With brand design now an integral part of the brand architecture, creativity is finally getting the respect it deserves. But with the competition for creative expression heating up, brands are looking for creative input from a range of sources—the consumer, celebrities, other brands and bona fide designers and artists. Does a creative linkup or partnership really give a brand an edge over the competition, or is it just a quick fix to fuel publicity? The company you keep says a lot about your brand and, as brand behavior is put even more under the spotlight in uncertain economic times, these partnerships may actually damage rather than enhance the brand offer.
Creativity in the name of “charity”
In the past few years, brands have been asking celebrities to design anything from a plate to a T-shirt to a toy horse. Most of this has been in the name of charity, and presumably celebs don’t mind that their attempts may be compared to a 5-year-old’s best efforts, since they know people will pay a price for their names regardless. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of My Little Pony, global toy giant Hasbro asked celebs—including LeAnn Rimes, David Arquette and Courteney Cox—to design an 18-in. horse figure. There has been nothing in the media to indicate children have been stampeding to buy these limited editions, so maybe Hasbro is relying on the parents to spot an investment when they see one.
Hasbro certainly understands the consumer pull attached to being a creative brand. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. This is a bit of jumping on a creative bandwagon in the name of PR, rather than placing a true value on design and creativity.
Designer partnerships
Aside from celeb linkups, we are seeing more genuine design and creative collaborations. Piper Heidsieck linked up with fashion brand Viktor & Rolf to create their upside-down champagne bottle of Rosé Sauvage by Viktor & Rolf. And Commes des Garçons has joined forces with Milliner Stephen Jones to produce the new fragrance Commes des Garçons + Stephen Jones—with beautiful hatbox packaging and the bottle nestling under layers of a black lace in the form of a hat veil. The hatbox is not only selling out fast, but tipped to become a collector’s item.
In the short term, these new products are not necessarily detracting from the heritage of the brands they are linking with, and may actually take these brands to a whole new audience. They haven’t linked up with just anybody, but place a value on design by aligning their brand with high-profile designers from other disciplines. But fashion is fickle, and Piper Heidsieck, for example, cannot control the future evolution of Viktor & Rolf and what it could mean for them by association. This collaboration is very much about mixing up styles and bolting on credibility, rather than finding a way to consistently integrate creativity into the brand.
Lacoste has previously been linked to several rock stars, and their product’s placement has been featured heavily in many music videos. But the brand has now joined forces with queen of design collaborations Zaha Hadid to produce dynamic new footwear. The pairing has taken the famous crocodile logo and made it into a “landscape” by laser-transferring the design onto leather. It is without doubt a creatively brilliant technical expression, but one that seems to be generating a fair bit of negative press about the joining of these two premium design forces.
Who is the real creative genius?
And, of course, there is always the danger of the star/designer becoming hotter than the brand, leaving the brand trailing in its wake. Think Gucci or Tom Ford. And darling of the catwalk Christopher Kane now seems to be plotting to take over the world with any design collaboration he can seemingly lay his hands on. His couture glass for Bombay Sapphire—retailing at £2000 per glass—is a work of genius, a collector’s item, from two synergistic brands that are also both leaders in their respective fields. But what seems a strange step is Kane’s somewhat-affordable DAB radio for UK electronics retailer Comet. Great, in that the masses will be able to afford a “bit of designer.” But long-term, this association may dilute and fragment the true brand message and the premium status and exclusivity that is Christopher Kane.
It comes down to credibility and who does it well. You can borrow credibility, or you can integrate it. It’s about refining creative input, creating focused moments around the brand and how you use creativity—particularly design—to help create a positive statement that can create long-term desire, not short-lived fun. Many brands indulging in these linkups have already stood the test of time, and a wrong alignment could shake the brand foundations to its core.
Creative behavior vs. creative perception
It’s not just about fitting well together but about what’s right for the end result, and how this fits with the changing face of society and all of its complex problems. In the future, the opportunity for brands will be to collaborate to produce creative behavior, not build perceptions. Collaboration will be a lot more about unexpected people getting together to form unexpected unions and produce unexpected solutions, to do new things and make our lives better rather than just create a sense of trust. So players from different industries, even competitors from the same industry, will get together to clash their thinking and produce entirely new perspectives and solutions.
Imagine Nike and Adidas getting together to produce the next-generation running shoe—not Philippe Starck doing a new design for Puma. Or the automotive industry putting all its research together to produce the next-generation car—which would not just be for our good but also for the industry’s good, as creating the future may be the only chance for survival. The best way for brands to express new thoughts and create futures is through design.
Design has the power to change and build commercially effective futures. How do we know this? We have been named the number one agency for design effectiveness with proven return on investment. Creativity sells. Design sells.
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