In the 1990s, luxury brands were still looking for Chinese supermodels to promote domestic brands.
In 1992, when Qu Ying, the champion of China’s second supermodel competition, walked for luxury goods in front of the China World Hotel, it was hard for anyone to imagine that entertainers in the entertainment industry would be associated with luxury brands in the future.
In 1997, Takeshi Kaneshiro endorsed Prada men's clothing for the first time and shot an advertising blockbuster for Prada's 1998 spring and summer series, becoming the first artist to have in-depth cooperation with a luxury brand.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @凯利Cary
In the future, artists such as Geng Le, Zhou Xun, Dong Jie, etc. also successively established contact with Prada. Leaving the supermodel community and choosing to cooperate with artists has become a way for luxury brands including Prada to enter the mainland market.
Fast forward to 2022, and the battle for spokespersons for major luxury brands has gone from the early Sidan Shuangbing to today's Zhou Ye, Ouyang Nana, Chun Xia, Liu Haoran and many other small flowers and niche students. From the iteration of the movie queen-level group to the new stars, the influence of luxury brand spokespersons is also slowly weakening from the perspective of popularity alone.
Luxury brands can no longer rely on the competition for spokespersons to enhance brand value. Spokespersons are in an awkward period between old and new iterations.
On the one hand, luxury brands suffer from the lack of suitable spokespersons in the market; on the other hand, they are unwilling to give up strict selection criteria. Luxury brands are facing many problems such as unclear positioning of spokespersons, overwhelmed responsibilities, and declining gold content.
Zhou Xue, who used to be the commercial manager of Vivienne Westwood brand, could not help but complain to Yu Qier: "These days, it is getting more and more difficult for luxury brands to hire spokespersons."
Among the fan groups, idols Endorsing a luxury brand is like an actor winning an Oscar or a singer winning a Grammy. Not only can it be included in the performance list, but it can also be used by fans to win over opponents.
Terms such as blue blood, red blood, top luxury, high luxury, and light luxury have divided many luxury brands into three, six, or nine grades, creating a whole chain of contempt. "Four major magazines, six major blue bloods, and eight major red bloods" is a widely circulated hot knowledge.
The four major magazines refer to the four women's magazines "VOGUE", "Harper's Bazaar", "ELLE" and "Marie Marie". The other five major magazines not mentioned refer to "GQ" There are five men's magazines: "Harper's Bazaar", "ELLEMEN", "Esquire" and "Fashionable Men".
When celebrities appear on the covers of fashion magazines, they are either actively invited by the magazine or recommended to the magazine by luxury brands. When a luxury brand promotes a magazine, celebrities need to wear the brand's clothing and appear on the cover of the magazine to promote the brand.
Therefore, the number of times a star appears on the cover of a fashion magazine is also a reflection of a star’s status in the fashion circle.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @Chrison 凯伦
In March 2021, Yi Yang Qianxi successfully unlocked the cover character of 13 issues, becoming the first domestic entertainment mainstream magazine full Grand slam artist. Yi Yang Qianxi achieved this achievement precisely because he had early cooperation with high-end luxury goods such as Emporio Armani, Givenchy, Tiffany, and Bvlgari, and the brand was able to continuously promote him.
The "Six Blue Bloods" and the "Eight Red Bloods" are the classifications of luxury brands.
The six major brands of Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Calvin Klein are called blue blood brands and are at the top of the contempt chain. The term blue blood originated from Spanish aristocrats. They believed that aristocrats are people with blue blood. Blue blood brands naturally represent the aristocrats in the brand.
Currently, domestic celebrities with blue blood endorsements include Liu Yifei and Zhou Dongyu who endorse Louis Vuitton, Xiao Zhan, Lu Han, Ni Ni and Li Yuchun who endorse Gucci, and Cai Xukun, Li Yifeng and Chun Xia who endorse Prada. .
The next tier of blue-blood brands are red-blood brands, which include Givenchy, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Hermes, Lanvin and Burberry. Compared with blue-blood brands, there are more red-blood brands, and the value of their spokespersons is also relatively decreasing.
"Fan Chengcheng, Ouyang Nana, Yu Shuxin, and Zhang Yanqi, who debuted in the talent show in recent years, are all brand spokespersons for the red-blood brand Givenchy, but their works and identities are not up to standard to endorse blue-blood brands." Zhou Xue explained.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @ChrisonChrisson
Chrison, a senior fashion blogger, told Yu Qier that initially, "four issues, six blues, and eight reds" The knowledge that is regarded as a guideline in the rice circle is just a rumor. There is no such obvious chain of contempt within the fashion circle. But now many people have begun to say this, and the fashion circle has gradually recognized it.
The four major magazines, the six major blue bloods, and the eight major red bloods are classic cases of "forcing" the fashion circle in the rice circle.
"Blue blood looks down on red blood, top luxury looks down on high luxury, and high luxury ignores light luxury. Now these statements have evolved into common sense. Therefore, luxury brands look for celebrities as spokespersons, and consider It’s not about whether the celebrity can bring goods, but whether the celebrity can lower the brand’s quality,” said brand businessman Zhou Xue.
Hermes, which stands on the top of the luxury brand pyramid, has never found any celebrities as brand spokespersons. Its unique aloofness adds a touch of mystery to the public.
In the category of luxury goods, the spokesperson is the epitome of the brand image, representing the current positioning and ethnic group of the brand or product line. Celebrities bringing goods can only be regarded as added value.
Luxury brands that don’t worry about selling and luxury brands that don’t care about celebrity traffic, such as Hermes, don’t particularly consider the traffic level of their spokespersons and their ability to bring goods.
Chrison said: "On an international scale, for example, if a luxury brand finds an Oscar winner or best actor to endorse it, it proves that the brand's image has reached a certain level and will not be evaluated. Or to measure their so-called ability to deliver goods, they focus more on the global reputation and influence of the spokesperson. ”
Source: Sina Weibo @雪霏Sophia
December 2021. In August, Yves Saint Laurent officially announced that Oscar winner Al Pacino will become its spokesperson. Al Pacino has starred in classic international blockbusters such as "The Godfather", "Scent of a Woman" and "Scarface", and enjoys a high reputation internationally. Although he was over eighty years old at the time and had few die-hard fans, Yves Saint Laurent still chose him.
The term "bringing goods" is originally a regional product after the emergence of East Asian rice circle culture. Only when hiring spokespersons in China, Japan and South Korea, luxury brands may consider the ability to bring goods.
As a spokesperson for a luxury brand, the celebrity’s influence, sense of luxury and whether it matches the brand’s tone are more important.
There is a joke in the fashion circle, "Luxury brands are all short of friends." Zhou Xue said.
Once the identity of the spokesperson is finalized, the image of the luxury brand will be bound to the image of the spokesperson. If there are flaws in the celebrity's personal image, it will definitely affect the inherent image of the luxury brand in the minds of the public.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @娱乐小主
On January 19, 2021, an actress surnamed Zheng, who was announced to be the spokesperson of the Prada brand just a week ago, briefly became The spokesperson was quickly terminated due to negative publicity. Subsequently, the news that Prada was fired from its business operations in China became a hot search topic on Weibo.
Although Prada China refuted the rumors and did not fire the businessman, Prada’s official blog and the businessman’s private Weibo were besieged by netizens, asking them why they did not cherish the brand feathers and did not do a good job as spokespersons Work.
The same thing happened in July 2021. Negative news about the former spokesperson surnamed Wu was exposed. After other major brands terminated their cooperation with the actor, Louis Vuitton has not stated whether to terminate the contract, which caused a stir. Netizens were widely dissatisfied, scolding Louis Vuitton for supporting bad artists.
Although Louis Vuitton finally announced the termination of the contract and deleted all Weibo related to the actor, for a long time, there were still netizens on Louis Vuitton’s Weibo Square criticizing the brand for not understanding crisis public relations.
In 2022, the standards for selecting spokespersons for luxury goods will become more stringent and the review will be more detailed. Zhou Xue said, "Each luxury brand has different procedures and standards for selecting spokespersons, but now they all add one point: there is no potential risk of bad deeds." Some brands have already included this in their endorsement compensation agreements.
Prada and Louis Vuitton have become negative examples for their careless selection of spokespersons, which has made many luxury brands realize that they would rather not have spokespersons to avoid the strong connection between the brand and the celebrity.
They do not easily hire spokespersons, but also want to use the influence of celebrities to bring luxury brands into more people’s horizons. Many luxury brands have innovated brand ambassadors, brand friends, brand friends, brand muses, Brand cosmetics, skin care, jewelry line spokespersons, brand promotion officers and other titles lower than brand spokespersons are assigned to the stars they work with.
Fencer Sun Yiwen, who won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the EDG e-sports club, which won the world championship in the 2021 League of Legends competition, are both intimately called brand friends by Dior.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @DIOR Dior
Ren Min, Zhang Ruonan, Yuan Bingyan, and Sun Yihan, four relatively small flowers, were awarded the title of best friend of the Dior brand; Lin Yi , Liu Yuxin is Dior’s brand ambassador, Wang Ziwen is Dior’s jewelry branch ambassador, and Jing Tian is Dior’s skin care branch ambassador.
Yang Ying is the spokesperson for Dior’s makeup branch, while Wang Junkai is not only the Dior brand ambassador but also the spokesperson for Dior’s Chinese wilderness men’s perfume series.
A Dior can’t wait to capture all the famous male and female artists in domestic entertainment. “Not putting eggs in one basket is the basic principle for luxury brands to determine their co-stars,” Zhou Xue said. Unlike spokespersons, who are both prosperous and losers, the titles of ambassador, best friend, and good friend are not as heavy as the spokesperson. The brand does not have to bear the greatest negative impact if the ambassador, best friend, or good friend falls over.
Cartier, like Hermes, has never had a brand spokesperson, but Cartier’s different jewelry series and products will invite different stars to promote them as brand ambassadors and close friends. Gong Li and Wang Jiaer are Cartier’s brand ambassadors, while Bai Jingting, Zhang Zhen, Deng Ziqi, Liu Haocun and Li Xian are all Cartier’s brand friends.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @Cartier
Chrison even introduced to Yu Cier that domestic celebrities’ luxury brand titles are flying all over the world, which is what the celebrities themselves require. .
“Under the fandom culture, even if celebrities themselves don’t want to compare the number of luxury goods endorsements, fans will. Reasonable fans don’t want to compare, but fans of competitors will still compare, so in the end everyone must not No, it’s entering a state of involution.” Chrison said that each luxury brand’s strategy is different, and some brands have a stronger voice in China, so they may have special titles. For example, Zhou Xun's Chanel spokesperson title in China was customized only for her.
Brand spokesperson is superior to brand ambassador, and brand ambassador is superior to brand branch spokesperson. However, these three titles need to be reported to the brand headquarters and will be claimed simultaneously on foreign official websites. Obtaining titles such as brand friend, best friend, and promoter is just a means for celebrities to cooperate with luxury brands.
For non-endorser titles such as best friend and good friend, celebrity endorsement fees are rarely given.
Many celebrities are willing to spend their time and lower themselves to become "friends" of luxury brands for free. Their purpose is to need luxury brands to help them "golden".
The back-tracking time between an artist and a luxury brand from the reveal of a potential collaboration to the formal signing of an endorsement contract will not be less than a year.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @GUCCI
In 2019, Xiao Zhan began to contact Gucci and wore a Gucci brooch when appearing at the airport; in June 2020, Gucci became Xiao Zhan’s A full set of suits was provided for the magazine shoot; in October 2021, Gucci officially announced that Xiao Zhan would become the brand spokesperson. Three years of friction, no more, no less.
"Before formally reaching a cooperation with a title, luxury brands will unilaterally conduct a long-term inspection of the star. The inspection period can be as short as one or two years, and as long as five or six years." Zhou Xue said To determine a luxury brand spokesperson, there are usually five steps.
The first step is for the luxury brand to claim the same clothes and jewelry worn by the artist on its official blog or official INS; the second step is to shoot promotional videos for the luxury brand; the third step is to be invited by the luxury brand to view show; the fourth step is to get the recommendation of the luxury brand; the last step is to officially announce the brand title and confirm the cooperation. If there is a problem at any step, it is very likely that the cooperation will be terminated.
The longer the inspection period, the more complicated the steps, and the more demanding the conditions for luxury brand spokespersons, often the ones with the highest gold content.
"Chanel does not have a Chinese global spokesperson, and Zhou Xun is only a Chinese spokesperson, a global ambassador. Therefore, Chanel's brand ambassador is the most valuable title in the circle. Chanel will treat each ambassador very highly. The long review period makes it difficult for new people to join.”
Source: Sina Weibo @ChanelCHANEL
As far as Chrison knows, it is just to become Chanel. Artists who have long-term cooperation need to first visit their major workshops in Paris to understand the history and origin of the brand on the spot. To become an ambassador, you not only need to cross the above harsh threshold requirements, but also need more in-depth assessments.
"As we all know, Chanel is not worried about sales at all, so when choosing artists to cooperate with, it is more based on brand image assessment. This is destined that Chanel will not sign people in a 'fast food' style. The situation arises. "
In 2007, Zhou Xun's focus shifted from TV series to movies, and Chanel also noticed Zhou Xun's smart, free-spirited and playful nature at this time. In the same year, Zhou Xun participated in the Chanel 2007 spring and summer haute couture conference; immediately afterwards, Zhou Xun was arranged to go to Paris to visit Chanel headquarters, watch Chanel's big show, and meet Chanel chief designer Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld described Zhou Xun as, The very Coco Chanel of those days.
Five years later, in 2012, Zhou Xun finally officially joined the Chanel brand ambassador series and has maintained excellent cooperation with Chanel to this day. Because of this fit and long-lasting love, the cooperation between Zhou Xun and Chanel is known in the fashion circle as a benchmark for collaboration between luxury brands and celebrities.
In 2022, after popular celebrity spokespersons such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Bvlgari overturned due to negative news and affected the brand's sales, luxury brands have become more focused on the young power and power of Generation Z when selecting partners. Excellent athletes in the sports circle.
"Nowadays, many brands are paying great attention to the Millennial generation. The name that I have heard more frequently among luxury brands recently is Era Boys. In the past, there were many big names competing for them." Chrison said, " I also learned that a luxury brand has signed a popular Winter Olympics player, and we can wait for the official announcement soon."
Before 2021, the Louis Vuitton brand spokespersons will be two female actors, Liu Yifei and Liu Yifei. Zhou Dongyu. The former is developing on an international route, while the latter is a newly promoted three-time Best Actress in China. The three brand ambassadors Jin Chen, Dilraba Dilraba and Zhong Chuxi are all actresses in the film and television industry. Their influence is limited to the same field, and it is difficult for them to radiate to the current group of young female college students.
Picture source: Sina Weibo @Louis Vuitton
In December 2021, the Times Youth League began to be invited by Louis Vuitton to watch the brand theme exhibition in Shenzhen; March 31, 2022 On the same day, Louis Vuitton’s official blog released a set of promotional photos taken by the Times Youth League for the LV VOLT jewelry series.
Behind the idol groups of Generation Z are the young people of Generation Z.
The average age of the members of Times Youth League is 18 years old, and the profile of the fan group is biased towards junior high school students, high school students and college students. Their influence plays a big role in opening up the next generation of young market for Louis Vuitton. Traffic is not the demand for luxury goods. Their real goal is to promote their brand status to this group of young fans.
Abroad, it is common for athletes to establish cooperation with luxury brands. Tennis player Naomi Osaka has become the brand ambassador of Louis Vuitton, and football players such as Ronaldo and Beckham have shot advertisements for Emporio Armani. Chrison said, "After the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, I believe there will be more and more cooperation between luxury brands and athletes."
Extend the time for investigating spokespersons again, and look beyond For a younger group, breaking the boundaries of the entertainment industry and reaching the sports circle may be the most correct way for luxury brands to choose spokespersons in the future.
(Zhou Xue is a pseudonym in the article.)