BrandWatch by Michel Gutsatz

Frugality at the service of Chinese brands

After suffering a severe slowdown in 2012 due to the ‘wait and watch’ attitude of companies that suddenly stopped their purchases of "gifts", the luxury world in China awaited the orientations of the new Chinese government. For several months the press was filled with announcements highlighting the fight against corruption:  the dismissal of "Watch Brother" (a minor official in the province of Shanxi) was an example, denounced in an internet campaign for having sported different luxury watches on each of his photos, and the campaign against officials who keep mistresses.

But behind the campaign against corruption (which continues) lies another positive aspect that is much more interesting: the frugality demanded of the entire Chinese political class. No more banquets, bouquets of flowers, alcohol flowing like water, no more luxury hotels. The consequences were immediate: a 10% decline in the demand for First and Business Class airline tickets, a drop of 20% in the frequentation of VIP airport lounges, lower turnover in luxury restaurants in Beijing (-35 %) and Shanghai (-20%), a decline of about 20% in hotel bookings in Zhejiang Province ... Even the Chinese liquor brands Wulangye and Moutai announced results below those expected for 2012: Moutai shares dropped by 19% between November 2012 and February 2013!
This frugality also has positive consequences for certain Chinese brands:

• The Chinese government has announced that only Chinese brand cars can be ordered for official use. 412 models were identified, all of them Chinese: goodbye to the official black Audis!  These orders will be placed with, among others, First Auto Works (FAW) and see a re-edition of the famous Red Flag limousine (which I mentioned here as far back as 4 September 2010).
  
  

• During the recent visit of President Xi to Russia, the First Lady, Peng Liyuan, caused a sensation when she descended from the plane wearing a coat and carrying a bag made by ‘Exception’, a Chinese brand (see the March 22nd article in Jing Daily). Although she here conforms to a long tradition of First Ladies wearing their countries’ brands, the personality of Peng Liyuan, also a famous Chinese singer, only reinforces the strength of the message: the high-end Chinese brands will be promoted and defended by the authorities.
  
  
  
  

Revisiting the Dior J'Adore saga

Dior has just launched a new commercial for its fragrance J'Adore. This film speaks only of the perfumer, craftsmanship, ingredients and the alchemy that influences creation. It evokes the Murano glass bottle. This new film is perfectly in line with the very pronounced return of luxury brands to the roots of their craft (Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermès have produced such campaigns for the last two years). The brand seems to have abandoned its saga featuring its muse, Charlize Theron. However, I would like to offer another view of the history of the Dior J'Adore ad campaign which I think is more pertinent, and which reveal the anguish of a brand:

1. It all began in 2000 with the film by Jean Baptiste Mondino where Carmen Kass wades into a bath of gold. 
   
   
   
   One could not help but think of Jean Cocteau who said, "Dior, this delicate genius particular to our times, whose magical name combines God (Dieu) and Gold (Or)".  This film speaks of Dior, the alchemist, transforming the woman into gold ... the woman who dares to abandon herself by wrapping herself in perfume.  But whom do we think of when we speak of a blond film star who abandons herself to perfume?                    
2. In 2005, Charlize Theron (chosen as the brand’s face by John Galliano) appears in a film by Nick Night with a song by Nina Simone - "Don’t let me be misunderstood" ... a blond angel, femme temptress, who says she’s good.
   
   
   
   Who is the star one thinks of, image of purity and naughty nudity under the sheet?


3. In 2008 - a film by Jean Baptiste Mondino denudes Charlize Theron who, at the end, is enrobed only in her perfume. The reference to Marilyn Monroe becomes obvious here - who, when asked what she wore at night, replied: "Why, Chanel No. 5 of course!"  Dior indirectly tries to appropriate the obvious reference of its "brand enemy" No. 1...           

 


4. 2011 - Jean Jacques Annaud films Charlize Theron at Versailles, in which she goes backstage during a Dior show where she rubs shoulders with Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich and ... Marilyn Monroe. This time the transgression is complete: Dior actually features Chanel’s muse in its film.

 

Thus, for the last 10 years, is not the Dior J'Adore saga in fact a long pursuit of Chanel No. 5 and its real muse Marilyn Monroe, like the movie recently released by Chanel shows:

Is it not time for Dior J'Adore to actually acquire a message of its own and not borrow from a legacy that does not belong to it?

The Cartier Odyssey decrypted

In my new book (written with Gilles Auguste) "Luxury Talent Management - Leading and Managing a Luxury Brand" (published in April 2013 by Palgrave Macmillan), we analyze Cartier's "Odyssey" campaign - showing how the brand  found inspiration in its history, its visual codes and its iconic products - thus offering us a truly modern vision. You will find here this analysis as an "avant-première" or should we say an appetizer!

“An evening of mystery, at 13 rue de la Paix … in the heart of Paris, where the Cartier myth was born. The beginnning of a wonderful adventure, a tale of creativity spanning 165 years of history, from the garland style to Art Deco, from the Cartier animal kingdom to tutti frutti jewels, from platforms to mysterious clocks that seem to make time stand still. …”
Cartier aired in the early months of 2012 a movie “Cartier Odyssey”, marking the brand’s 165th  anniversary. It is a magnificent storytelling of the brand – which we will decode for laymen.
“This film is built is built on the history of Cartier. It illustrates several fundamental elements of Cartier philosophy, creative vision and more particularly Cartier vision style” said Pierre Rainero Cartier’s Image Style and Heritage Director.

Why the Panther?
The muse behind the Cartier Odyssey is of course the panther, the emblematic figure of the Maison since the 1930s. Jeanne Toussaint was then Artistic Director and “la Panthère” was her nickname. “She embodied a type of feminine elegance which was very assertive and independent. She was also a true original. In 1948 she was to become the creator of the first figurative panther in Jewelry, a brooch. A panther completed with a very beautiful emerald which would be sold to the Duchess of Windsor” 
Why Russia? (chapter 2)
Cartier is the Maison that has served the kings and the queens of this world. Cartier obtained no fewer than 15 different royal warrants in the first 30 years of the 20th century. This effectively made Cartier the most well-known luxury jeweler among the royal courts of the world.
In the film the panther captivates the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in her sleigh in Saint Petersburg: At the very beginning of 20th century Pierre Cartier was embraced by Russian aristocracy. “Cartier was the Jeweler of Kings and the King of Jewelers” as the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) pronounced.
Why the Dragon? (chapter 4)
“This dragon has a very Cartier look : yellow gold, encrusted with onyx and emerald eyes. These two animals sized each other up as if two influences, two cultures were coming face to face. That the panther should find itself in China alongside the dragon of the Great Wall is no fantasy. It is a symbol of the Maison ‘s unversalism”… and of one of its major current market, China.
Why the Elephant? (chapter 5)
The Panther then crept into a Mughal-inspired palace in India, a fantastical incarnation of the “Tutti Frutti” style. This famous blend of blue and green that Cartier introduced to the jewelry world is influenced by Islamic faience. Yet in the western culture this type of color mix was considered bad taste. When Cartier launched this color blend, it became fashionable and was named the “Cartier Style”.
India reminds us also that Indian Maharajas were among the most important Cartier clients in the 19th and 20th century.
Why the plane? (chapter 6)
The panther then jumps on a plane, manned by the famous Santos Dumont. In order to to have greater control while flying his aircraft, the aviator Alberto Santos Dumont ordered one of the first wristwatches from Cartier in 1904. This watch is still one of the brand’s bestsellers.
Why the rings? (chapter 2)
Two classic timeless pieces are in the film: the LOVE bracelet which has captivated us since 1970 and the three-band TRINITY ring that was created in 1924. Both have acquired legendary status and are also bestsellers.
“Cartier Jeweler since 1847”

LV: a dreary invitation to a voyage

Louis Vuitton has unveiled its new campaign "L'invitation au voyage" – an ad film currently shown in theatres in France. An enigmatic teaser (a woman / a key / a letter / the Mona Lisa...) whetted the appetite of internet users. One could not help but be reminded of the method used by Dior two years ago when it launched the "Lady Dior" series.  When it finally screened, what a disappointment!

A woman and a man as expected - still enigmatic. The Louvre and Paris are there to remind us that LV is a French brand.  A balloon (and the title of the film) evokes, of course, the core value of the brand: travel. But what more does the film tell us?  In short, nothing. Nothing that reminds one of the real world of travel - exoticism, fantasy, trains… - such as those the brand has been using over the last decades (from the oneiric photographs by Jean Larivière to the recent Shanghai Express). Nothing about the codes of the brand or its iconic products (just the faintest glimpse of a trunk).
Uninspiring to the nth degree, much closer to perfume commercials than the multidimensional universe that luxury brands unfurl. A comparison is called for with two of the biggest recent successes: "Lady Dior" and Cartier’s "Odyssey". Here are two brands that have managed to delve into their history and their imagination to present us with authentic creations. Everything that Louis Vuitton’s "Invitation au Voyage" is not.

What faces for luxury in China?

The image strategies of luxury brands used in China (both mainland China and Hong Kong) are very different from each other and deserve a closer look.  I distinguish three typical cases:

Case 1: Upmarket beauty brands set up shop using European models, thus imposing western beauty standards.  In contrast, the mass-market brands chose to use Chinese models - they were obliged to do so considering the specificities of the beauty norms and Asian skin of their clientele.  In order to do so, they adopted traditional Chinese beauty standards: oval "porcelain" skin, long and fine eyebrows, small mouth..





Case 2: Fashion brands and luxury accessories, after having also projected an image of Western elegance using 'Caucasian' models, deliberately started using Chinese models more and more.  Some recent examples are Dior and Coach:

Chinese brands like Chow Tai Fook (jewellery) have followed suit, using 'idealized' Chinese models: Chinese with slightly westernized features. This approach is understandable: Chow Tai Fook claims to be (as its name attests) a Chinese luxury brand based on traditional savoir-faire in jewellery whose clientele is essentially Chinese.

Case 3:  There remains the case of Chinese brands like Ports1961 that cultivate a thematic that is completely Western.  Here again, its image, by and large, evokes the business strategy of Ports: a Canadian brand, acquired by a Chinese family which has been developing it since then as though it were a "stateless" brand, never proclaiming its Chinese mooring (even though today most of its stores are in China).  Ports finds itself faced with a major difficulty:  the "made in China" label.  The brand is afraid that its value will decline in the eyes of its customers if it makes such a claim. I'm convinced, however, that with this approach Ports is heading for a strategic stalemate.

Store windows tell stories

For a long time, store windows were the only 'public' point of contact between brands and their customers - and too often neglected. Hundreds of square meters of showcases that just displayed products without creating a presentation, blindly following merchandising guidelines of the period. Only a few brands had understood that store windows were a unique space for telling a story: Paul Smith (by installing objects unrelated to the brand such as Dyson vacuum cleaners, old Vespas or by making them really amusing), and Hermès, belonged to this category.
Today, when the Internet is, without doubt, the preferred point of contact between customers and brands, they are rediscovering and reinventing the store window. They are becoming a place that narrates real stories, particularly where the encounters between art and luxury are the most visible.  Brands use them as a means of instant communication - attracting the attention of the passers-by and making them pause to admire it.
Here are some recent examples that are superb:
The Louis Vuitton store windows for the launch of the Kusama collection:

The Hermès store windows with their interplay of sand and pigments (and the works of Manuel Merida)

Bally rediscovers its history and its roots in the shoe business

Starbucks sponsors the Edward Hopper exhibition... and makes it known

Luxury brands and the Olympics: more or less successful co-branding

 The Olympic Games were the occasion for a number of luxury brands to associate with national teams (you will find a summary here). These co-branding operations were more or less successful. I would like to mention four of them in particular, those to which I would award medals, in the spirit of the occasion:

Gold Medal: Armani and the Italian team

Here is an excellent example of consistency: an Italian brand uses its "sports" collection, EA7, to outfit the Italian team. An extremely elegant presentation - conserving the Black & White codes of Emporio Armani, projecting Italy and its qualities, and sports where it traditionally shines - characterized this campaign labelled "The Sense of Being." This limited collection was backed up by a comprehensive communications campaign: a website, an app, visuals created by Richard Phibbs, TV commercials...

Silver Medal: Hermès and the French show jumping team

The French brand, Hermes, entirely consistent with its history, created the blazers of the French show jumping team. A really nice video, and designs by Philippe Dumas accompanied a collection that will probably hit the stores in 2013 as part of the spring-summer collection.

The team, unfortunately, did not bring back a medal from London (this will have no impact on the brand) - but why didn't Hermes have enough drive to outfit the entire French contingent?

Bronze Medal: Stella McCartney and the British team

It was, in fact, a venture spearheaded by Adidas - which asked Stella McCartney, the English designer, to design the swimsuits of the British athletes. This raised an outcry in the media about the reinterpretation of the national flag by the designer (see the article in the Huffington Post): too much blue, and where did the red go?
From the point of view of consistency, it is minimal in this case: Adidas will certainly benefit from the success of the British team.

Chocolate medal: Ralph Lauren and the U.S. team

The USA / Ralph Lauren co-branding - where consistency is, in appearance, very strong - was marked by two major controversies:

• All the outfits of the American team created by Ralph Lauren, were manufactured in China: this (in the middle of an election year) evoked a flood of criticism of the brand and the American team (asking them to "burn 'Made in China' USA uniforms"). I know, from reliable sources, that initially Ralph Lauren approached an Italian manufacturer and considered that the price offered did not suit their budget.  You can be certain that no such controversy would have arisen if this solution had been chosen: "Made in China" remains synonymous with poor quality and outsourcing in the eyes of commentators of every hue.
• On the jackets worn by the athletes at the opening ceremony, the Ralph Lauren logo is larger than the American flag: the critics (justifiably) point out that the sponsor-brand occupied too much space.
  

The "privilege" highlighted by Ralph Lauren therefore spills over into an unrepentant mercantilism. But then, only too happy to find a sponsor, did the officials of the U.S. team consider the questions of quality, manufacturing location or size of the logo?

IWC innovates in retail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IWC (the Richemont Group) - like a number of other watch brands (Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Corum, Hublot, Hermès ...) - built a network of boutiques (25 in 2009) that one may call classically elegant, in other words, very 'chic' places where one can go and buy watches. As a result, all the watch brand boutiques resembled each other.
But now IWC has just broken that similarity by taking inspiration from stores that sell luxury brand accessories:  It first opened a flagship store in Hong Kong in 2009 then a second in New York on Madison Avenue last month. What an enormous change!
The boutique is a true "lifestyle store" of 300 m2 where all the collections are presented in an environment that evokes the powerful universes to which these six collections pertain to: books, accessories, navigation instruments, Santoni bracelets, shoes, calligraphy tools, chess boards, diving equipment, a flight simulator.... most of which are for sale. A limited edition collection - the IWC Collection, exclusive to the flagship stores in Hong Kong and New York - is also sold here.

These boutiques are really successful.  Let us hope that they serve as an inspiration to other watch brands...

How Walmart uses the Internet

I would like to draw attention to the three recent initiatives by Walmart that reflect the brand's strategy in matters of digital communication:

• Creating a bond with consumers: "Get on the Shelf" is a competition where one can propose a product ("innovative" / "fun" / "cute"), using a video. Netizens are then asked to vote for it, and the winning product is subsequently referenced at Walmart stores. The statistics are impressive: between 9th January and 22nd February, 4,000 products were submitted (a refrigerated 'lunch-bag' / a repair kit for glasses / water sold to benefit people without access to water, etc.). On March 7th, the first day of voting, 93% of the products elicited votes.  Around 55,000 votes were received everyday, for 92,000 visits.  The 10 finalists have just been announced:
  
  
  
  
• Creating links with marketing teams and helping brands to grow: Walmart offers brands they work with a "Retail Development Kit".  This includes offering them several platforms on which to project themselves: joint TV commercials / advertising on video screens in shops / advertisements on the walmart.com site and - even more innovative - the opportunity to "piggyback" on Walmart's social media programmes - such as "My Local Walmart" on Facebook - and thus access the 10 million Facebook fans of the brand, store by store.
  
  
• Equipping itself with a digital laboratory for ideas: these initiatives all spring from @WalmartLabs, a structure inaugurated in April 2011. This team describes itself as an "innovator in social and mobile commerce" - "this is where we define the future of commerce". One of its most ambitious projects is the "Social Genome": "The Social Genome is a giant knowledge base that captures interesting entities and relationships of the social world. Example entities include people, events, topics, products, locations, and organizations. Example relationships include a person being interested in a topic, a person attending an event, an event is about a certain topic, an organization is associated with a product, and so on".
  
  
  
  

Walmart, in just one year, armed itself with a true digital strategy - by buying start-ups in Silicon Valley and locating all its digital operations in California (AdAge tells us that "In April, Walmart purchased Twitter app developer, Kosmix, for $300 million and instantly refashioned it as Walmart Labs, its social and e-commerce research-and-development unit in Mountain View, Calif. Within months, Walmart Labs had added advertising network OneRiot and mobile app developer Small Society - acquisitions aimed at grabbing talent - and had managed to assemble a formidable presence in Silicon Valley").

A bad Renault commercial!

When I saw the new commercial for the Renault Mégane I confess I found myself at a loss:  Why was the vendor speaking in pidgin Franco-German?
I just read, a little belatedly, a column dated 29 October in Monde Magazine which explained that Renault was parodying an Opel commercial "to vaunt the quality of its Mégane ... And it works ...".  According to the article, Renault is happy to have created "a message that can speak effectively of quality, a task that is extremely difficult", and prides itself that one week after its launch the video was watched by 700,000 surfers on YouTube.

I find all this rather upsetting - for two main reasons:

• Choosing Opel as a "benchmark" of German quality is a mistake: Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, is a brand that is not faring well. The mere fact that Opel was forced to create a commercial in German to remind consumers that it is a German brand, and therefore of impeccable quality, speaks volumes about its complete lack of image. Today, the only German brands associated with German quality are Audi, BMW and Mercedes (and Volkswagen to a lesser extent) and they do not need ads in German to convince their clients (and others) of it.  Renault's choice of Opel speaks volumes about the disarray of the brand.
• The tone of the Renault commercial - with jokes somewhat xenophobic and typically French - is unworthy of an international brand.  Evidently, a huge success on the internet was to be expected - going by the number of times a video is viewed. But this success is by no means the confirmation that Renault is building an image of quality: it is merely the measure of interest that internet users have in something that gives them a good laugh.

For several years now Renault has been in quest of its brand DNA.  There were a succession of slogans:  1986 - Des voitures à vivre (Cars to live for); 1991 - Vive la vie en Renault (Live life in a Renault); 2000 - Créateur d'automobiles (Creator of automobiles).  It was the era of the Avantime and the VelSatis, a time when Renault believed it was creating haute couture in cars.  And now, Renault: la qualité version française (Renault: quality, French version).  In fact, Renault no longer has real brand substance, and so places itself at the mercy of the first ad agency that comes along that convinces it that such a film can endow it with an aura of "quality".  My advice would be to take a closer look at the work that Chrysler is doing to infuse meaning into the "Made in Detroit" label (see my post of March 20), or at the protracted effort made by Audi which has managed, in 20 years, to give real substance to a once-moribund brand.  But then, Audi is a German brand ...