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With help from agency StrawberryFrog, lingerie label Agent Provocateur has made its foray into social media in hopes of engaging a digital user base over the long-term.
Attention-grabbing elements that have characterized past Agent Provocateur campaigns — images of celebrities riding mechanical bulls, or virtual pleasure manors, for example — are missing from the effort, which consists of a mild-mannered Twitter feed, a blog and a Facebook page.
None of which have gone out of their way to draw undue attention. @helloagentprovocateur.com, has only been updated on two separate days — if copiously so. Both focus more on developing a dynamic and markedly female personality for the brand — versus the seductive, flirty gamine persona that typified Agent Provocateur's past ad efforts.
To wit: "Olivia," Agent Provocateur's in-house blogger, isn't all about sex or lingerie, although that personality does come into play. She's also discussed a Discovery Channel program about objective beauty, encouraged men to cry, and reviewed He's Just Not Into You, a femme-targeting mainstream film loaded with A-listers.
"Seriously… not every man is a cheat and not every woman is a confused marriage freak," she wrote with fervor, concluding:
"I’m in need of a film that plays by a different set of rules. [Women] have sex on their terms. They have brains and guts. They aren't vapid and wandering in the dark void of duplicitous men. They talk, laugh, cry. You know… they are well rounded, 360 degree characters who play against fully-fleshed out men."
A thoughtful provocation — just not the kind people expect from a lingerie brand best-known for its naughtier elements.
"This is the first time a luxury fashion brand has launched a provocative social media campaign tying together their various data-linked platforms, like a multi-entry daily blog, twitter feed and facebook," stated CEO Scott Goodson of StrawberryFrog. He did not indicate whether Agent Provocateur would launch more conventional campaigns touting the new social media presence, but a user-generated effort is likely if the Twitter, Facebook and blog generate a large enough audience.
But it begs asking how the brand will evolve if its social media outreach succeeds with sexy but cerebral women. On Twitter last week, @msprovocateur complained about men that "[hiss] at women on the street," chastening them to "just say hello like a normal person."
While the sites are still flanked by kittenish gamines in lacy garters, the overall tone of the blog and @msprovocateur betray a more conservative persona than those of the sexually-charged vixens in traditional Agent Provocateur campaigns — suggesting the brand may, over time, depart from its hardcore come-hither image to pursue a less visceral route into women's closets.
