After an unexpected 2020 that forced fashion to rethink its marketing strategies, brands faced a new set of challenges this year.
Among them: less efficient digital targeting linked to Google and Apple’s new privacy measures and rising digital advertising prices across Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and other social platforms.
“Meta is the motorway billboard of the internet that is still the most used by brands,” says Lore Oxford, We Are Social's global head of cultural insights. However, what’s become clear is that the Meta-dominated era, which fuelled thousands of new direct-to-consumer brands, is transforming, she explains. Marketers must think more broadly about where to spend their digital budgets, and from this year’s standout advertising moments, some are starting to rely less on digital targeting of consumers and are getting inventive in a post-cookie world.
At the same time, new opportunities emerged as pandemic restrictions eased in many countries and customer spending rebounded. Marketing spend matched to step up to the moment.
Data from WARC, a marketing intelligence firm, which surveyed over 1,350 global marketers in 2021, shows that spend in the global marketing industry had a meteoric 23.8 per cent rise to a total of $771 billion this year and is on course to reach a value of $1 trillion by 2025. Digital platforms are set to lead this growth, with 66 per cent of ad professionals planning to increase spend on TikTok next year, while YouTube (61 per cent of surveyed marketers), Instagram (60 per cent) and Google (57 per cent) are also set to benefit from higher spend in 2022.
Creating DTC relationships
At the Vogue Business and Google Summit in November, Google’s head of industry for fashion and luxury, Corey Moran, recommended brands think about advertising channels that build direct-to-consumer relationships and deeper audience engagement. This year, major apparel retailers, including Nike, Levi’s and Uniqlo, prioritised local stores and community engagement.
Bottega Veneta invested in local initiatives supported by surrounding communities, including a pop-up space in East London's Shoreditch, where it commissioned artists to create pieces inspired by the brand’s aesthetic; and a playful maze installation in Seoul that offered locals an opportunity to have a unique interactive encounter with the brand.
Traditional marketing channels, from physical retail stores to out-of-home advertising, also gained new relevance by centring digital capabilities like AR and VR. Burberry’s new global pop-ups, timed with the release of the brand’s new Olympia bag, opened in Harrods and other stores, with an AR experience bringing to life the Greek Elpis statue in a Pokémon Go-style digital dimension. Elsewhere, Balenciaga used 3D billboards to present its partnership with online video game Fortnite, with giant characters looming over pavements in London, New York, Tokyo and Seoul.
The next step is to offer more personalised experiences — although that requires a true understanding of the customer. “Brands often mistake information for intimacy,” Marcus Collins, head of strategy at global ad agency Wieden+Kennedy warns. Beyond a person’s online footprint, they must “understand their cultural subscriptions, the language they use and what is meaningful to them, which will govern how they show up in the world”.
Changing role of social media
Luxury brands have posted less on Instagram during the pandemic so far, according to the Vogue Business Index, which measured Instagram public feed activity (excluding IG Stories, Reels, IGTV and IG Ads) from October 2020 to March 2021. Brands posted an average of 12 per cent less, compared to the same period the year prior; when looking at the same time frame for Facebook, there were on average 4 per cent fewer posts.
Some brands opted out entirely. To reduce its reliance on mass advertising, Bottega Veneta wiped all content from platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Weibo. In November, beauty brand Lush quit four major social platforms, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, as part of its Global Anti-Social Media Policy.
Feed fatigue is a problem: 75 per cent of respondents surveyed by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and The Harris Poll said they were paying less attention to online ads due to digital device burnout this year. As many as 45 per cent of young people admit that their social media posts are not an accurate portrayal of their true identity, while four in 10 of those surveyed claim that they feel constantly judged, youth agency Zak found, interviewing 1,000 individuals aged 16 to 24.
“Instead of having platform strategies, brands have to think about who they want to engage with and how they’re going to turn up to that party, where people are connecting based on their interests, passions and values,” says We Are Social’s Oxford.
Community and brand co-creation
Creative collaborations are also springing up around the industry as brands seek to function as tastemakers. Gucci's Autumn/Winter 2021 collection featured a surprise referencing of Balenciaga. In September, the Italian luxury house partnered with 13 young designers on a new platform, Gucci Vault, while Fendi and Versace collaborated on a pre-spring 2022 collection.
The next step will be for brands to co-create with its community. Oxford cites cryptocurrency platforms, including Socios, which have signed deals with top European football clubs to give athletes their own personal cryptocurrencies. “It’s enough to make someone feel like they have some control and are part of a club,” says Oxford.
Beyond decision making, brands can also offer access through loyalty-building, she adds. “It might be that everybody who buys a specific jacket from your most recent collection has a say over your next one. As a luxury brand, you can still be exclusive.”
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Evolution of the creator economy
Some creators are evolving to become direct-to-consumer businesses, and instead of being linked to a brand through a sponsored post or product placement, they have the opportunity to sell directly to their customers, says David Tiltman, VP of content at WARC.
For brands that work with creators, there’s a bigger focus than ever on ROI, observes Lindsey Gamble, an influencer marketing strategist. “They're moving away from vanity metrics and are looking at numbers that drive the bottom line, such as conversions and clicks.” Others are rethinking their approach entirely: while influencers have conventionally been used to promote the latest fashion, some are increasingly being tasked by brands to spread information and instil trust in society. (Trend forecasting platform WGSN coined these individuals as “genuinfluencers”.)
In a new era of consumer expectation for shared values, luxury brands no longer sell just their brand alone but are seen as platforms with a voice and point of view, a shift that is likely to continue into 2022, Gamble believes.
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