Arts & Business: Rose Enright

Why link arts and luxury brands:

• Synergy - its a natural fit
• To do this differently
• Repositioning
• Good way to get PR
• Reach new audiences

A high level of creativity is valued in luxury brands. These brands are more progressive and daring - and linking the brand with arts may give huge brand rewards. One example is 'Made in Prada'. Prada does a lot of thing relating to culture, and one of these things is 'Made in Prada'. Each product in this range rewards the craftsmen behind the product. This range was hugely successful because it was a very honest and authentic project. It was the celebration of craftsmen from different parts of the world. 

Another successful campaign was the The Scottish malt whiskey society's collaboration with 26, a national organisation that champions the imaginative use of language in business. The project paired 26 writers with 26 designers to create the unique identities and labels for 26 Society malts. 26 Malts illustrates the power of words and images working creatively together, and maintains the long association of whisky with literature and language.

However, a campaign that did not work out as successfully was Louis Vuitton's ad campaign called 'the craftsmen'. As most of Louis Vuitton's products are made by machine, it is not authentic to produce an add that claims that there are craftsmen doing the work. Therefore the adds were banned, due to it not being authentic advertising.