The Prada Fall/Winter 2024 advertising campaign, titled ‘Now That We Are Here,’ is based on dialogue, on conversation between individuals - not just conveying knowledge and exchanging experience, but also as expressions of intimacy and presence. In a real-life mirror of the telephone interchanges at the heart of the campaign’s still and motion imagery, Prada collaborates with American filmmaker, artist, and writer Miranda July to bring these fantasized conversations to life. Billboards across key cities worldwide— Milan, Los Angeles, New York, London and Bangkok—advertise a dedicated toll-free phone number, allowing the public to interact from their own devices. Callers can “dial in” to speak with Miranda July, or rather, with July’s voice, which interprets conversation with the caller according to a pre-programmed script written by July herself. Combining the provocative with the quotidian, the intellectual with the instinctive, the scripted calls have a multitude of variations, randomly selected and triggered by caller responses. Spanning from ironic advice to seemingly friendly conversation to surreal and unexpected scenarios, each interaction tells an individual story determined by interaction - another form of dialogue. In July’s own words and her own voice, this Prada hotline combines technology with gestures to the analogue. It also seems to lift the lid on the campaign itself - allowing an audience to ‘listen in’ to the fragmented conversations hinted at. Ambiguous, abstract, possibly revelatory, each caller enters a unique exchange—with July, and with Prada—to unravel the meaning behind the image.
