Luxury brands need to accept that they don’t control brand messaging anymore
Brands operating in the luxury sector need to accept the fact that they no longer control messaging around their brands and embrace the online platforms that now exist to tell better stories rather than bombarding consumers with marketing messages.
That was conclusion of a panel discussion held at In2 Innovation Summit, which featured TVC Group’s global managing director James Myers, global publisher of 1843 magazine Nick Blunden and Sachar Klein, senior VP of communications at Glossybox, during which they gave their thoughts on the changing landscape of the luxury market in the ‘era of disruption’.
“As we move into a social and digital world, luxury brands have embraced storytelling, said Myers. “They have a huge amount of heritage and they are leveraging that, but they are also learning to let go of controlling that story, and allowing other influences to tell their stories for them.”
Myers, who’s TVC Group works with brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Ralph Lauren, Dewar’s Scotch Whisky and Links of London, added: “We're now competing with publishing companies rather than agencies as storytelling becomes more important.”
Nick Blunden of 1843 magazine added: “Brands need to move communications into a paradigm where we think about storytelling more than one way communications. Luxury marketing is changing as we are moving from a world where ‘having things’ is more important, to a world in which people want to ‘have experiences’.”
This shift in consumer behaviour has led to another challenge, as luxury marketers recognise that they no longer control all—or even most of—the messaging around their brands.
“It’s not just telling your own story,” added Sachar Klein. “It’s getting people to tell their stories That is particularly powerful on social media channels such as Instagram.”
“Luxury brands are used to a top down approach to defining their own brand proposition,” added Klein. “But today it’s more about how people react to and interact with your brand. We work with influencers, with bloggers, with people who are very active in the social media space, and they are the ones who are defining the brand proposition.”
Those channels are particularly popular among younger luxury consumers, although they can create problems for more traditional luxury consumers intent on controlling conversations around their brands.
Blunden conceded that this is an issue marketers are still wrestling with, but he questioned whether the more simplistic distinctions between the two groups are not particularly relevant.
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