The Simpsons + Balenciaga
This 10-minute long episode of The Simpsons, which apparently took over a year to create.
Brand collaborations are a useful mechanism to expand creative boundaries beyond what is expected of a brand.
It's like a licence to break the rules and explore (even if only momentarily) what else a brand can be if it gave itself permission to have a bit of fun.
So when luxury fashion label Balenciaga and The Simpsons decided to join forces and throw the rule book out the window, the result was always going to be something fun and fresh.
Instead of a high-brow fashion show, Balenciaga invited the fashion world to a mivie theatre and screened this 10-minute long episode of The Simpsons, which apparently took over a year to create.
Brand managers are often quite afraid to play around with a brand. They take their jobs very seriously, every move carefully calculated to be exactly as their market anticipates.
Sadly what ends up happening when you doggedly follow the rules is that you become very predictable and boring.
Brands need guidelines, but they also need to be entertaining and have to evolve and live. This collaboration is a very ballsy move, but it's safe to say that it turned out to be a great success.
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