My visit to Somerset House

After spending a lot of time researching and learning about the London Fashion Week, i thought it was time to take a visit to see the event venue. I hopped on a train to London with the intention to visit Somerset house and to also see what marketing and advertising had been done to promote the event. I had chosen the perfect time to visit Somerset house as the build up of the London Fashion Week was in full swing, this meant i was able to see the layout of the project.
Somerset house is a beautiful location for the London Fashion Week to be held. Located on the Strand, London the venue is easily accessible, with mainline train stations and undergrounds within walking distance.
. As we walked around the grounds of Somerset house looking at the temporary structure which was being constructed in the centre for the event, there were flags placed around the structure which were advertising the London Fashion Week, and also advertising some of the Sponsors of the event. The picture to  the left shows an advertisement for Topshop, a sponsor of London Fashion Week. The Picture to the right show a Flag which is advertising the London Fashion Week itself, but also shows the name of the events principle sponsor, Vodaphone.
However, these weren't the only two sponsors who were advertised in the grounds of Somerset house.

 All along the back of the structure were these advertisements for the companies/brands who were sponsoring the London Fashion Week. As you can see from the following pictures, the advertisements are quite a size and would be hard to miss if you were at the event or venue. The people who see these advertisements may then associate the companies/brands with the London Fashion Week event.
The principle sponsor of London Fashion Week, Vodaphone have naming rights on their weekend event ' Vodaphone's London Fashion Weekend'. This would have been agreed when the sponsorship deal was being discussed, they would have agreed that Vodaphone would have exclusivity to this event, where as the London Fashion Week has more than one sponsor, but none of these sponsors have naming rights.

Moving on to discuss advertising; as i wandered around London i was expecting to see lots of advertising for the London Fashion Week, as it was very close to the dates of the event. However, i saw NOTHING. Not one piece of advertisement for the event could be seen, not on the trains, billboards, on the underground, or around the Strand where the event was held. At the time this baffled me, why would an event of such high profile have no advertising? There was no advertisement for this event as the event is a business to business event and is an invitation only event. Therefore, there is no need to advertise the event to the general public.
However, while on the hunt for advertisement in London i did come across one poster advertising the 'Vodaphone London Fashion Weekend', this was located near to Somerset house. This event is being advertised as tickets for the event are on sale to the general public and therefore the event needs to be promoted to gain awareness and interest. The advertisement is very bright, bold and eye catching.
While at Somerset House i picked up a booklet of 'What's on at Somerset House' in this booklet there is a small write up about London Fashion Week and the Vodaphone London Fashion Weekend. The write up gives the dates if the event and says whether the event is public or private, but apart from that it doesn't really give any other relevant information.

So this is the summary of my trip to the Somerset House, it's a little bit all over the place, but I'm sure you get where I'm coming from. And at least i can say I've done some primary research!