Robert Feinberg’s trip as president of Haute Hippie has begun with an Instagram-infused Coachella collaboration with Neiman Marcus and Polaroid.
The brand, which Hilco acquired in the fall, teamed with the tony retailer and the camera company to outfit 12 bloggers — including Chanel Celaya, Kaylee Ricciardi and Madelyn Adams — who received Haute Hippie looks and are showing them off to their followers from the festival.
Neiman Marcus is selling the featured looks and posting the pictures on its Web site, while Polaroid is helping Haute Hippie circulate the images on Instagram.
The campaign started with the festival last weekend and will continue this weekend. The early read has been promising and increased referral traffic to Haute Hippie’s Web site by 72 percent, while the brand’s Instagram followers increased by 15 percent from Thursday to Sunday.
“We’re all hippies at heart and this experience at an outdoor festival speaks to the brand,” said Feinberg, who joined the company in late February, noting the bloggers in the collaboration ran from their 20s to their 50s.
The campaign offers an early look at how Feinberg wants to grow the brand, which has built a loyal customer base in recent years, but didn’t click financially.
“What we want to do is elevate the product and get the product to the stores on time,” Feinberg said. “We want to make beautiful clothes and we want to sell them at regular price. It’s possible to have the right product in the right retailers and do that. This is what the industry needs. We are at a crossroads in the industry and I believe regular price selling is very important.”