The appointment of Virgil Abloh to Louis Vuitton sparked media mentions. Image credit: Louis Vuitton
French fashion house Louis Vuitton garnered $2 million in earned media value over five days after naming Virgil Abloh the new head of its menswear collections. According to data from Tribe Dynamics that looked at the top 10 luxury labels in earned media value this March, Louis Vuitton’s appointment boosted the brand’s ranking by one spot as the announcement spurred content creation. In total, Louis Vuitton saw $29 million in EMV throughout March, coming in fifth in the report. Tribe Dynamics’ EMV rankings quantify the value of publicity gained, including placements and engagement, assigning a monetary amount to content produced. Monitoring mentions Gucci retained its top spot in Tribe Dynamics’ rankings with $58 million in EMV. However, the label’s year-over year growth in EMV was a mere 1 percent. Chanel, Dior, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton rounded out the top five. All of these brands saw a decrease in EMV from last year. While Gucci came in top overall and on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and blogs, Chanel took the lead in Facebook and YouTube mentions. The French brand grew its EMV by 48 percent over February. Chanel’s #WeLoveCoco beauty hashtag drove $2 million in EMV for the month with mentions from 338 ambassadors. The brand launched the user-generated content initiative earlier this year, creating an Instagram account solely dedicated to consumer and influencer posts (see story).
While the top of the list saw little to no growth in relative value of its media mentions, Versace almost doubled its EMV, coming in sixth in the rankings. Mr. Abloh’s activities inspired mentions, with his label Off-White seeing a 102 percent increase in EMV from last March. Lately, luxury brands have been seeing their EMV dip. But sometimes all it takes is one design or event to push a label to the forefront of conversations. French fashion label Balenciaga’s shoe designs helped boost its earned media value in February, according to data from Tribe Dynamics. Balenciaga saw a 93 percent year-over-year uptick in content production and mentions as streetwear fans and publications posted about its Triple S trainers or partnership with Crocs. Most of the top 10 luxury brands saw their EMV fall during the height of fashion month, with only Balenciaga and Tom Ford seeing growth (see story).