Wise & Young: The nuances of Gen-Y marketing, branding, advertising, trends, & more

A recent report surfaced that insisted that YSL (Yves Saint Laurent) was using guerrilla marketing tactics in the New York City. A brand, as powerful as YSL, using a manifesto pamphlet campaign on the streets of NYC is very strange and interesting at the same time.

On one hand, this is very daring for a somewhat fading brand, I give them proper recognition for the courage. It seems like a move by the marketing heads at YSL to get the brand back in to the minds of the mainstream fashion consumers — especially the youth.

On the other hand, it strips all the authenticity and control a luxury brand needs when aligning itself in the high-end markets. It seems the campaign has just begun (http://www.ysl.com/english/index.html), I’ll be keeping my eyes to see if this can succeed.