By now, we are accustomed to seeing luxury brands collaborate with established musicians to add a new layer of context and cache to their brand. However, its interesting to see when a top brand departs from the “pack,” and collaborates with an emerging artist in an effort to not only connect with a growing consumer segment, but also provide a foundation for a new talent to launch their career.
The video above is a collaboration between fashion powerhouse Dolce & Gabbana and emerging electro-pop artist, Florrie, based out of the UK. Staying in sync with the “emerging” concept, Dolce also tapped Paris-based up-and-coming fashion photographer / film maker, Jason Wu, to shoot the short video.
In the video, Florrie can be seen strolling through Paris dressed head-to-toe in Dolce & Gabbana clothing. The video also features the artist’s latest song “I Took A Little Something,” from her latest album, Experiements. In addition to the video, the Dolce & Gabbana brand is giving Florrie a significant marketing push via their social media platforms. Going so far as to stage an exclusive launch of the video on Dolce & Gabbana’s branded web-magazine, Swide.com.
But what’s really smart about Dolce & Gabbana’s initiative is:
1. The collaboration incorporates the musician in a fashion video: an emmersive environment where the artist and her talents can be used to add emotional context to the brand, both on a visual and auditory level.
2. Choosing an emerging musician and film maker shows an emerging luxury consumer segment (i.e. Gen Y), that Dolce & Gabbana is cool, progressive, and keeps their proverbial “ear to the streets” to see what kind of talent is climbing through the ranks. Dolce & Gabbana is positioning themselves as an authentic purveyor of taste beyond their design aesthetic, which is a strong long-term strategy for any luxury brand trying to maintain cache over time.
3. Supporting two emerging artists and giving them a push via Dolce & Gabbana’s massive social network could be viewed as an altruistic statement. In essence, Dolce & Gabbana could be perceived as a brand that “supports the emerging artist.” This, again, could strike an emotional cord, as it could be perceived as a philanthropic gesture - an attempt for a large brand to do good for those who could benefit from the brand’s power and influence. Yet, the “ideal” philanthropic gesture is an act of giving without any expectation of something in return. So in this case, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was philantropic in nature, but rather a good job of softening the perception of a detailed strategic marketing move.
Happy watching!
Posted by Kwasi Gyasi of MyUberLife
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