#9 have the marc jacob's tiktok influencer collabs gotten out of hand?

Time and time again, marc jacobs have shown they understand their Gen Z audience, but are they going to burn out?

Take a scroll on Marc Jacob’s TikTok page. Does it look like a luxury brand's TikTok account? The answer is a 1000% no. From collaborations with Rahul Mehmi singing in his mundane bedroom ringlight setup in full bedazzled Marc Jacobs, Wizzie the masked and costumed wizard in 10 inch tall Marc Jacobs heels to Nates.Vibe dancing their TikTok famous dance to the trending sound, ‘I’ve Been a Nasty Girl’ by Tinashe.

The New York City based label owned by the luxury conglomerate LVMH has turned to influencers to promote its products on their social media platform and undoubtedly, it has been a roaring success with their Gen-Z audience. Many influencer partnership videos have garnered more than 300,000 views, and five have surpassed the one-million mark. By contrast, several videos on the account that do not feature influencers have less than 30,000 views. There have even been comments and video commentary on the Marc Jacobs marketing team, applauding the person responsible for all the influencer collaborations. So much so, the account dueted a video asking for a raise.

Marc Jacob's TikTok account

Safe to say, Marc Jacobs has nailed it.

But haven’t they always?

Let’s look at Heaven by Marc Jacobs, they’ve always shown that they understand their young audience. The subsidiary brand is a “gateway into the sprawling and enigmatic omniverse of the Marc Jacobs subversion”. To put it more clearly than Jacobs, Heaven is a collection aimed at teens. And by god have they aimed with precision. While the grungy Y2K glamour of the collection’s clothing is not to be ignored, it doesn’t take a genius to tell you that’s not all they’re selling.

Heaven’s instantaneous popularity is outrageous in of itself, but especially so within the context of Marc Jacobs history. In just 2018, the New York Times claimed Jacobs had fallen ‘out of fashion’ and ‘no longer understood what customers want’. After spending a few years conducting what can only have been the most intensive customer feedback ever produced, Jacobs smugly returned with Heaven.

Since its inception in 2020, the line – inherently linked to ’90s grunge and rave, with a modern twist – has managed to carve itself a unique space in a way few retailers have managed in the era of TikTok. Even the curation of the London store is paradigmatic of a 90s bedroom, from the iconic movie posters, fluffy rugs, and 90s memorabilia.

Marc Jacob's London store

Is this type of marketing sustainable?

While Marc Jacobs encourages employees to drive sales and engagement on TikTok, Farah Maloof, the platform’s head of fashion and luxury partnerships, sees advertisers using the social app to rebrand themselves, drive omnichannel awareness and reignite ‘creator led commerce’ an “oldie but goodie.”

Instead of trying to hawk products and markdowns on TikTok, brands should focus on clearly communicating their story. “You’ve got to build awareness for your product across the entire ecosystem,” Maloof said. She added, “You have to lay that foundation to familiarise people with your brand at a fairly high frequency so that they’re inspired, they love the vibe, and then they’re eventually making that part of their overall discovery journey to eventually purchase.”

But is it sustainable? Yes and no.

The tactic of it’s marketing might just die as quickly as it rose to fame. Despite it being successful right now, it’s hard to imagine their TikTok account to continue to be dominated by just TikTok influencers doing whatever they do but just wearing Marc Jacobs. Let’s face it, Marc Jacobs’ videos are so successful BECAUSE of those influencers and it doesn’t necessarily mean its views will convert into sales. Of course, it raises more brand awareness among the younger generation, but at the end of the day, clothes sell because they look good, and consumers want to shop on the runway. Their videos are trending because all the influencer collabs are just a bit unexpected.

However, naturally as people may get bored of seeing these videos, I’m sure the brand’s marketing team will be ahead of the curve to find tomorrow’s trending tactic.