2.Prada FW19 Code Human campaign analysis-JIN Yu

Essay Question: Should luxury brands choose celebrities with a huge fan base as their spokespersons to help them increase sales by using the case of Prada FW19 "Code Human" campaign to showcase the Prada Fall/Winter 2019 menswear collection Introduction The market share of China in the global luxury goods market continues to increase, and the Chinese market has become the most important growth point for the luxury goods industry.

From 2012 to 2019, half of the growth of the luxury goods market was contributed by Chinese consumers. As the world's second largest luxury goods market, China accounts for one-third of the world's consumption of luxury goods.

In order to maintain the continuous growth of luxury goods sales, many luxury brands gradually lower their profiles and sign a contract with the celebrities. In recent years, more and more luxury goods have begun to cooperate with Chinese celebrities, especially celebrities with a huge fan base, regarding them as spokespersons. The purpose is to bring a new look to the brand and further gain the favor of Chinese consumers.

First of all, inviting celebrities with a huge fan base as spokespersons is based on a celebrity effect-the ripple effect. Celebrities attract fans through their looks, lifestyle, and works. "Fans" may be repellent to traditional advertising, but they are happy to follow idols and willing to buy the products that their idols or celebrities endorsed. When luxury brands officially announce their spokespersons on social platforms, the communication channels between fans are opened up. The celebrity can be regarded as a small pebble, and the calm water will cause ripples due to the interference of the pebble (the message of the brand's official spokesperson).

Fans are not only buying brand products, but also willing to spread their preferences and the information of celebrities to others. With every fan’s likes, reposts and comments, the ripples will spread once. As a result, the range of audience and influence involved in brand information will increase. With the wider and deeper of the influence, the brand awareness will be exaggerated and have the increase in sales.

In China, Yixing Zhang became the global dual spokesperson of CK JEANS and CK UNDERWEAR, Yifan Wu became the spokesperson of LV, and Liying Zhao became the brand ambassador of Dior in China. Take the existing brand cases of Burberry: Yifan Wu is the global spokesperson for Burberry. Burberry announced that Wu Yifan will serve as the global spokesperson in the case of poor performance in the second quarter of 2018. At the same time, it also launched the Yifan Wu specific series, which became the main driving force for the growth of brand performance.

Market campaign analysis: Prada FW19 "Code Human" campaign The shooting background of the "Code Human" campaign is “set in a so called “Post-Anthropocene ”era in the future.”1 Kun, a visitor sets foot in a “Museum of Mankind”and sees a replicas almost exactly the same as himself, sat frozen, like robotic clones.

There is a sentence in PRADA’s press release to the media that can be used as the official reason given by the brand: “We are trying to explore the meaning of iconography, idolatry, fandom and adoration in our super-media age.”2 The implicit meaning of Kun’s two roles in the campaign is to map and explore the relationship between idols and fans through observation and being observed; to understand the current idol and fan culture through the perspective of Chinese contemporary artists. Hence PRADA chose Kun not simply to please the young consumers, but to treat fan and idol culture as a

1

Zheng, Ruonan, and Yiling Pan. Prada Bends to Idol Culture While Expanding in China. 12 June 2019, jingdaily.com/prada-idol-culture-expanding-china/.

2

Team, Vogue Business, and Annachiara Biondi. China's Live Streaming Boom. 5 Mar. 2020, www.voguebusiness.com/consumers/live-streaming-china-shopping-kim-kardashian.

performance art worth studying. Through the medium of artist, contemporary art and pop idol culture can collide with sparks.

Kun currently is beloved 33.8 million followers on the Chinese website Weibo and ranks first on the Weibo Star Super Talk list. He is one of the latest heartthrobs and most welcoming young idols among contemporary Chinese youth. In addition, PRADA is now in a relatively sluggish in domestic market. Kun 's huge fan base can be used to increase sales, and it can also expand the influence of international brand-Prada.

Prada was founded a hundred years ago. Its style is relatively conservative and restrained.

Celebrities with a huge fans base in China itself have also begun to enter a period of fading, and the celebrity effect is no longer as good as before. Smart brands have begun to try to get rid of using celebrities as the spokesman, but Prada has bucked the trend, relying on Kun's fans to increase revenue figures worldwide in a short time.

Advantage and disadvantage for luxury brands to choose celebrities with a huge fan base as spokesman Brand and celebrity effect are complementary. The brand improves the brand awareness and the celebrity consolidates its position after getting the endorsement. The celebrities have a very strong ability of influencer marketing. Their main fan group is Generation Z which are the main luxury purchase customers in the future. The purchasing power of traditional luxury consumer groups is fixed every year, so luxury goods need to strive for larger and younger groups. Young consumers can see what they want to be and the lifestyle they want to have from the celebrities.3 The disadvantage is that it may lower the brand image. Many luxury brands tend to overestimate the effect behind the celebrities when choosing spokesman. They only choose current hot celebrities based on their online exposure, number of fans, and fan loyalty. They tend to overlook the fit of these celebrities with their own brands, which will give the public an illusion of perception and is not conducive to the brand's own positioning. Once the spokesperson suddenly has some negative rumors, his image and reputation may collapse at any time and threaten the brand, causing certain negative effects and losses to the brand.

Conclusion On the whole, the advantages of luxury brands choosing celebrities with a huge fan base as spokespersons outweigh the disadvantages, which can help brands increase their awareness and topicality, but it is uncertain whether there will be greater benefits for the brand's long-term development.

3

Achim, Adina-Laura, and Adina-Laura Achim. “The Rise of the Idol Economies in China.� Jing Daily, 18 Nov. 2019, jingdaily.com/the-rise-of-the-idol-economies-in-china/.