Tiffany's Taps Beyoncé, Jay-Z, & Basquiat To Break The Internet

What happened Tiffany’s latest campaign featuring the ultimate power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z continues to disrupt the US jeweler’s marketing strategy under LVMH. The images, lensed by Mason Poole, form part of a year-long advertising venture which will take over digital billboards in New York’s Times Square. In a nod to the company’s rich cultural heritage, it includes a video of Beyoncé singing the tune “Moon River” from the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s to her rapper husband. The duo also share the limelight with a long-unseen painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat in Tiffany’s signature robin-egg blue and the famous Tiffany Diamond — with 128.54 carats and 82 facets. The Jing Take Since this takeover deal was inked, the pressure has been on LVMH — especially Alexandre Arnault, executive vice-president of product and communications — to transform the jeweler. Unveiling the campaign, Arnault told WWD: “We’re going to try to connect with the new audience as much as we can…” This surely does the job. Rather than making over the American company, this latest gear change from LVMH allows Tiffany to celebrate its country’s strengths. Inching ahead of previous efforts, such as color-swapping, or the ‘not your mother’s Tiffany’ slogan, this one, well, simply lands. In turn, it may well have transformed a marketing exercise into an epoch-defining moment of cultural relevance — for a contemporary world. In China, netizens have reacted well. Blogger Edwin 埃德文 reminded his seven million Weibo fans that ‘Queen B’ will be the first black woman to wear the legendary Tiffany’s necklace. Meanwhile, the presence of Basquiat has not gone unnoticed, with some calling it the ‘collab of the century.’ The new drop only adds to Tiffany’s growing presence in the Chinese market, where ambassadors like actor Jackson Yee and Olympic skier Gu Ailing continue to resonate with fans. The execution is slick and calculated, but it’s iconic, begging the question: Why has this taken so long? That is until you remember the budget required to land the hottest power couple of the century. Ultimately, the campaign makes clear that breaking the internet in 2021 requires pulling out all the stops. Let’s see if it pays off. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Tiffany's Taps Beyoncé, Jay-Z, & Basquiat To Break The Internet

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Published August 23, 2021

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Tiffany's Taps Beyoncé, Jay-Z, & Basquiat To Break The Internet