Berluti men's footwear
French footwear label Berluti is illuminated its lifestyle focus with a two-part advertisement effort on Condé Nast-owned Vanity Fair’s mobile-optimized Web site.
The banner and box ad aims to show both range of product and lifestyle codes to appeal to readers who may be unaware of Berluti’s wide menswear offerings. Including imagery in a mobile ad, rather than text, increases the chances of a click-through because the reader becomes distracted from the original task at hand.
“Since the Berluti brand message comes through so clearly through their content, I think that their target audience, that likely relates to the content, will sign up and start their relationship with the brand that way,” said Melody Adhami, president and chief operating officer of Plastic Mobile, Toronto.
“It’s an awareness play which is what we typically see in the pre-mobile-commerce evolution of a brand,” she said. “Mobile is a great tool to deepen a brand’s relationship with their customer but that relationship often starts somewhere else, be it in store or through the brand story.
“The Berluti brand’s digital strategy is very clearly focused on content rather than commerce. They’re depicting a lifestyle through their web content and cultivating an appreciation for the shoe craft.”
Ms. Adhami is not affiliated with Berluti, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.
Berluti did not respond by press deadline.
Put your right foot forward
Found embedded within an article about HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” whose cast is on the cover of the April issue of Vanity Fair, Berluti’s ad shows multiple product categories to show that the brand is more than just footwear.
Placing the ad within a Game of Thrones article may have been intentional, as the television show has a large following and likely generated click-throughs.
Berluti’s banner ad was found directly below Vanity Fair’s navigation bar and shows the shoemaker’s logo on the left. Most of the ad is made up of imagery which includes a leather briefcase, a loafer, a button-down dress shirt and a belt with a metal buckle showing the Berluti logo.
Berluti banner ad on Vanity Fair’s mobile site
The second aspect of the effort included a box ad among the sidebar content on Vanity Fair’s mobile Web site. The ad shows a man wearing Berluti dress shoes and no socks on with his feet resting on the handlebar and crossbar of an aluminum bicycle and seen on its Web site as well.
Berluti’s box ad on Vanity Fair’s mobile site
A click-through on either of the Berluti ads lands on the footwear label’s mobile Web site. Instead of landing on mobile commerce or a cut-and-dry look book, the reader is taken to Berluti’s newsletter section.
The landing page also asks for the consumer’s email address to receive Berluti’s newsletter.
From here, the reader can explore the brand through an article, with accompanying video footage, about Berluti’s bespoke shoes.
In a News Around the World section, the site offers information about the opening of its Shanghai boutique and the made-to-measure event happening from March 15-23 to celebrate.
Berluti newsletter content, Shanghai store opening
The newsletter section also includes cheeky sections such as a style column that asks the question, “Should one follow the stylistic advice of one’s wife?” A click-through lands on a short paragraph outlining the pros and cons of doing so and related content.
Consumers can also view the fall/winter 2014 look book, read the diary of Alessandro Sartori, Berluti’s artistic director, and read about the brand’s heritage in shoemaking through its collections, craftsmanship and bespoke experience on the Berluti Web site.
Berluti look book on its mobile site
Although not shoppable, Berluti’s mobile site allows the consumer to explore current collections to show range or products as well as locate a nearby store.
Lifestyle foothold
Berluti has made other moves to show consumers that the label is much more than footwear.
For instance, Berluti continued its move toward a full-service lifestyle brand with the opening of a new boutique on New York’s Madison Avenue.
Berluti’s bricks-and-mortar location opened Feb. 6 only blocks away from its prior location on the high-end retail stretch. The move will help the brand house a wider range of products, including apparel and accessories with bespoke options available, to highlight its shift toward lifestyle (see story).
The brand also took a light-hearted approach to displaying its apparel and accessories to appeal to a different demographic of male consumers.
Berluti showed its more playful side with a behind-the-scenes video for its latest advertising campaign that was filmed in a swimming pool.
The video showed artist and brand ambassador Maurizio Cattelan jumping into a pool in his suit. By filming the making of the ad with its quirky brand ambassador, Berluti is able to further communicate its brand image as a “house with character” (see story).
If content is included on a Web site, the brand must make sure to generate fresh material on a regular basis.
“I don’t think the lead story should be Valentine’s-related given that holiday was over a month ago,” said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York. “But, consumers may sign up for the Berluti newsletter if they are interested in the brand or content.”
“Upon clicking on the ad the newsletter format is actually quite interesting as there are various stories about fashion topics which can be quite engaging,” he said.
Final Take
Jen King, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York