Few, if any, apparel brands have a history as extraordinary and inspiring as that of Lacoste.It began with the company's founder, back in the first half of the 20th century.
A champion tennis player, Rene Lacoste was also an innovator. It could be said that he transformed the way the world dressed when he invented the polo shirt. Prior to its appearance, men wore long sleeved starched shirts made of classical woven fabric...even on tennis courts and golf courses! When Monsieur Lacoste decided to put a cute little crocodile logo on the outside of the garment, that was another first. And it led to a procession of polo ponies, pumas and playboy bunnies... as well as the collective logo-lust that pervades all stylish societies today.
The Lacoste passion for golf is also tied to the family's history, Rene's wife, Simone de la Chaume was a golf champion as was their daughter, Catherine, who won the US Women's Open when she was a 22 year old amateur playing in just her third professional tournament. She remains the only amateur to have ever accomplished this.
I've written about Lacoste many times over the past couple of years sometimes in relation to the amazing professional golfers they sponsor, like Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr, other times it was one of their awesome and innovative campaignes or unique environmental efforts. I've always been impressed by the way this brand honors past traditions while creating the trends of the future. Well, once again Lacoste is breaking new ground. The company has announced it'll be trying a pure digital approach for its latest American advertising campaign, dispensing with all print ads, and spending the entirety of their 12 million ad dollar budget on-line ...and voila, Lacoste's new Momentum: a visually stunning new ad campaign created by Euro RSCG 4D New York.
It's built around LacosteMomentum where shoppers build their own Lacoste wardrobes and blend them into their own kaleidoscopic music video mash-ups to share with friends on social networking sites like facebook, Pandora, polyvore and Hulu.
The winter 2009 collection, by the way, is gorgeous. So I'm looking forward to creating some Momentum of my own this weekend.
Very interesting approach. Sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to checking it out.
ReplyDeleteThank God for Rene Lacoste... so I can wear Le Tigre today. Otherwise I'd be stuck in an uncomfortable starched button-down.
ReplyDeleteI still get Izod and Lacoste mixed up. When I was in my 20's & 30's, I purchased Izod shirts and sweaters with the 'croc' logo and it was called Izod Lacoste. They have since separated. I have written in the past I feel their Arnold Palmer style cardigan is still the classic golf sweater.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Robert Bruce AP Cardigan
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/denise9407/IMG_2782.jpg
And this is the Izod Lacoste. I like the waist band with the double buttons
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Izod-Lacoste-Cardigan-Sweater-Yellow-~-Size-L_W0QQitemZ260290402560QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&itemid=260290402560
I just created a very cool momentum video... I'm going to post it on my site... finally new content for me.. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was an alligator. No???
ReplyDeletevince - they have some great looking sweaters in there 2009 collection...
ReplyDeletehttp://shopapparel.lacoste.com/b/Men-Shop-by-Category-Sweaters/333791011/page/1
Only thing is, I wear my sweaters at least a couple of sizes bigger than what's shown on the site. I would have to keep that in mind when ordering or I'd end up looking like Boo Weekly trying to be Camillo Villegas. Or something. ;-)
Rene Lacoste's nickname was 'le crocodile', hence, the 'croc'...
ReplyDeleteThat's true Vince but then when Rene Lacoste passed on a French ,Advertising agency, Publicis, who had been managing the account for decades, published a print ad with the Lacoste logo and the English words "See you later...", reinforcing the idea that the animal was perhaps an alligator.
ReplyDelete