Can the amount a brand spends on advertising affect how much coverage glossy magazines give it? You bet! A new survey shows just that. Well it does to a certain extent because at the moment it seems that Gucci is one of few luxury brand increasing its print adspend and gaining more coverage too. But it’s also just about the biggest influencer brand of the moment so it’s not 100% clear whether it’s a chicken and egg situation… or not.

Anyway, what is clear is that Gucci is brand king (or queen) at the moment and the glossies are falling over themselves to feature it, according to research from Exane BNP Paribas.

Its new report rates brands as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ depending on whether the level of editorial coverage they get exceeds the amount the brands spend on advertising.

So on that basis, Gucci is the hottest brand with a 15% rise, while Louis Vuitton and Chanel are also hot. But former star influencer Prada is down in cold territory, as is Giorgio Armani.

Prada Instagram

Exane BNP Paribas said all this matters because a hot brand that gets mor ecoverage can also expect to see a sales bounce while cold brands can expect.. well, you know what.

That’s certainly the case with Gucci and Prada, the former has been on a roll since Alessandro Michele took the creative helm, with the latter struggling to find elusive sales growth.

The survey tracked 38 brands in all and also put Hugo Boss, DKNY and Ferragamo in the ‘getting hotter’ zone while Burberry, Valentino and Saint Laurent were hot but not in the touch-them-and-you’ll-burn territory they used to occupy.

Interestingly, the research also showed that many of the brands have cut their adspend, in magazines at least, as they switch part of their marketing focus to digital.

Now that’s something that may also have detracted from Prada’s strength as the brand’s digital efforts have famously been trashed by several studies in recent months.