Has anyone seen Mikhail Gorbachev in the latest ad campaign for Louis Vuitton? On first glance, this has got to be the most unlikely pairing in the history of luxury advertising. But look closer at the luxury conglomerate's logic for including the former Russian premier in a promotional campaign and a clever strategy will emerge.
As I'd previously written here, luxury companies are hailing Russians as "the incredible driver of the strength in luxury" and LVMH is seriously capitalising on this by using the iconic Gorbachev.
However, an article in the International Herald Tribune says there's more to it than meets the eye. In the campaign, Gorbachev is wearing a pinstriped suit and heavy overcoat with a Vuitton bag placed casually on the back seat of a limousine, driving along a remnant of the Berlin Wall. The LV bag is intentionally not the object of focus in the image.
The campaign, developed by the agency Ogilvy & Mather, reflects a move by some luxury companies to connect with consumers on a more human level. In the past, many fashion houses and other luxury brands relied primarily on the so-called product-as-hero approach, featuring their products, perhaps accompanied by a model, in a stylized, static way.
The new approach integrates the products into more lifelike scenes. None of the featured celebrities in the Vuitton ads, for instance, looks directly at the camera. (Andre) Agassi and (Steffi) Graf, a married couple, are sprawled on the hotel bed in a loose embrace. Gorbachev's bag is far from central to the image, with newspapers and magazines sitting on top of it.
"The product is just part of the story, a companion on the journey, not the hero," said Daniel Sicouri, Ogilvy & Mather chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The article goes on to add that while Louis Vuitton will continue to run product-oriented ads in glossy fashion magazines, the new campaign will aim for a broader audience by appearing in news and financial publications.
Image courtesy: IHT
