Louis Vuitton turns to younger audiences with new influencer campaign

French luxury house Louis Vuitton is aiming to reach a younger audience and a generation touted as less interested in product ownership than experiences.

The Paris-based company is extending its relationships with influencers, as is evident from recent social media content, which sees a collaboration with 17 year-old Emma Chamberlain and model Karlie Kloss promoting its wares on the brand’s Instagram Stories and its YouTube channel. Chamberlain currently has a following of 7.3 million on YouTube, whereas Kloss has 8.1m followers on Instagram.

Luxury brands are keen to embrace influencer marketing as part of their communications strategies. According to a study from McKinsey, a recommendation from a trusted source is 50 percent more likely to lead to a conversion. Another study, from Variety, found that teens identify more with famous YouTubers than celebrities. For some brands, including fashion, influencers are especially impactful.

Last season model Karlie Kloss was seen on the front row at Louis Vuitton’s women’s wear catwalk, which remains a favourite brand for millennials along with Gucci, according to a survey by UBS. When it comes to purchasing behaviour, the intent to buy online is higher in the younger age group than among older consumers, although physical stores continue to feature highly among preferred places to shop, noted Bloomberg.

According to a Social Publishing Insights Report released by Newswhip in 2018, 92 percent of marketers cited Instagram as the most important social network for influencer marketing in 2018, followed by Facebook (77 percent). At 71 percent, blogs are a close third, up from 48 percent last year.