The Epic Zoolander Cameo Did Wonders for Valentino's Social Media Rankings

Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson's "Zoolander 2" catwalk apperance gave Valentino a much-needed social media boost, according to a new study.

August 7, 2015

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original
Complex Original

When Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson closed the Valentino runway show at Paris Fashion Week this year, the Internet went crazy. Yes, the stunt was intended to promote the upcoming Zoolander 2 film, but it also gave the luxury brand a much-needed boost—specifically in social media rankings.

According to WW D, a social analytics firm called Shareablee collected data to rank the social interactions of the top 25 luxury brands on social media sites. The report revealed that Valentino landed on top among fashion brands when it came to social interaction (almost 30 million across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).

Experts say this spike was likely due to the epic cameo Stiller and Wilson made back in March.

“We hadn’t seen Valentino up there in ranking before so it made us want to dig in,” said Tania Yuki, founder and CEO of Shareablee.

In terms of social interaction, Valentino was followed by Michael Kors, Victoria Beckham, Christian Louboutin, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Burberry, and Moschino. The report also backed up what we’ve suspected for quite a while now: Social media is becoming more and more important within the fashion industry.

Between Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, luxury brands experienced a 5.4 percent increase in social engagement from 2014 to the first half of 2015. The 25 names included in the report racked in a total of 670 million social actions; Mercedes Benz led the pack with more than 77 million likes, comments, shares, retweets, and favorites; however, the report concluded that fashion was the top-performing luxury category with a total of 382.7 million interactions between Jan. 1 through June 30 of this year.