Today, Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta deleted its social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The luxury brand, currently helmed by creative director Daniel Lee, has not made a statement about the reason and duration of their social media blackout, but perhaps they have already laid the groundwork for a more low-key approach.
The fashion house Spring/Summer 2021 Collection was presented before a shortlist of industry leaders and big-name influencers, in contrast to the swath of attendees you typically see lining the runway at fashion week.
Nonetheless, the move to erase social media entirely is quite novel. ‘Business of Fashion’ rightly notes fashion’s growing reliance on social media as a marketing tool and direct line of communication with customers, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; over the past year, many fashion brands have adapted and expanded their social media strategies to suit the ‘new normal’, even embracing burgeoning platforms like TikTok.
But influencer marketing on social media isn’t without its drawbacks. In 2019, brands were projected to spend $8.5 million USD on influencer marketing alone, but a report that year found that influencer fraud collectively cost brands $1 billion USD – a number that was predicted to swell by 50 percent in 2020. The report also found resulting that a staggering 50 percent of engagement in sponsored content was fake, driven by purchased fake followers and engagement numbers.
Come into the beautiful world of Bottega Veneta.
Yakymour 