Balancing Luxury with Digital

Note: Image from The Sartorialist

In addition to my love affair with branding, I am crazy about fashion. I have every AmericanVogue from November 1999 to December 2009. That's 10 years worth of Vogue magazines! I can even show you the transition period when Anna Wintour started to put celebrities on the cover rather than models.

Ok, so now you're wondering what does any of this have to do with branding.  Well having been an avid reader, borderline collector, of Vogue  for so many years, I thought it was interesting when I suddenly stopped buying Vogue without even noticing. What was filling the void for my insatiable desire to know what's in and how I should be styling myself for the season? Well...blogs -- The Sartorialist; Garance Dore; The Glamouria; etc.

This is not to say magazines are dead, but it got me thinking about how even luxury fashion brands cannot avoid the rise and influence of digital.  Their apprehension, although lifting slightly, towards digital platforms, like e-commerce and social media, is understandable.  Many brands feel their luxury experience cannot by adequately translated online.  In addition, these platforms democratize the access to information making brands more accessible. This is not ideal for brands whose value is based on exclusivity and rarity.

However, according to Forrester, luxury consumers love technology and tend to be early adopters. They expect luxury brands, whom which they perceive as innovators and trendsetters that, for so many years, have created breathtaking offline experiences, to translate online with high quality rich media experiences that evoke the brand essence, provide unique services and share value-add content.

The need to be online, to remain relevant and modern for its consumers, while maintaining the mystique that drives its brand value creates an interesting challenge. How do luxury brands balance exclusivity with accessibility and rarity with being known?

First, we need to stop looking at digital as a communications channel and see it more as a behaviour. Rather than a 2-dimensional medium to showcase designs and send out one-way messages, digital platforms enable the brand to come to life, interacting with its customers and delivering the brand promise, similar to its offline presence.  For all intents and purposes the two (online and offline) fold into each other.

Second, demand for luxury brands, like I mentioned two weeks ago, is driven by the story/lifestyle behind the brand, more than the product itself.

Lastly, there are three consumer groups who will interact with the brand and, therefore, need to be considered:

1. Experience Group: This group actively buys luxury products and are considered regular customers, if not already the muse to the designer.  These people are often the early adopters and influencers within the market.  They want to feel special and unique -- after all, they are the "in crowd". This group is looking for a tangible experience where the brand delivers added value beyond the product.
2. Inspire Group: These people love fashion, but don't buy their entire wardrobe from luxury labels. However, they do look to them for inspiration on what are the upcoming trends, 'it' products, unique ways to style certain looks or the story behind each season's collection. Here they want a more informative experience.
3. Aspire Group: The aspirational audience longs to be a part of this world. They escape into the brand's story by purchasing its signature fragrance or beauty products. It's important to note that this group may be the future experience group, so they mustn't be completely forgotten. Millennials have a tendency to establish their brand relationships early and when treated right will form an incredible long-term bond with that brand. However, this also works in the reverse.  This group is looking for insider information and an opportunity to be lost in the essence of the brand.

There are few luxury brands who are using digital platforms to their full potential. I think there is still opportunity to create more value-add services/utility through digital technology to deliver the brand. Oscar de la Renta is starting by offering in-store services like styling advice via phone and email, but this could become a much richer experience with all the available technology today.

However, I'm really impressed by Burberry with their live broadcasted fashion shows, Art of the Trench campaign or recent show in Beijing with 3D models where they use digital to create environments that allow consumers to dream and get closer to the essence of the brand.  Dolce & Gabbana are also making a big push to remain modern by using social media to mesh their online and offline worlds together by bringing bloggers into their stores to style the windows, or having live twitter feedback from guests featured during their latest menswear fashion show. Lastly, Karl Lagerfeld, for Chanel, has been doing a fantastic job of leveraging digital to position the brand as an innovator (being one of the first fashion brands I can remember having a mobile app) and creating content for people to become lost in the spirit of Chanel.

In fact, Chanel did a show, in St. Tropez, for its Spring/Summer '10 collection, where I thought it mastered bringing online and offline together, evoking the brand story and satisfied each group without alienating anyone.

Note: Images from Garance Dore's documentation of the event seen here.

Chanel’s Spring/Summer ’10 fashion show, Croisiere, maintained the balance of exclusive yet accessible. They created a 2-day experience where St. Tropez was transformed into Chanel's world -- how you would live your summer if you truly lived the brand's lifestyle.  Celebrities, socialites, editors, models and muses were all invited. Talk about the ultimate customer appreciation night.

Note: Images from Garance Dore's documentation of the event seen here.

In addition, bloggers, photographers and journalists were invited to document the 2-day experience and share with the general public. This did two things: first it created inspiration on what's in, how to wear it and where to wear it.  Second, having the full lifestyle showcased created the ultimate in aspiration and ability to daydream and escape into the luxurious world of Chanel through blogs, like Garance Dore.

All-in-all, I felt this was a great example of how a fashion label can turn their brand into a tangible entity, bringing the dream to reality and making its core audience feel special and unique, while leveraging digital to extend the impact of the experience in ways suitable for the other audiences.

Today, luxury brands need to find unique and innovative ways to use digital technology to remain relevant and cutting edge to its audiences. Yet, they must do it in a way that balances exclusivity with accessibility and rarity with being known. 

Are there any luxury labels you feel are using digital technology to take their brand to the next level?

Is Reebok Living Its Brand?

Last year I wrote about Reebok's brand repositioning, where they began to put greater emphasis on being the sports brand focused on making fitness fun.  Over the past year Reebok saw a 12% increase in sales with a 15% increase in the fourth quarter, which is far better than the state they were in prior to the rebrand.  This double-digit growth is, no doubt, due to their EasyTone and ZigTech product innovations.

Last Friday, I came across an article on Brand Republic talking about the new 'Reebok Trial on Tour' campaign where people can try out the EasyTone and ZigTech shoes in DW gyms and sport stores.  After the people try out the shoes, they can provide feedback on their experience, which will create a great database of consumer insight to hopefully aid the the further refinement of Reebok's products.

A campaign like this not only allows for rich customer feedback as it's in-the-moment (for instance, Gatorade tested horribly in focus groups when it was first being launched, but when tested during a football game it performed extremely well because it was being used in-the-moment it was designed for -- the same goes for this experience), but it also is a great way to raise awareness for Reebok's products. It's personal experiences with brands, like this, that help it to remain top-of-mind for consumers.  However, this personal experience doesn't just create awareness for products, it begins to influence the long-term perceptions towards the brand and what it stands for. The products may change over time, but the perception of what that brand is good at will stick around for years.

This brings me to the reason I'm writing this post: Are trials in gyms the best place for Reebok to be positioning itself?

To ensure they are the leader in helping people become active for the fun of it, rather than being the #1 athlete or smashing personal goals (Nike and Adidas already occupy these areas), Reebok needs to be where people are staying active recreationally.

Having looked on DW Fitness Club's website, I noticed they have group exercise sessions to add a bit of fun to training. I think positioning the Reebok trials during these sessions would be a great start to aligning the brand to fun fitness.

But who's targeting these guys?

The after work ultimate frisbee players:

Note: Image from Flickr here

Or the weekend dodgeball in the park goers:

Note: Image from Flickr here

These are the people who seek fun while staying active. They are also, most likely, the people arranging these activities for their friends. So maybe instead of focusing on gyms -- a place where people go to train and beat personal goals (Adidas) or become #1 (Nike) -- why don't they seek out unique environments that cater specifically to having fun with fitness, like parks, recreation centres or walking paths.

Not only would they be positioning themselves in the minds of their core audience, but they would also be gaining insights for them to further refine and/or create new innovations for people seeking pleasure in fitness rather than just performance.

If Reebok truly wants to be the leader in fun fitness, they need to ensure everything they do, innovate or go to must align with their purpose. This will establish a strong foundation for their year old repositioning. Since it takes a long time to firmly establish what a brand stands for, clarity and consistency around its purpose is key.

Meaningful Luxury Brands

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the significant change in demand towards meaningful brands - brands that are creating tangible and beneficial value that helps people get more out of life. In essence, people, including luxury consumers, want brands that are more socially aware rather than focused on unnecessary opulence. This of course got me thinking about the impact this shift may have on luxury products.

Luxury has been, and will continue to be about two things:

1. Communicating a lifestyle/story
2. Quality craftsmanship

Communicating a Lifestyle

When buying luxury, we buy the story behind the brand, not the product.  In this month's UK Vogue, the Editor's Letter mentioned just this - as a designer, you need to create your own stand-out universe; you need to inspire!  It's this inspiration that goes beyond the products to create a lifestyle. When you buy it, you feel a part of that story associating yourself with a particular lifestyle.

Having said this, for people, today, to publicly associate themselves with this lifestyle/story, there is a heightened expectation for the brand to operate with society, the environment and the future in mind. Take Galliano for example - Natalie Portman refused to wear a Dior gown at the Oscars because of his actions.  She did not want to associate herself with Dior as it would say something about her. Our expectations and scrutiny towards the ethics of brands will continue to increase. There is zero tolerance for brands, even luxury ones (including their leaders and public figures) to demonstrate less than positive contributions.

As an aside, I tend to believe luxury brands are in a great place to contribute strong innovation in technology (i.e. high performance automotive, new textiles, etc.) and design, as their audience tends to have a high proportion of early adopters, which can influence the rest of their industries. 

People will continue to want the things they buy to say something about who they are. Take the Prius for example - people aren't as likely to buy a standard Corolla with hybrid technology as they are a Prius.  This is because the design of the Prius is more outwardly associated with being environmentally friendly than the Corolla with a hybrid sticker on the back.  Therefore, the Prius offers greater social value as its environmental association transfers to its owner.

The desire to craft our identities through association isn't going anywhere.  I mean we even go as far as to check ourselves into places we're at through Facebook or Foursquare to create "social currency" and build our online identity.  Luxury remains in a strong place to create a desired lifestlye, for which people want to associate, however it must be good natured, ethical and contributing something positive to have longevity.

Quality Craftsmanship

With this shift in behaviour - thinking about society on the whole and being more sustainable - it is becoming rather faux pas to buy for the sake of being flashy and to have more.  The day of keeping up with the Joneses and having the biggest homes and most stuff is on its way out. Rather, it looks better to show people that you buy for long-term value.  

This is where luxury has a strong hold.  Many luxury brands are not new, and if they are, they have done something to establish a reputation for amazing quality and craftsmanship.  Hence, many luxury brands have a strong heritage - going back to buying a story - so when someone buys a luxury product, not flashy rather classic items, it indicates they are buying long-term quality. So rather than buying many less expensive things, people see purchasing fewer luxury items as an investment.

Therefore, moving forward it will remain essential for luxury brands to balance setting design and style trends with maintaining classic design and quality craftsmanship to continue creating items that will be seen as investment pieces.

All-in-all this shift in demand for better brands will not change luxury businesses fundamentally.  They will continue to create 'stand-out universes' that people want to be a part of, and they will leverage their heritage to prove smart long-term value. However, they, like all brands, must choose to contribute to society, nature, the future, etc. rather than do harm for short-term gain. 

Let's Share

I seem to be continually coming back to the thought "what happens as we begin to have less space, objects become more and more expensive and we become increasingly more mobile?" In essence, I keep thinking about how brands are going to evolve to remain relevant as sustainable consumption becomes more important/popular...

If we look at consumer behaviour today, we see more people moving around, which creates the need to carry only what one needs in the moment, in the most consolidated form available.

Take smartphones for example - they are our notebooks, daytimes, address books, maps, email, internet, GPS, flashlight, MP3, etc...oh ya and they're a phone too.  In all honestly, I use the actual calling feature on my phone so little that it takes conscious thought to make a call these days - clearly, I'm using my phone for more than just the phone.  When leaving my flat each day, I know I have everything I could possibly need when I have my iPhone, keys, Oyster card and debit/visa card, which I really wish was built into my phone already.

Mobility isn't just for small items, but for large items too. A previous colleague of mine, who has lived in Washington, London, Calgary and has just recently moved to Montreal, once told me, "I don't see the point in owning anything anymore when I know I'm probably going to move again". The point here is that people are in need of options that allow greater flexibility in their mobile lifestyles.

In addition to mobility, an increasing population is leading to more densely populated urban centres with less space to keep things. There is a desire to buy only what we need to reduce the environmental impact (i.e. reusable shopping bags, canteen water bottles, etc.). And we are more connected than ever before thanks to social networks and mobile phones.

So what does this all mean to brands? To me, it means for brands to remain relevant in the future, they must adapt their offerings to allow for flexible ownership. This means that a consumer may not need your product all the time, and since they don't have the space or desire to keep things around, they may only want to engage with your product or service when most relevant to them.

A few weeks ago I watched a TED talk with Lisa Gansky, who talks about how the future of business is the 'mesh'. She defines the 'mesh' as better things easily shared, which brings together to idea of physical objects, mobile and social. She talks about ZipCar and how we aren't using our cars (usually our second largest purchase to our homes) 90% of the time, so why not share a car and use it only when it's conducive to you.  In fact, it was this TED talk that got me thinking about all this.

Brands need to start innovating to develop products (which are really becoming services) that expand how you can meet consumers' needs to suit their evolving lifestyles and form long-term interconnected relationships with customers, rather than just ad hoc personal purchases.

It seemed like just after seeing this TED talk, BMW launched their own car-share service, DriveNow, which will launch in Munich this month, then globally in the near future.  This demonstrates BMW adapting its business model to meet the changing needs of consumers ensuring long-term brand relevancy.

Another example I saw this morning of products becoming more easily shared was airbnb. This is a  house, boat, hut sharing scheme, which allows people to stay in unique places during their travels to get a more authentic/local experience.  This example got me thinking that there may be an opportunity for home builders to start making homes increasingly more sharable and/or transferable.

The share-ability of a brand's offering is a unique way to start looking at a business and thinking of ways to establish or leverage a network to make products/services more easily accessible to people when they need or want them most.

How can your brand become more shareable to facilitate sustainable consumption?