacturing pro-cesses.

Currently, Wisconsin does not provide tax ex-emptions, credits or incentives for companieswho produce or sell eco-friendly clothing.


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SwashionMadisons homepage fea-tures a variety of relevant and interest-ing information. As the rst thing thatpeople see when they visit the site,

this page highlights the best and mostimportant information to capture theirattention.

One of the most attention-grabbingaspects of the homepage is the rotat-ing slideshow. This slideshow showcases the most recentand exciting information. It also displays a featured swash-er. Click on the image of the swasher to read a personaltestimonial about the value of actively participating in theSwashion community.

The homepage also displays a Swashion Eco-Impact calcu-lator to track and visually represent the money saved andamount of carbon footprint reduced from the Swashioncommunitys efforts. This serves to grab visitors attentionand display the impact of Swashion in an understandableway.

This page includes a quick response (QR) code that givesvisitors direct access to the Swashion iPhone and Androidapplication. Users are taken right to the app by taking aphoto of this QR code with their

iPhone or Android.

The video at the bottom of thehomepage is a valuable resourcefor individuals new to the Swashioncommunity. The video provides astep-by-step instruction guide onhow to navigate the site, incorpo-rating visual and audio tools to bemost effective.


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When a user rst comes to SwashionMadison.com, they can click Join

Us to learn about the sites purpose and mission. This page educates us-ers on the easy and environmentally-friendly nature of swapping clothesand introduces them to the idea that this site also serves as a portal for in-formation on issues concerning over-consumption and the environment.

The mission of Swashion is to offer a platform for Madison communitymembers to engage in reducing the issue of hyper-consumption by ex-changing clothing. By spreading the concept of collaborative consump-tion, Swashion allows users to maintain the trendy, stylish wardrobe theydesire, while reducing consumption habits and helping the environment.

The Join Us page also provides a reward system to incentivize individu-als to participate in this collaborative consumption effort. Once a Swash-ion user has completed 20 clothing swaps, they become eligible for aSwash Card. This card can be used at participating eco-friendly vendorsand clothing-resale shops to receive 10-25% off purchases. The SwashCard program showcases local vendors that relate to Swashion Madi-sons mission and offers rewards for those who Swash often.


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Swashions Swash Diary displays various blogposts about issuesinvolving consumption and green-living. Here, viewers can learnmore about the issue of hyper-consumption and nd ways tocombat it. For example, one post describes Patagonias Com-mon Threads Recycling Program and offers ways for individualsto recycle clothes that are no longer wearable or swashable.

Blogging about issues relating to Swashions mission helps edu-cate viewers in a more informal, participatory way. Any Swash-ion member is immediately granted access to post on the blog.This allows individuals to get involved and become a part of thesolution against hyper-consumption. Once a Swashion memberwrites a post, a moderator from the Swashion team will read itand ensure that it is appropriate to be published.

A main objective of our site is to educate individuals on the is-sue of hyper-consumption and ways to be more environmental-ly-friendly in regards to our clothing habits. The blog allows us to

educate individuals in a way that they are more likely to pay at-tention to. The interactive nature of the Swash Diary gives read-ers a chance to provide their own thoughts and commentary.Swash Diary is updated often with new content, giving readersa reason to come back to our site.


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The News and Events page provides a place for recent andrelevant stories related to hyperconsumption. This page alsoprovides links to news related to Swashion, such as recentpress releases. The second half of the page is dedicated topast, recent and upcoming events related to our mission.Here, viewers will nd planned Swashion events as well as simi-lar events in the community. This page is linked to the calen-dar page which displays Swashion and community-run eventsin an organized platform powered by Google, to be as com-patible with viewers personal calendars as possible.


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The Get Active page promotes Swashions initiative to buildsupport for lobbying efforts that will benet companiesinvesting in green technologies, adopting lean manufac-

turing processes or producing eco-friendly clothing. This sitefeatures Swashions partnership with the Wisconsin Sustain-able Business Council and provides access to a petition insupport of policies that encourage sustainable business.

Additionally, this page provides access to Swashions fullstance on sustainable business policies as well as relevantlinks to become informed about Wisconsins current poli-cies. This page showcases coalitions Swashion supportssuch as Forward Wisconsin.

This page also includes a Swashion Survey asking view-ers, Would you support tax incentives for environmentallyfriendly clothing retailers and producers?


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The Green Living page features a map of Madison, high-lighting locations of local organic clothing and resalestores. This provides viewers with information on where tond clothing in ways that reduce consumption habits andbenet the environment.

Underneath the map, there is a listing of green tips. Eachweek, one green tip is featured as the green tip of the

week. The tip of the week also appears on the homep-ages rotating slideshow. These tips focus on ways tomake your existing wardrobe last longer and to care forclothes in environmentally friendly ways, such as washingclothes in cold water and replacing fabric softener withwhite vinegar. This page also links to resources to helpindividuals live a greener life.


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The tabs on along the left sidebar of thesite indicate swapping forums for women,

men, teens and kids. Separating the cat-egories into these sections helps Swashionbe an organized, easy-to-use platform.

Users click which type of clothing theyare looking for, then post onto the forumwhat they are looking for. Here, others cansee the post and offer to swash with them(swap clothes). See a few examples ofposts and swash-conversations below.


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Swashion Flier:


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Wisconsins First-ever Closet Swapping Site Launches in Madison

Swashion Madison promotes collaborative consumption and supports sustainable busi-

nesses.

November 30, 2010 (Madison, WI) Wisconsins rst-ever clothing-swapping site

launched this week to help consumers deal with hyper-consumption. SwashionMadison.

com allows users to create a prole, swap clothing with other members and support legisla -

tive policies that support sustainable business practices.

Consumers are trending away from hyper-consumption to eliminate unnecessary pur-

chases, reduce their individual impact on the environment and de-clutter their lives, says

Dennis Winters, chief labor economist for Wisconsin. Swapping clothes is a great way to

save money in the wake of the recession and engages Madisonians in the green movement.

The website is a platform where community members connect with other users to swap

clothes and become active by engaging in policy change. Swashion supports environmen-

tally friendly businesses in Wisconsin and seeks to push legislation that will provide tax

benets and incentives for companies taking steps to reduce the environmental impacts of

their economic activities.

SwashionMadison.com seems like a great place for consumers to keep up with fashion

trends without over-spending, says UW-Madison Professor Douglas McLeod. Madison

has become such an eco-friendly place and stores helping the environment should certainly

be rewarded.

Active members of the Swashion community are eligible for discounts at Madison resale

shops and local retailers selling eco-friendly clothing. Members can also see how reducing

their clothing consumption positively affects the environment - and their wallet - through

Swashions eco-impact tracker.

I was hesitant about the whole concept of swapping... but then it was last-minute and I

needed a new dress for a night out with my husband. Thanks to SwashionMadison, I con-

nected with another member and swapped a purse for a fashionable dress hours before our

date, says Madison professional, mother of two, Amber Johnson.

Swashion Press Release


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Evaluation: AssessingSuccess and Failure

User Evaluation

After gathering a random sample of stu-dents at the University of Wisconsin to use theSwashion site, we have received extremelypositive feedback. The majority of respon-

dents were most impressed by the greatdeal of content that is on the site in such ashort period of time. Specically, participantsfelt that the blog was a great tool to learnmore about hyper-consumption, which ulti-mately made more students want to engagein swapping clothes. Students feel that thecolor scheme is extremely engaging and ap-propriate for our goals.

A common critique we heard from severalstudents was that they wish there was a wayto embed a photo of the item they were

swapping directly into the Disqus forum,instead of having to use Flickr or an exter-nal link. Additionally, some students felt thatthe News and Events and Calendar tabscould be combined into one tab. After somethought, we agreed, as the Calendar hasrelevant events for our users to participate in.

While our participants enjoyed the qualityand amount of content on our site, they did

mention that they werent sure exactly how

to utilize all the resources, especially how toswash (exchange clothing). In response, wegenerated explanatory videos. We embed-ded the rst on our homepage which dem-onstrates the various ways to utilize our site,from swashing to getting active in our peti-tion and policy proposals. We embeddedthe second video, which demonstrates howto swash, on each of the swash forum pages.

In a second round of testing with a coupleof our original participants, we received allaround positive feedback from our tutorialvideos and they rated the Swash processas easy, enjoyable and convenient.

Our Evaluation

At the time this was written our Google Ana-lytics recorded these gures for our platform:

62 unique visitors 105 visits 583 pageviews 364 unique pageviews 9.27 avg. time on site

Before we discuss these gures, we mustbegin with a couple of qualications. First, wemust recognize that these numbers representless than one full week of our website beinglive for use. Second, at least ve of the visitors

to our site were the members of our team.With those qualications being stated, thegures do tell us a lot about the effectivenessof our site and how visitors use it.

The nine minute average time spent on oursite speaks well of the content we preparedfor the site and mirrors the reactions we gotfrom participants in our platform testing. Usersmust have found content in which they were


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willing to spend time reading or interacting

with. Our high number of pageviews andunique pageviews further demonstrates thatour visitors are delving deeply into the siteand exploring the different areas it offers.

Apart from conclusions we learned fromour testing subjects about the site and plat-form, we came to a few general conclu-sions about our campaign. We realized thatmost of the visitors to our site and those we

engaged with were already active online.Because of this, we failed to actively en-gage those without access to the Internet ora social media presence. In retrospect wecould have done more ofine if we wouldhave distributed the two iers we generatedor if we had garnered media attention withour press release.

Currently, the infrastructure for swashingrelies on our team members to go in and

manually delete posts for swashes that weresuccessfully completed. As the site gainsmore users, maintaining the swash zoneswould become more than our team couldhandle. In the future, we would like to giveusers the opportunity to do this on their own.Also, we have no search function within theswash zones which makes it more difcult tond individuals to successfully swash with.

To improve the site further, we could haveexpanded the policy portion of our plat-form. The information we included about our

stance and policy proposals engaged our

users but no users signed our petition. Partof this is due to the location of the link to thepetition, which was buried in the text of ourGet Active page, and part is due to our fail-ure to draw more attention to our petition onour site and through our social media outlets.It would have been more effective to hostthe petition on our site directly, but with lim-ited time, we were unable to do this.

Additionally, we did not meet the level of en-forcement and control that we had hopedto have in the swash zones. For instance, wehave no way of holding users liable for failingto return swashed items if they agreed to doso. Originally, we intended to collect userscredit card information when they regis-tered to prevent stealing or damaging itemsswapped. If we continued our platform wewould certainly have to do more to protectSwashers, their property and their personal

information. One solution might be allowingusers to log in to our site and then set up theswash zones with restricted viewing.

Below we have included an evaluation ofeach of our social media outlets and addi-tional aspects of our platform:

Facebook

When executing our site and utilizing socialmedia to better interact with consumers,we were skeptical about the success of ourFacebook page. We were specically hesi-tant of Facebook becoming dominant overour actual website, as it has the power to doso. Because we did not want the Swashesto take place on our Facebook wall, we feltthat there was little use for a Facebook pageat all. Currently, this social networking site is


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merely working as a tool to increase aware-

ness, so we are not investing a great dealof time into the page. However, Twitter andYouTube are doing a better job at buildingawareness while also enabling interactionbetween us and our consumers.

Participants felt that the blogwas a great tool to learn more

about hyper-consumption, which

ultimately made more studentswant to engage in swappingclothes.

YouTube

While our original goal was for users to en-gage with us through posting their own vid-eos to YouTube about Swashion, we deter-mined that the most realistic way to interact

with our audience on YouTube was throughexplanatory videos of our site and the Swash-ion trend itself. We generated three videosto engage our sites visitors. The rst two weretutorial videos that we embedded into oursite, but the third was an attempt to garnermore buzz and interest in our platform. Weshared this commercial-like video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUGhEpa6Ulw)through the rest of our social media.

Twitter

In order to generate buzz about our websiteand the Swashion trend, we began gain-ing an active Twitter following before oursite launch. We tweeted green living tips,retweeted relevant news by those we follow,and shared links to our website, videos andblog posts. Keeping up with these news-like

topics helped to keep our community en-

gaged because most of our target audienceutilizes Twitter as a source of news.

At the time this was written our Twitter ac-count @Swashion had 62 active followers.While some of these followers may not betruly interested in our group or our cause,many of them are. For example, a femaleeco-friendly clothing designer based in Ha-waii @SoulRoleEco @mentioned Swashion inresponse to one of our tweets about green

living news. More impressively, @lovean-dtrash tweeted @Swashion Great work!

The world needs more people like you inresponse to a tweet explaining our clothingswap goals. Moreover, local Madison mediaoutlets began following our Twitter accountincluding @CapTimes and @WIStateTimes.Followers like these help promote the legiti-macy of our cause and group as well as im-

prove our visibility in the Madison community.

To better utilize our Twitter, we could havebegan tweeting even earlier in the courseof the class to have a longer time to build afollowing and create a community beforethe websites launch. We also could haveutilized hashtags about topics relevant to ourtarget audiences such as #swappingclothesor #madisonswap. Another downfall of utiliz-ing Twitter is that the social media outlet en-

courages more global interactivity than thecommunity involvement we were looking tobuild. In addition, our survey results show that72 percent of our respondents do not useTwitter which means that the social mediavenue may not resonate with our audienceas much as we would have liked it to.


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Smart-phone App

As an attempt to further our engagementwith our audience, we generated a smart-phone app to allow members of our Swash-ion community to keep up with Swashionon the go. The app includes an RSS feed ofour blog Swash Diary, a Twitter feed from@swashion, a Facebook feed from our fanpage, and a poll asking users if they wouldsupport our tax incentives for eco-friendlyclothing stores and resale clothing stores.

In theory the app would be the ideal way tostay in touch with Swashions most relevant

content and even new swashing opportuni-ties that Swashion would tweet. In practicehowever, the app only gained slight inter-est with merely seven visits to the downloadpage and no downloads beside our own.Part of this may be a result of limited actionon our website, but there are some otherpossible limitations. The app is only availablefor iPhone and Android phone users whichpresents a large barrier to entry. Overall the

app provided a unique and tech-savvy ele-

ment to our platform but we may not havebeen realistic in our hopes for its implementa-tion.

Flickr

We idealized Flickr as a further means ofengaging our audience by permitting themto share images of clothes they would like toswash. For our platform this meant creating

a link to our Flickr photostream and encour-aging Swashers to post their pictures theirfor reference in the swashing zones postingarea. We did not invest much effort in ourFlickr account because we realize Flickr hasnot reached critical mass with our audience.Its integration with our commenting systemallows users the opportunity to include im-ages in swash proposals that they otherwisewould not have had an easy and efcientway to do so.

Join the Community

Get your Swash on!


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swashion campaign book

Documents