Bottega Veneta Pulls Out Of Social Media In A Time When Online Presence Is King
Image via Mykolastock / Shutterstock.com
Amid a time when day-to-day tasks are completed online and connections are made virtually, Bottega Veneta has mysteriously shut down its social media channels.
The luxury fashion house leaving its Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts has astonished the industry, seeing as how competitors like Prada are going all out in drawing in the meme-loving crowd.
It’s worth noting that the interest in e-commerce has nearly doubled in the past year; Forbes reported that the e-commerce share has jumped from 12 percent in 2019 to 23 percent, so it’s apparent that social media takes up a principle role in the fashion world’s retail strategy.
Some are wondering if the exit from social media is simply a marketing stunt for Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection. Further, the brand had been searching for a social media manager to create and steer a global social media strategy “from a communications-only tool to a full funnel marketing capability,” Forbes cited. The job ad has since been taken down from the Kering website.
Creative director Daniel Lee’s open distaste for online clout may have something to do with the move too. “I don’t think much of the digital presentations,” he told Cultured Magazine in September. “They felt empty and took so much effort in such emotionally turbulent times, yet in the end, the concepts lacked depth.”
Lee also thought the saturation of online campaigns were damaging for the creative process. “Everyone seeing the same things is not healthy or productive,” he told the magazine. “It doesn’t breed individuality.”
At the time of the interview, Lee said he was deliberating how to stir Bottega Veneta shoppers in a way that made them feel prioritized. Could leaving social media to develop more personal connections be the company’s solution?
Forbes senior contributor Pamela N. Danziger surmised that while social media is a key strategy, it “is mass, not ‘class.’”
“For agencies, it’s traffic, likes and shares. For luxury companies, it’s sales that are generated from social media,” Danziger shared.
Rachel Tashjain of GQ suspects that Bottega Veneta’s exit from social media is “the ultimate act of stealth luxury.”
She deduced that Bottega Veneta could develop a platform where fans are doing the social media marketing on its behalf, touting its wares “like a secret throughout the industry, with It items popping up organically.”
Whether going offline will be a trend luxury fashion labels will adopt should unravel with time.
[via Forbes, cover image via Mykolastock / Shutterstock.com]
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