Gucci. Renting an audience.
Gucci just put its name to a Formula One team. When people stop wanting your brand, you rent an audience from someone who still has one.
THE GIST ON GUCCI: "Fast Fashion"
What did Gucci just do?
Last week Gucci became the first luxury fashion house to put its name on a Formula One team. From next year, Alpine will race as Gucci Racing.
Why does Gucci need it?
Gucci is in trouble. Two and a half years of falling sales, a loss last year, and all the hallmarks of a brand that has lost its cultural relevance. People just don't care about Gucci anymore.
It is two thirds of its parent company's profits and has been sliding for a long time. A new designer has been hired to fix the actual clothes, but a product takes years to turn around.
Why does the racing not matter?
Look at the team they picked. Nobody pays that kind of money to be linked with fourth place at best. F1 now reaches 1.5 billion people a year, and the audience is getting younger and more female leaning every season. Exactly the market Gucci lost.
So F1 is a shortcut: buy your way back in front of the generation that stopped looking, while you slowly fix the things people actually buy.
Can you rent desire?
Audiences can be rented. Ask any viral sensation. Everyone still knows who Gucci is, they've just stopped wanting it, and a logo on a fast car doesn't make anyone crave a handbag. Formula One can loan Gucci its audience, but desire has to be earned.
Can a brand rent its way back to desirable?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What is Gucci doing in Formula One?
From next year Alpine will race as Gucci Racing, making Gucci the first luxury fashion house to name an F1 team.
Why does Huw say Gucci is in trouble?
Two and a half years of falling sales and a loss last year, in a brand that has lost cultural relevance.
Why is F1 attractive to Gucci?
It reaches 1.5 billion people a year, and the audience is getting younger and more female leaning, the market Gucci lost.
See you on the next one.
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