Luxaholic

On an early winter afternoon when the outside temperature in Geneva was around 3°C, it's a good idea to step into a luxury store for mystery shopping. We chose the Bvlgari flagship store on Rue du Rhône 30.  Our scenario was that we are a group of friends including one future bride and we were looking for a necklace with a ruby central stone for her wedding. That was a weekday and there was one other guest in the store, so we didn’t have to wait. The Sales staff was friendly and treated us as customers. She asked in detail about my friend’s wedding and how the necklace we’re looking for, how her wedding dress would be to introduce the most suitable necklaces to us. We chatted for 30 minutes, and my friend tried on one necklace at their customer lounge. Although we didn’t find a necklace as she expected, we exchanged contact information with the sales staff to get the news for the upcoming products.  We would say that we had a nice experience, but there are things that are not ...

In 1990, Tom Ford was recruited by Dawn Mellow, creative director of the international fashion house Gucci, to be the designer of women's ready-to-wear. Tom Ford's eye for fashion and artistic talent were put to good use during this time, and he was soon promoted to CEO of Gucci. During his tenure, Gucci sales grew from $230 million to nearly $4 billion, making it one of the largest and most profitable luxury brands in the world. Under Tom Ford's direction, Gucci acquired the famous fashion house Yves Saint-Laurent/YSL, with himself as creative director of both brands. Tom Ford left Gucci in 2004 and announced the creation of the Tom Ford brand in April 2005. Domenico DeSole, who was at the helm of Gucci during his tenure, started the business with him. In 2007, TomFord's first boutique opened in New York with the debut of his menswear and accessories collections. At the same time he focused on directing films. Since December 2008, he has directed Single Man and Nocturn...

Having or not having e-commerce platforms? It is no longer the question, but an essential to be in the luxury business, particularly with consumers’ changing behavior and their rapid adoption to e-commerce. Bvlgari established the first e-shop in the late 2000s but its journey towards an integrated omnichannel experience was long and challenging (Roxan, 2020). Last year, luxury shopping at physical boutiques was plagued by the inconvenience of COVID 19 outbreak. However, Bvlgari CEO Jean-Cristophe Babin saw the pandemic had a role as an accelerator of their worldwide digital expansion with the launch of life-like e-commerce platforms in seven additional countries within 90 days from May to July 2020 (Roxan, 2020). They aim to offer an online experience that is increasingly similar to that of a boutique and create a fluid interconnection across all physical and digital touchpoints (CCI Team, 2021).  At first, investing in an online selling platform seems like a waste of effort, or w...

Three years ago: a huge controversy erupted after luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana posted videos on its Instagram account of a Chinese woman in a red dress trying to eat Italian food with chopsticks, with a male voice making ironic comments. As luxury brands try to reach out to China's new upper-middle class, one wonders what the marketing team at fashion brand Dolce&Gabbana was thinking. Did the D&G brand use humor appeal in a way that got out of hand? It is possible. Although 30% of advertising spots uses this appeal, it can easily be offensive (as humor is often at the expense of someone) and often does not translate across cultures. In any case, it is questionable whether using humour to promote a luxury fashion show is a wise choice. Indeed, sex, music, emotional or scarcity appeals seem to be much more adapted to the fashion world and to luxury marketing, being moreover less risky in terms of cultural divergences. This marketing campaign was a disaster, and for sever...

Since the dawn of times, stories have fascinated people all around the world. This is a story as well, but how do we tell one that captivates the audience like the stars in the sky or their dreams ? How do we tell stories around luxury brands that inspire people ? Audemars Piguet’s trailer is an origin story as well as a statement. The almost fated encounter between Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet leading to the creation of a brand that is a master in its craft. The video does not sell a product; it shares the company’s value, its mindset and its tale of how an exceptional watch-making company came to be. The color palette is somber and desaturated, nature reforms into technology and light is shining upon the accomplishments of the brand. The story – the values of AP, are told through visuals and text, one highlighting and uplifting another. The trailer is inspiring. It’s presented as beautiful and as a model, as how you would want to be – and that is a key strength of t...