Microsoft and Partners Bring High Tech
to Haute Couture with Style Star

Official press release
12/01/2010

MILAN and PARIS – January 11, 2010 – At the National Retail Federation’s NRF 99^th Annual Convention & Expo today, Microsoft Corp. in cooperation with Accenture and Avanade, introduced “Style Star” with Marina Garzoni, president and founder of Moda e Tecnologia.  The new offering showcasing Microsoft’s leadership in global retail information technology solutions was first previewed in Italy at the Venice Film Festival and Milan Fashion Week in September.

Style Star offers a new way of selling fashion and luxury goods to consumers by combining interaction with emotion across digital marketing, ecommerce, customer relationship management (CRM) and Web services. Together with its partners, Microsoft developed the Style Star MSN format melding fashion and cinema that directly reaches out to consumers and amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury industry’s short film production and promotional efforts.

After 60 years, the fashion and luxury landscape is undergoing significant change. Runway shows no longer seem the only way to promote fashion in the globalized, technological new world of the 21st century, and the fashion and luxury consumer is no longer seen as a target but as an individual demanding participation, exchange and co-creation. Forward-thinking, visionary luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Prada, Tod’s and Ferragamo are experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion for a mix of digital and traditional media, including cinematography and short film vignettes.

Emerging technology has expanded the relationship between the brand experience and the consumer by providing a 360-degree way of communicating through both virtual and real world channels — a truly unique multichannel experience.

“With regards to the collaboration between Moda e Tecnologia and Microsoft, we thought this would be the right time to launch Style Star, a new project that allows us to bring the general public close together with the fashion and cinema world,” said Marina Garzoni, president of Moda e Tecnologia and director of Style Star which was created by her. “We believe that today more than ever, having seen the economic link and the changes that are taking place, there is the need in the fashion and luxury world to explore the potential of the mix of fashion, cinema and technology and the impact it can have on the future of the industry.”

“Catwalks of the future can take advantage of advancements in technology to showcase their brands, drive loyalty and advertise via video and online media,” said Paula Paravecchio, EMEA managing director, Distribution & Services Industry, Microsoft. “This adds a powerful emotional connection with the brands and provides a new level of authenticity that speaks directly to consumers to augment the overall experience.”

Style Star enables retailers in the fashion and other industries to drive brand experience, loyalty, social networking and new channels to reach consumers, seek opinions on new product launches, and gain market insights through real-time and virtual participation.  This one-to-one customer relationship will enable retailers and others to customize their products and meet the needs of those global industries in which the customer is increasingly in control.”

Style Star will bring together and celebrate these short fashion and luxury film vignettes, thereby creating a collaborative and promotional environment involving designers, fashion and luxury companies, production houses and advertising agencies, and well-known and up-and-coming directors. Within the Style Star format, brands and designers will be able to showcase their productions and tell their story in an appropriate and empowering context fueled by the most innovative technologies.

Thanks also to collaboration with Leo Burnett, its official communication agency, and Microsoft MSN, Style Star now will span both the real and the virtual digital worlds.

Together with partners like Accenture and Avanade, Microsoft has created its own integrated Style Star offering for the fashion and luxury world that will enable immediate consumer interaction with the brand and collection — from media release to advertising and viral communication (via the Web or a mobile device).  New collections now are available online or via many channels to promote consumer loyalty and drive cross-sell and up-sell.

Microsoft in Retail

Microsoft is the leading provider of global retail information technology solutions.  Microsoft is #1 in store systems, with 90% market share in retail POS OS (Source: IHL).  Microsoft also is the leader in business intelligence (BI): 100% of retailers use Excel, the #1 decision support tool.  Microsoft also leads in digital marketing as the only end-to-end solutions provider.  Its digital marketing solutions range from the stack (Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server, .NET, Visual Studio) to online (Commerce Server) to mobile (Windows Mobile), and from digital advertising (Bing, AdCenter) to entertainment (Xbox, Xbox LIVE, Zune, Silverlight).  Microsoft delivers connected experiences for stores, commerce and the enterprise via the “three screens” (PC, browser, mobile) for anytime, anywhere on any device access.
Microsoft’s Retail Group provides software that helps retailers thrive in today’s competitive global marketplace by meeting the demand for a highly personalized and connected shopper experience. Microsoft helps retailers deliver a consistent shopping experience through seamless multi-channel integration and via innovative technologies and mobile and new social networking channels. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-based solutions, retailers can turn data into insight, ideas into action and change into opportunity. More information about Microsoft’s Retail Group can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/retail.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Style Star at the NRF Conference in New York with Microsoft and Avanade

Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft and Avanade will be at the National Retail Federation’s NRF 99^th Annual Convention & Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in New York from January 10 – 12

with a Style Star lounge, booth 100

Because fashion and luxury goods are intrinsically tied to identity for many people, retailers are constantly looking for better ways to create a strong emotional connection to the brand and more actively engage consumers.  Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft, Accenture and Avanade have developed an offering that helps fashion retailers create immersive interactive experiences with consumers across both real world and virtual channels.

After 60 years, the fashion and luxury landscape is undergoing significant change. Runway shows no longer seem the only way to promote fashion in the globalized, technological new world of the 21st century, and the fashion and luxury consumer is no longer seen as a target but as an individual demanding participation, exchange and co-creation. Forward-thinking, visionary luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Prada, Tod’s and Ferragamo are experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion for a mix of digital and traditional media, including cinematography and short film vignettes.

“Style Star offers a new way of communicating and selling fashion and luxury goods to consumers by combining interaction with emotion across digital marketing, ecommerce, customer relationship management (CRM) and Web services,” said Marina Garzoni, President of Moda e Tecnologia and founder of Style Star.  “Moda e Tecnologia and Microsoft developed the Style Star MSN format melding fashion and cinema that directly reaches out to consumers and amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury industry’s short film production and promotional efforts.”

In addition, at the NRF Conference Moda e Tecnologia, Microsoft and Avanade are showing how fashion and luxury goods retailers can drive strong brand messages through multiple channels, including real world, digital and social media.  This approach brings new technologies to fashion for a more immersive consumer experience.  The offering was first previewed in Italy at the Venice Film Festival and Milan Fashion Week in September.

“Luxury brands are actively exploring immersive new ways to communicate with their public.  I found Style Star to be a very positive experience that allowed me to communicate the message to many through a new combination of technology, fashion and film,” said Edoardo Winspeare, Director of the Louis Vuitton short movie Les Noces de Papier (http://donne.it.msn.com/stylestar/video.aspx).  “A new era is coming.  People are asking for more authenticity and interaction.  They wish to participate and share their emotions.  Louis Vuitton understands the importance of this powerful new phenomenon and I appreciate the freedom I was given to express their message.  I was honored to be part of the first Style Star event during the 66^th Venice Film Festival with Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Ferragamo.”

Since September, major retailers in Europe have shown interest and are exploring Style Star solutions.  These include new ways to drive a unified brand message across multiple channels, including real world, digital and social media combined with an immersive new way to drive commerce.  As a result, Style Star generates greater brand visibility, attracts existing and new customers, increases sales and boosts customer loyalty.

“Emerging technology has expanded the relationship between the brand experience and the consumer by providing a 360-degree way of communicating through both virtual and real world channels, providing a connected consumer experience”, said Garzoni. “Style Star provides a whole new way to engage customers in interactive formats such as mobile, web, Surface, cinema and 3D. This builds a strong emotional connection to the overall brand and products.  Retail brands can take advantage of Style Star to excite their customers, amplify their promotional efforts and showcase their creativity and innovation.”

Thanks also to collaboration with Leo Burnett, the official communication agency of Style Star, and Microsoft MSN, Style Star now will span both the real and the virtual digital worlds.

“Style Star is an immersive experience for the fashion industry with strong appeal that connects consumers more directly to the latest trends.  Fashion and luxury brands embrace innovation and pride themselves on being leaders for the international scene.  We are evaluating this new concept which we believe represents what is next in advertising,” said Enrico Dorizza, Creative Director for Leo Burnett.

“We believe that today more than ever, having seen the economic link and the changes that are taking place, there is a need in the fashion and luxury world to explore potential of the mix of fashion, cinema and the technology and the impact it can have on the future of the industry,” said Garzoni.

About Style Star

Style Star launched in Italy at the 66^th Venice Film Festival and the Milano Fashion Week in September with Marina Garzoni, President and Founder of Moda e Tecnologia, with Microsoft.

The concept is a new way of communication and selling to fashion consumers combining interaction with emotion across digital marketing, ecommerce, CRM and web services.

Style Star is an innovative format, with interactive fashion vignettes, cinema and MSN which amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury industry through short film vignettes.

For more information, go to www.stylestarfestival.com or contact us at press@modatecnologia.com

Desidero ringraziare tutti coloro che sono stati con noi, che hanno collaborato, che ci hanno seguito, in questo anno di progetti.

Il 2009 è stato anche un anno di ampliamento del network per Moda e Tecnologia, con una community in crescita, grazie anche al nuovo spazio stylestar.msn.it ospitato dal sito di Microsoft MSN, che ci ha dato accesso a 14 Milioni di utenti unici al mese in Italia, ai quali si sono aggiunti quelli di www.marieclaire.it media partner di Style Star a Venezia.

Siamo anche presenti su tutti i canali importanti di social media come twitter, facebook, youtube, flickr, slideshare etc, ed abbiamo anche lanciato un blog dedicato allo sviluppo del progetto,
dove troverete tutte le informazioni su come seguire i nostri canali 2.0″.
Un ringraziamento sentito, dunque, ad Andrey Golub, che da settembre 2009 ha portato Moda e Tecnologia a diventare 2.0 con http://stylestar.it e che dal 2010 assumerà il ruolo di Web Strategist e Community Manager dell’associazione Non profit Moda e Tecnologia.
Insomma ci teniamo davvero a coinvolgere la community!
Sul sito troverete molte informazioni sulla storia dei progetti, interviste, programmazione eventi e
tutte le novità del 2010.
Un grazie particolare ai nostri partners, che sostengono con entusiasmo i nostri progetti. Nel 2009: Leo Burnett, Mariecliare.it., Msn, Microsoft (e loro partners quali Avanade, Dessault, NTT Observing, Axellerate).

La nostra gratitudine va anche a tutti coloro che hanno collaborato a diffondere notizie a riguardo della nostra attività e dei nostri progetti, dietro i quali vi è tanta fatica e costante dedizione, perchè tutto il settore moda tragga beneficio dall’incontro con la tecnologia.

Ecco alcune date che hanno fatto del 2009 un anno da ricordare:

26 Maggio : l’emozione della conferenza stampa STYLE STAR al Town House Galleria di Milano, e tanti di voi venuti per ascoltare in anteprima il fenomeno de ” i corti di moda” e le autorevoli testimonianze di Paolo Mereghetti (Critico del Corriere della Sera) Enrico Dorizza (Direttore Creativo Leo Burnett), Antonio Mancinelli (Caporedattore Marie Claire), Dario Melpignano (AD Neos Mob c3), Stefano Santinelli (General Manager Microsoft Consumer & Online, e l’intervista a Edoardo Winspeare (regista del cortometraggio Les Noces De Papier per Louis Vuitton).

2-12 Settembre: Style Star alla 66° Mostra Internazionale D’arte Cinematografica di Venezia.
Con noi, 3 marchi leggendari, Chanel, Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton che attraverso i propri cortometraggi ci hanno dato il loro messaggio in modo nuovo…è nato un percorso innovativo per la comunicazione : ” i corti di moda”.

4 Settembre: Conferenza stampa Style Star al Lido di Venezia.
Un grazie ai relatori:Luigi Ciciniello (Direttore Operativo Biennale), Michele Vianello (Vicesindaco di Venezia), Stefano Santinelli ( General manager Microsoft Consumer & Online), Antonella Antonelli (Direttore Marieclaire), Enrico Dorizza (Direttore Creativo Leo Burnett) ed ai moderatori Laura delli Colli (Presidente Associazione Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici italiani) e Antonio Mancinelli (caporedattore Marieclaire).

23-29 Settembre: a Milano, durante la settimana della moda, al Town House.
abbiamo proposto “Style Star in vetrina” innovativa offerta retail per comunicare e vendere attraverso un mix di moda, cinema e tecnologia.

30 Novembre: la rinnovata sede di Salmoiraghi Viganò in San Babila ospita “Il Presenta Te Stesso” di Milan IN dedicato a me. Grazie, è stato bellissimo. A voi tutti un affettuoso augurio di Felice ANNO NUOVO!!!!!!

Marina Garzoni
http:// stylestar.it

STYLE STAR. FASHION, CINEMA AND TECHNOLOGY. A NEW FORMAT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.

Press Release. Milan, 27^th agust 2009

The fashion and luxury landscape is undergoing great change. Runway shows no longer seem the only way to promote fashion in the globalized, technological new world of the 21st century, and the fashion and luxury consumer is no longer seen as a target but as an individual demanding participation, exchange, and co-creation. Forward-thinking, visionary luxury brands are taking notice and experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion – a mix of digital and traditional media, including cinematography and short film.

In this context, cinema and technology emerge as strong allies of creative communication, leading luxury and fashion brands to choose the short film as the natural evolution of brand communication and storytelling.

In fact, shorts have become a distinct expression of the brand, a must for the strongest and most innovative fashion and lifestyle companies. To produce them, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Dior, Tod’s, Ferragamo, Alexander McQueen and others have engaged well-know personalities the likes of two-time Oscar winner Pietro Scalia (for Prada), Dennis Hopper (for Tod’s), Edoardo Winspeare (for Louis Vuitton) and Gabriele Muccino (for Intimissimi), to name just a few.

Style Star, the first fashion and luxury short film concept festival created by Italian fashion and technology visionary Marina Garzoni – President and Founder of Moda e Tecnologia no-profit association – frames and addresses this new era of communication. It is an innovative format, an interactive cocktail of fashion and cinema which reaches out directly to consumers and amplifies the advertising and promotional reach of the fashion and luxury indusry’s short film production and promotional efforts. Style Star will bring together and celebrate these short fashion and luxury films, thereby creating a fertile collaborative and promotional environment involving designers, fashion and luxury companies, production houses and advertising agencies, well-known and up-and-coming directors. Within the Style Star format, brands and designers will be able to showcase their productions and tell their story in an appropriate and empowering context fueled by the most innovative technologies. Read about it on http://stylestar.modatecnologia.com and follow it on Twitter @stylestartweet.

Style Star will happen in both the real and the virtual, digital worlds, thanks also to a collaboration with Leo Burnett, its official communication agency, and Microsoft MSN.

The Festival format includes:

• The Style Star Awards and other exciting fashion and short film events, to take place over a period of three days at the Style Star Lounge during the Festival De Cannes – Cannes Film Festival from May 13th through May 23rd, 2010;

• Events, parties and more, at The Style Star Lounge (Excelsior Venice Lido Resort Terrace) during the 66th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia – Venice Film Festival, from September 2nd to September 12th, 2009;

• “Cinema is Fashionable” to take place in Milan during Milano Moda Donna – Milan’s Fashion Week, from September 23rd through September 30th, in several locations across the city and in the exclusive Style Star Lounge, situated in the prestigious Town House Galleria Hotel in downtown Milan. “Cinema is Fashionable” will give wide visibility to shorts made by fashion and luxury brands at a critical time for industry key players, with short film previews being showcased (by invitation only or open to the general public) in the best cinema theaters across Milan. “Cinema is Fashionable” previews and in-shop promotions will also be held in other major Italian cities.

• Style Star YOU!, a series of in-shop promotional events involving young (18-30) fashion and cinema lovers in casting events, in-shop or window short movie showings, contests and draws

• Ad-hoc dedicated portal http://stylestar.msn.it

• A dedicated blog http://stylestar.modatecnologia.com

• Twitter page http://twitter.com/stylestartweet

• Event announcement on Moda e Tecnologia’s Facebook Fan page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118982462665 and other social media marketing activities.

Style Star is an entirely new format for the celebration of short fashion and luxury films. It is also a unique and innovative promotional vehicle. “To date, research has proved us right, leading fashion and luxury firms seems very attached to short movies as a new way to communicate brand identity and brand values,” concludes Marina Garzoni. “If a guru at the level of Tom Ford has put himself behind the movie camera (for A Single Man) it means a revolution has truly begun!”