Opinion / Why Gucci’s controversial Year of the Tiger campaign hit the mark and may attract Gen Z – unlike the same-same efforts of other luxury brands

Feb 10 , 2022

Teatime with tigers: one of the images from Gucci’s Lunar New Year 2022 collection. Photo: Gucci

This article is part of STYLE’s Luxury Column

There is an unprecedented number of luxury brands and products these days. Brands seem to have increasingly complex portfolios: fashion brands now offer wearables; many have expanded their offers into streetwear; and NFTs, cryptocurrency and the blockchain have become the new playing field of many luxury brands.

The metaverse is around the corner. The noise in luxury was never as deafening as it is now and it is relatively safe to assume we are just seeing the beginning of a hyper-complex, hyper-competitive and hyper-disrupted category.

To amplify the challenge many brands face, Gen Zers – young and digitally native – access brands differently. They have completely different preferences and expectations; they love and use totally new products and categories as their “luxury”. If luxury brands are not at the forefront of innovation, they will miss out.

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Swarovski’s red signum tiger figurine. Photo: Karla Otto

In luxury, it is not enough to just play the game by offering a branded version of the thousand and first iteration of a sneaker or just another NFT. Luxury brands must push the boundaries of imagination. Otherwise, consumers won’t dream, feel desirability or willingly pay premiums.

Shoes from Onitsuka Tiger’s Year of the Tiger collection. Photo: Onitsuka Tiger

The Lunar New Year collections of luxury brands this year were a case in point: in many cases, they were the same sort of thing as last year’s. Since it’s the Year of the Tiger, everyone applied a tiger to their bags, T-shirts or accessories, instead of last year’s ox.

Just because brands know that there is a desire for event-based items like the tiger as the current symbol of the Chinese zodiac, does not mean they should do it without applying any intention or inspiration that gives clients a reason for a collection that is rooted in the brand. If there is no intention, then there is no value.

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Gucci’s campaign featured a tiger. Photo: Gucci

To me, Gucci stood out positively with their tiger campaign. Some NGOs were fast to slam the brand for seemingly promoting a lifestyle in which people have tigers at home. But in my view, rather than such a literal interpretation, this was Gucci simply translating their brand values of celebrating people who live life according to their own rules.

Their campaign, in the tradition of #ofcourseahorse, to me is one of the most beautiful and most on-brand storytelling campaigns ever made – it shows an absurd situation in which people and tigers interact. It has the usual wit of Gucci, celebrates diversity, inclusion and inner beauty, and tells the story of the brand.

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Product shots from Gucci’s Year of the Tiger collection. Photo: Gucci

This is best-in-class brand storytelling and the clever use of the Year of the Tiger to create desire and inspiration. Gucci avoided the trap of opportunity taking. Instead, they created content with intent, made to make people dream.

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Inside Luxury

Luxury fashion brands now offer wearables and streetwear, and are into NFTs, crypto and the blockchain, but are they lacking imagination and inspiration?
Gucci’s advertising for its 2022 collection featured live tigers in honour of Lunar New Year, which attracted flak from NGOs concerned about the message that sent