The beauty industry’s buzziest brands are flocking to an unexpected corner of New York Fashion Week (NYFW). 

Away from the catwalks and camera flashes, The Digital Dept.’s BRANDEdit platform quietly fettled brand-influencer connections.

At their inaugural NYFW showroom, BRANDEdit orchestrated a symphony of brand activations and creator meet-ups, transforming a typically frenetic week into a curated, intimate experience. 

This Los Angeles transplant matched its West Coast success, drawing impressive crowds and generating a wealth of content.

BRANDEdit’s cost-effective, tiered approach offered brands from ClearSilk to MaryRuth Organics a foothold in the NYFW whirlwind without the hefty price tag of traditional sponsorships.

These efforts were headed by Belinda Sztrom, The Digital Dept.’s VP of Events & Partnerships and an influencer marketing veteran with over a decade of experience.

She shares the platform’s development process with us, from COVID-era mailers to NYFW sensation, and unveils expansion plans.

BRANDEdit’s Inception

BRANDEdit is one of The Digital Dept.’s event services. It has progressed from pandemic-era influencer mailers to in-person experiential activations.

Belinda describes the platform’s mission as “to deliver fun, creative, and effective solutions for brands to get in front of creators and establish relationships.”

The platform offers various participation tiers for brands, from gift bag inclusions to on-site activations. 

“We take the brand’s needs and goals and provide a tailored approach and solution that makes sense for them,” Belinda says.

For creators, BRANDEdit provides opportunities to connect with fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and wellness brands. These interactions often lead to long-term partnerships. 

“Something that’s fun is that, for the most part, our showrooms are purely organic opportunities for influencers,” Belinda notes. “That’s often turned into longstanding paid partnerships with the brands as a result of the brand and influencer connections developed.”

The company’s invite-only approach ensures a curated experience. 

“We spend months developing the list of brands that will be included in our showrooms,” Belinda explains. “We prioritize getting new creators to our showroom each time [and] creators that post a lot of organic content for brands.”

In BRANDEdit’s creator selection process, diversity and inclusivity play key roles. 

“We make sure that there’s great diversity at our showrooms and that any brands involved have products that can speak to a wide audience of creators,” Belinda points out.

While BRANDEdit’s website is undergoing improvements, Belinda and her team remain focused on delivering impactful, in-person events that build meaningful connections between brands and creators.

BRANDEdit Makes Splash at NYFW with Inaugural Influencer Showroom

The Digital Dept.’s BRANDEdit platform expanded its reach beyond Los Angeles this year, debuting its influencer showroom at NYFW. 

Belinda explains the motivation behind the expansion: “We’ve seen a lot of demand for us to take our showrooms outside of Los Angeles, for [brands] to meet different creators and work with different demographics.”

The NYFW showroom presented a unique opportunity for brands to connect with local New York creators and those visiting for Fashion Week. Despite being their first event outside Los Angeles, Belinda reports impressive results. 

“We had just as much attendance as we see in L.A. We’re seeing just as much content come through,” she says.

However, organizing the NYFW showroom came with its challenges. 

“The main challenge for New York Fashion Week was that it was our first time doing something during Fashion Week, and we didn’t have any case studies or results to prove it would be successful,” Belinda shares.

To overcome this hurdle, the team leveraged their experience from L.A. events to reassure participating brands. “We were able to use those case studies and results as an example of what they can expect,” Belinda explains.

The success of an event like this is measured on multiple levels. For Belinda, immediate feedback from brands and influencers is a key indicator.

Each participating brand received a detailed recap report highlighting its coverage, including introductions to content creators, generated impressions, and organic content from the event.

With the successful NYFW debut under its belt, BRANDEdit is already planning future expansions. “We’re doing another event outside of L.A. later this year, which will be in Miami in December, and we’re aiming that around Art Basel,” Belinda reveals.

A Springboard for National Expansion

The BRANDEdit Showroom proved to be a catalyst for forming strategic partnerships with beauty and wellness brands. Belinda highlights the success stories of ClearSilk and MaryRuth Organics.

“ClearSilk’s parent company is Sciton,” Belinda explains. “They are a beauty treatment brand that offers various beauty treatments.” 

The company’s $400-value laser facial treatment was integrated into the showroom, creating a mini spa experience. “It was just so amazing to see that they never had a free slot,” Belinda notes.

MaryRuth Organics, focused on hair health and beauty from within, partnered with Tangle Teezer to offer a comprehensive hair care experience. “We thought, ‘It’s Fashion Week.’ Influencers need to get their hair done, so why not partner them with a hair brand,’” Belinda says.

The BRANDEdit Showroom offered unique value to brands during NYFW by providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional sponsorships or standalone events and enabling them to be in the “buzz without hosting their own event.” 

This successful debut is expected to impact The Digital Dept.’s overall brand strategy significantly. 

Belinda anticipates expansion into additional markets: “I imagine 2025 and beyond, we’ll be introducing the event to key markets throughout the U.S. and potentially internationally.”

She envisions working with an expanded roster of brands and a network of creators and continuing to develop partnerships between brands and creators.

Friendly Faces and Future Places

As a key takeaway, Belinda highlights the overwhelmingly positive feedback.

“Brands and the creators gave us so much feedback about how nice everyone was at our events,” Belinda notes. 

She attributes this to their brand team’s network of creators, describing them as “so friendly, so eager to meet brands and so eager to develop those relationships.”

This welcoming atmosphere has become a hallmark of BRANDEdit events, creating an environment where “everyone wants to be there and is eager to meet and develop those relationships,” Belinda explains.

“Both brands and creators are eager to see these events in L.A. and other markets and beyond,” Belinda reiterates.

From here, The Digital Dept. aims to expand, hit other cities, be involved in other cultural events, and work with additional brands and creators to create buzz, brand awareness, and effective influencer marketing solutions.

All NYFW images are credited to Holland Clement.