An email just came in from a high street store announcing its new face for high summer and autumn/winter. Unfortunately, the news is embargoed til next week so I can’t name names but the model in question is a prominent UK blogger with attitude. Why is this interesting? Two reasons. One, it underscores the theory that models these days need more than good looks, they need personality. Models with attitude add extra energy to everything they do, they add their own stamp to the styling and make the pictures pop. Two, a blogger-as-spokesmodel is a pretty smart move on the part of the marketers. Bloggers have added value because they’re great communicators. They have a ready made platform to publicise the campaign – add together their blog, Twitter and Facebook followers and you have a pretty wide reach. (Hunter wellies obviously thought so when they signed up Liberty London Girl.) Bloggers also have entrepreneurial spirits so it will be interesting to see how the blogger-as-model trend develops. We’ve seen plenty of celebrities go from face-of to creator-of, let’s see if bloggers follow suit.

[Image credit: Karlheinz Weinberger]