Why Burberry's 3D Ad Campaign Won't Help Sales
On the heels of its groundbreaking 3D global fashion show, British luxury brand Burberry's (BRBY) Fall ad campaign is going to another dimension as well. No special glasses are required to view the ads, whose clickable images and videos can be rotated, paused, and dragged 180° to display items in the collection. Is it interactive? Yes. 3D? No. Will it help sales? Probably not.
Burberry's fashion show was indeed a quantum leap forward. At a time when many fashion houses are just dipping a toe in the online world via e-commerce and social media, Burberry positioned itself as a global leader by broadcasting the Fall/Winter womenswear show to five locations -- New York, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and LA -- complete with 3D glasses for viewing on special screens. The company also live streamed its show (sans special effects) on its Web site, allowing viewers to watch and comment via Facebook and Twitter. The only thing that would have catapulted the show into the style stratosphere would have been to issue those 3D specs with a special edition Burberry insignia.
Behind the glamour of the 3D catwalk, Burberry was working hard to maintain fiscal responsibility. By cutting costs and sourcing many of its materials from Europe rather than China, as well as introduce a capsule collection that went from drawing board to shopper's backs in just three months, the brand got on a growth track that left other luxury companies behind. Consequently, Burberry's stock rose nearly 90 percent in the last 12 months. Things continue to trend well with retail and wholesale sales up 21 and 51 percent respectively for the first quarter.
However, against all of this brand-savvy positioning, the ad campaign seems kind of snoozy. Chief creative officer Christopher Bailey can say all he wants about the campaigns being an extension of the shows, but the reality of clicking and dragging (and slow upload times) do little to capture the "energy" of a 3D experience.
On the site right now you'll find a series of photos, each featuring a group of impossibly gorgeous, slightly androgynous models sporting clothing and accessories from Burberry's Fall 2010 collection. Double clicking around the images makes the models walk forward or to one side â€" in the kind of slow, choppy motion akin to a webcam view.
While this ultimately won't hurt the brand, it may frustrate the curious fashionista who simply must observe that studded bag (in iconic Burberry plaid!) from all angles. It does seem surprising that after so many carefully calculated moves, Burberry would put forth an effort that falls short. By employing multiple views on its items like Zappos (AMZN) does, it could have solved the 180° display in a much more shopper-friendly way. If the company wanted to stay ahead of its tech-minded trendsters an investment in iPad app for instance, or even a signature tartan cover for the tablet, would have been smarter.
Image via Burberry.com
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