Back to the Basics - Gucci's New Ad Campaign

Gucci has just launched a new ad campaign that focuses on their heritage, using two keywords: Forever Now.

My first thoughts when I saw pictures of the campaign, which hit international newspapers on 27th February, the day Gucci showed their F/W11 Collection, pertained to how similar the images from the campaign are to the images that Louis Vuitton sends the media of workers in the early part of last century at the Vuitton headquarters of Asnières.

The brand is obviously trying to focus on its heritage, which I think is interesting because they're currently positioning themselves as the epitome of cool under the helm of creative director Frida Gianini. They're also one of the few luxury fashion houses that have embraced modern day technology, with their iPhone app, free Wi Fi at their shows and live streaming of the collections on their websites and via Facebok and Twitter.

Louis Vuitton, on the other hand, have always stuck to their philosophy as the go-to brand for the true connoisseurs of travel, or aesthetes of travel, as heir Patrick Louis Vuitton once told me, and as a heritage brand, despite their trysts with everyone from Madonna to Japanese artists like Takashi Murakami.

Here are a couple of images from the campaign, taken in the 50s in Gucci's factory in Florence.

And some images from the Louis Vuitton archives (not campaigns).

Louis Vuitton is currently running a conservative ad campaign of its own, focusing on craftsmanship instead of heritage, featuring lithe, petite women straight out of a painting by Vermeer, working on unfinished products while bathed in golden light. I'm unsure about the actual volume of Vuitton products that are currently handmade (and even less so of the accuarcy of representation of the brand's craftsmen and -women - they can't all look like that!) but here are the images.

It's interesting to see the shift companies make in their marketing strategies during a recession. Now is obviously not the time for unwarranted impulse buys and with consumers being exceptionally watchful of their consumption, profits of large design houses the world over have dropped steadily. By featuring marketing that focuses on the brand history, companies are sending consumers the message that they're buying into the company's heritage and brand values, reassuring them that their purchases are tasteful and above all, good investments.