The Met Gala takes place on the first Monday of May each year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For many, it’s affectionately referred to as ‘fashion’s biggest night out’. And anyone who’s anyone within the realm of fashion and culture is invited to the renowned benefit.
Hosted by the Editor of Vogue, Anna Wintour, the Met Gala has become a global event. For 24 hours only, we’re all suddenly possessed by the spirit of Joan Rivers. In our shabby Monday morning attires, it’s a moment to sit, scroll (and judge) the designer looks; seeing who hit and who missed with the outfit memo has become a huge social media moment.
We’ve taken a look at how exactly the Met Gala seamlessly integrates the glamour of the red carpet with a dynamic marketing strategy that gets people talking!
What We Know About The 2024 Met Gala
The Met Gala’s 2024 theme was announced in November as “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”.
The theme for Sleeping Beauties takes inspiration from rebirth and renewal of fashion. For example, priceless costumes within the Met can’t be worn, handled, or, in some cases, even touched because of the delicate materials that, over time, have become too fragile. Reawakening Fashion focuses on recreating previous iconic designs and paying homage to iconic designers.
However, the theme is bound to spark some controversies. In previous years, celebrities have come under fire for wearing priceless pieces. Kim Kardashian fell victim to this at the 2022 Met Gala. With the theme of ‘Gilded Glamour’, Kim took to the red carpet wearing a dress previously worn by Marilyn Monroe causing unrepairable damage.
What Can We Take From The Met Gala & Marketing?
The Met Gala is, undeniably, a huge global event. The world’s media gather at the Met steps to broadcast across their channels and last year saw record-breaking views.
In 2023, with the theme of ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’, Vogue’s third annual Met Gala live stream generated 53 million views, which doubled their viewings from 2022! With this much attention garnered, it’s no wonder the event has become a huge opportunity for marketing, brand collaborations, and enhancing social media presence.
Red Carpet Moments
The Met is never short of red-carpet moments. Over the years, we’ve seen everything from Lady Gaga and her four outfit changes along the runway to Billy Porter being carried in by footmen and Kim Kardashian being fully cloaked from head to toe.
These red carpet moments are one of the reasons the event has become so successful - year after year, attendees will try harder to outdo the year before trying to ensure their look is talked about! It’s for this reason that the event has become so talked about. Throwing it back to the 90s, guests would arrive in formal attire, but flash forward to the last couple of years, with the addition of themes and dress codes, it’s become a costume event and a time to get experiential with fashion, design and styling.
Harnessing Social Media
The Met Gala continues to be fashion’s most relevant event because of the way it utilises the power of social media.
On TikTok alone, Vogue’s Met Gala hashtag generated over 17 billion views, and across platforms, ‘Met Gala’ saw 12.3 billion social impressions in the first two days, which is a 30% increase year-on-year! Not only that, Vogue’s social channels globally saw 114 million engagements, which is an increase of 713% year-on-year.
Behind-The-Scenes Allure
One of the most enticing things about the Met Gala, other than the costumes and fashion, is the behind-the-scenes content. Despite being invitation-only and operating a strict no-mobiles policy, content still slips through the cracks.
Not only are audiences following and observing publications’ broadcasts, but they’re also keeping an eye out for the content that celebrities are posting. The aspect of inclusivity and FOMO is a huge drive in why the event is so successful.
Everyone who isn’t in the inner circle wants to know what's going on. In previous years, ‘bathroom selfies’ from the event have instantly gone viral; featuring celebrities from here, there and everywhere, all in one place, creates an allure for viewers and hype over the event.
Inclusion of Influencers
Another aspect of marketing that the Met Gala taps into is including influencers. It’s estimated that 61% of consumers are more likely to trust recommendations that come from influencers, as opposed to 38% of people who trust branded social media content.
Those are just a few of the many digital marketing lessons we can learn from the Met Gala! Want to know more? Take a look at our previous blog post, which features some of the top moments from the Met Gala.
Want to look at the best (and worst) looks of the Met Gala 2024? Every outfit can now be found on Vogue!
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Header Image: Claudio Schwarz
Featured Image: Diane Picchiottino
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