The holiday season is a particularly good time to tell stories. Each brand is focused on being part of this dream period in the common imagination and the association with artists is one of the options to develop to stand out. Limited edition or not, different plans are possible and adaptable to your product.
The art of elevating a gift to the level of an unforgettable experience is about giving more than just an object; it’s about creating an unforgettable experience, full of magic and conviviality, that enriches moments of sharing. The festive season is particularly suited to telling stories. Brands are positioning their offerings to create a sense of wonder in the collective imagination, and collaborations with artists are a powerful way to stand out from the competition. Whether for limited editions or other formats, the possibilities for adapting these creative forces to your brand are vast.
By partnering with artists, brands can transform their offerings into true works of art – unique and inspiring creations that captivate and resonate with everyone’s imagination. Whether limited editions, gift boxes or personalized formats, the possibilities are endless for making your brand shine and offering magical moments to your customers. For example, the festive season alone accounts for over 40% of total fragrance sales, underlining the huge potential of this period.
LIMITED EDITIONS AND EXCLUSIVE GIFT SETS
In 2023 and 2024, brands have intensified their efforts to integrate more art into their products. The most effective way to achieve this is undoubtedly through limited editions. These exclusive releases are a guaranteed way to create excitement around your collections during the holiday season. By doing so, the brand ties itself to a very specific time of year—the festive season—synonymous with gift-giving, joy, and happiness.
Collab Factory has worked with Authentic Beauty Concept and the artist Alice Grenier Nebout, for an end-of-year limited edition. On another occasion, we also worked with Chouffe to launch a series of collector’s glasses signed by artists Eloze and Verlaine.
The product is just the start of a limited edition. It allows you to create various content that will give the necessary consistency to a campaign. This is the starting point in communicating about the Christmas period.
• A prescriptive context told to consumers
• A unique product registered in an ephemeral universe
• The magic of art and holiday season for the brand image
These elements will provide brands with exceptional variations that will make the difference with visuals and videos. The campaign therefore responds to multi-channel challenges in a key period.
Existing products can be transformed into limited editions, adding an exclusive and unique touch to items already loved by consumers. Alternatively, brands can create entire collections dedicated to gift-giving, as Collab Factory did for Authentic Beauty Concept during the 2024 holiday season.
For Authentic Beauty Concept, a professional haircare brand under the Henkel group, Collab Factory developed a collection of giftable items titled “The Art of Gifting.” We collaborated with painter Alice Grenier Nebout to design a delicate and colorful artwork, which was applied across a toiletry bag, a candle, a gift bag, and wrapping paper. This collection beautifully highlights the art of giving and bringing joy, you can discover it here.
By playing on exclusivity and originality, every brand can capture the festive spirit and inspire the desire to gift exceptional creations, turning them into memorable keepsakes
Packaging, gift wrap and Advent calendars
No limited editions? No problem !
The end of the year, also rhymes with gift-giving, as for Christmas, which once again paves the way for creativity to stand out. It’s a special time to express affection, gratitude, or simply to bring joy to those around us.
Giving a gift becomes much more than just a gesture—it’s a true opportunity to be creative and original, to think outside the box and discover unique and memorable ideas. It’s also the perfect occasion to demonstrate attention to detail and to choose presents that hold special meaning for their recipients.
Collaborating with an artist to design custom wrapping paper is an effective way to infuse art into a brand’s image without necessarily altering the product itself.
The Advent calendar is also a wonderful way for brands to engage with their consumers during a key loyalty-building period like the holiday season. More and more retailers are introducing innovative formats for these calendars. Originally filled with chocolates, this festive packaging concept has now been embraced across various industries: cosmetics, spirits, consumer goods, and even DIY tools.
In 2024, Dior once again calls upon Italian artist Pietro Ruffo to design Le 30 Montaigne Advent calendar. Inspired by the treasures of the Château de Versailles and French gardens, Ruffo creates a fine and sumptuous golden design, reflecting the elegance and grandeur of these iconic landmarks.
Chocolates also take on a festive flair: the Pierre Hermé Advent calendar showcased above highlights the art of gifting and transforms the box into a true precious object.
Collaborating with an artist to create unique packaging or a one-of-a-kind object becomes a key element in presenting a product. The packaging, specially designed for the holidays, acts as a jewel case that enhances the essence of the product inside.
Exceptional windows
The holiday season is the perfect time to animate your stores, the first point of contact with your consumers, and offer an innovative, experience-driven drive-to-store strategy.
Collaborating with an artist on your window displays or in the overall design of your store ensures that your retail spaces elevate their appeal with a unique creative identity. By transforming the space into an artistic universe, you invite customers to discover your brand through an exceptional, captivating, and memorable visual experience.
Below are the window displays created using the artwork by Alice Grenier Nebout for Authentic Beauty Concept.
This artistic approach to the showcase often dialogues with a limited edition to amplify the artist’s work. This identity can also be applied throughout the store route with POS.
Putting art in a digital end-of-year campaign
The excitement of the holiday season is also reflected online and on social media. Telling a story to improve communication is even more important during this period. Art will allow you to emerge poetically at a time when every Internet user is inundated with information.
Digital offers a diversified approach in terms of content: Packshot, gif, timelapse, motion design, interview, making of, short film etc. All these devices are so many opportunities for an artist to work in synergy with a brand.
Collab Factory’s digital campaign for Suze limited edition with artist Vahram Muratyan
In this highly competitive period, targeted artistic collaboration therefore allows brands to differentiate themselves. There are many ways to collaborate with an artist and Collab Factory recommends a campaign that solicits both your online and offline broadcasting channels. The more fields of expression an artist has, the more comprehensive his work and impact will be. Find out on our website collabfactory.art how to set up an artistic collaboration.
While waiting for yours, Collab Factory has drawn up its top of the best collabs of the end of the year to discover here!
The Collab Factory team
