Review of Gucci Fine Jewelry Spring 2024 Ad Campaign
Gucci’s latest fine jewelry campaign highlights the house’s latest archival homage – but it misses the opportunity to tell the story of why this archive matters now.
The campaign introduces the latest additions to Gucci’s fine jewelry collection, which center around its interlocking G motif – a central design concept for the brand since its introduction in the 1960s. In fact, these star pieces are practically the only visual element of the campaign, which takes an utterly minimal product imagery approach, not even showing the jewelry on models but simply floating them in an abstract space populated by a floating “G.”
In the fast-paced age of digital communication when brands have had to take on the additional role of media company and be their own best advocate, Gucci’s shift toward nondescript campaigns largely devoid of storytelling feels like a confusing move. Every product launch presents an opportunity for deepening the brand’s world and engaging more meaningfully with fans and customers, and much of Gucci’s rebrand feels like it has been missing this opportunity. The idea of “interlocking” presents a super interesting chance to do something visually provocative through movement and choreography or explore intimacy through storytelling, but even casting a live human would have taken this campaign up a notch.
We’ve recently been hearing a return to the archive touted as a safe bet in the face of “economic uncertainty,” and Gucci under the creative direction of Sabato De Sarno has probably been leading the pack in terms of looking back. But when so much of it is focused simply on archival product, we can’t help but wonder: where does he actually come in? Where is the creativity, and where is the direction?
Gucci Creative Director | Sabato De Sarno