Following the premiere of the official trailer for Madonna and Steven Klein’s Secret Project just a fortnight ago, many more details about the partnership and content have emerged. First and foremost, it is at least managing the hype, because there has been wide speculation that this could be something far more “epic” than it turns out it is; namely through the involvement (or lack thereof) of other artists and the fact that there is a fashion brand attached, by default turning it into a branded content project.
I’m all for branded content, but this was (perhaps overly) cleverly positioned as something more worthy. It turns out that on this occasion, the #SecretProject is essentially a fashion film in collaboration with Defend Paris – a clothing line (hoodies, t-shirts) created by her boyfriend Brahim Zaibat and a set of Parisian creatives. The interesting aspect is that it is a brand with a cause – encouraging charity with every purchase and giving back to the community. How much/what percentage is still open to speculation…
The brand itself really seems to hero the machine gun (it’s part of their logo and in the campaign film under the cut), which doesn’t scream “peaceful”. Other talent who have worn the brand include Zachary Quinto, Rihanna and Chris Brown, the only person confirmed to be designing for the brand in the future is Quinto. The project is set to launch with VICE as its media partner.
