Marketing is in the midst of a full-scale transformation. As the global population spends more and more time on digital devices, and embraces social media channels as a way to view entertaining content, a new era is emerging that prioritises creative marketing rooted in entertainment value. Generation Z is increasingly drawn to visual content that not only captures their attention, but keeps them scrolling for more.
In late 2021, nearly 20% of young people aged 18-25 were consuming 20 hours per week of online video content. Today, those numbers are even larger. With this rapid rise of entertaining short-form video content, it is essential for brands and marketers to move at speed, and create a steady stream of topical content that keeps audiences engaged and tuned in.
How Luxury Brands Advertise
The outlook for luxury marketing is very different in the coming year, with a focus on entertainment value taking center stage. Competitive luxury brands are wasting no time, experimenting with different formats, channels, and content—including short-form video channels like TikTok, investing in the metaverse, and partnering with video game companies on interactive branded content that reaches millions of players. Keep reading to dig into the specifics of top luxury brand marketing examples.
More brands than ever are also looking to creators, the pioneers of short-form video, for partnerships. Working with creators to co-create content opens your brand up to fresh ideas and unique perspectives, and also ensures that your brand will be shared with that creator’s audience. Sponsorships are fleeting, and can be easily deleted by creators once the impact has been made, but entertaining content has a much longer shelf life, and is much harder for creators to delete. Creators are first and foremost entertainers themselves, and their desire to make a lasting impact aligns with their brand partners.
Video is highly effective when married with e-commerce capabilities. Leading brands are exclusively testing live-streamed shopping events across every channel you can think of, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest. These channels are quickly innovating their online presence with new revenue streams for entertainment. Every brand should start planning for how this emerging technology will fit into their marketing strategy.
Why Is Short-Form Video Important for Luxury Brands?
Millennials and Gen Z, the generations most active on short-form video channels, are set to contribute 130% of market growth for the luxury industry between now and 2025. However, these are also the generations that have grown tired of perfection, and have made waves by moving toward content that is comfortably imperfect. TikTok surpassed Google as the most popular website on the internet in 2021. As many brands are still figuring out their TikTok marketing strategies, social entertainment is a huge differentiator in digital marketing strategies for savvy brands.
Short-form video cuts through the noise. The algorithms seen on TikTok and Instagram Reels prioritise showing users content that is predicted to be the most entertaining, which is why social entertainment is going to be such an important part of brands’ strategies going forward. The most entertaining content will find oversized audiences on these emerging channels, no matter the follower size of the brand behind it, which presents an opportunity for brands to expand their reach in ways they weren’t able to before.
Lo-fi, short-form video is the breath of fresh air that social media users have been looking for, however, luxury brands face the ordeal of figuring out how to promote luxury goods while also being relatable. Reconciling being reachable, and also unreachable, is a seemingly impossible task—but short-form video presents a happy medium. Brands can continue to sell a dream in their luxury advertising, while relying on the human element of short-form video to open up to viewers in ways that static studio imagery did not allow for.
Industry-Leading Social Media Strategies for Luxury Brands
From tapping into channels like TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube, to conceptualising immersive digital experiences, the luxury industry landscape is evolving, taking branded entertainment and the marketing of luxury goods to a new level. The following examples from leading brands are just a few ways that companies are using entertainment-driven channels to foster deeper engagement with their target audiences.
The Burberry Marketing Strategy
Burberry has long merged timeless luxury with innovative marketing strategies. In 2020, the brand partnered with Twitch to become the first luxury brand to stream a fashion show on the live video platform. This move was very timely, as viewers were stuck at home during pandemic lockdowns, and entertainment channels such as Twitch were skyrocketing in viewership.
The iconic British brand continues to push boundaries with its entrance into the metaverse. Burberry has partnered with Tencent Games, creating designs for popular Chinese online battle game Honor of Kings, and introducing a new kind of interactive product placement in the process. Burberry’s continued success in entertainment marketing lies in the strategic partnerships it aligns itself with to create unique experiences for its audiences.
The Channel Marketing Strategy
When marketing luxury products, photographs are one of the best mediums for evoking the aspirational emotions that we connect with driving a luxury vehicle, wearing designer clothing, or experiencing something exclusive.
As such, visual social networks like Pinterest represent a huge opportunity for luxury brands to raise brand awareness and advocacy.
In fact, Chanel are one of the most ‘pinned’ brands on the social network, with over 1,244 pins of Chanel products pinned on the social network per day on average. This is made even more impressive when you consider that Chanel do not even have an account on Pinterest (it’s all driven by their advocates).
Luxury marketing will become even more innovative in the coming year. Brands that prioritise entertaining their followers will be the brands that come out on top.
1.Luxury Marketing Strategies from Innovative UK Brands, by Olivia Fitzpatrick, DASH HUDSON, February 3, 2022
2.10 Marketing Strategies For Luxury Brands, by Marcus Taylor，March, 2, 2022