Very cool site to launch "love"

Olivier Stip, SVP Marketing Communications Cartier North America gave a really interesting presentation today about how they are engaging their consumer online - lots of banners, blogs, video, beautifully designed mini sites and will simulcast store openings and parties in LA for the new Love campaign via online video. I'll update with links to the actual presentations that are  being given because I really feel that the most resonating part of all of them is simply the presentation of their creative - same underlying strategies usually but a very sophisticated and Luxury consumer targeted look and feel (not sure how to better say that)

Cartier has a tool to define their brand called Brand DNA where they define their brand through it's 1.Personality (innovative dynamic, glamour etc.), 2. Culture (traditional art foundation, royal), 3.Self-Projection (quality, timeless professional), 4. Reflection (successful, watch and jewelry, exclusive), 5. Responsibility (art, celeb, charity), 6.Physical (red box, tank watch panther, love, trinity).  They then take this information and combine it with the knowledge of their consumers - some of which are defined as "Diesel Generation", "Bling Bling" (seriously), "Senior Pashas" (insert image of Trump here), "Female Execs", "Posh Parents" etc... to specifically target their communication.  Very similar I think to our development of personas for our targets. I do like the idea of naming these targets and even using real people or known faces to further develop a clear definition of who we're talking to. I also thought it was useful to think of us talking to a 'group' of people and not just a specifically defined person. 

As impressed as this audience was with how deeply Cartier had embraced online there was a question from an audience member - "when are you going to actually sell your product online?"  The answer wasn't straightforward and had something to do with a test in Japan coming up soon... made me think that even with some of the more forward thinking brands in this market there still exists some hesitation to fully embrace the media that makes your product available to the masses and not just people who are willing to walk in to a store or boutique.

The launch of their Love campaign is kicking off tonight in LA with a huge celebrity private event as well as coordinated online efforts. Again interesting because they are developing standard ad units, some with embedded music videos and there is even a myspace page, a blog and a 'love' community site.  Content again is king here - amazingly beautiful design they are sharing however it is all happening in the same manner we develop campaigns for our clients.  Further reinforcement that working with these clients is less about our knowledge of the Luxury space  but applying what we already know about the internet space and their consumers - where they are online and the fact that what they see from a design standpoint needs to be very rich, beautiful and consistent through all mediums.

After re-reading this I keep finding myself saying 'right, exactly, yes... that's what we already talk about" and really it is... I think we just gotta get one of these clients and prove it... I have my eye on the VP of Mktg for Cadillac, I'll see where it gets me.

Great use of the Google mapping functionality, user generated content and high end branding... although apparently no one can "heart" NY except for the ESDC (Empire State Development Corporation)... Despite the controversy it's a pretty cool execution.

Gucci Loves New York

The woman from Range Media who was speaking about this project also said there is another in the works (she wouldn't name the brand or launch date) about 'How to be French in the city'. I'll update when I see the links come out - she said soon (sounds like a cosmetic company)

Day 1

When I first looked into attending this conference I wasn’t sure if it would contain a lot of dialogue between representatives of Luxury brands about how to operate in a media that is just now getting it’s stride in their space (in other words… stuff we already know) or if there really were going to be some useful bits of information. Now that I’ve spent the morning sitting through a couple of presentations I think it’s a little of both (oh, and a ton of networking). The audience is actually small for this first day – limited to brand executives mostly – there are attendees from Sub Zero, Cadillac, Amazon (more on that later), Sony, Frette and many more. Most of the dialogue here is revolving around how to replicate the luxury purchasing experience…. How to talk to and market to a consumer who demands a high touch and high design/branded experience. There are also a lot of familiar questions surrounding how to balance the brand experience with an effective shopping experience.

Opening remarks were delivered by Sheldon Gilbert, Founder and CEO of Proclivity Systems. Sheldon’s presentation was focused around the understanding that consumers of luxury brands are in need of being communicated with in a specific way. I don't necessarily agree that these are ‘different’ points of focus than what we are talking to our clients about but I do agree they are good reinforcement for what we already know. His 3 main points were:

1. Today’s consumer has a desire to connect, share and communicate

• Twitter updates at fashion shows
• Real time behind the scenes at fashion shows, store openings, etc.

2. Provide distinctive access and an enriched user experience

• Focus on lifestyle selling
• Examples of high end appliance sites offering recipes from expert chefs etc
• Provide social expertise via expert blogs and articles

3. The need to be remembered and catered to based upon individual preferences, tastes and desires

• Replenishment reminders for cosmetics products or other products with known life-cycles
• Avatar personal shoppers
• Utilization of shopping behaviors to determine appropriate touch-points

Again, these points really are not anything new. The new part mostly seems to be that the higher end brands (think, $22,000 handbags) that typically have been sold exclusively in boutique stores by people who know their customers by name are actually able to come close to replicating that experience on line now. I'm thinking that most of this is setting the stage for a dialogue about content.  Tribal has been creating beautiful and rich experiences for clients like Lowes, State Farm and McDonalds - the biggest difference I've seen so far is the content of those experiences. Think Sunnyville for Chanel.

One of the themes in the panel discussion Creating Destinations In The Online Channel was about the idea of exclusivity.  I think you've all seen emails from sites like Rue La La and Ideeli.  They are turning the traditional approach to selling online a bit on it's side. They are creating mini-boutiques with limited quantities and only allowing registered users to purchase at explicit times. These sites have even gone so far to market themselves as 'invite only'.  I think at first this seems a bit counter-intuitive as the point of opening up a store online is to be able to provide your consumer with 24/7 access to as much purchasable product as possible however in the space of selling luxury brands and higher price point items the idea that you are getting something exclusive is very compelling - it's like finding that neighborhood boutique that no one else knows about and you know if you go there you'll find something no one else will get.  On the panel was a representative from Ideeli and one of the things they are doing that I thought to be pretty smart was not just emailing customers when a specific brand or item goes on sale but sending text messages to them. So wherever you are you will get a message about that really great shoe or handbag that's going to be going on sale - you can tell your friends, get to a computer, pull it up on your PDA and buy it.