Tiffany’s Flower Flash brings pops of color to New York streets

June 5, 2018

Tiffany's Flower Flash campaign brings life to New York's city streets. Image credit: Tiffany & Co.

New York-based jeweler Tiffany & Co. is working with Lewis Miller Design for an out-of-home campaign that seeks to liven up its hometown with some seasonal floral imagery.

In a new campaign, Tiffany and Lewis Miller teamed up to create large floral installations in unexpected places around New York. The campaign was created in part to herald the arrival of spring and to drive up engagement for the brand outside of the digital world.

"I think this has the potential to be a very powerful campaign," said Fred Reffsin, president of Brandgrowth LLC, New York. "All of the elements disrupt what is likely the traditional image of the brand.

"Everything about it works, from the visuals, to the colors, the casting, how the jewelry is presented---even the blue that mirrors Tiffany's iconic look," he said. "I also applaud them for the minimal use of celebrity tastemakers.

"My only caveat is that I think its important for Tiffany to run multiple executions simultaneously not only to communicate the breadth of the campaign but to avoid the risk that some images appear to me to be working a bit too hard."

Mr. Reffsin is not affiliated with the brand but agreed to comment as an industry expert. Tiffany was reached for comment.

Flower Flash
Outside of one of the city’s parks or gardens, New York is not known for being the greenest place, even in spring.

As part of its new campaign called Flower Flash, Tiffany is aiming to fix that by teaming with Lewis Miller to create large, ornate installations of vividly colored flowers in unexpected places throughout the city.

For example, one part of the campaign saw Tiffany covering an entire entrance to the subway in flowers. In other instances, the campaign installed birds nests and branches around street construction signs.

An installation as part of the campaign. Image credit: Tiffany & Co.

These images juxtapose the beauty of organic, natural forms with the man-made, concrete forms of the city.

Tiffany contributed some of its own designs to the project, including products from its Home & Accessories line.

Mr. Miller, the mind behind the campaign, initially created Flower Flash as a non-branded artistic experiment aimed at bringing joy to people’s everyday lives in the city. Tiffany has now integrated itself into the Flower Flash to piggy back on the positive feelings created by the spontaneous floral arrangements.

Spring awakening
Much of Tiffany’s recent marketing efforts have focused on the arrival of spring.

For example, its first spring campaign of the year updated a classic film for modern times with help from blockbuster talents.

The brand’s spring campaign “Believe in Dreams” remixes the window shopping scene from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” casting actress Elle Fanning as the protagonist. Tiffany’s spot is the latest effort the brand has rolled out to fete artistic director Reed Krakoff’s first jewelry designs.

An image from the campaign. Image credit: Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany’s effort centers on an original hip-hop track of the song “Moon River” performed by Ms. Fanning and A$AP Ferg. This marks the brand’s first music recording (see story).

The jeweler is also looking to regain some control with a stock buyback announcement, amongst strong sales growth.

Tiffany saw a 15 percent jump in global net sales for this year’s first quarter, ended on April 30. Amongst the better-than-expected growth, the company is launching a $1 billion stock repurchase program to buy its shares back from stockholders (see story).

"The message is simple: Look at us," Brandgrowth's Mr. Reffsin said. "There's an important and unexpected shift in tone that tries to position the brand as more fun, accessible, whimsical, anytime and anywhere--yet still classic, elegant and beautifully designed without taking itself too seriously."

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