STYLE STAR USHERS IN A NEW ERA IN ONLINE LUXURY

Fashion, film and technology merge in “e-motional” interactive concept.

PARIS, April 14, 2010 – What if the virtual runway is the new reality?

In the online landscape, consumers seek a strong emotional connection with fashion and luxury brands, something that reaches beyond the traditional rituals of runway shows and red carpet coverage. Emerging technology has expanded the relationship between the brand and the consumer by providing a 360-degree, multi-channel communicating experience. Brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Prada, Tod’s and Ferragamo have led the way in experimenting with new forms of brand communication and promotion for digital and traditional media, particularly short film vignettes.

Today, Marina Garzoni, president and founder of Moda e Tecnologia, and MSN are proud to present STYLE STAR, a revolutionary new tool for creating immersive interactive experiences for consumers in both the real and virtual worlds.

Designed to generate greater brand visibility, attract existing and new customers, foster immediate consumer interaction, increase sales and boost customer loyalty, the Style Star web channel hosted by MSN melds the worlds of fashion and film, amplifying the reach of the fashion and luxury industry’s promotional efforts and short film production while showcasing Microsoft’s leadership in global retail information technology solutions. This concept was first previewed in September 2009 at the 66^th Venice Film Festival and Milan Fashion Week.

“In the digital world, consumers are no longer targets but individuals who demand authenticity, participation, exchange and co-creation,” says Garzoni. “STYLE STAR offers the public a new way of connecting with the latest trends and the world of cinema. For brands, it combines interactivity with an emotional connection for reaching consumers across digital marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management (CRM) and integrated web services.”

Explains Andrey Golub, partner and CTO of Moda e Tecnologia and Style Star, “Style Star is much more than a web site or an e-commerce platform. It is an integrated set of products and advanced technologies that combine quality content from multiple sources with a next generation e-Style Star shopping platform for a rich 2.0 user experience. It puts brands directly in touch with consumers, enabling retailers in fashion and other industries to drive brand experience and loyalty, coordinate social networking, and gain feedback and market insights through real-time and virtual participation. This one-to-one customer relationship will enable clients to customize their products and meet the needs of those global industries in which the customer is increasingly in control.”

Style Star’s collaborative and promotional environment brings together 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 driven by the most innovative technologies.

Contact Presse • Karla Otto Paris • Michel Hakimian • michel@karlaotto.com • Tel 01.42.61.34.36

more info: WWW.STYLESTARLOUNGE.COM

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.