Colors

Colors.  More specifically, intensity of colors.

I've been collecting ads (both in print and digitally) for years.  My boyfriend asked me the other day what my favorite fashion ad of the season is.  I told him I thought they all kind of looked the same...nothing jumped out at me, nothing made me drop my magazine and search the internet for the entire campaign.  And then I realized, maybe I was seeing the same thing over and over again...

Tods FW 2011 by Mert and Marcus

Images from Gucci FW 2011 By Mert and Marcus

Images from Uterque FW 2011 by Hunter and Gatti

 

BCBG FW 11 by Camilla Akrans

While this coloration is Mert and Marcus' style, I would be very upset if I were Gucci or Tods because the ads look so similar.  Uterque is a seemingly unknown brand and photographed by virtually unknown photographers.  From looking at the photographers' model.com profile, it seems as if this style (very similar to the famed Mert and Marcus' style) is something they are trying out.  Camilla Akrans is well known photographer, which surprises me that she would do something so similar to something other photographers are doing.

And here we come to brand image and positioning.  I believe Tod's is trying to reposition itself in the marketplace by using different photographers and different themes.  On the website http://www.formapura.net/tods-advertising/, they chronicle the brand's ads through the years

FW 06/07 -Anja

FW 07/08 - Sienna Miller by Mikael Jansson

SS 08 - Julia Stegner by Mikael Jansson

FW 08 - Gwyneth Paltrow

SS 09 - Gwyneth Paltrow by Mikael Jansson

FW 09

FW 10

SS 11 - Socialites, Photographers, and others in Italy by Kalle Gusstaffsen

FW 11 - Anne Hathaway by Mert and Marcus

Tod's seems to be shuffling through their photographers pretty fast these days and mixing up their spokeswomen.  Also interesting is Anne Hathaway is the only brunette they've featured in the past 5 years.  I wonder if management, art directors, or brand managers changed.

These new ads all seem to be going for the same "bright colors will grab your attention" idea.  When ads are evaluated, it can't just be that specific ad that is looked at, it is also important to see how competitors and others in the market are advertising. 

In this case, if I was Gucci, for Spring 2012, I would use the same color intensity to keep with the brand image, but not the blue and red, it has been overplayed this season.

As Tod's, I would revert back to the ads of Spring 2011.  They seem to be much more of what Tod's stands for and their target market.  Obviously they are trying to make the brand seem younger, but in my opinion, it makes it seem like they are trying to be Gucci or Louis Vuitton.

As for my favorites now that I've looked beyond my magazines...I'll post that next time

- Sara Jacobson

Images and facts from models.com, thefashionspot.com, i-blogged.com