“I think it’s a very contemporary approach,” agreed Frida Giannini, the creative director at Gucci, who tapped statuesque Raquel Zimmermann for the Italian brand’s fall-winter spots. “The other issue with celebrities is that they are characters who are often associated with a certain film. I prefer a strong, generic face that’s not related to any world — whether that be music or Hollywood.”
Giannini said celebrities can work for special products, citing as an example Rihanna’s appearance in a Gucci campaign in 2008 for a UNICEF fund-raising effort, or James Franco’s role in a men’s fragrance campaign.
“[Franco] worked, and I’m glad we did it. We used a model for the Flora campaign and that worked, too,” Giannini said. “There isn’t a hard and fast rule, but I think you have to take into consideration what sort of message you want to communicate and who the target consumer is.”