Brand Crack

I’ve recently seen a fantastically produced advertisement for Louis Vuitton featuring Keith Richards playing guitar at 3a.m. in what I assume is his hotel room. This seems like a straightforward brand strategy to involve rock stars as a promoter of your goods. What I am impressed with, though, is the fine print on this ad. It says: “Keith Richards and Louis Vuitton are proud to support The Climate Project”.

The Climate Project is a Nashville, TN based non-profit organization presumably linked to Al Gore. I am sure this organization has great intentions, but how exactly does Louis Vuitton and Keith Richards support The Climate Project? To me, Louis Vuitton represents luxury, a high level of craftsmanship, excess, and extreme consumption.These are all things that seem to tie Keith Richards to Louis Vuitton making a near perfect associative brand pairing. Why muddle this down with a confusing and not particularly sincere statement about The Climate Project? Could someone shed light on this objective?

I would suggest to Louis Vuitton to make a stronger and more integrated statement, and then show us a bit how they are committed to this statement rather than throwing in what appears to be an arbitrary afterthought.

Tags: keith Richards, louis vuitton