When the Covid-19 pandemic hit this spring, many fashion companies had
to put their advertising campaigns on hold. It was no longer possible to
gather creative teams—directors, photographers, models and crew–together
in person, in studio or on site. And so, companies had to get creative
quickly.
Some brands chose to send new styles from their collection to models and
influencers, asking them to be creative and to use what they had at their
disposal, hoping for the best. For many brands, this was the first time
they had ceded creative control to the model or influencer.
In the end, some of these campaigns, although home-spun, went viral and
were very successful. Others didn’t quite hit the mark. Which begs the
question, have brands hit on an all-together new marketing strategy? And is
this model worth including in future marketing strategies?
Laura Lanteri, creative director and consultant at LLNYC Worldwide, a
Global Advertising and Marketing firm based in New York City, says no. She
believes this strategy is short-lived and only produces results in terms of
metrics, data and social media engagement. She asserts, “In my opinion, a
campaign is really successful when it becomes part of the day-to-day
conversation, when it becomes part of our cultural landscape. Influencer
marketing doesn’t have the power to do that. It all depends on what we
decide to focus on: cultural relevance or Instagram likes.”
And yet, with the growth of social media such as Instagram, and the
ability and access for just about anyone to create content, a real shift in
consumer demand has occurred over the past decade. A shift that places more
value on realistic imagery and narrative as opposed to perfection, or at
least the illusion of perfection, that the fashion industry has peddled
over the past century. It’s an illusion that is very one-sided, stresses
Laura. “Fashion has been, for decades now, the gatekeeper and promoter of
heavily biased narratives centered around a Euro-centric, white-centric
standard of beauty that was never achievable. It was built and designed to
be unachievable. That was not perfection, it was racism and discrimination.
People are getting tired of being talked down, being critiqued into
submission. When they look at fashion, I think they want to see themselves,
in a real way. And we are a long way from that.”
The need to balance reality and perfection in a pluralistic society
creates a real tension then for brands that want to retain as much control
over their positive image as possible, but also want to connect
authentically and engage in two-way conversations with their customers.
There are certainly examples of brands at both extremes, from Chanel’s
unwillingness to even allow customers to use their name on social media, to
Marc Jacobs and Burberry who solicit and distribute user-generated content.
So,how will fashion brands approach this new strategy, especially when they
work so hard to control the brand narrative, and ensure their brand DNA is
not denigrated? Laura suggests the question is reframed. “I think customers
will ask: What does Chanel have to add to my life now? Why am I investing
in this company? What are they doing for me and do they align with my
values?”
Laura recalls the famous Meryl Streep monologue about “cerulean blue” in The
Devil Wears Prada that describes how fashion insiders dictate fashion
trends for the masses. “I love that scene so much, because it encapsulates
everything that needs to change in luxury today. The time to talk down to
our audience is up. I think it’s time to listen.”
In an era driven primarily by cold data, the focus on listening is key
for today’s creative director. And it’s then their role to edit and curate
that message in a way that makes sense for their brand. “I think creativity
and true originality in thinking will be more important than ever. I think
it will be crucial to go back to creative roles that are not purely driven
by sales forecasts and profit margins, even that is really hard to imagine.
The role of the creative director will entail decolonizing the fashion
narrative as much as creating a new language.”
She recommends that creative directors look inward, much more than they
have in the past, and ask these important questions: “How can we make
people feel good about themselves? How can we lift people up? And can we
make everybody feel seen and heard?”
And she realizes this will be a difficult and ongoing
process–rethinking the foundation of fashion advertising and marketing. “I
think we have very interesting times ahead!”