The new life of fashion advertising

It's official: Instagram is the most used social network by luxury brands. An Exane Bnp Paribas's research announced it, underlining that big fashion houses are more and more interested in investing in online advertising, in particular on Instagram.

In 2015, brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Prada and Dolce&Gabbana have increased their funding on social networks, except from Gucci, which has used online platforms to a lesser extent.

More than half of the brands that were examined have decreased their investments on traditional media in favour of digital ones, among which social networks emerge. Among those, Instagram plays a major role. 

Why Instagram? Let's take a step back: why social networks?

We could merely answer that “printed media is dying”, but it's not so easy. Print press is not dying, it's only changed, or better: its reader has changed. A reader who changes is also a potential customer who chages, now more “distracted”, faster and selective in THE reception of information, constantly bombarded with images and slogans, having less time to spend and being less and less impressionable. So, this is the new customer that brands have to capture – and involve for an unlimited period, ideally.

You will understand that print press and the rest of traditional mass media can no longer satisfy the needs of the brands, but social networks do.

Social networks are everywhere and everybody, more or less, uses at least one. Thanks to these media it's easier and faster to capture customers, and it's also possible to establish a “lasting relationship” with them. It is also possible to introduce different advertising strategies more targeted and viral, often well-integrated into the social medium's platform in order not to upset users' eyes. So, online advertising through social networks seems to be the best solution for brands.

And now: why Instagram?

Firstly, it's a social easy and fast to use, based on amateur photos. It's a medium whose impact is much greater than Facebook and Twitter, where a brand can communicate with attractive images and with a fresh, direct language. 

So, Instagram is also the best platform to reach a target of younger customers: considering that a massive number of teenagers and new millenials are moving from Facebook to Instagram, this social appears like the only medium to “talk” to kids and win their loyalty.

Not only teenagers, but also artists with whom brands are interested to collaborate. From musicians to photographers, everybody seems to elect Instagram as their favourite social. And luxury brands didn't miss this aspect.

So, Instagram offers itself as perfect medium where fashion and art can meet and promote their special projects.

It is no coincidence if recently the most over-booked testimonials for campaigns are musicians who have a very high number of followers on Instagram with whom they have developed a long-lasting, friendly relationship thanks to the social. 

That's because Instagram, unlike Facebook and Twitter, but also Pinterest, seems to reduce the barriers and the distance between the fan and his idol, whether is a singer or a popular blogger. An interesting aspect we should not underestimate if we want to lauch a successful advertising campaign.

However, before creative people, who plays a very important role for the online image of the brands are models, today real fashion ambassadors on Instagram. The partnership between models and brands is well established on social media to the point that sometimes we can't understand if we are looking at an advertising post or not. Why models? Because they are very cool, work in fashion and have millions of followers that love and follow them daily, from their latest fashion runway in Paris to the first yoga lesson in the morning.

Models have become like “friends” on Instagram: they inspire us, and the loyalty of their fans is easily exploitable by fashion houses. So Kendall Jenner's bag or Cara Delevingne's shoes are not there by chance.

Unlike other social media, on Instagram we can also launch viral advertising activities thanks to dedicated hashtags. The purpose is to involve the user in a non-aggressive way, or better, to make him participate to the brand's activities voluntarily. It's a sort of indirect advertising and that's why it is stronger than classic strategies. 

So, Instagram's strenght seems to be its ability to include users into the brand's world. Through hashtags and tags, customers promote the brand, giving rise to a continuous online advertising. The idea is to feel part of a virtual community by showing the right brands and the appropriate lifestyle, that Instagram encourages and reinforces. And that brands have been able to understand and turn to their advantage. 

It is obvious why Instagram has become the social reference for fashion brands. Initiatives such as #WangSquad, the hashtag which shows Alexander Wang's SS16 campaign, or Calvin Klein's #myCalvins are some good examples which proclaim this social as the industry's favourite.

It is not just a matter of speed of information, amazing pictures or viral advertising, Instagram works because reflects nowadays communication dynamics, in particular among kids. And fashion, a machine which is always in search of new trends and new successful languages, matches very well with this medium.

Through Instagram brands can count on a quality advertising, constant over time and closer to the user's tastes. Brands talk to their customers with their own language, and invite them to enter their world with simple pictures. 

Calvin Klein's latest campaign on Instagram is like a game to share with friends, no more a noisy pop up ad to skip out.