French fashion house Louis Vuitton is preparing for Father’s Day.
The maison is spotlighting products rooted in convenience and luxury codes, appealing to dads everywhere with imagery featuring little ones. The promotion involves a wide selection of comfort-driven ready-to-wear options, plus novelty gifts such as scents, leather goods, timepieces and travel cases, though experts note that the effort opts out of any occasion-specific merchandising exclusives, as is often the case with other calendar cornerstones.
“This campaign does a great job in delivering a solid cross-promotion for all men’s products that fit under the ‘gift’ category, but not much else,” said Daymon Bruck, Chief Creative Officer at The O Group, New York.
“Holiday campaigns… can help reinforce a brand’s personality or values if there is a compelling concept driving it to be more than a photoshoot featuring recent products.”
Mr. Bruck is not affiliated with Louis Vuitton, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Paternal Connection
With the goal of connecting generations, Louis Vuitton’s Father’s Day spot seeks to celebrate the act of giving back to parents, slotting in edits of the maison’s iconic designs.
A series of assets see male models warmly interacting with their stage children. As “Get Away” by Lou Teti plays, the father figures use a range of devices, from 1990s VHS camcorders to Polaroid cameras, to capture the moment.
While rare shows of paternal sentimentality insert a degree of authenticity, further analysis determines that the campaign may paint too broad a brush.
“What strikes me most about this LV Father’s Day campaign is that it could be promoting any gift-giving holiday that might feature a father and his children,” Mr. Bruck said.
This year’s exercise does showcase one particular category’s progression.
Here, Louis Vuitton accentuates the father-to-child bond by looping in baby, a relatively new vertical for Louis Vuitton (see story).
Delving Into Diversity
Experts note that Louis Vuitton’s aspirational expression also leaves much to be desired on the DEI front.
“In addition to this campaign feeling a bit flat and uninspired for Louis Vuitton, it’s not even remotely attempting to show diversity on any level,” Mr. Bruck said.
Perceptions of loose ends are, to an extent, a consequence of the front-running fashion house’s race against its own bars of excellence. When compared to other displays, recent bouts of marketing manage to reflect more holistic visions of parenthood.
On the flip side, Louis Vuitton was able to achieve the representation many consumer crowds seek with a recent Mother’s Day delivery (see story). Guided by a similar aesthetic, this initiative instead focused on relationships at all stages of life, with talents spanning the identity spectrum.
Casting employed a distinctive array of models, centering, for instance, children with two mothers, a modern-day reality for many families in search of special options with which to honor the annual observance.
“There is always a branding opportunity to make a promotion such as this a creative statement about the role of family or the uniqueness of the holiday,” Mr. Bruck said.
“This campaign does neither, unfortunately.”
Original article published in Luxury Daily, June 13, 2023
