H +M Bends It Like Beckham

Its that time of the year again: the 2012 Superbowl is approaching, and sports fans and ad geeks alike are getting ready for the biggest Sunday TV event of the year. Generally, we can expect big names from car brands, web domains, and a slew of other food and beverage brands with enough bling to nab a 30 second spot for millions of dollars a piece. This year, Swedish fashion retail company H&M will be making an appearance as one of the first commercials of the big game, starring none other than the insanely handsome European soccer star David Beckham. As someone who is more interested in the commercials if anything than the actual game, this is motivation in itself enough to tune in.

I love H&M’s brand strategy for so many reasons; not only for their fashion-forward merchandise at very reasonable prices (despite the sometimes iffy quality factor), but H&M does something that very few low-end clothing companies do. H&M has been known to work with high-fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel), Stella McCartney, and most recently, Donnatella at Versace, designing lines with these mega names in fashion to sell in their stores. H&M, through using more established brands in the fashion world, continues to update its own image and keeps its consumers coming back for more, all the while making them feel as though they’ve found a means to wear high-end inspired clothing within their not-so-affluent budgets.

Target is another brand who has within the past few years begun to follow suit; over the summer Target launched a “Missoni for Target” clothing line, and in the near future a Jason Wu line will be released in stores as well.

H&M’s TV spots are, despite generally being very simple, lacking dialogue, and short, are quite memorable for those very reasons. It will be interesting to see if this mega-spot on the Superbowl will stir up any new creative concepts, or if the brand will stick to its roots. Certainly anything involving David Beckham in his skivvies will stick in H&M’s target audience’s minds.

Source: AdAge