GucciFest film festival: brand activism disguised as entertainment?
IN A NUTSHELL:
Today, more than ever, for a brand to adapt to the new realities and connect with new generations, it must create values, cultural relevance and social impact. However, risking everything that has already been built still generates a lot of fear.
THE GREAT STRATEGIC TAKEOUT:
Classic brands teach us that, through entertainment, it is possible to construct activist discourse and commitments that bring about and mobilise change without losing what has already been built.
¿Por qué tengo que leer esto?
El lugar que ocupan las marcas se redefine para las nuevas generaciones: buscan valores con los que identificarse, por lo que tomar una posición respecto a cuestiones sociales o ambientales es un must.
What are we talking about?
Connecting with young people remains the great challenge for many brands, as they form the generations that are most cynical, sceptical and demanding in terms of the big brands, global media and the mainstream.
For them, a brand with value is a brand that cares about issues such as social and environmental responsibility and uses its voice to inform, educate and raise awareness.
However, achieving the balance between what has already been built and gained by a brand and what is new and yet to be built can be a great challenge for brands with very strong legacies.
What do I have to do? How can I do this if my brand’s DNA is based on traditional values? How can I keep my regular audience and connect with the new generations at the same time?
To answer these questions, we have selected the example of GucciFest film festival, a project by Alessandro Michele and the filmmaker Gus Van Sant. The pair created and shot a 7-episode series called Ouverture of something that never ended. It is a case that reflects a balance between new horizons and what has already been established. An interesting strategy for connecting a classic brand with new generations:
- Openness to and integration of diverse viewpoints is shown through collaborations. Alongside each episode, Gucci also highlighted 15 independent designers who were each invited to create a short film (Mowalola, Collina Strada, Ahluwalia, Bianca Saunders, Gui Rosa and others).
- Narratives portray the everyday and intimate stories that empathetically connect with the current situation and seeks to build authentic links with a generation that needs to move beyond the standards of “the perfect life” to build on a more realistic vision of life.
- The format redefines the forms of consuming fashion, departing from consumption solely as purchasing/using, and proposing a form consumption from entertainment.
- The selection of gender-neutral characters of different ages and ethnicities, puts the focus on the fluidity of identity, something that might be considered unorthodox in the world of classic luxury fashion.
- The discourse entirely eliminates any sense of the binary and it builds on diversity.
A brand that charts new territories by combining digital and artistic expression with activism, and entertainment based on a naive story, in which there are no tensions or sharp or polarising edges.
Links y en qué me fijo:
Ouverture of something that never ended
- Use of collection/product to tell a story.
- Departure from traditional communication and adoption of the film narrative.
- Diversity and inclusion in the casting of characters from the most famous, such as Billie Eilish and Harry Styles, to the least known, including different ages, gender identities and ethnic groups.
- Words by the Spanish philosopher Paul B. Preciado (almost unnoticed, speaking on a television show) proposing a world beyond gender standards.
- Representation and selection of iconic characters for new generations.
- The content is valued as much as the product. It complements and accompanies.
- Nostalgic aesthetic.
WHY YOU SHOULD BE INTERESTED:
To connect with new generations, it becomes imperative to rethink the way in which a brand’s value is built, from the generation of impactful and empathetic content.
What needs does it meet?
I’m interested in the brands/products I like stepping out of their comfort zones and proposing something new/ an escape from this year that has been so tedious and boring.
From a strategic perspective:
It is a way to elevate the brand, as Michele said, “setting the clothes free” or freeing the products, removing them from the store or the channel to frame them in other more human and empathic contexts.
Who might be interested?
All brands, especially those that have been built heavily on a legacy based on traditional values and want to make a change to stay relevant to new generations.
Where do I implement it?
In the development of content or experiences to connect with new generations.
How do I implement it?
- Using the cinematographic narrative of films/series, with main characters/celebrities that are attractive to the target.
- Starting from an authentic point of view with cultural relevance and social impact.
- Collaborating in the process and proposing plurality, through diverse figures and personalities.
- Generating synergies between the world of brands and other worlds relevant to new generations, such as art, music, cinema, fashion, gaming, etc.
How innovative is it?
Gucci is a brand that has been building on new horizons for some time and it is one of the fashion brands that best grounds and responds to what new generations expect from brands: they define a perspective with impact, they work with a committee of creatives and brand editors. It hybridises disciplines and gives a voice to new creators. It shows different identities. It changes the traditional paradigms of the fashion industry and traditional communication.
Key concepts:
Content, branded entertainment, activism, social impact, purpose, commitments, generation Z, millennials
LO QUIERO PARA MI COMPAÑÍA/MARCA, ¿QUÉ NECESITO SABER?
Quién lo está usando ya:
Las industrias de la moda y del lujo clásicas son las pioneras en este tipo de activismo + entretenimiento, sin embargo, a la hora de pensar en el formato de branded entertainment, diversas categorías lo han experimentado (automóviles, consumo masivo, etc.). Ahora es el momento de extender el activismo + entretenimiento a todo tipo de categorías y productos/experiencias.
Cosas que hay que tener en cuenta:
- Colaboración con expertos en la construcción narrativa.
- Dar libertad editorial a los creadores y no tener miedo a proponer un punto de vista con impacto diferente a lo que la marca viene construyendo.
- La marca no debe imponer, sino entender y acompañar el momento en el que vivimos y cómo los creadores se relacionan con el público de manera auténtica.
- Construir un punto de vista activista con solidez. No son hechos aislados, sino que la marca debe llevarlos en su ADN. Las medias tintas no funcionan con las nuevas generaciones.
- Animarse a hacer y a equivocarse.
- Estar en contacto constante con los públicos y ponerlos en el centro. Esto nos ayudará a tomar su pulso y poder dar respuestas a sus intereses.
- Lo que importa son las personas y los personajes, no la marca: una marca es relevante para las nuevas generaciones, por las personas que la llevan, la consumen y la disfrutan.
Cómo me hago una idea más clara:
- Viendo la colección Gucci MX, enfocada en la fluidez de género
- Viendo Savage X Fenty Show y como cambia los paradigmas establecidos por la clásica Victoria’s Secret
- Viendo la última campaña de Burberry en la que se combina música, comunidad y creatividad para apoyar a “las voces del futuro”, en un momento tan complicado como el actual. (El anuncio de campaña, creada en colaboración con Megaforce, está dirigido por Katelin Arizmendi y ha sido coreografiado por (LA)HORDE, una compañía de cuatro jóvenes bailarines)
- Y por último algo más clásico, pero siempre vigente: la historia de la sinergia entre la moda y el cine
Cómo lo comparto con mi red:
“Las claves para poder conectar nuestras marcas con las nuevas generaciones sin morir en el intento”
