Luxury Social Media: A Case Study on Hermes

Why brands need to invest in creatives

I’m thrilled to be writing this as it combines two of my worlds, luxury fashion & social media.

The relationship between social media and high fashion has always been nuanced- on the one hand, I don’t think social media would be what it is today if it wasn’t for fashion lovers. I truly think the OG fashion bloggers were the pioneers of this industry and for that, they will always be on a pedestal to me whether I like it or not.

High fashion was in some ways quick to adapt to this, and was at the forefront of early /influencersnark (IYKYK). “Why is this influencer at this fashion show?” quickly morphed into “How much do we need to pay to have this influencer wearing our clothes and be at our event??”

And yet- many were (and are still) resistant to the forces that be. The entire culture of social media and influencers haven’t flowed as easily into French and Italian culture, the motherland of most major fashion houses- who have become what they are due to craftsmanship, artisanship and service…. not fast trends, fast sales or instant gratification synonymous with social media.

Yet we all know social media drives sales. Don’t get me started on that.

I wanted to spend some time walking through what Hermes is doing on social media, because I’m absolutely obsessed with it, and I’ll provide the TLDR for any of my busy marketing friends as well who may want some bit sized takeaways.

Celebrating Artists- Carry the ethos of the brand through to your socials

I cannot stress enough how important it is for brands to invest in actual creatives. There is so much junk online that I cannot believe more brands do not understand this value in standing out and creating something beautiful for their brands like we would a traditional advertisement, or like they would invest in experts when making their product. We wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t know how to sew to make our product so why do brands think they can hire someone who doesn’t understand creative direction to lead their digital storefront?

Respectfully, luxury brands need to find a luxury budget for social media. So much of the ethos & what makes Hermes so special is it’s celebration of colour theorists and bringing in artists from different cultural backgrounds, to pull quote their website:

The Hermès scarf was born in 1937, instigated by Robert Dumas. Fascinated by innovative textile printing techniques, he quickly developed a passion for creating designs in a constant quest for new compositions and endless combinations of colours. His open-minded approach resulted in some wonderful encounters and fruitful collaborations based on reciprocal admiration, connecting the house to names such as Cassandre, Ledoux, Linarès and Dufy, to name but a few. Following his lead, Jean-Louis Dumas expanded the scarf’s horizons through artists such as Kermit Oliver, a Native American painter specialising in portraits of Native Americans, and the Polataka School of Sudan.

When I look at their most viral posts it’s almost always something avant garde, out of the box and captures them perfectly. It’s their iconic bags re imaged as vegtables- securing well over $1M in Earned Media Value on their page alone never mind the countless reshares & posts to Pinterest and other accounts. I would estimate the brand recognition of that one post alone is closer to $20M. Another top performing post on their page is this animation showing their stitches. THIS is the level of production that should be involved in a product with a price point like this.

What caught my eye initially about what they are doing lately are these illustrations by @juliettegreen_/ a Paris based artist with these cheeky, aspirational illustrations that also feature important keywords for their demograpic, like doctor, banker, tennis and horseback riding. I love this so much.

The high level result is that they outperform most accounts in their category and size, by at least .6% (sounds small but this is huge given their respective audience size), drive approximately $60K in EMV per post and use social media to remind us that they are doing it better than everyone else, innovative and artistans at every touch point.