The Strategy Behind the NMG Awards
Chief merchandising officer Lana Todorovich explains how the new awards program is geared to benefit designers and customers and bring greater exclusivity and business to Neiman’s.
There are no shortage of designer awards in fashion — but the Neiman
Marcus Group Awards are gearing up to be something different.
Executives of the Dallas-based luxury retailer say their NMG Awards is “a 360-degree platform” for elevating a designer's distribution across NMG's three selling channels — stores, e-commerce and remote selling — and furthering its strategy of “retail-tainment,” which centers on developing innovative special events and activations in stores. Exclusives are also part of the program.
In effect, the NMG Awards signal greater exposure for the honored designers and their brands to the U.S. market, and are intended to introduce them to new customers and strengthen loyalty among existing customers.
“It's really important to distinguish the Neiman Marcus Group Awards from other awards. It's not just a recognition program. It's a platform to really recognize and celebrate and support the brands in an amplified way, backed by the full power of our merchandise and marketing engines,” said Lana Todorovich, NMG's chief merchandising officer.
“It's not a just statue to keep. There's really this whole program behind it,” she said.
It's also an effort by NMG to strengthen its own relationships with designers and gain an edge on other companies it competes most directly with, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.
“We believe that strong brand partner relationships enable us to buy with conviction and offer the best of luxury and exclusives to Neiman Marcus,” Todorovich added. “This awards platform exemplifies our modern approach to integrated luxury retail and curated assortments — bringing top luxury brands and the luxury customer together through exclusive activations.”
Neiman's chief merchant underscored that the Neiman Marcus Group Awards will “help designers express their brand's stories and present the full expressions of their brands to our customers, and in particular to the U.S. market.” That's important because while Neiman's does have a track record of developing in-store designer shops with big presentations, typically created in tandem with the designers themselves with appropriate branding, designers have been opening their own stores and sometimes feel that the retailers they sell to don't merchandise their collections in ways that capture their true essence and scope.
Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe, will receive the Neiman Marcus Award for Creative Impact in the Field of Fashion. Accessories designer Amina Muaddi will receive the Neiman Marcus Award for Innovation in the Field of Fashion.
Brunello Cucinelli will receive the prestigious Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. That award, which is being revived after a six-year hiatus, was created 85 years ago by Carrie Marcus Neiman, the late cofounder of Neiman Marcus, and Stanley Marcus, the late and legendary Neiman Marcus president/ chairman/impresario. It was last bestowed upon Carolina Herrera in 2016, but was discontinued as NMG became consumed with financial difficulties and management changes, went in and out of bankruptcy in 2020, and then had to navigate through the pandemic.
Now, following its restructuring that created a healthier balance sheet, the retailer is in a better position to forge stronger partnerships with luxury designers and brands, and get back to distributing awards.
NM's Distinguished Service Award has been given to more than 100 luxury fashion luminaries including Yves Saint Laurent 65 years ago, Oscar de la Renta 55 years ago, Ralph Lauren 50 years ago and Missoni 50 years ago. Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Estée Lauder, Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld and Miuccia Prada were also recipients.
The Neiman Marcus Group Awards kicks off with a celebration in Paris on March 3 during Paris Fashion Week with an event attended by brand partners and past NM Award recipients.
“Obviously, it was a different time when Stanley and Carrie started the award, but it was about bringing designers to the Dallas market, especially the European designers,” Todorovich explained. “And then they always had a fabulous party. It brought great visibility to the designers in the U.S.”
“These awards will be given annually,” said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, chief executive officer of the Neiman Marcus Group. “Our customers want to hear the
news about storied fashion houses being renewed and new fashion houses breaking through.”
April 18 marks the launch of the Brunello Cucinelli Icon collection, done exclusively for Neiman Marcus. It comprises women's and men's ready-to-wear, shoes and bags, which will be exclusively available in 10 Neiman Marcus stores and online. “The presale has been going extremely well,” said Todorovich. “These are very exquisite pieces, almost like works of art. The kickoff event will take place at an offsite location. So that will be first one from Brunello and then we are working with him for another activation, in October, which will take place in our Los Angeles store. And that second collection, sort of Hollywood glamour-inspired, is also going to be exclusive to us.” Cucinelli is expected to attend both launches.
Todorovich said each of the three designers will “take their own approach to how they want to express their brand to our customers” and provide exclusive lines. Muaddi is working on an exclusive footwear collection which will be introduced in the fall, while Anderson's exclusive line is expected to be introduced around the same time or later in this year.
Todorovich also said that Neiman's will be providing the designers with “a 360-degree experience to create significant impact with our customers. So it's how do they really express themselves through all of our channels — online, in stores, the remote channel,” which involves Neiman's associates selling clients remotely. “We know that customers who shop across channels spend five times more than customers that only shop in one channel,” Todorovich said.
In addition, with the activations associated with award winners, “we tap into the power of our sales associates and the relationships that they have with their clients because we also know that clients who have relationships with our sales associates, that level of trust, are spending 12 times more,” than other customers, she said.
The awards, Todorovich said, is a key component to expand Neiman's “retail-tainment” strategy.
“When I reflect back on the last 12 months, we've had over 20 of those retail-tainment experiences and it's something that is such a powerful way to modernize and move our business forward,” whether that's wrapping the outside of the buildings to flag a designer “takeover” of a store with outsized presentations and special events, or staging an event on a working ranch with Cucinelli. “Each one of these 20 experiences that we've done has a very different and unique flair,” said Todorovich. “We have about 15 new ones planned for spring. The scale, the exclusivity, all of that is at a very different level than anything that we've done in the past. We know our customers desire a personalized shopping experience with an entertainment element, which is why we continue to execute activations like this. These events generate strong engagement, proving this approach is working.”
Designers will also be included in seasonal campaigns in the Neiman Marcus Book, and will be benefited by increased exposure on NeimanMarcus.com and the Neiman Marcus app. “They will be spotlighted there,” said Todorovich. There will also be social content, targeted customer emails, VIP and customer events, in-store visual merchandising, sales associate messaging through Neiman's Connect, used to communicate with customers in various ways, as well as “retail-tainment” activations.
In the future, “We're going to expand the award program to Bergdorf Goodman, so there's just a lot of opportunity,” Todorovich disclosed. There will be a separate BG Awards strategy.