Yesterday I spoke on a panel at the 2007 Luxury Briefing Conference about why web 2.0 is critical for brands, and briefly offered some ideas on the ways in which the luxury arena could embrace digital for the future. For such an influential market sector it is incredible that so many major players are still so averse to understanding the potential for their brands, and much of the day seemed to be spent on explaining what luxury on the web is now, rather than ways in which it could – and should – be leading online.
Whilst the conference offered some interesting insights and re-ignited a conversation topic that these brands seem to have been trying to get to grips with for years, there was a lot left unsaid and so many questions still to be answered. Attention was focused on sales and networks, and speakers only briefly brushed the surface of the key points of focus for luxury brands, namely the importance of using connectivity to enhance the experience (rather than just the sales), and the personalized relationship than can be fostered with a new global customer base of varying ages. A couple of these were broached during my panel discussion, however there’s still so much I never got to delve into and I would love to continue the discussion with anyone who is interested. For example, there was not one mention of the rapidly growing market in luxury rentals online and the impact of this for the brands, nor of the changing forms of ‘luxury’ and how the web offers a chance for integration.
If anyone wants to have a chat about this, or any other topic, drop me a line and we’ll go for a coffee: amanda@psfk.com
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Amanda, I’m interested in what you have to say on the LB Conference. As an Associate Editor of LB, I have been involved with it (and with the conferences) for 11 years, and the subject of ‘changing definitions of luxury’ has been so thoroughly covered and analysed over that period as to have become an obsession amongst us and our columnists! This conference was not designed as a forum for that (although that is not to say we won’t return to it in future conferences, and would be glad of your input). Likewise, we didn’t want to get into high-end fractional ownership, or ‘luxury rentals’, or any of the other themes currently dominating thinking in the luxury arena (see the current November issue), as being distractions to the main message: waking up to what the web can do, and should be made to do, for both customers and businesses (and remember we are addressing some businesses that move very slowly indeed and distrust change). Dee Salomon, Senior Vice President of CondeNet, and the genius Tyler Brule, were particularly authoritative and persuasive, I felt. Most, if not all, attendees will have taken away morsels for thought. Having done this, I would like to see the internet incorporated into future conferences as just one element of the causes and effects of changing definitions of luxury.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:16 pm