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Members Kelly Kepner and Jordan Landes-Brenman are founders of Haute House PR and Marketing, which is a force to be reckoned with in the fashion industry. Specializing in all facets of the fashion industry such as; business consulting, designer resources, sales and retail strategizing, Haute House is a firm you want on your team.
We interviewed them to get a behind the scenes glimpse of how they got started and what makes them tick. Successful partnerships in business can be hard to maintain, but this duo aligns perfectly to create a well rounded experience and results for their clients.
What inspired you to get started?
We worked together at another firm in Hollywood for several years, but eventually wanted to expand and do our own thing so that we would have more creative freedom. We knew we had what it takes to make it big in this industry: strong relationships with every media outlet, hard work and dedication, and a keen eye for classic fashion and accessory lines that will soon be seen in magazines and on celebrities.
What was your background? Was it in what you were doing now?
Kelly studied Communications in college and then worked for a PR firm in Los Angeles that placed luxury brands like CHANEL, Donald J. Pliner and Asics into various films. After that job, and some time studying in London, Kelly met Jordan and a PR firm in Hollywood where she launched and developed the Men's Division and produced various events like runway shows, gifting suits, and retail events.
Jordan majored in Retailing and Consumer Sciences and then, following her studies in Paris, she organized everything from trunk shows with Diane Von Furstenberg and CHANEL to Mercedes-Benz IMG Fashion Week and Prêt à Porter Paris. At her previous PR firm, Jordan quickly rose to the top serving as second in command to the owner as Director of Product Placement & Publicity. It is here where she met Kelly and they decided to launch Haute House PR over three years ago.
What challenge have you had to face that led to a big growth for your company?
We decided to start integrating Social Media systems since that's the future of PR today. It was a learning curve, but something that has only helped us to grow our business exponentially.
What do you have going on in your business right now that you're excited about?
Haute House PR is thrilled to announce a new celebrity preview/gifting event that we've conceptualized, and will be hosting in Los Angeles this summer...called PR e t t y ♥ by Haute House PR! Our first event will be a collaboration with green nail spa, Bellacures in Brentwood, CA on August 27th, 2012! Having been in the industry for years, we know exactly what today's gifting suites are missing, and it's that organic celebrity interest in a product, so this is going to be a gifting event that delivers the images that the tabloids actually WANT to run, and give items that the celebrities actually WILL wear, and can pick out with their stylists in a private setting.
About the Event:
Haute House PR has teamed up with Hollywood's top celebrity fashion stylists, and Bellacures to create PR e t t y ♥. Taking place during the summer, PR e t t y ♥ offers a day of pampering for the leading ladies of Hollywood.
In addition to receiving manicures and pedicures, each celebrity will have one-on-one time with their trusted wardrobe stylist to browse through Haute House PR's racks of gifting which includes apparel, accessories and jewelry from our clients. We'll also be showing the newest items for the season to the celebrities should they want to borrow anything for award show season as well. This event is priceless, as it allows the celebrities the luxury of getting to personally pick out pieces that they love and will want to wear...both on and off the red carpet in the weeks following the event.
Many of the starlets will even leave the actual event wearing the items, all while being photographed by the paparazzi on their way out; resulting in an organic, tabloid-worthy shot shot of a celebrity wearing the brand and polish around town. (As opposed to an image of them merely holding up an item, which the tabloids will rarely publish.) These images will be serviced to each participating brand as they arise, which can then be used to drive sales at retail.
If you would like more information about participating in the event or donating product for the 75 VIP gift bags, feel free to email us at info@hautehousepr.com.
Where would you love to see your business in 5 years?
We would love to see an East Coast office for our firm at some point in time. We have an extremely established presence in New York already (and are working with all of the NY editors there daily) but would love to also have a space there; so that we could spend more time with the editors and host more fashion-related events in the city. We'd also love to do more on-air style segments, and trend forecasting. Since we work so closely with editors and celebrities, we always know what's HAUTE, 3-4 months in advance and can predict the trends since we get them straight from the top tastemakers themselves.
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Thank you Kelly and Jordan for sharing this with us! We want to also mention that we love your Pinterest world, so props to you on building that!
