🎨 Hermès Keeps the Creative Fires Burning: Nearly 50 Artist Commissions in 2025

Introduction
As a beacon of luxury and craftsmanship, Hermès is doubling down on its digital-first narrative strategy in 2025 - demonstrating sustained leadership in brand culture. Half a year into this year, the maison has already commissioned almost 50 artists to create bespoke content for its social channels - an extraordinary volume that reflects both a strategic investment in artistic talent and a broader commitment to creativity-led engagement

📊 Supporting Stats

• Nearly 50 artist commissions between January and July 2025

• Instagram campaign feature timeframe: launches have been ongoing consistently since early in the year

• Brand growth correlation: In 2024, Hermès recorded an 11.3% increase in Q3 sales (constant currency), reaching €3.7bn - outpacing peers like Kering (‑16%) and LVMH (‑4.4%)

✅ What’s Working

1. Crafting Narrative-Driven, Art-First Content

Hermès leverages Instagram not to simply showcase product, but to elevate it into story. Their “micro‑installations” are artist-led animations where objects transform through surreal, magical moments. Annie Choi’s reel, for example, sees a Parisian rooftop turn into a puzzle-box unwrapping a watch like a precious gift

2. A Diversity of Artistic Voices

On board this year are talents ranging from Guilluame Dégé and Helen Ferry to Maria Jesús Contreras, Angela Kirkwood and Geoffroy de Crécy - a carefully curated international mix

3. Seasonless, Consistent Creative Cadence

Rather than hinging posts on product launches or events, Hermès focusses on a continuous stream of artistic stories, sustaining engagement through diverse content.

⚠️ Where Barriers May Arise

• Cost Intensiveness
  Commissioning dozens of artists - sometimes with animation, sound, and production- requires considerable budget and coordination.

• Creative Risk Management
  Entrusting distinct voices can introduce disparate aesthetics, posing brand coherence risks.

🌱 New Opportunities

• Amplifying Artist Profiles
  Hermès can further develop behind-the-scenes content - process reels, artist interviews, Q&A sessions - to deepen emotional connection.

• Cross-Collaborations
  Pairing visual artists with musicians, sculptors, writers or even interactive technologists could yield richer, more immersive storytelling.

⚠️ Strategic Challenges

• Maintaining Quality at Scale
  Nearly 50 commissions in seven months signals ambition - but consistency in creative quality becomes critical as volume increases.

• Measuring ROI
  While engagement and brand aura are key metrics, Hermès must also navigate how to attribute impact to sales, brand preference, sentiment and longer-term cultural capital.

📌 Key Takeouts

• Hermès’ artist-led storytelling effectively marries luxury and creativity.

• The commitment - nearly 50 artist commissions in mid-2025 - supports a culture-first brand positioning.

• Results include strong metrics: 11.3% sales growth in Q3 2024, outpacing peers.

• Risks include cost, brand coherence, and the need for robust measurement.

🚀 Next Steps for Brand Marketers

1. Adopt Artist Commissioning as a Core Content Strategy
   If your brand has poetic or aesthetic roots, consider commissioning artists regularly - ideally every 4-6 weeks.

2. Curate a Mix of Global & Niche Talent
   Hermès balances well-known and emerging artists - this strategy supports both credibility and discovery.

3. Prioritise Multi‑Modal Output
   Include audio, captioning and motion in your commissions to maximise cross-platform appeal.

4. Institute Monitoring Frameworks
   Track metrics beyond likes - consider long-term brand lift, sentiment analysis and downstream conversion metrics.

5. Experiment with Cross-Discipline Projects
   Start with small-scale pilots pairing your visual commissions with performance, music or film to test hybrid content formats.

Conclusion
Hermès’ 2025 approach - anchored in sustained, artist-first content - reveals a pathway for brands to evolve from product promoters to cultural curators. With scale and consistency, they’re transplanting craftsmanship into the digital realm, proving that luxury can be both artful and agile.

🔍 Spotlight: Annie Choi Brings Hermès to Life

One of the standout collaborators in Hermès’ 2025 artist lineup is Annie Choi, also known as Ancho Poncho. With a background in animation and illustration, and a portfolio spanning Studio Ghibli, Loewe, Burberry and Helmut Lang, Choi brings a surreal, poetic edge to the Hermès universe.

🎥 From Apple to Artefact

In a now-viral Instagram reel, Choi animates an ordinary apple as it unfolds into a Hermès handbag. The piece references Japanese puzzle boxes - objects that conceal surprise through elegant mechanics. With over 17,000 likes and dozens of comments, the animation has become one of Hermès’ most engaged posts this year, demonstrating how art-led storytelling can outperform traditional luxury content.

🏛️ Packaging as Architecture

Another reel reimagines Hermès’ historic Paris HQ as a magical puzzle. A rooftop statue rotates like a key, unlocking the building façade to reveal a glowing H08 watch transitioning from day to night. The animation merges urban architecture with cinematic storytelling, expanding the idea of “packaging” into a narrative experience. As Domus put it: “The Hermès headquarters becomes a rotating jewellery box. The product becomes part of the story.”

📚 Dreamlike Worlds, Real Cultural Capital

Choi’s third contribution transforms a grand, imaginary library into a discovery space for Hermès accessories. Hidden drawers and rotating shelves reveal scarves and bags tucked behind books - recalling the narrative tone of Studio Ghibli’s most iconic interiors. Publications like Creapills and WeRSM praised the campaign’s originality, calling it a “masterclass in visual poetry.”

Why This Collaboration Matters

• Story-first, not product-first: These aren’t straightforward ads. They’re visual stories where Hermès objects play supporting roles in larger imaginative worlds.

• Cultural credibility: Partnering with an artist of Choi’s calibre brings cultural weight, particularly among younger creative audiences.

• Visual cohesion: Despite the variety of scenes, Choi’s signature palette and animation style maintain aesthetic continuity across posts.

This deeper spotlight reinforces Hermès’ approach: commissioning artists not as content creators, but as storytellers. The result is a brand presence that feels more like a digital gallery than a luxury ad feed - a strategy that’s earning both engagement and industry recognition.