Bebe at helm of £1m osoyou.com launch

by Robin Parker, Media Week 17-Apr-07, 09:00

LONDON - Former Emap Elan managing director Dawn Bebe is spearheading the £1m summer launch of osoyou.com, a shopping and social networking website aimed at fashion-conscious women aged 25 to 40.

It is understood that Bébe had been developing the idea for Emap before leaving the company at the end of last year when she took the project to venture capital firms to get funding.

The site enables users to create their own high street by dragging and dropping brand names from the homepage into their own area of the site, known as osome, and receiving special offers and views of the latest fashion ranges.

They can also post photos, set up scrapbooks and wishlists, to view themselves or share with others online, and join MySpace-style community groups and discussions. Retailers will be offered options including rich media ad spots and sponsorship of e-mail alerts featuring the latest offers.

The site is one of several fashion websites targeting women to launch this year, including Condé Nast's stylefinder.com and Hachette Filipacchi's elleuk.com, plus IPC's forthcoming UK site for InStyle.

Bébe, who led the development of Emap's fashion weekly Grazia, said osoyou's community elements would encourage repeat visits and a deeper level of engagement than existing UK sites.

She added: "Where there's an oversupply of choice, peer-to-peer referrals can encourage people who are nervous about buying online, especially in a flattering and aspirational environment."

The launch is backed by Brightstation Ventures, founded by Dan Wagner and Shaa Wasmund, co-founder of teen networking site Mykindaplace.com. Brightstation has a 50% stake in blog publisher Shiny Media, which will promote osoyou on its 11 female-oriented blog sites.

EType will sell ads on the site, adding to a roster of social networking clients such as hi5.com.

The backers aim to break even within 12 months.