Breaking Down Charles & Keith’s Event Strategies

Aug 3, 2025
2 min read

Identifying Consumer Segments

Flat White Hours Event by Charles & Keith

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Charles & Keith’s (C&K) Melbourne fashion event as a fashion student, where I got to have a sneak peek at their latest collection featuring their Calla tote bag. The event combined fashion, music and coffee with a live DJ, quest challenge, DIY charm stations, a sure-win claw machine, and photo mementos to take home.

C&K’s Social Media Ad Strategy

What I particularly noticed was that C&K relied heavily on Instagram ads and student club collabs to market the event. I found this was particularly effective, as it clearly aligned with their 18 to 45-year-old target market, which I observed made up a majority of the event's demographic, including myself. According to We Are Social’s latest 2024 Australia Digital Report, social media is also a powerful tool, especially for fashion brands, with 58% of Aussie users aged 16 to 64 who use social media to stay updated on news, trends and events. Moreover, Instagram specifically tops other popular social platforms with a 20% increase in potential ad reach since 2023.

RMIT Fashion Society C&K - Club Event Post

C&K’s Smart Move: Turning Fun Into Free Marketing

Digital marketing and consumer behaviour researchers Monica Alexandra Hodis et al., in their 2015 article “Interact with me on my terms: a four-segment Facebook engagement framework for marketers”, published in the Journal of Marketing Management, identified ‘entertainment chasers’ as one of the key digital consumer segments. I found C&K effectively engaged this group by offering simple, low-effort event activities. For example, an easy five-step “quest” where attendees could earn gifts by completing tasks like tagging the brand on their Instagram story. The quest was both entertaining and slightly competitive, as early finishers could receive better rewards from a C&K bag to smaller trinkets. As a result, it encouraged consumers to share their experiences and help generate digital brand engagement.

The Five-Step Quest & Reward/Gift

This also links with what respected academic Kristina Heinonen identifies as a consumer segment motivated by information and participation. She highlights in her 2011 journal article “Consumer activity in social media: Managerial approaches to consumers' social media behavior” that brands can better connect and drive engagement by increasing their involvement in consumers' social media activities. C&K engaged this group and demonstrated this through incentivising them to share personalised content. For example, guests were encouraged to take an OOTD photo with their Calla Tote bag, post it on their Instagram tagging @CharlesKeithOffical and using the hashtag #CharlesKeithAcademy in exchange for a gift. As a result, C&K could generate organic content by incentivising attendees to promote the brand and act as real-time reviewers and product testers.