U.S. fashion label Marc Jacobs diverged from the typical sunny locales associated with sunglass campaigns to stand out from the crowd.

Marc Jacobs filmed a model performing farming tasks in the mountains while sporting its eyewear, showing a utilitarian use for both its ready-to-wear and accessories lines. While this might not create a sense of fantasy around the collection, showing them in a humble setting may help entry-level luxury consumers take the plunge.

“I think that Marc Jacobs wanted to literally show that these glasses can make you look and feel good no matter who you are or what your style is,” said Brittany Mills, director of digital marketing services at Mobiquity, New York.

“I think this video shows the brand personality and shows that the collection can make anyone look fabulous while wearing the sunglasses, no matter where you are or what you are doing,” she said.

Ms. Mills is not affiliated with Marc Jacobs but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

Marc Jacobs did not respond by press deadline.

Fashionable farmer
Marc Jacobs used social media to release its video, which is also posted on YouTube. On Twitter, the brand has kept up a stream of posts featuring the video to ensure that consumers do not miss it.

In the posts on both Twitter and Facebook, consumers are invited to “the sunny side of the mountain.”

The video, underscored by banjo music, begins with a close up shot of a model chopping wood. The camera cuts to a farther away shot, and a cabin comes into view.

In the next scene, the same model is feeding chickens grains out of a Marc Jacobs handbag, wearing a different outfit and pair of frames.

After another outfit change to a sweatshirt and sequin-embellished skirt, the woman collects eggs. Later sequences show her milking a goat, cleaning clothing by hand on a washboard, using a scythe to harvest and sweeping her front porch with a straw broom.

At the end of the video, night falls and the model is seen reading a magazine in bed wearing a Victorian-inspired nightgown. She places the magazine on her bedside table, with the back cover facing up, showing Marc Jacobs’ spring/summer 2014 campaign with Miley Cyrus.

The model then places the sunglasses she was wearing on top of the magazine and extinguishes the candle she was reading by.

As of press time, the video had more than 5,500 views on YouTube.

The brand provided a link to ecommerce within the information accompanying the video on YouTube. There the consumer can browse and buy from the collection shown in the video, with a number of styles featured in the campaign sitting at the top of the eyewear ecommerce page.

Change of scenery
Marc Jacobs’ tweets for this campaign take advantage of Twitter cards, including an embedded YouTube video.

Twitter’s new Web site cards will likely help luxury brands boost click-through rates and steer viable consumers to useful content.

The cards allow users to preview a brand’s Web site content directly on the platform. This development joins Twitter’s broader suite of advertising tools such as tailored audiences that have been released in relatively quick succession to gain an edge over competitors (see story).

Choosing to diverge from the normal color palettes and settings for a given season can help to differentiate a brand.

For instance, Italian atelier Prada released a video partner to its Resort 2014 print campaign that focuses on accessories to target consumers shopping during the holiday season.

The video, which was released on Prada’s Web site, focuses more on the accessories than the print campaign does by showing them in close-up. Filming video footage alongside the still photos allowed Prada to showcase more of its products than would fit within a typical print ad spread (see story).

Marc Jacobs benefited from a similar ability to showcase a wide range of merchandise.

“Consumers will see the video and likely share based purely on the nature of the content,” Ms. Mills said. “I believe they will see a positive response from this video that will turn into sales.”

Final Take
Sarah Jones, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York