Why Fashion and Luxury Companies Are Investing in Film

In today's overhyped marketplace, brands looking for a highbrow boost are making a foray into the movie industry 

It is no mystery that music has heavily influenced its listeners across the world, especially here in the United States. From K-pop, Pop, R&B, and Rap, these different genres have created a culture of its own. However, the hip-hop genre and its artists have caught the attention of many listeners, especially of fashion designers. Well-known brands like MCM Worldwide and Gucci are working with filmmakers to help incorporate their brands in their film not to receive a quick sales booster, but to make their brand look more desirable and attractive. Consumers most of the time have given in to the product placements in many movies from Black Panther to many of the Marvel movies. Although product placements may be effective in most cases, advertising, in general, is suffering as most people forward, block or skip them. In addition, many companies do not want to just advertise for the sake of the product, but for the sake of how purposeful it should be. David Lang is the chief content officer at Mindshare North America. David states that film is one of the many ways where you can add meaning and purpose to a particular product. Bulgari, a very well known luxury jewelry brand, devised a plan where they would fund short documentaries as part of a deal to become the official jeweler of the Tribeca Film Festival. Even though Bulgari did not include any of its products in the films that they had produced, they still managed to gain around 236 million impressions. Rather than featuring many of Bulgari's products to convince consumers why they should buy their product, the brand focused on promoting the message of the film which was women empowerment. By doing so,  Bulgari is saying that they are fully supportive of this special cause. Bulgari can use this to their advantage as one of the reasons why consumers should represent their brand.

This applies to marketing because many fashion brands are using big named films as a platform to promote not only their product but a message. This method seems to be more effective than regular advertising because viewers can not block or skip advertisements. I think this is a very smart way for companies to market their products because a film can reach a larger audience and also a film can be much more influential. For example, if Bulgari featured one of its prized pieces in the film A Star is Born featuring Lady Gaga and had Gaga wear it, many could be very curious and could possibly look into buying something similar because they just adore Lady Gaga's iconic role. I chose this article because I really love fashion and the idea of product placement always fascinated me. So next time you go out to watch a movie and you see a well-known brand being featured, just keep in mind that the brand will do anything to try and get you to support their cause and purpose.
Analysis by Kevin Nguyen

By Nate Ives
April 15, 2019 8:46 a.m ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-fashion-and-luxury-companies-are-investing-in-film-11555332389