WE DON'T MAKE HEADLINES, OUR CLIENTS DO.

One way that Zapwater continues to separate ourselves from other PR agencies is that we put a large emphasis on co-branding and partnerships for our clients. A perfect example of this was a recent promotion and event for our fashion client, GAVIN Boutique, a women’s apparel and accessory store based in Evanston, Illinois (www.shopgavin.com).

Together with GAVIN’s owner, Lauren Cavallo Runzel, we developed three goals for the partnership: 1. Drive new shoppers and foot traffic into the store 2. Encourage city shoppers to come to the suburbs to shop 3. Elevate awareness of GAVIN Boutique as the ultimate destination for one-of-a-kind finds

In order to achieve these goals, we organized a partnership for them with a vintage collaborative called Lipstick Dinosaur (www.lipstickdinosaur.com). Lipstick Dinosaur scours secondhand stores around the country to find one-of-a-kind apparel and accessories.

Between Lipstick Dinosaur’s vintage accessories and GAVIN Boutique’s apparel, we knew that this could be a successful partnership. Therefore, our team strategized a variety of tactics including:

1. Organizing an in-store appearance and trunk show for Lipstick Dinosaur at GAVIN Boutique featuring vintage necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, and more. The boutique also offered special discounts that day. 2. Instead of just a one-day trunk show, we also worked with GAVIN to create a Lipstick Dinosaur “pop-up accessory shop” for the month of July featuring vintage accessories paired with GAVIN’s apparel. 3. We organized a high-profile “GAVIN Boutique & Lipstick Dinosaur Launch Party and Runway Show” in Chicago at the stylish, Vertigo Sky Lounge at the dana hotel & spa.

The partnership was an incredible success and received a lot of media acclaim with a full-page spread in the Chicago Sun-Times, and features in Chicago Magazine, Cheeky Chicago, Time Out Chicago, NBC 5 Chicago, Chicago Social, and much more. Also, within a week of the launch of the pop-up shop, Lipstick Dinosaur had to replenish new accessories since everything had sold out.

Seeing the increase in sales and traffic, GAVIN Boutique is also planning on extending the relationship beyond the one-month pop-up shop. Lauren Cavallo Runzel is planning to carry Lipstick Dinosaur accessories in the boutique for the rest of 2010.