As the luxury sector continues to evolve, brands are also rising to the challenge with innovative solutions. Here, Luxury Society Knowledge Partner and marketing agency Cocoon highlights a select few leading the way.
As the luxury sector continues to evolve, brands are also rising to the challenge with innovative solutions. Here, Luxury Society Knowledge Partner and marketing agency Cocoon highlights a select few leading the way.
Luxury repeatedly finds ways to inspire interest among its audience, so it’s important for brands to keep their fingers on the pulse to stay fully relevant. From nurturing luxury talent, ethical business practices to makeup masterclasses or teaming up tech-savvy giants, brands are evolving what luxury means to consumers in order to offer the utmost in experience.
Here’s a snapshot of recent latest trends and a look at the brands pro-actively pushing the limits.
“ If luxury brands can’t compete on monetary value, they need to find worth and substance elsewhere ”
New Thinking
High-net-worths are spending more time researching products and services than ever before, while becoming less interested in attaining status from a luxury price tag or labels. So if luxury brands can’t compete on monetary value, they need to find worth and substance elsewhere.
And that’s where knowledge comes in. Luxury brands need to compete in a field where premium brands can’t – by offering invaluable insight.
A brand doing just that is YOOX Net-a-Porter, which has teamed up with Bologna Business School to launch a centre to nurture digital talent. The first managerial education programme is designed to help candidates navigate the increasingly digital world, offering master’s degree programmes aimed at both new graduates and those with more experience.
“ For Yoox Net-A-Porter, this initiative helps to future-proof the brand to continue being leaders in luxury e-commerce ”
Technology is increasingly important for luxury brands and sourcing a high level of talent in the field is particularly hard. For Yoox Net-A-Porter, this initiative signifies an act of social responsibility and helps to future-proof the brand to continue being leaders in luxury e-commerce.
Condé Nast has similarly added a BA degree programme to its schooling offerings. From October this year, the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design will offer a two-year intensive BA (Hons) Fashion Communication degree. The programme will teach essential skills for working in the fashion world, which involves working on an industry brief created by partners such as Vogue or Louis Vuitton.
On a slightly smaller scale, Chanel is offering its consumers a makeup mastery class with the help of supermodel Gisele Bündchen. In the first of the Chanel Beauty Talks web series, Gisele and the brand’s global creative makeup and color designer Lucia Pica sat down to share beauty secrets to “Free Your Glow”.
Teaming Up With Tech
Luxury brands are now looking for ways they can collaborate with innovative companies and tap into emerging technologies to captivate their discerning audience. Technologies take time to develop and luxury brands need to be thinking today about the opportunities of tomorrow.
Take Marc Jacobs’ recent collaboration with Uber. The US fashion label leveraged Uber’s network to create an immersive offering for consumers in New York last month, adding to Uber’s courtship of the fashion industry.
Titled as “Daisy Daze,” the offering promoted the brand’s Daisy fragrance in perfect timing for spring, involving a Daisy-branded Uber car featuring a custom soundtrack and free full-size bottle of Daisy Marc Jacobs fragrance.
Ethical Business
Ethical issues affect all consumers, regardless of their spending power. And with younger people caring more about the ethical and environmental impacts of luxury brands – 14% compared to just 3% of Boomers – it comes as no surprise that brands are putting these concerns at the forefront of their campaigns.
Acknowledging this need for transparency, Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani has pledged that going forward it will be 100% fur-free. The brand’s no-fur promise is being applied to all its Giorgio Armani, Armani Privé and Emporio Armani lines. Expect to see more brands following suit.
Luxury brands must find ways to stay relevant to the changing attitudes of consumers in order to stay ahead of the curve. Whether that’s through sustainable initiatives, nurturing knowledge or leveraging tech, the opportunities huge. As we’ve seen, the very best luxury brands are already reaping the rewards.
To further investigate luxury brand innovation on Luxury Society, we invite your to explore the related materials as follows:
- 4 Top Watch & Jewellery Trends Shaping The Luxury Landscape
- 3 Key Luxury Trends For Q1 2016
- 3 Luxury Trends Changing The Game
