Advertising & Strategy case study

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PHOTO COURTESY OF GUCCI

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Contents

Introduction 3

The context 4

The strategic approach of Gucci 5

Romantic Landscape to Escape 6

Targeting 7

Business objectives 8

Communication objectives 9

Creative Techniques 10

Conclusion 11

References 12

Figures

Figure 1. A scene from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” set in 1969 Los Angeles 4

Figure 2. Pour Homme and Pour Femme 6

Figure 3. Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto 7

Figure 4. Lana Del Rey 9

Figure 5. Jared Leto 10

IntroductionThe report analyses the advertising strategy of the Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci.

Gucci’s vision is an inextricable warp of implicit messages strategically placed to fascinate the customer.

The #ForeverGuilty campaign of 2019, starring Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto, is taken as an exemplum. The analysis is not limited to indicating the basics of Gucci’s strategy, but offers the reader a full immersion in the context in which the advertising was conceived. Without an awareness of the context, a radical understanding of the campaign would be lacking.

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The contextIt is an atomic bomb, a commercial campaign that feeds the rebellion in a conformist world. It is immediately recognisable from the musical piece, a B-side of 1958, the first single of one of the most famous American guitarists. The title is “The Swag” by Link Wray (1929-2005) defined by the English musician Jimmy Page an “artist with a rebellious attitude” (Schaal, 2020).

Set in 1970s Los Angeles, Gucci’s ad embodies the spirit of the age. On the same line the American director Quentin Tarantino with his latest work “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” set in 1969 in the Californian neighborhood. The director reveals a stage of transformation that takes place not only in film productions with the birth of New Hollywood (Chaney, 2019). In fact, society is experiencing an economic boom, overwhelmed by the so-called positive hedonism (Silverton, 2000) that shapes the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘n’ roll generation (King, 1998).

And the dark sides of a free generation are drugs and unbridled sex that will be the main causes of the epidemic of the following decade, then the economic crisis. It is not difficult to understand how the first cases of AIDS occurred in Los Angeles in 1981. Yet a solution to the abuse has long been sought: “War on drugs” is an expression coined by President Nixon in 1971 (Murch, 2015). But this is another story.

Precisely in a context devoured by the perception of absolute freedom and globalization (TV, hairdresser, cars, supermarket, laundromat) (Leiss et al., 2005), the creative director of Gucci Alessandro Michele decided to set the commercial (logos, see Creative Techniques, p. 10).

“When someone wants to put up boundaries in your life, you want to break barriers - said Michele in an interview - Fashion is a justification for our own strangeness.” (i-D, 2020).

Figure 1. A scene from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” set in 1969 Los Angeles. Sony Pictures (2019).

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The strategic approach of GucciGucci does not invite you to keep your habits, passing for laudator temporis acti (a Latin expression which indicates a conservative behaviour), but to be yourself.

Essential Elvis’ journalist Peter Silverton writes that the 1970s were “a willingness to abandon the past, an easygoing outlook, the early rumblings of the personal development movement, and a new wave of young entrepreneurs all combined to foster the development of new musical styles.” (Silverton, 2000).

It is the same message suggested by the main characters of the Italian brand’s campaign, the actor and musician Jared Leto and multi-platinum singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. The American singer Courtney Love is also featured in the promo.

“I guess it is really about being yourself and having fun - revealed Del Rey in an interview - I think people will love how eccentric the whole team is between the animals, the colors, the supermarket, the locations and my jumpsuit. It was kind of like an updated pop art concept. I have definitely built my world around a lot of eccentric characters that I have met along the way.” (Gucci, 2019).

“The campaign is about finding a place between absurdism and surrealism. It is about freedom and creativity, celebrating the lone wolf, the dark sheep, the outsider, the artist. There is a lot of contradiction in Hollywood.” Jared Leto said behind the scenes of the short film (Gucci, 2019).

The ad has an exotic characteristic, the need to look for a distant concept in space and time with eccentric flavors, jungle animals, vibrant colors and nature of the images. Strategic exoticism has become an integral aspect that allows effective marketing of products, widespread in the textile, food and tourism industries (Willarachchi, 2020).

In “Exoticism and the Formation of the Imperial Mind” Christina Knellwolf King writes that the “exoticism emerged and established itself as a dominant frame of reference, and cultural aesthetic phenomenon.” The academic lays emphasis on the need to rethink how to make sense of images and texts, visually and discursively communicated information.(Knellwolf King, 2018).

It is not a coincidence that one of the locations chosen for the outdoor scenes is the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a museum of celebrities, a well-known Californian tourist attraction, which has an architectural style mixed between the Exotic Revival and the Classical Revival (Levitt, 2008) .

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Romantic Landscape to EscapeAlthough Gucci’s campaign harks back to past times, it can be considered innovative.

Firstly, it achieves gender equality. A solution, in part, required as the fragrance is not of a unique kind, as shown by the official website of the brand: Pour Homme and Pour Femme (Gucci, 2021).

However, it is important to emphasize that in the advertisement men do not prevail against women, thus excluding any form of objectivation. The surrealist promo shows frames of everyday life, avoiding nudity scenes that have always been the subject of controversy. As a matter of fact, women are often reduced to a decorative role in sexual or alluring positions and are generally pictured at a smaller relative size. Men, on the other hand, are taller than women, and therefore designated to a position of power, authority (Sheehan, 2004).

In addition, many fashion advertising campaigns are conducted through the sexual component which is not missing in the Gucci commercial, but is promoted in a less aggressive form: the sentimental relationship between the two protagonists is clear (see Targeting) and it can be defined as a “Romantic landscape of escape” (Leiss et al., 2005).

Finally, in compliance with gender equality, the Gucci campaign does not limit social roles. The problem was particularly prevalent in the past due to advertisements featuring women at home and men at work, never the other way around (Rodgers & Thorson, 2012).

Figure 2. Pour Homme and Pour Femme. Gucci Guilty campaign shot by Glen Luchford. Gucci (2019).

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TargetingGucci’s target audience are people who follow the constant evolution in the fashion industry, primarily the young people who live in metropolitan areas, the creative millennials (Burzynski, 2018). In general, the audience is made up of middle and high-class consumers around the ages of 20-50 (Guccippr, 2015).

Gucci remains stable on the concept of external beauty, the perfection of shapes, elegance and celebrity.

In this vein, the match-up hypothesis plays an important role, going beyond attractiveness and creditability. The theory sustains that the physical allure of a celebrity endorser enhances evaluations of the product if the product’s characteristics “match-up” with the image conveyed by the celebrity (Kamis, 1990).

Nevertheless, Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto do not have to adapt themselves to a product, rather they have to interpret a non-conformist social situation that leads consumers to buy the product. And in this Del Rey and Leto turn out to be the best choice.

Figure 3. Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto. Gucci Guilty campaign shot by Glen Luchford. Gucci (2019).

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Business objectivesGucci’s campaign may have been pursued considering the following business objectives:

Create DesireThe promo creates the viewer’s desire to live as the two protagonists: the love life of a couple, apparently carefree (Fill et al., 2013; Klein, 2020). Sales are likely to increase as well as brand loyalty.

DifferentiateDistinguish a product from similar offerings on the market. Gucci does it right. The ad is one of a kind, there is no match with competitors. Especially considering that the Gucci campaign comes only a few months after the outcry caused by Dolce & Gabbana. The luxury fashion house fell into a racist controversy over an advertising campaign aimed at the Asian market (Jennings, 2018; Nanda & O’Connor, 2020).

Call-to-Action (CTA)A common objective of digital advertising, it is the opportunity to draw consumers’ attention and encourage them to purchase the products (Kenton, 2019).

3 key steps to achieve business objectives

Basically, Gucci’s campaign goes through (Facebook, Inc. n.d.):

Awareness Achieve a brand awareness that makes a business valuable.

Consideration Traffic, engagement, video views, lead generation (attract interested people) (Kingsnorth, 2019), messages.

Conversion Encourage people to take a specific action on the firm’s site, such as having them add items to a cart, download the app, or make a purchase.

Use of the Hashtag

The hashtag (#ForeverGuilty) is an indication of a social interest that allows to establish a Consumer Branded Hashtag Engagement (CBHE) (Stathopoulou et al., 2017). In particular, the use of the hashtag, in concert with the familiarity and creativity of the ad, can be an effective means for increasing awareness, being on trend topics and building a community (Ryan, 2020).

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Communication objectivesInfluence Purchase IntentThe advertising campaign influences the purchase of all Gucci’s products that appear in the promo (Arshad & Aslam, 2015).

Engage to ImmerseThe ad takes the viewer into an anomalous and surreal context. Especially women who are generally not looking for a narrative but for the aesthetics of a frame, for innovative, creative and evocative elements of an image (Sheehan, 2004).

BrandingThe commercial is memorable and creates brand equity, an intangible value in the customer’s eyes. This technique also generate trust in the brand, customers are often long-standing and are willing to buy the products even with a price increase.

Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA)The brand needs to be recognised (this comes after a brand awareness) and keep a leading position among fashion companies (Fill et al., 2013).

Figure 4. Lana Del Rey. Gucci Guilty campaign shot by Glen Luchford. Gucci (2019).

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Creative TechniquesThe advertisement pursues the concept of narrative-based belief change, obtained through the technique of “Narrative transportation.” Essentially, there is a story that creates an opportunity (1). There is involvement in the world of story, leaving one’s own behind (2). And there are changes generated by the world of story (3). (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2010).

But Green and Brock describe a specific type of story that “raises unanswered questions, presents unresolved conflicts, or depicts not yet completed activity; characters may encounter and then resolve a crisis” (Green & Brock, 2000).

The protagonists (credibility of the source [Green & Brock, 2000]) and the brand experience play a fundamental role in narrative belief change: thinking, feeling, sensing, acting, social and relating (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2010).

The advertising campaign, as already highlighted, is set in a surreal past. Grotesque is the term that Phillips and McQuarrie propose to define a specific alternative dimension, be it bizarre or surreal. Furthermore, grotesque is an adjective that works because it is almost antipodal to the positive terms lovely, pretty, beautiful etc.

In this sense, Gucci’s campaign recalls the practice of objective “inheritance” of durable goods, defined as “a symbolic effort to make goods unique against the backdrop of a throwaway object world.” (Leiss et al., 2005).

The commercial uses the “rhetorical triangle” to persuade (Killingsworth, 2005). The credibility of the brand can be identified as the ethos (author), the “Romantic landscape to escape” as the pathos (audience’s emotions) and the context (reality/surreality) as the logos.

Figure 5. Jared Leto. Gucci Guilty campaign shot by Glen Luchford. Gucci (2019).

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ConclusionThe #ForeverGuilty campaign aims to conquer a large audience and gain consumer awareness by creating a brand recall (Skinner, 2020). It is an example of above the line marketing (Fill et al., 2013; Kingsnorth, 2019).

However, a strong brand placement may not be enough, and the lack of focus on the product could prove to be a weakness. The campaign gives value to the brand and improves its overall positioning. This may not apply to the specific sponsored product, namely the perfume, placed on the edge of the advertisement.

On the one hand, the product does not necessarily have to be the center of the story and it can play a supporting role when there are signs of a promise as all on its own (Smallish, 2013).

On the other hand, it is necessary to consider that the commercial lasts 60 seconds, generally the maximum length suggested by broadcasters (Ciccarelli, 2020), therefore the role of perfume could take a back seat. The video overflows with Gucci’s items, clothes, jewelry, footwear, hair accessories, perfume is the last essence to make a distinct appearance.

It is clear that the firm wanted to emphasize an extravagant journey through Hollywood’s fantastic past, a reality for the brand’s wealthy customers, a desire for others. At this juncture, the narrative intervenes, the story of “unanswered questions” leaves the door open to interpretations.

The commercial cannot be identified with a unique model of advertising. It uses both the digital involvement-play (Calleja, 2012) and the salience/talked-about eclectic models (Fill et al., 2013). The first one is a large form of emotional engagement with shared, aspirational values and celebrities. The second one gets the brand discussed by standing out. Marketers could create fascinating stories without considering a possible combination of story, product values and the firm. This produces a campaign for an audience that does not understand the crux. A possible but unlikely issue in Gucci’s ad.

In conclusion, the creative campaign and the involvement of the celebrities Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto lead to an effective response from consumers, who confirm their loyalty to the brand. Not necessarily to the perfume.

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References

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Burzynski, I. (2018). Gucci brand report. Target Market. https://issuu.com/isabellaburzynski/docs/gucci_brand_report_4

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Chaney, J. (2019). On the Troubling Subtext of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-and-its-troubling-subtext.html

Ciccarelli, D. (2020). What is the Most Effective Length for a TV Commercial? Voices. https://www.voices.com/blog/effective_length_for_tv_commercials/

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Gucci. (2019). Jared Leto behind the scene of #ForeverGuilty Campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOfyJrIYrnY&t=4s

Gucci. (2019). Lana Del Rey behind the scene of #ForeverGuilty Campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-DTKzMqUxA

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#FOREVERGUILTY

PHOTO COURTESY OF GUCCI