Beyoncé and Jay-Z are the new faces of iconic jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. The super cool power couple will work as ambassadors for the brand, along with actress Anya Taylor-Joy and Olympic skier and model Eileen Gu (who recently became a spokesperson for Victoria’s Secret). The news was announced in an interview with Beyoncé in Harpers Bazaar this week.
The nearly 200 year-old iconic jewelry company is undergoing a rebrand under the leadership of French luxury retail conglomerate LVMH, which acquired the Tiffany & Co. in January 2021 after backing out of the deal the year before. LVMH has been updating Tiffany’s marketing, stepping away from its signature blue brand image to give it a more edgy, modern look, as seen in its new (and somewhat controversial) ad campaigns, plastered around New York and Los Angeles, which read, “Not your mother’s Tiffany.” Dressed down models in jeans and tank tops stand against a white background wearing items from its jewelry collection. The campaign feels more like American Apparel than anything you’ve ever seen or would expect coming from Tiffany & Co.
“I think making Tiffany more in synch with the times is a smart move,” Bernstein senior research analyst Luca Solca said in an interview with Insider. “We were counting that LVMH would know how to inject more content into Tiffany’s marketing, so that the brand could be more relevant to consumers. I don’t believe brands that go through this evolution risk alienating their core audiences – look at Gucci, for example,” he said. Kering-owned Gucci has become a top brand for millennial and teen shoppers in the past few years under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, who has embraced streetwear and pop culture in his collections.
Tiffany’s has been trying to shake off its “fusty…old-fashioned” image long before it was acquired by LVMH but these efforts were blown off course by the pandemic, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “Now that society is, hopefully, opening back up, Tiffany needs to drive awareness and trade.” Still, “this is quite difficult to do with younger groups as while they respond to marketing, they are fickle and will shop around. And there are plenty of younger, aspirational jewelry brands to snag their custom,” he said.
Which is where Queen Bey and Jay-Z come into the brand ambassador picture. Since everything they touch is cool by association, Tiffany’s is clearly upping the stakes for the jewelry company.
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