As retailers – particularly in the luxury space – are pushed to innovate by an increasingly demanding consumer base, we’re seeing partnerships and collaborations that bring attention to these brands in ways marketers would never have thought their back-of-house activities could do. Neiman Marcus is the latest such retailer to announce not just a new ad campaign, but a new partnership for an ad campaign that would enlist a famous photographer to bring a new image to life as part of its 20-year-old Art of Fashion campaign.

Walter Chin will photograph Neiman Marcus’s The Art of Fashion campaign for Spring 2013, with 22 images of spring fashions that will appear in the March edition of the Neiman Marcus publication, the book. Chin is a widely acclaimed photographer, know for his fashion photography, celebrity portraits, and advertising campaigns for Hermes, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Missoni and Lancome. “The Neiman Marcus Spring 2013 Art of Fashion campaign and the March issue of the book, share the same theme – the art of imagination,” said Eddie Nunns, Vice President, Neiman Marcus Brand Creative. “Walter Chin’s inimitable creativity reinforces that theme as he let his imagination loose to showcase our spring collection in a modern way.” The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. operations include the Specialty Retail Stores segment (Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores) and the Direct Marketing segment (print catalog and online operations under the Neiman Marcus, Horchow and Bergdorf Goodman brand names). Neiman Marcus has long honored the tradition of spending oodles of money on its print campaigns, including its catalog books. As marketing leans ever closer to the digital beat, how will companies continue to allocate such resources to older forms of marketing? Will the catalog and expensive ad campaigns like this one survive as companies spend more and more money on digital? Is it even an option – namely in luxury – for them not to?