Why are advertisements for high-end fashion brands abstruse?

How do high-end fashion brands stimulate consumers' desire?

Luxury goods are not made simply by price, but are completed when it makes consumers dream and stimulate consumers. In particular, consumers are bound to be even more enthusiastic if it is conditioned that not everyone can own it. It creates a sense of distance from the clothes purchased and worn by the general public, giving consumers speciality. Through this process, consumers are planted with possessive desires and they can also increase the value of the brand.

What are the characteristics of high-end brands' advertisement?

This picture is a scene from a Balenciaga advertisement, one of the luxury brands. If you look at the advertisement, you can see the models distorted in accordance with the sound, which is inevitably bizarre for consumers who are new to the video. Not only Balenciaga but also other brands produce concepts or videos that are somewhat difficult to understand in advertisements. In particular, it is common to see similar concepts borrowed from offline stores and fashion shows as well as advertising videos.

How do high-end brands borrow this concept?

There are three main reasons. The first is to stimulate the desire to belong to this group by drawing a group that ordinary consumers cannot belong to through social distancing. Second, through time & space distancing, it is possible to create mythical time and space that existed in the past by setting up time and space that cannot exist today, or to create time and space that did not exist at all. Through this method, an image of a brand that cannot exist in reality is created and an image that is difficult to have is given. The last method is hypothetical distancing. If the previous two distancing focused on unrealistic things, this approach focuses on reality. However, it stimulates consumers' imagination by constructing unrealistic situations in a realistic space.

Is it really effective?

This method is sometimes very effective because it stimulates consumers' imagination, suggests the possibility of belonging to the world they imagine, and instills the idea of being different from others. However, it always develops brand awareness and influence by combining advertisements and marketing that can stimulate the sensibility of the general public and not only this difficult concept.