Very, very rarely does one get to have one’s cake and eat it too. However for the past decade that is exactly what designer Michael Kors has been able to do while leveraging the exact same ad campaign look each season by having the same photographer shoot both his premium and more mainstream collections; Michael Kors Collection and Michael Michael Kors respectively.
The benefit in this was that the more mainstream collection had more media muscle, rightfully as it is the financial bread winner. Michael Michael Kors ads ran earlier each season and in more mainstream publications while the collection ran in more premium publications with less frequency. But since the aesthetic was so similar, the mental brand equity cascaded both upstairs and downstairs, thus everyone had a nice piece of layered cake to satisfy their sweet-tooth. Credit goes to the baker, the designer himself, who was wise enough to have a strategy that fed everyone.
It is understandable that the bread-maker may have heard a few grumblings here and there as eating the same cake season-after-season with the same travel related devices as frosting – boat, helicopters, yachts, private jets, and other such accoutrements, may have left the patrons longing for variety.
This season Michael Kors has taken his first steps to diversify the menu by commissioning different photographers for the collection and mainstay label. Photographer duo Inez & Vinodh have lensed Michael Kors collection featuring model Binx Walton while cinematic storyteller Lachlan Bailey has photographed the Michael Michael Kors collection with models Andreea Diaconu and Baptiste Radufe playing a New York City couple.
Should the diverse collaborators help Michael Kors satisfy the increased demands for palate remains to be seen, but The Impression believes it is a step in the right direction. And hopefully one that finds the collection protagonist as the obvious owner of the plane with more meaningful reading than a tabloid fodder.
Critics, the ying to chef’s yang.
Michael Michael Kors
Michael Michael Kors Creative Director | Michael Kors
Photographer | Lachlan Bailey
Models | Andreea Diaconu & Baptiste Radufe