Fit for use

Is it worth more because it has my name on it?

Good quality does not mean luxury. Luxury means it’s expensive and you paid extra happily. In my opinion, luxury is a useful thing and there are a lot of luxury brands who do really well. On the other hand, quality means that this product or service meets the specifications and expectations, for example, what’s the difference between a Rolex and a Casio watch? Rolex is a luxury watch and if you can’t afford a Rolex, it may be a better quality to buy a Casio because it meets specifications and does what it says it does every single time. Making something of quality simply means did you define the specifications accurately and I think that we can all agree that that’s a requirement

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Perceived value

Affordable luxury in simple terms means that luxurious products within the financial reach of a much larger buying segment than for example, in the case of Louis Vuitton or Chanel. In the past, luxury meant exclusive and privilege to the wealthy. Luxury has always reflected one’s personality, but nowadays luxury has become accessible. As luxury begins to target the younger population there will be a movement towards sub-labels and diffusion ranges, for example, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Armani Exchange, McQ, See by Chloe, etc. Sometimes there is very little differentiation on the product and quality fronts, but in most cases the logo and communication can create a perception of luxury.

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The twin forces of human behaviour

Illustration: E. Wikander/Azote

The primary motivating factor behind all human behaviour is the desire to avoid pain and the desire (or need) to gain pleasure. My values are “old school”, as I think selling is the process of motivation after you have discovered the reasons why the buyer should buy your products or services. Those of you who are from my school of thought, believe that people don’t buy needs, they buy wants. And then the big question is, how do you build tremendous wants for your products?


We know that if you can make people want your products or services badly enough, they will find a way to justify their purchase. For example, online shopping for luxury goods has soared, doubling its market share from 12% in 2019 to 23% in 2020. This indicates the profound shift in consumer behaviour as well as the results of people shopping from home due to Covid 19. The key to succeeding in these times will be for brands to meet customers’ expectations in a more seamless manner across all of their channels. Especially as brands contend with store closures, travel disruptions and ongoing threat of future lockdowns. Contact me via e-mail for workshops around improving your online customer support, click and collect initiatives and contactless payment procedures.

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From storytelling to story selling

Last weekend I had a long discussion with a friend about importance of storytelling. I felt obliged to tell her about my experience with luxury and high-end designer consumer goods. And she switched me on to the term “story-selling”, and the importance of story selling for luxury brands if they want to communicate with a younger audience. This morning I watched an “old” video from Burberry - “The Tale of Thomas Burberry” - well in the fashion world what happened in 2016 is old 😊. This is luxury storytelling at its best! The video combines drama with heritage and at the same time depicts the brand founders life story in 3.5 minutes.

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You are the one we are looking for

c/o MTV

Are you a result-driven person with solid experience in marketing and a passion for brand building and luxury brands? Are you curious, positive and willing to run that extra mile to get the job done? If so, send me your CV and I will scan it for key words before I can see whether you are suitable the position.


Simon Sinek said, “Value is not determined by the people who set the price, it is determined by those who choose to pay the price." The same statistic can be presented in very different ways to create very different reactions. And our choices reflect and determine who we are and I think individual awards come as a result of the teams success.

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Luxury Brands Ignoring Influencers is a Risky Business?

Magazines are losing their power as the exclusive gatekeepers in fashion, as they used to be the brands’ best way to broadcast its message to an audience of potential customers. Now the internet and social media have changed that, and brands have to target small communities online in ways that speak to them.

Tribe Dynamics is a company that identifies influencers and estimates the “earned media value” of their activity around brands, eg. LVMH, as brands move more and more of their advertising spending online. Conor Begley (co-founder and president at Tribe Dynamics), gives an example below about the way influencers are shaping the images of luxury brands.

“I’m showing them a bunch of data on Chanel. The number one influencer for Chanel is a guy named Jeffree Star. For those of you that don’t know Jeffree Star, he has pink hair, he’s tattooed from like head to toe—and his neck too—he will routinely smoke weed in his videos […] We show them this data, and somebody from this luxury brand says, ‘Hey, we know this is really important, but we wouldn’t want Jeffree to be our number-one influencer.’ I talk about inclusivity versus exclusivity and not really controlling the conversation, etc. We go home, we look at the data; he was the number-one influencer for that brand as well, they just didn’t know it.”

Star is a make-up artist and social-media personality with a large following. Shortly after that meeting, Begley said, Star caused a stir by posting a YouTube video in which he cut up a $5,000 Chanel bag with a glowing-hot knife. Chanel doesn’t need to make Star the face of its brand, Begley pointed out, but it would probably be good for the label to create a relationship with him since he’s having an impact on how his many fans perceive Chanel. Gucci, in fact, has done just that and made custom products just for him.

Please note that magazine editors are now often influencer's themselves with their own personal followings separate from the companies they work for 😉.

Read the full Quartzy article here

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