St. John Ends Contract With Angelina Jolie, Hires Karen Elson

Posted on January 8, 2010

St. John has ended its relationship with Angelina Jolie, after a disastrous campaign that saw sales plummet. The ads with Angie weren't really the problem, though. The problem was the "new creative direction" that the company took, which infuriated its customers. Suddenly the company made clothes that its customers refused to wear.

But the company decided to blame Angelina instead, which is ridiculous. The clothing Angie wore in the campaign was, for the most part, fabulous. But it wasn't what was on the racks at Neiman Marcus. Instead of sophisticated knits for women who travel a lot, they offered miniskirts and more cut and sewn pieces. Customers voted with their pocketbooks in droves.

Chief executive officer Glenn McMahon told WWD that Angelina Jolie "overshadowed the brand." He also says, "We wanted to make a clean break from actresses and steer away from blondes and cleanse the palette."

Now red-headed model Karen Elson is the face of St. John's Spring 2010 campaign, which was photographed by Greg Kadel. The new campaign looks great, but it is really hard to beat the sophisticated look of the Angelina Jolie St. John campaign. St. John needed to go back to the knit suits that its customer base -- female lawyers, accountants, politicians and socialites -- wanted to wear. If the clothes are there, the customers will come back.


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