Cartier pretties up MySpace with ad campaign

Love by Cartier, an ad campaign that's not exactly for the emo-teen demographic.

When you think about "bling" on MySpace, you probably think about glitter text on profiles, or maybe Swarovski-studded Sidekicks, not Cartier jewelry. But that hasn't stopped the legendary luxury brand from launching a promotional campaign on News Corp.'s social network.

Starting Thursday, Cartier began featuring branded pages for its "Love by Cartier" product line for MySpace's English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese sites. They'll be online for a year, and will feature new music from 12 artists, including Phoenix, Grand National, and Lou Reed.

Considering MySpace got its start as a hub for music lovers, the Love by Cartier campaign is appropriate in that respect. But considering MySpace is also best known as a youth site, the advertising of luxury brands seems out-of-place--you wouldn't think the audience would be there. Love by Cartier, after all, also has a campaign on the elite, invite-only social network Asmallworld, which has a jet-set user base that seems a much more appropriate target for a pricey jewelry brand.

But MySpace representatives say the site's image is a bit misleading, citing ComScore statistics that estimate a quarter of its traffic comes from households with annual incomes over $100,000. Scoring a brand partner like Cartier, they say, is indicative of its transformation from a social network to a global Web portal.

"Given MySpace's breadth, depth, and technology, we're able to function as a global social portal empowering brands to effectively reach audiences across our 29 localized communities," Travis Katz, managing director of MySpace's international division. "Cartier has been quick to embrace the opportunities presented by community, by offering all lovers of the brand exclusive and innovative content."

But don't think that MySpace has gotten an Eliza Doolittle-esque makeover. The newly redesigned home page on Thursday afternoon was branded with a campaign for the Pixar robot adventure movie Wall-E.

[benjaminstraight]

We will see what actually happens.