Coach Co-Creates Campaign with Gen Z

The "Find Your Courage" campaign is a key part of Coach's broader strategy to capture the Gen Z market by moving beyond traditional advertising and creating immersive, shareable experiences. This includes "Coach Play" concept stores, which dedicate significant space to experiences like customization stations and coffee shops, resulting in dwell times 4-8 times greater than typical stores. The brand is building a lifestyle ecosystem that resonates with a younger, experience-driven consumer base. At the heart of the campaign is the virtual influencer, imma, created by the Japanese company Aww Inc. imma is a computer-generated model developed using 3D modeling and AI, designed to look hyper-realistic and engage with audiences on social media as a real person would. The use of a virtual influencer allows Coach to control the narrative and aesthetic while exploring the blurred lines between the physical and virtual worlds, a concept that resonates with Gen Z's fluid understanding of identity. While the "Find Your Courage" campaign was "inspired by A.I. and created using CGI," it reflects a larger trend of luxury brands experimenting with generative AI in their creative production. Brands like Moncler have used AI to generate entire campaign visuals in a fraction of the traditional time, while LVMH has established an "AI Factory" to support its brands with AI-assisted creative work. These applications allow for rapid A/B testing of creative assets and hyper-personalization at scale. This move towards co-creation and digitally-native content is a direct response to Gen Z's preference for authenticity and relatable creators over polished, traditional advertising. The "lo-fi" aesthetic, characterized by unscripted, behind-the-scenes style content, often performs better on platforms like TikTok and Instagram because it feels more genuine. This is why brands are increasingly leveraging user-generated content (UGC), which is seen as more trustworthy and can significantly boost brand loyalty. For creative leaders, this shift necessitates a new approach to team building and workflows. The focus is moving from solely human-led execution to a hybrid model where AI tools augment human creativity. AI is being integrated for tasks like brainstorming, generating visual concepts, and automating repetitive work, freeing up creative teams to focus on strategy and higher-level ideation. This requires leaders to foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptability within their teams. The changing landscape is also forcing a re-evaluation of the traditional advertising agency model. With the rise of in-house creative teams and AI-powered tools that can handle tasks previously outsourced to agencies, clients are expecting more strategic value. Agencies are now positioning themselves as strategic partners who can provide high-level creative direction and guidance on integrating new technologies like AI. CMOs are optimistic about the potential of generative AI, with a significant majority already experimenting with or implementing it in their marketing functions. The primary areas of focus are enhancing personalization, creating content more efficiently, and gaining deeper market insights. However, the emphasis remains on using AI to enhance, not replace, human creativity and judgment. For creative professionals aiming for leadership roles, the key will be to develop a deep understanding of how to strategically apply AI to solve creative challenges and drive business results. This involves not just technical fluency, but also the ability to lead teams through technological transitions and to articulate the value of human-centered creativity in an increasingly automated world.