What The Top Luxury Brands Did (Or Didn't Do) To Wish Customers A Happy Holiday.

What did the top Luxury brands do this year to connect with their fans, engage their consumers and wish them a happy holiday season?  Well, I'm going to show you.

Besides e-mail blasts to those on their mailing lists and in their databases, some of the world's most well-known luxury brands created special short holiday films or flash videos (Burberry, Cartier, CHANEL and Dior) they shared on their own websites, YouTube and Facebook.  Some built interactive apps (Moet & Chandon, Hennessey and Mercedes -Benz), some reinforced their brand by posting holiday branded images on Facebook's timeline cover and on their pages and Twitter channels (Tiffany & Co., Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton) or engaged in some geurilla tactics (Tiffany & Co. in London) and some, sadly,  did nothing except push their own products (BMW, Rolex and Prada).



I compiled the following examples from the top luxury brands according to Millward Brown and Interbrand (as well as a few additional brands such as Dior, Porsche and Mercedes Benz). I checked their websites (some global, some US), Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to share with you what they created and shared via social media for the Holiday Season*.

BURBERRY



As always, Burberry knows how to take advantage of digital media. In addition posting the above imagery on Facebook with heartfelt greetings, they created a "Magical Burberry Festive Card" a flash greeting card you can view and share.




TIFFANY & CO



Kudos to Tiffany & Co. for not only posting Christmas wishes and imagery on Facebook but for wrapping 100 taxicabs in London and offering free Christmas music downloads at their website from She and Him (no longer available):




CHANEL


In addition to some lovely CHANEL imagery posted on their Facebook page like that shown above, they created this special holiday video:


Although not listed as one of the top luxury brands, Dior also created a Holiday Wishes video worth sharing:


CARTIER


Cartier has a 'Wintertale" section on their Facebook page which allows you to watch this short film or create and share a wishlist:


MOET & CHANDON


In addition to many festive holiday images featuring their products on their facebook page, Moet & Chandon has an interactive app on Facebook and their own site that let's you pop the cork for the holidays. And see how many have before you.




HENNESSEY


While it's not holiday music (and I wish it were), as a gift to their Facebook fans and Twitter followers, Hennessey compiled a spotify playlist with the following message: "The Hennessy #WildRabbit Spotify playlist is our gift to your ears. Listen now, listen for free. Happy listening, and Happy Holidays!" (For this you do need to add the spotify app to your Facebook page).

MERCEDES BENZ


Mercedes Benz featured a holiday image and greeting on facebook and created the custom Naughty or Nice card, a facebook app that let's you you customize a card to send to the friend of your choice.




HERMES


Hermes had this nice banner, shown above, on their Facebook page. And posted some of their illustrated greetings by Alice Charbin on Facebook, but that's all. More holiday illustrations by Charbin, who creates all the illustrations for Hermes' emails and website, can be found here on Pinterest:


GUCCI


Sadly, Gucci simply posted this lame greeting card on Facebook. But at least the theme of gold ribbons is echoed on their website for some branding consistency.

LOUIS VUITTON
LV posted this season's greetings image to their facebook fans:


I was disappointed that Louis Vuitton is pushing their Luck Collection under the guise of Holiday Inspirations. While their site allows you to 'share your luck' while exploring the collection by turning a wheel with Christmas music playing in the background and adding items to your wish list, it's merely a way to sell more product.

PORSCHE
At least Porsche had this cute holiday image posted on their Facebook page, but that was about it.



BMW, ROLEX & PRADA
The most disappointing were BMW, Rolex and Prada. None of these brands posted or shared festive holiday greetings or imagery on their respective Facebook pages, websites or pinterest boards. Wouldn't have taken much to do. FAIL.

*While some of these brands have Pinterest boards and some do not, I did not include images from these in this post.

Air New Zealand Markets The Heck Out Of The Hobbit With Wrapped Planes, A New Website, An Air Safety Video, And Lots of Extras.

With the upcoming release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (the latest of the J.R.R. Tolkien movies, all of which have been filmed in New Zealand), Air New Zealand has pulled out all the stops to market itself as 'The Airline of Middle Earth.'



above: their website design reflects the imagery from the movies.

With a fully wrapped plane in the movies' graphics, on board promotional items like hairy socks, sleeping masks and usb drives, a baggage carousel made to look like The Shire and a Hobbit-Inspired inflight safety video.

The Baggage Carousel:





The Socks:


The Sleeping Mask:


The USB Drive:


The Commemorative Pin:


The Safety vests worn by airport ground crew officials:


The Wrapped Plane:






In addition to all the above, Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop on a brand new Hobbit-inspired Safety Video which actually has a cameo by Hobbit director and Oscar winner Sir Peter Jackson.



The film, titled An Unexpected Briefing in reference to a chapter from The Lord Of The Rings novel, shows an aircraft packed with hobbits, dwarves and orcs preparing to take flight.



Oscar winner Sir Peter makes a cameo appearance as a Gollum-inspired creature before disappearing after finding The One Ring on the floor and slipping it on:



Flight attendants are dressed as elves and wizards as they take their passengers through a list of safety instructions, all of which are inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien novels.



Gollum is seen prowling the aisles as Tolkien's great-grandsons Mike and Royd Tolkien argue in the front row, and actor Dean O'Gorman, who plays Fili the Dwarf in the movie, demonstrates safety equipment.



behind the scenes:


The official trailer for the upcoming movie:


The movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure officially opens December 14th.
The Official Movie site.

all images courtesy of Air New Zealand

60 Seconds of Fun. Award Winning Hahn's Super Dry Beer Pioneering Commercial.

In the Hahn brewery, superness is brewed into the beer at every stage of its creation. The Knight Rider song infuses the barley through massive speakers. Is pounded by body builders in leotards, exposed to kung fu movies, churned by a monster truck Delorean, mixed in an immense drum-kit, poured over a fountain of winning trophies, fermented in a jumpsuit wearing vat, and stroked by a smooth character as it fills a glass panther, before being approved by a CEO hovering outside in a solid gold helicopter. As the Hahn SuperDry exits the factory, each bottle capped by a uniformed ferret, a line appears:

Super goes in. Superdry taste comes out.


The 60 second TV commercial from Sydney agency Publicis Mojo was shot in Los Angeles with director Tom Kuntz, who previously won an Emmy for best commercial of the year with Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’.

Tom Kuntz directed this visual-effects heavy commercial depicting a hyper-stylized Hahn Super Dry brewery where the "superness" - represented by a series of unorthodox influences - is infused and brewed into the beer at every stage of its creation.

While most of the VFX was completed by Eight VFX in California, VFX supervisor Scott Geerson put the finishing touches on this commercial in Flame at Cutting Edge Sydney with ECD Micah Walker and Producer Adrian. Also completed were a 45', 30', and four 15' versions.

Credits:
Director: Tom Kuntz
Agency: Publicis Mojo Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Micah Walker
Creative Team: Justine Armour, Ruth Bellotti
Agency Producer: Adrian Shapiro
Production: MJZ
Producer: Scott Kaplan
Editor: Gavin Cutler @MacKenzie Cutler
Post Produciton: Eight VFX (LA) and Cutting Edge Sydney
Sound Design: Simon Lister @Nylon Studios
Music Supervisor: Karl Richter @Level 2

Awards:
Gold: Film Craft at Cannes 2012
Silver: Best use of Music.
Bronze: Sound Design.
D&AD Yellow Pencil (MJZ) Production Design for Film Advertising

Americana Manhasset Goes Silent. A Peek At The Upcoming Catalog For The Luxury Stores.

The upcoming catalog for the Long Island collection of high-end shops Americana Manhasset is inspired by the genre of silent films. The glamorous black and white catalog will feature Karlie Kloss, Clément Chabernaud and the adorable Uggie, the Jack Russell Terrier from the Oscar-winning film The Artist.



Due out mid-August the catalog, conceived of and executed by ad agency Laspata DeCaro, was shot on location at Paramount Studios and in several private homes in Los Angeles.








The retro theme was chosen to showcase Fall fashions from some of the 60 stores which “harkened to the past in some way, especially the Twenties and Thirties, but with a modern twist,” said Andrea Sanders, senior vice president and creative director of Americana Manhasset.



Accompanying the drop of the catalog, will be a short silent film, “Speechless,” and a behind-the scenes, silent look at the making of the book will be posted on Americana’s web site. The “Speechless” film will also air on Taxi TV during fashion week.

Information and images courtesy of WWD

Americana Manhasset