Would Rolex be the timepiece standard if Joe Six-Pack became a feature model? Would Gucci still dominate the market if it replaced James Franco, Hollywood star, with Steve Danko, tender-of-the-bar?
I found myself asking these questons as I read the details of Burberry’s latest social media foray. Joining forces with Facebook Connect, the luxury brand launched the Art Of The Trench website this morning to capitalize on buzz created by a recently-“viral” (quotations intentional – more below…) video on the project.
Featuring a collage of trench-coaters from various walks of life, Burberry explains the project:
Art of the Trench is a living document of the trench coat and the people who wear it. The project is a collaboration between Burberry and some of the world’s leading image makers, with participation from the global creative community. Art of the Trench will feature a series of specially commissioned trench portraits by fashion and street style photographers, starting with images by Schott Schuman of the Sartorialist. You are invited to submit portraits of yourself and your friends wearing the Burberry trench coat. Burberry will regularly select its favorites from these submitted images to post onto the site, creating a body of images reflecting personal style from around the globe.
It’s always a gamble when a brand removes complete control from the CMO’s office, and places it in the unpredictable hands of the general public. As Mashable’s Samir Balwani described in July, it’s a particularly big roll of the dice for luxury brands like Burberry whose market appeal rests on a tightly managed aesthetic and elite customer self-concept.
Could using ordinary people, rather than models, cause luxury-seekers to explore less-mainstream opulence? Contrarily, could consumers new to the brand give it a whirl based on its newfound real-world appeal (i.e. “I can see myself wearing that coat… literally, that guy is a college student like me.”)
It appears Burberry seeks middle ground between maintaining the elite aesthetic and branching out with every-man appeal. So far, the images on the Web site are done by professional photographers, but capture a range of people representing all walks of life. Moving forward, Burberry will incorporate user-submitted photographs in the collage, but will cull the submissions to only publish those they deem appropriate for the site.
Burberry will get credit for an innovative, attractive, genuine social media campaign (one that has potential to reach and interact with a broader customer segment), but they’ll marry it with a time-honored commitment to a well-honed visual concept.
Can this juggling act work? Is this a win-win? That’s to be determined. But combine this campaign with the 700,000+ fan following Burberry enjoys on Facebook, and it seems like the trench coat company has positioned itself well in the social media marketing strata.
SIDENOTE: The Art of the Trench video was deemed “viral” by the London Times, but according to YouTube it has received 1,381 views (as of 11:12am EST, 11.9.09). This is a fairly weak viewership to earn the video “viral” status. Are we too easily throwing the moniker around? Is calling something “Viral” the impetus for it actually going viral? Is it just a marketing tool? What does viral really mean? Post forthcoming this week.
