Ai's image apocalypse: luxury brands race to preserve their past
The relentless march of generative AI has shattered the foundations of visual branding, ushering in an era where authentic meaning is increasingly scarce. While tools like Midjourney and DALL-E 2 can conjure limitless images in seconds – logos, campaign visuals, product shots – they can’t replicate the decades of cultural resonance that define a truly memorable brand.
Aura lost, value found?
Walter Benjamin’s prescient warning in 1935 about the ‘aura’ of art – the unique context of time and place that imbued objects with significance – resonates profoundly today. Mechanical reproduction, he argued, eroded this aura. Andy Warhol, in his factory, flipped this on its head, demonstrating how mass production could itself generate value. Now, AI is taking both concepts to their extreme, creating an image glut that threatens to drown out genuine brand identity.
‘The bar for what counts as memorable has gone up, not down,’ observes Radek Wójcik of Made Thought. ‘Anyone can create beautiful things now, so beauty on its own stops being a differentiator.’
The crisis of memorability
Brands are grappling with a fundamental shift: execution is abundant, but meaning is becoming agonizingly rare. Sean Monahan of 8Ball succinctly captures the dilemma: ‘The past is the last moat. Everything else is subject to imitation.’ Luxury brands, in particular, are witnessing this acutely, doubling down on heritage and craftsmanship – assets AI simply cannot accelerate.
Loewe, Tiffany, and Louis Vuitton are all investing heavily in showcasing their archives, not out of nostalgia, but as a strategic defense. The trademark battle with Molly Tea – a dispute over a simple floral motif – underscores the deeper significance of these visual codes. ‘That Louis Vuitton graphic code is beautiful, but it’s meaningless without the weight of a hundred-odd years of the brand,’ notes Andy Harvey of Communion Studio. It’s a distinction that highlights the core challenge of luxury in the age of AI: images can be generated instantly, but meaning must be earned over time.
Reclaiming resonance
Emerging brands, like Satisfy Running and District Vision, are successfully navigating this landscape by defining their own unique reasons for being – from Brice Partouche’s rebellious running philosophy to District Vision's dedication to mindful, technically advanced Japanese engineering. These brands aren't riffing off established codes; they're building their own, offering a distinctive cultural problem that AI cannot solve.
‘Everything has to begin with consumer desire,’ states Monahan. ‘Too many brands rely on associative imagery, merely mimicking the well-established brand codes of others, rather than forging a truly original identity.’
The memory engineer
Experts argue the key to brand memorability lies not in flashy visuals, but in the strategic deployment of those visuals within consistent, meaningful contexts. Dan Bennett, a behavioral science lead at Ogilvy Consulting, advocates for “thinking like a memory engineer.” ‘Brands exist as memory structures in people’s minds,’ he explains. ‘Every interaction either strengthens or weakens those structures.’
Logos become memorable when they appear repeatedly in relevant contexts – contexts that align with the brand’s core purpose. AI might generate countless variations of an Hermès orange ‘H,’ but it can’t replicate the decades of consistent branding that’s cemented its place in the cultural lexicon.
Beyond the algorithm
Ultimately, the most powerful brands are resisting the relentless churn of AI-driven content, embracing visual restraint and prioritizing authentic experiences. The rise of Erewhon, with its limited footprint and exclusive atmosphere, exemplifies this approach – a brand that prioritizes tangible connection over digital reach. ‘There’s no AI button for meaning,’ emphasizes Radek Wójcik. ‘What can’t be generated is history, meaning, symbolism – the consistency and coherence of a visual language that people decipher and feel over time.’
Luxury brands must, therefore, double down on what AI can’t replicate: lived experiences, craftsmanship, and a deeply rooted narrative that transcends mere aesthetics. The future of branding isn't about speed; it's about substance.