Fashion Brands Are Re-Evaluating Advertising in a COVID-19 World

From television to print publications to social media campaigns, fashion advertisements are as common as sunshine in the summertime. Fashion advertisements can be as simple as a banner ad or a glossy magazine image of a top model carrying the latest Louis Vuitton bag. As consumers, we are constantly encouraged to buy and spend, because in a capitalist economy money makes the world go around.

For the past few months, most of the world has been on pause. Spending came to a standstill as businesses and retail stores closed and many workers were laid off or were put on furlough. While most fashion brands and retail stores have an online shopping component, consumers are tightening their purse strings to make sure they had money for life essentials.

As states begin to reopen, and stores begin to offer curbside pickup, brands must now reckon with how to advertise to consumers in a post-lockdown world where the COVID-19 virus is still a concern. The fashion industry must adjust to a new normal, and many are grappling with what that new normal will look.

On the fashion magazine front, although advertising dollars has been diminishing for print publications for several years, print publications were still reaping big bucks from advertisers. According to Rob Williams of MediaPost, “print ad space is still sought after because of the failure of digital media to provide an adequate substitute for print, the cultural credibility of magazines brands, and the undervaluing of digital platforms by publishers themselves.” Americans spent 3.3 percent of their media consumption time on print products with 44.4 percent on digital media. Magazine ad spending among the 50 biggest advertisers fell 6.4 percent to $6.1 billion in 2017 from the prior year according to WWD analysis of data from the Association of Magazine Media.

LVMH (Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton), the parent company of major luxury brands including its namesake Louis Vuitton, as well as Dior, and Givenchy, cut ad spending by 6.7 percent last year. Kering, the parent company of Gucci and Balenciaga, among others, cut ad spending by 7.2 percent. Even Chanel, known for spending major ad dollars on print advertising, saw a 10 percent spending cut. Calvin Klein abandoned print advertising entirely in 2019.

It’s hard for fashion brands to justify the glossy glitz of fashion magazines advertisements when staff jobs are being cut, a global health pandemic is prevalent, and editorial photoshoots are on hold. Even Vogue featured a still-life image on the cover of their June/July 2020 issue for the first time since 1962 instead of their usual celebrity cover featuring big name luxury brands (who also advertise inside the magazine).

Some fashion publications have even turned to a product placement approach where brands pay to have a product featured on the magazine website as either a feature or in a market roundup of products. With diminishing ad dollars, even the production costs of the covers of some magazines, including things like hair, makeup, and the photographer, are picked up by Hollywood studios and major record labels. While the fashion industry is experiencing layoffs, especially in advertising-related fields, these revenue strategies have been going on for a while. Condé Nast, the parent company of publications including Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair, recently laid off 100 employees. The company overall has been shrinking staff and making cuts since the Great Recession of 2008, even shuttering and selling off several publications like W and Brides.

On the digital front, social media influencers are taking a hit as well. Influencers have seen sponsorship deals cut as fashion brands now shift their focus and funds to keeping their businesses afloat. With fashion events cancelled and retail stores shutdown, influencers—once the new cornerstone of advertising—have lost major streams of revenue. Sponsored content deals have all but faded for influencers, with sponsored posts falling from representing 35 percent of influencer content in mid-February to 4 percent of creator content in mid-April, according to a report from marketing-analytics firm Launchmetrics.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fashion industry is find interesting ways to adapt to this new normal. Supermodel Bella Hadid recently starred in the first fashion campaign shot over FaceTime for the Jacquemus spring/summer 2020 campaign. The campaign, shot by Pierre-Ange Carlotti, was aptly titled “Jacquemus at home,” and one shot featured a tastefully nude Hadid with signature Jacquemus handbags. The Instagram posts of the images received over 1,000,000 likes on Hadid’s personal Instagram account.

In a March 2020 survey by GlobalWebIndex, nearly 4 in 10 US respondents aged 16 to 64 agreed that brands should continue advertising as normal during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 35 percent were neutral, and 28 percent disagreed. In another March 2020 survey from data insights company Kantar, only 8 percent of consumers said that stopping advertising should be a priority for brands, but 77 percent of respondents said they wanted advertising to “talk about how the brand is helpful in new everyday life,” and 75 percent said it should “inform about [the brand’s] efforts to face the situation.”

Bonobos has taken a new marketing approach in attempt to be more relatable to consumers. Rather than featuring influencers and athletes , the company has begun sending emails, including newsletters with viral animal videos, and satirical blog posts about people who appear in Zoom conference calls. Rent the Runway has started sending out a newsletter with things like book recommendations and poached egg tutorials, all fun things to enjoy while quarantining.

The Marc Jacobs’ brand has begun using its Instagram channels to showcase their employees work from home outfits. In China, department store InTime had employees livestreaming on social media app Taobao while locations were closed during the country’s lockdown. InTime sold $14,000 in one hour as a result, according to a Fung Business Intelligence report.

Rather than have fashion advertising cease, now is the time for brands to rethink advertising and explore new creative approaches. Employees in work-from-home outfits, relatable situations of what we’ve collectively been going through and figuring out what fashion still has the power to do in a post-COVID-19 world are all great advertising strategies.

In the short-term, fashion advertising will evolve; still this evolution must include innovative. Brands, of course, will have to get a lot smarter and more strategic about their ad dollars, but all hope is not lost. Fashion has survived the Great Depression, World War II, the Great Recession, and it will persevere through this pandemic.

—Kristopher Fraser

 

Image credits

• ralph-lauren-spring-2020-pinterest.jpg — Credit/source: pinterest.com.
• gucci-spring-2020-hypebeast.jpg — Editorial image.
• fashion-advertising-social-media-kielydesign.jpg — Credit/source: Kiely Design.
• fashion-advertising-2020-bella-hadid-harpersbazaar.jpg — Credit/source: harpersbazaar.com.
• fashion-advertising-2020-covid-19-newyorktimes.jpg — Credit/source: newyorktimes.com.
• fashion-advertising-2020-feature.jpg — Editorial image.