Ad of the Month - Michael Kors
With luxury handbags often priced in the thousands, advertisers must work hard to overcome this natural purchase barrier by evoking high levels of emotional appeal.
In this issue of Ad of the Month, we look at how you can build effective creative that speaks to people's aspirations. We delved into the world of luxury handbag advertising - from established behemoths Louis Vuitton to recently re-popularised Longchamp - where there is a well-trodden path of minimal dialogue and heightened glamour. This isn't always executed effectively, but successful ads meet one shared criterion: reinforcing the value of luxury through aspiration.
At Human Made Machine, we tell you whether your creative will be effective with your target audience. This is crucial, as creative contributes up to 70% of a campaign's success. We test thousands of creatives each month in realistic, simulated media environments using the gold standard of control/exposed experiments to predict real-world impact. To dig deeper into performance, we collect qualitative and quantitative data, analyzing what works - and why.
The power of an aspirational lifestyle
Fashion ads often focus on promoting a lifestyle - the most successful brands know what lifestyles are aspirational for their target audience. Our May Ad of the Month revels in a sunlit lifestyle.
Michael Kors - feat. Suki Waterhouse
Michael Kors hasn't reinvented the wheel; the ad shows a familiar and beautiful model ambling around a picturesque holiday destination, Michael Kors bag in hand. Like florals for spring, this isn't exactly groundbreaking. While the ad clearly works, to some extent the lack of originality shows. The routine formula led to a poor Breakthrough score, indicating a lack of distinction from other brands.
Yet, this ad is testament to the notion that even familiar creative approaches can resonate with audiences if the message continues to be appealing. The ad successfully convinces viewers that Michael Kors makes handbags they want to own, driving significant lift in consideration. Its high Brand Engagement score shows that viewers didn't just watch the ad - they enjoyed it and associated it with Michael Kors. The ad weaves in branding naturally by reinforcing Michael Kors with many visual shots of the prominent logos on the bags themselves..
At HMM we analyze thousands of qualitative responses to ads (i.e. real human feedback) using AI-powered topic modelling. This helps us understand the key themes that resonate with your audience. This feedback helps us understand the ad's appeal through viewers' own words: they loved the dreamy setting and the simple, elegant bags on display.
"I like the beauty of the location(s), the casual nature of the model, the look of at least a couple of bags & the song choice."
"I liked the beautiful old town the ad is based in. And it looks like a lovely summer scene"
"The handbags look really nice. The city where they shot the video is really nice too."
An idyllic setting, glamorous yet relatable model, and evocative music all contributed to creating an aspirational world viewers wanted to step into. By carefully integrating Michael Kors handbags within this beautiful lifestyle, the ad successfully increased the appeal of the bags themselves.
In particular, this month's deep dive into Luxury goods showed that viewers are drawn to lively, summer visuals. 'Longchamp SS25 Le Roseau' which features a woman taking a walk in nature with her dog, also drove lift in Consideration, reinforcing the appeal of carefree, sunlit lifestyles.
In contrast, 'Gucci Valigeria feat. Ni Ni and Chang Chen' focused on an airport mishap. Despite positive feedback on the bag itself and a compelling narrative, the ad failed to drive lift. It would seem that people don't want to be experiencing stress at an airport, and strolling carefree through the streets of Ibiza is far more desirable.
Michael Kors’ latest campaign therefore succeeds not because it surprises, but because it delivers a clear, aspirational vision with consistent and prominent branding. In luxury advertising, it's not always about doing something new - it's about doing it well.
For advertisers, this shows the value of considering what lifestyle the modern consumer finds aspirational and positioning their products within it.
However, our research shows there's still ample room in the industry for bold experimentation. The ads we tested had low breakthrough scores across the board, meaning they felt very indistinct to viewers. Staying within the box can be effective, as shown by Michael Kors, but it can also be limiting. A braver creative choice from another luxury brand might be exactly what's needed to truly stand out. For this reason we love working with the brand Coach who focus on another aspect of aspiration - confidence and celebrating achievements.
At Human Made Machine, we help our partners identify creative that truly resonate and turn that understanding into confident, effective advertising.
Want to learn more about how to maximize the return on your ad spend with effective creative? Connect with us and request a demo.