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.