Review of Balenciaga Holiday 2024 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Demna
Balenciaga shares a clever ode to bygone advertising practices with its Holiday 2024 campaign.
The campaign pays homage to classic magazine advertising of yesteryear, a time when writing witty and compelling ad copy – now a lost art – was de rigueur. Still-life photographs of the brand’s star accessories are paired with cleverly composed copy that speak to the design character and history of the piece. Also included are the address of the brand’s flagship and its phone number, for interested readers to add to their rolodex. As if that wasn’t enough, the playful art direction includes a myriad of different fonts, logos, and slogans, playfully poking fun at the maximal and inconsistent advertising character of simpler times while nostalgically channeling its unique impact.
Still-life product shots have emerged as a foremost campaign trend for this holiday season, yet despite the seeming lack of narrative and creativity that we might expect from this format, we’ve been pleasantly surprised to see some truly engaging twists. Balenciaga’s is one of the strongest examples yet. Not only does the approach make sense for a brand that has been steadily releasing a series of very minimalist accessories campaigns, but more importantly, Balenciaga has found meaning and humor behind the format by playfully reworking the still-life magazine advertisements of yore.
Balenciaga Creative Director | Demna