An iconic pair?

This week I want to talk about two big brands. Before you roll your eyes and say, but Carly, this is not relevant. We don’t have a gazillion dollars for marketing. I know that. This is more about what we can learn from them and then apply to the way we think.

The brands in question are Tiffany + Nike

Picture the scene…

Two of the world’s most well-recognised brands, with a copy line that reads ‘A legacy pair’ and a picture of a Tiffany blue shoe box.

Gooosebumps

This has all the makings to be one of the most iconic partnerships of all time. Something that fused two culturally very different brands and via the magic of creativity made them into a masterpiece.

Alas.

What happened was the most underwhelming execution possibly ever.

I mean, it was this. A black trainer with a Tiffany blue tick. 

This was meant to be something that stole the attention, caused a huge stir, and had people desperate to get their hands on the limited edition drop.

So what can we learn from this? I am going to share the do’s but also the what could have be’s

1. Partnerships

Partnerships are an incredible way to bring your brand to a new audience and get new eyeballs on the brand. For it to work, there has to be an alignment of brand values and also for it to make sense. There have been many people questioning why Nike and Tiffany chose to partner in the first place, as on paper they are the opposites of each other, but in this case, I think it works as Nike is always looking for interesting ways to push the cultural narrative, and with a year on year decline in sales Tiffany is most likely to find ways to reinvent themselves and become relevant.

If you are going to collaborate, really make sure that it makes sense.

2. The big picture

Fuelled by scarcity, limited edition trainer drops are massive. But for brands, it is not all about the actual product, but rather the hype that you can create around it.

A brilliant friend who used to be the Marketing Director of Benefit once said to me, it doesn’t matter if they go, make sure they know.

This was said in the context of events but it is exactly the same when it comes to a limited edition. It doesn’t matter if only a few people actually buy the trainer, and with the drops there tend to only be a handful of available, but what is important is the number of people who see it and can experience it is massive.

What does this mean for you? How can you create hype and excitement around the thing that you are doing so that it becomes as much as a statement of who you are as a business as well as the product?

3. GAF (Give a F*ck)

What let this campaign down, was the execution. It was meh. To demonstrate what it could have been x mocked these up using AI. 

The creativity, the magic. All of these designs used distinctive assets from both Nike and Tiffany to create something memorable. I'm, not a shoe person but I have a picture of the ones with the flowers firmly lodged in my head.

Think creative first, are people really going to care about what you are doing? Is what you have done exciting enough to tap into their emotions, or have you just run another giveaway where you have, changed a colour way or both added a logo on the bottom of an image?

A partnership is new news, something fresh that you can talk to your customers about so use it as an opportunity to think big and bold and creatively. How can you fuse together the essence of the brands in such a way that gets people talking and sharing it.