View the full size PDF here: BrandCollaborations
Collaboration marketing is on the rise. Brands have been forced to think creatively in order to stand out. In 2018, collaboration has become a vital element of fashion. Today, it takes more than just a good product to succeed. Brands depend upon collaborative releases to breathe fresh perspectives into product, retailers regularly collaborate with “true” designers to elevate their accessible offerings, and even once closed-off fashion houses have now lowered their guard, allowing artists, musicians, and other designers to reimagine their brand. Here are a few celebirty and brand collaborations that sucessfully stole the show.
Earlier in 2017, we saw the American artist Jeff Koons work with Louis Vuitton on an extraordinary collection of handbags, where famous works from Leonardo Da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh were used as bag designs. A delight for both handbag and art lovers alike, the collection blurred the lines of art and fashion. In LVMH’s 2017 report, collaborations seem to be the base of their successful results. Louis Vuitton had a record results of €42.6 billion, with an increase of 13% over the previous year.
“Louis Vuitton continued to demonstrate outstanding creativity across all of its businesses, maintaining a good balance between innovations and the strengthening of its iconic product lines. New products arising from the collaborations with the artist Jeff Koons as well as the Supreme brand.”
Tommy Hilfiger x GiGi Hadid: Tommy Hilfiger benefited particularly from a collaboration with model and social-media star Gigi Hadid. The more than 30 million followers she has on Instagram have allowed Tommy Hilfiger to connect with a new female customer base. The collaboration helped the brand generate double-digit sales growth in its women’s business across all regions.
“The debut Tommy x Gigi line generated 900 per cent increased traffic to Tommy.com in the 48 hours following the see-now-buy-now show in September 2016.”
Kaia Gerber x Karl Lagerfeld: He is the world’s most iconic fashion designer; she is the world’s most in-demand model. This year, Karl Lagerfeld and Kaia Gerber have fused their original inspirations to create a collection of ready-to-wear and accessories. Lagerfeld, who first called upon Gerber to open the Chanel spring/summer 2018 show in October, praised his collaborator’s “youthful, independent attitude” during the Paris-LA studio time. The designer will no doubt be hoping to harness the same hype that Tommy Hilfiger garnered through his collaboration with Gigi Hadid. Will Karl Lagerfeld x Kaia cause the same mania?
As an influential personality on social media, an in-demand entertainer and a fashion tastemaker, Gomez is, in effect, the voice of the American female millennial consumer. With 141.5 million followers and counting on Instagram — more than any other account — a single post can generate millions.
When Gomez takes her messages to social media, they resonate among her record nearly 140 million Instagram followers — the most anyone has on the platform. Puma, with 8.2 million followers, has leveraged this social media clout to its advantage with greater impact than it could ever wield on its own. Her influence is so strong that when her Phenom Lux collection with Puma was released, it sold out almost instantly.
Compared to Puma, Gomez’s Instagram posts have three times more engagement, according to Launchmetrics, a software and data insights company with a focus in fashion, cosmetics and luxury. “In dollars, that means some of Selena’s posts equated to nearly $3.5 million in Media Impact Value per post, whereas Puma’s best-performing one only reached $195K,” explained Alison Bringé, the company’s chief marketing officer.
Selena Gomez x Coach: Selena has also collaborated with Coach. Coach chief executive Victor Luis said in an interview that the company chose Gomez as an ambassador because she resonated the “best of American pop culture” while simultaneously being globally relevant. “Choices are limited when looking for celebrities reflective of our American values but also with a wide and global following,” he said. “She’s very authentic and has a tremendous amount of approachability. Her image is very modern and youthful.”
Gomez has been a huge asset for the company in terms of helping it grow its social presence, touting a 50% increase in followers year over year and an 81% increase in average likes YoY. Posts featuring Selena, of course — namely during fashion week — did particularly well for the brand. In addition to social brand growth, Coach’s stock prices increased 2% the day after Gomez’s self-designed bag, the “Selena Grace” handbag, dropped on September 13th.
The Coach x Selena collaboration reached a widespread millennial audience touching entertainment, fashion and lifestyle news outlets generating coverage both socially and editorially. North American press and social coverage achieved wide reaching positive buzz: The campaign debut had 59 features with total impressions of + 943 Million. The design collaboration coverage had 43 features with total impressions of +175 Million.
Rihanna x Dior: The most-talked about design’s From Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first collection for Dior, Spring 2017, is her ‘We Should All be Feminists’ T-Shirts. Inspired by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay and TED talk of the same name, Dior stated a percentage of the sale proceeds will go to Rihanna’s non profit organisation ‘The Clara Lionel Foundation’. In honour of Rihanna’s grandparents, the CLF supports education, health and emergency response programs around the world.
Kayne West x Adidas: Kanye West’s partnership with Adidas was another successful collaboration. The “Yeezy Effect” brought in $2 billion more in sales for Adidas in 2015 than the company had averaged prior to the partnership, and has boosted the brand with a halo effect that is likely to stick around for at least a few more years. In April 2018, Kanye took to Twitter announcing that the Yeezy brand on its own will hit $1 billion this year.
