This month, Tiffany & Co. pulled an Oldsmobile. In an effort to lure the Gen Z world to try and buy some of their wares, the luxury jewelry brand rolled out a campaign called “Not Your Mother’s Tiffany”—and some of the “mothers” it alluded to were less than thrilled.
The campaign’s multiple videos, running on Instagram and Twitter, feature posters of young, edgy-looking models—coupled with the bolded words “Not Your Mother’s Tiffany”—plastered around LA and New York. NSS Magazine wrote that the ads were “not very well received by some more traditionalist parts of the public,” citing a tweet from entrepreneur Rachel ten Brink—in which she says the brand is “dissing” its longtime customers—as an example. And on Instagram, @mexwinder commented: “As a mum and older woman you’re saying you don’t need me as a customer anymore.”
Tiffany has been attempting to resonate with consumers of a younger variety, and for good reason. A short while ago Business of Fashion estimated that Gen Z and Millennial shoppers will comprise 45% of retail luxury sales by 2025. So this isn’t the first time the brand has tried to shift its branding into the 21st century—it just might be the most blatant.
In an interview with Marketing Brew, Katie Keating, founding partner and co-chief creative officer at ad agency Fancy, said, “Boy, I have a lot of feelings about this campaign. None of them good.” She also added that she thinks the “not your mother’s” phrasing is a cop-out. “It’s too easy. It’s been done plenty of times in one version or another to say, desperately, ‘We’re not old-fashioned! No, really we’re not!’ It’s like they’re apologizing for the previous 184 years. And then there’s the issue of tossing one generation away in favor of another. Not cool, especially when that other generation has been loyal customers for decades,” she explained.
Still other industry experts think the campaign was a good strategic move. “We’re in a moment in time where relevance is everything and even the most iconic brands can’t rest on their laurels. Brands are also always grooming the next generation of loyalists, and a failure to do so is a risk to fall into obscurity,” said Ryan Jordan, executive creative director at IMRE, who works on its Infiniti account, in an interview with Marketing Brew.
Jordan also pointed to Tiffany’s newest competitors for Gen Z attention: direct to consumer brands (DTCs). He said DTCs with no physical footprint showing up in Gen Z Instagram feeds are finding success with the age group “at the expense of legacy brands that are unwilling to change. For Tiffany to compete with these DTC brands, they had to shift their approach,” he continued.
Tiffany has definitely garnered a ton of publicity surrounding the campaign, but the proof will be in the retail sales pudding. Only time will tell if their gamble pays off.
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