The London scene of luxury insiders came together on October 11th for the Walpole Luxury eBusiness Forum. With participants from Links of London, Yoox, De Beers, Hackett, Smythson, Business of Fashion, Facebook, and many others, it was an international event with a distinctly British feel. Walpole, a non-profit dedicated to “furthering the interests of the British luxury industry” aims to foster a community among UK luxury professionals and facilitate business development across the world.
The Role of Mobile in the Transmedia Brand Narrative
The essence of any coveted brand is the story it tells. Its history conveys mystery, passion, and intrigue and creates in consumers an insatiable desire to be among a select few bit players in the theatricality of the brand experience. These narratives are communicated through a variety of channels. Artful photography displayed in print tells a tale. The runway provides the dramatic stage. The store is the epicenter of the encounter. Digital media voices a story and the shared experience platform enabled by social media allows the consumer to contribute to the brand dialogue.
The Luxury Storefront Becomes Digital
Fashion is often about juxtaposition. If you’re a brand marketer, this juxtaposition is synonymous with a series of tough decisions on how exactly to position these often competing and opposing aspects: craftsmanship versus innovation; fostering an experience versus driving sales; online versus offline; exclusivity versus raising awareness…etc. The luxury market has long believed that what happened off-line best captured the true essence of their brands. Premier storefront locations, exquisite design of environment, a superior product, and a heightened level of service have all helped to set luxury brands far above the mass-market retail approach. When it comes to online, the Holy Grail for most high-end brands is re-creating the in-store experience in such a way that a customer’s encounter online is the same caliber as if they were in the brick and mortar flagship.
The Added Mobile Dimension in Luxury Print Advertising
The visual mystery, sensuality, and intrigue elicited through still image artistry provide the de facto two-dimensional canvas of choice for luxury brands. The artistic vision of the Creative Director is meticulously staged and captured for the world to marvel at in the glossed pages of the style guides of our times. Each year, luxury brand marketers invest enormous percentages of marketing budgets in print advertising. Vast libraries of visual content collect dust, as the artistry of each new season’s collection is re-envisioned, making way for the evolving stylistic viewpoint of the house.
Mobile Integration for Pop-Up Marketing Strategies
The conceptual model of pop-up retail is certainly not a new strategy in the brand and product marketing playbook. Pop-up stores have been effectively employed by a number of the world’s most recognizable brands. Most often they are used to introduce new product, gauge consumer interests, and enhance exposure through cleverly placed, transitory concept venues that are designed to generate buzz by creating an out of the ordinary brand experience.
Sophisticated Game Mechanics for Luxury Mobile Marketing
The 21st Century digital native consumer is hyperconnected, socially integrated, empowered with information, and always in motion. The mobile medium has been a tremendous catalyst for consumers to get out into the world and experience. As we as a society evolve from stationary models of entertainment and information gathering to one that experiences our world by immersing ourselves in it, we are constantly seeking ways to make our encounters more meaningful and interesting. The power of connection and information allows us to demand greater degrees of intimacy with the brands we most admire. We actively search for ways to achieve efficiencies while being consistently entertained and informed along the journey. What does this mean for luxury brands as they try to engage this digital native?
