Zalando builds its advertising campaigns around recognized faces from cinema and music. The European online fashion platform selects personalities whose backgrounds and personal styles embody a specific message related to the collection presented. In 2025 and early 2026, three names stand out in the spots broadcasted across Europe: Uma Thurman, PinkPantheress, and Lily Collins.
Uma Thurman and PinkPantheress in the Fall-Winter 2025 Campaign
The Fall-Winter 2025 campaign from Zalando brings together two profiles that seem completely different at first glance. Uma Thurman, actress, producer, and American model, shares the spotlight with PinkPantheress, a British singer and producer who has gone platinum multiple times.
The creative concept revolves around the brand platform “How do I dress?”, launched by Zalando in 2024. Stylist Pau Avia is responsible for the artistic direction, photographer Lukas Wassmann handles the visuals, and the directing duo Badley & Pablo orchestrates the staging.
Uma Thurman strolls between the stalls of a market, while PinkPantheress walks the streets of Berlin. This geographical division is not trivial: each setting conveys a distinct fashion register, between classic elegance and urban boldness. The campaign functions like a fashion short film, not just an animated catalog.
Identifying the actors and actresses in Zalando’s advertisements requires understanding this casting logic: the brand does not recruit a single muse, but associates personalities from contrasting worlds to cover a broad stylistic spectrum.
Lily Collins, Zalando Ambassador for the Spring-Summer 2026 Collection
In March 2026, Zalando takes a further step by appointing Lily Collins as the brand’s first ambassador. The American actress, known for her role in the Netflix series Emily in Paris, embodies the new spring-summer collection in a European campaign designed by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam.
The commercials, directed by the Weiland Brothers, feature Lily Collins in everyday situations: café terrace, beach, sunny streets. The soundtrack is based on Aserejé by Las Ketchup, a deliberately quirky choice that breaks with the usual luxury codes.
The distribution setup covers television, online video, and social media. This campaign marks a turning point in Zalando’s strategy: moving from a rotating cast to an identifiable ambassador over time.
What Lily Collins’ Choice Reveals
Lily Collins is not just an actress. She is also an author and producer, with a career marked by back-and-forths between the United States and Europe. This transatlantic profile aligns with Zalando’s identity, a German platform with European ambitions.
The character of Emily Cooper, which she portrays in Emily in Paris, has helped popularize a certain relationship with Parisian fashion among an international audience. Zalando capitalizes on this association without reproducing it: in the spots, Collins plays her own register, not that of her fictional character.
Advertising Casting Strategy at Zalando: The Recurring Model
Before Uma Thurman and PinkPantheress, Zalando had already paired Sarah Jessica Parker and Mahmood in a previous campaign built on the same principle: two universes, two personalities, a common stylistic thread.
This casting model relies on several constants:
- A personality from film or television, providing immediate recognition and a narrative dimension to the spots
- A younger musical or cultural figure, grounding the campaign in current trends and reaching a different audience
- A European setting (Berlin, markets, cafés) that recalls the brand’s origin and geographical positioning
This approach distinguishes Zalando from competitors who rely on a single face. By alternating duos, the brand renews attention without losing the coherence of its platform “How do I dress?”.
The Role of Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam manages Zalando’s European campaigns. The agency is responsible for the overall creative direction, the selection of directors, and coordination between different markets.
Its influence is evident in the tone of the advertisements: no direct promotional discourse, but a cinematic narrative where the clothing accompanies a situation rather than dominating it. The pieces worn by Uma Thurman or Lily Collins are never presented in close-up with a price tag. They exist in a context, a movement, a light.
Zalando Campaigns 2025: What Changes in Online Fashion Advertising
Zalando’s choices reflect a broader trend in online fashion advertising. Platforms no longer simply showcase products: they build universes where the collection makes sense through identifiable personalities.
- Collaboration with actresses and musicians is gradually replacing the use of traditional models in mass campaigns
- The short video format, designed for social media and digital distribution, imposes a narrative rhythm close to that of a music video or short film
- The brand platform (here “How do I dress?”) serves as a common thread from season to season, even when the faces change
Zalando plays on the cultural recognition of its ambassadors rather than just their fame. Uma Thurman evokes Pulp Fiction and a certain cinema of the 1990s. PinkPantheress embodies the British music scene post-streaming. Lily Collins represents contemporary European television fiction. Each casting tells a time and a relationship to fashion, not just a face on a poster.
The next Fall-Winter 2026 campaign has not yet been announced. If the pattern holds, Zalando should again pair two contrasting profiles around its brand platform, with a European anchor and a production signed by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam.
