He’s always looking for innovative ways to use social media to gain consumer awareness, but now has turned to Instagram to cast his latest model.
Jacobs and stylist Katie Grand asked for any aspiring models interested in featuring in Marc by Marc Jacobs’ fall campaign to submit photos of themselves via Instragram. The casting ran for a week in April, with participants required to use the hashtag #CastMeMarc.
It seemed like a great idea to me, as casting through Instagram seemed cool, current and strong,” Jacobs told WWD. We wanted the ads to shout with youth and energy…to be fresh and reclaim the spirit that the collection had when we first conceived of it — to be another collection, not a second line.”
From the 70,000 entries, the company and casting director Anita Bitton had to pick the top 50 contestants, who were directly messaged. Next, 30 finalists were flown to New York from all across the globe including Australia, South Korea and Russia, where nine made the final cut.
The finalists were photographed by David Sims in early May, with the campaign first being seen in the August issue of Teen Vogue in the US.
The approach to casting the ads transmit a current social lifestyle that doesn’t play into other clichés... And totally feels like our company - a cast of colourful and dynamic characters,” says Jacobs.