Attention: An Important "Blow" In The History Of Brand Endorsement

On July 18, with Han Shu lightning giving up Wu Yifan, a number of brands joined the army of contract termination.

On July 19, when all eyes were focused on the undeclared LV, it finally pressed a "temporary" pause button.

It was not until July 23 that LV, who had survived for five days, was in a state of depression. Before seeing the judicial investigation results required by the court, the official announced the formal termination of the contract.

LV seems to have been waiting for the price, this step is very difficult.

So, why does LV have to endure the pressure to the end?

　　01 A top case endorsement

At the end of October 2018, LV official announced that Wu Yifan became the brand spokesperson, and started a well deserved non "fan" journey.

The opening of the journey comes from an official micro blog. It is worth noting that this is the first high-profile official publicity brand spokesperson of the brand in 100 years, with microblog forwarding more than 2 million times.

Even Fan Bingbing, who was very popular at the beginning, was also implicitly called the brand Muse in the official publicity. Finally, it was the fans who learned that Vogue China became the brand spokesperson through the news of Vogue China.

It took three years for Fan Bingbing to become the spokesman of Lv.

In 2012, Fan Bingbing became LV handbag spokesman and brand ambassador; In 2013, she shot two ads for LV ready-made clothes and underwear. It was not until 2014 that the brand officially declared it as the "brand Muse".

However, Wu Yifan's official announcement in 2018 was a seamless connection after the end of his cooperation with Burberry, which was purely "airborne". This is enough to see how much LV valued Wu Yifan. And behind this respect is the huge consumption power of luxury goods in the Asian market.

According to the Research Report of investment bank Jeffrey, China's luxury consumption has increased 7.8 times in 20 years from 1995 to 2015, and believes that the amount will reach 165 billion euro by 2025.

Bain data shows that in 2019, Chinese consumers' luxury purchases at home and abroad accounted for 33% of global luxury consumption. With the recovery of global tourism, Chinese consumers' luxury consumption will continue to grow by 20% in 2021. Both occupy more than half of the global luxury consumption market.

According to the 2020 financial report released by LVMH group, the Asian market has made the largest contribution, and the Chinese market is naturally the main force.

According to the analysis of luxury business watch, the move also represents Lv's shift to marketing for China's millennials and Z generations.

In this way, the high-profile official announcement of Wu Yifan in 2018 is the top move given by the Chinese young people's determination of their potential in the luxury market.

At the communication level, according to the analysis of the time interest insight engine, we can see that Wu Yifan is almost the most influential word in social communication.

Under the attraction of volume and sales volume, LV held a feast at the beginning, with a high-profile and top grid opening, welcoming the new people to the door.

After witnessing the effect of its volume and sales volume, the brand ended up in a mess of public opinion. Obviously, this is a very difficult decision for LV, whose spokesperson is extremely strict.

　 　02 A blow of endorsement history

If you include Fan Bingbing, who has not been "named", Lv's two top stream spokesmen have both "overturned" in recent years.

But behind these events, it is not because of the market elements, but when the cooperation is becoming popular, because the personal problems of the stars suddenly come to an end.

This is a blow to Lv.

According to the information of fashion media, it will be a very difficult "test" to be selected by luxury brands like Lv. In addition to the fact that the daily dress should be close to the brand, it will take a very long "inspection period" to participate in the major shows and advertisements of the brand for many years, and then to the brand's close friends and brand ambassadors.

Because for the stars, to become partners of high luxury products, not only how much actual return can be brought by cooperation, but also the halo of high luxury brands will in turn boost themselves. This is especially true if you want to be the spokesperson of Lv.

Therefore, when LV publicized Wu Yifan, it almost represented that he had passed the most stringent audit of the brand, and the unprecedented high-profile official publicity represented that the image, personnel, reputation and cultural spirit of the brand and its spokesperson were closely bound together.

Compared with Han Shu and other brands, the loss of Wu Yifan will be a major brand accident and an important "blow" of brand endorsement history.

We can also find more evidence from Lv's endorsement history.

LV, born in the 19th century, was closely bound up with the royal family. The first generation of luggage was specially made for Napoleon III. With the blessing of Napoleon, the super KOL, LV began to become the choice of many royal families.

Back in modern times, in 2007, former Soviet Union Leader Gorbachev ended in desolation. But LV threw an olive branch and invited him to shoot a group of advertisements for the brand. In the picture, an LV travel bag accompanying him to leave the Berlin Wall symbolizes the meaning of "extraordinary journey".

In 2012, Ali shot Lv's "core values" series of ads. At this time, Ali was 70 years old, suffering from Parkinson's disease for many years, giving the product a thick "life" metaphor.

In 2012, Francis Ford Coppola, who made the Godfather trilogy, and his daughter Sophia also made commercials for the "core values" series.

In 2010, Annie Leibovitz, one of the world's top photographers, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, a legendary dancer and choreographer, filmed a commercial for LV.

From royalty and aristocracy, national leaders to top directors, photographers and dancers. LV in the choice of brand spokesperson has always been high. In recent years, he began to move towards "flow thinking", with Fan Bingbing, the virtual spokesperson of thunder, and then Wu Yifan, who made a high-profile official announcement in 2018, but ended up in despair.

To sum up, Lv's last one to give up Wu Yifan is not so much struggling with whether Wu Yifan can come back, but rather it is a struggle of the brand: how to face its high-profile opening and its thick history of endorsement.

Nowadays, the "exclusiveness" of luxury goods is becoming weaker and weaker. In the Chinese market, it is more and more inclined to achieve the purpose of brand volume and market growth through the blessing of traffic stars. However, the idea of youth, mainstream and commercialization is in conflict with the traditional value of luxury brands. From Wu Yifan to the frequent collapses of idols in recent years, it seems that they are also alerting the marketing thinking of traffic.

With BV's exit from social media, some luxury brands seem to be aware of this and are trying to find themselves. How will they choose in the future,