THE ICONIC has appointed Emotive as its creative agency, following a competitive pitch. Emotive will partner with THE ICONIC to build on the success of its ‘Got You Looking’ as the business enters its next phase of accelerated growth.
Dentsu Creative previously worked with THE ICONIC, creating award-winning work, but decided to part ways after four years with the online retailer.
The win sees Emotive lead overarching creative direction, with a focus on sharpening the cultural role of the platform and connecting it more closely to audience behaviour, customer connection and commercial growth.
THE ICONIC chief marketing officer Joanna Robinson told B&T that the ‘Got You Looking’ brand platform has done a “very good job” in the past three years of lifting key brand metrics such as top of mind awareness, consideration, intent to purchase and trust, and reestablishing THE ICONIC’s place in the market.
“With any creative, after three years it’s a good time to just revisit it and assess whether or not it’s time to take it in a new direction,” she said. “We decided it was the right moment, having built a solid foundation, to go to the market and see if we could hand the baton over to a new creative agency who would take the platform into a new arena.
“We will keep ‘Got You Looking’ as a master brand platform, but it’s more about what does that now get reimagined as and how do we start to really drive that connective tissue throughout all the touch points, both on platform and off platform for our customers.”
Robinson said that all four of the agencies that pitched were strong, but what stood out with Emotive was the chemistry and an understanding of where they can take THE ICONIC’s ‘Got You Looking’ brand platform and drive commercial outcomes.
“The fact that they really get earned media and social really a differentiator,” said Robinson, a B&T CMO Power List inductee.
“At the top of all of that was the chemistry that our team felt with the Emotive team. We really feel when you have an agency partner they become an extension of your own team. We couldn’t be more pumped to be working with people that are not only good at what they do but also really good humans.”
The win is huge for Emotive. After losing Optus this time last year, the agency has been on a winning streak, adding new clients including Google Pixel, AMP North and Nespresso and THE ICONIC.
In the past year, the agency has also launched a production arm and strengthening its leadership team by adding Gavin McCleod as its first chief creative officer, promoting Sebastian Revell to chief strategy officer and hiring Clément Simon as head of social & content.
Joyce told B&T that aside from the chemistry, there are two reasons why he believes Emotive stood out.
“Firstly, it was our understanding of where the brands at, where the platforms at and creating a growth system,” he said. “We went and worked through every asset, every aspect of new customers, lapsed customers against their key segmentation to understand what needed to be done to shift action to attention.
“The strategic rigor, the creative nous and earned media as a natural part of it, as opposed to an afterthought. Our senior people are the people they’re going to deal with every day. You’ve got the thinking or the idea and the making all in the one place, staying together as one with Emotive productions. So all of that is connected: creative, design, earned as a specialism, social, PR, and the entire production business.”
Joyce noted that role earned media is becoming far more important to clients to amplify creative and make sure it is reaching the rights audiences.
“Two years ago, with most of the big ideas, you would try to demonstrate the earned potential, and it was always at the end of the deck. It was an afterthought. Now we start with it in our response,” he said.
“Here’s the idea. Here’s the potential we think it has from an earned point of view. Here’s how we’re going to use it out of home and traditional media, BVOD, or whatever it may be. “We’re seeing a lot of our clients leaning into that and leaning into the power of cultural resonance.”
Emotive’s head of earned creative Jessica Cluff said she is excited by the role that earned media can play for THE ICONIC’s creative.
“A key part of our response was finding ways to give the brand and ‘Got You Looking’ platform cultural relevance. Because it’s one thing to get people looking, but we want to get them scrolling, searching, buying and returning,” he said.
“We do that by leaning into culture – helping the brand show up in people’s worlds in a really relevant and authentic way.”
The first major piece of work from Emotive for THE ICONIC is slated to come out in 2027, although B&T understands the brand may roll out some of Emotive’s ideas from the pitch process even sooner.
