Luxury and the risks of digital storytelling
From Hermès, to Chanel and Alber Elbaz, how luxury brands can leverage their simple messages in digital storytelling
I were to ask what is luxury, I am pretty sure the answers will revolve around concepts like money, price, scarcity, pride, hedonism, quality, uniqueness, etc.
There are standard definitions of luxury, and probably the most famous is from Hermès: “Luxury is that which can be repaired,” evidently pushing more the point of view of a crafter than that of a customer.
Academic papers generally identify two main characteristics of luxury, which are excellence and passion. On the other end, modern marketers tend to use terms like distinctiveness and uniqueness, experiences, or goods that only a few people can afford.
All in all, such terms identify something that sets apart luxury devotees and celebrates their superiority and accomplishments. The definition of Hermès points out two distinctive factors that everybody should always bear in mind: luxury is not about the people who buy it, it’s about the people who make it and their vision, their willingness to mark space and time with a capital monument.
The power of stories
Stories are capital monuments of our history, as they were and are used to transmit our knowledge to new generations. Stories are what explains and summarizes how we arrived where we are, what things are, and why facts are important. In marketing, modern studies advise resorting to experiences and stories to build a brand and connect with audiences.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell.” — Seth Godin
Stories also need to be authentic, and this particular characteristic is fundamental in luxury, as no luxury brand has the same story as another one. We can argue that any company has a story (true). Still, all luxury brands have much more compelling stories, mainly because it’s thanks to their stories that they have become what they are. Think of brands like Chanel and the myth of Coco, or a more prosaic Apple and the myth of Steve Jobs.
In luxury, specific brand’s stories have the vital role of showing that its authenticity, preciousness, and craftsmanship correspond to the universal values of excellence and passion. Stories make it clear that when Hermès said that luxury is “that which can be repaired,” he meant that it is something that will live forever.
The Rich Kids of Instagram (RKOI) case
We can agree that luxury is about stories as much as marketing is about reputation. The main reason why luxury brands tend to shun modern digital channels is that they couldn’t control their own reputation, as it would fall in the hands of the social networks users. What they are now understanding is, in brief, that it pays anyway.
The RKOIs’ case exploded in 2012 and gained so much popularity to become a reality tv show for Channel 4. The #RKOI tag, and the six episodes of the tv shows revolve around a group of Ultra-High Net-Worth teenagers and their propensity for selfies surrounded by dozens of luxury objects, possibly in dreamland resorts, luxury hotels, yachts or private jets.
The common elements of this trend were (and still are) the abundance and the ostentation, to the point of distorting the conventional definition of luxury, and depicting scenes easily considered “kitsch” if not ridicule.
This curious episode demonstrates two things: first, what can happen when the power of control fall in the hands of (some) consumers, and the power of their stories. Even if the RKOIs do not see themselves as influencers, their stories badly contributed to the image of luxury. As they lavishly posed surrounded by the best luxury brands on the planet, their message was a simple “the more, the better,” whereas luxury praises the exact opposite, as perfectly put by Coco Chanel in “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”
Such risk is a minor annoyance though if confronted with the repeated appearance of the brands both on Instagram and on tv, and their appeal towards the customers who wish to satisfy their vanity and impress the others. What the RKOIs were paying for, were not the luxury goods but the likes of their followers.
Luxury brands now perfectly know how to satisfy such desires and, since very few people can afford their most iconic objects, they created separate product lines or simply smaller products, to better serve less affluent customers.
Still, the redistribution of social power, from the ancient aristocracy to celebrities and then to social media influencers, can potentially create awkward elephants in the room.
If repetition highlights a clear promotional message for the masses, abundance impoverishes the meaning of luxury as excellence and passion, and favors its commoditization. In brief, we know that something is luxury when everyone repeats that it is, indeed.
The Veblen case of Supreme
The most notable results of this rule are Veblen products. Veblen products defy the ordinary law of demand and offer as the more pricey they are, the more sought after they are. Luxury products are characterized by excellence and passion above all, still these two characteristics are not necessary to make e Veblen product. Customers derive the “luxury” quality from their social values, as the brand Supreme is showing the entire world.
New Veblen products are possible in our postmodern era, where social proof is easily fabricated through communication strategies, and the concept of heritage is seen through a lookback window of a few years. In modern times, brands can build both social proof and legacy with less effort and can simulate other characteristics, like scarcity and urgency, on purpose. In short, also Veblen products, like luxury products, rely heavily on storytelling.
Storytelling is the primary tool to create an emotional connection, and through emotional connection, brands can communicate their values. It as at this level, high in the Maslow’s Pyramid that Veblen products gain their traction.
“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” — Coco Chanel
If Supreme can achieve this just with storytelling, why a 200 hundred-year-old brand can’t do the same? Because on the one hand, Supreme has nothing to lose; on the other hand, traditional luxury brands have a lot, 200 hundred years of heritage, to be precise. But it shouldn’t be like this.
Old stories, modern language
I love Gucci, not that I would see myself wrapped in its most iconic creations (which is another way to say I can’t afford them), indeed what I really like is his storytelling creations, its marvelous gardens full of colors, enchantment, and peculiar characters. Gucci took storytelling very seriously, to the point of actually narrating fantastic stories that appeal to both old and young generations. Fables, like dreams, are timeless, and timeless is one primary attribute of luxury.
And most Gucci’s stories are delivered through a very modern and young service: Instagram is the place of choice where it presents its iconic anthology.
The most relevant industry where technology plays a very important tole is automotive. Luxury cars pack the best of the most advanced technology, and the champion of the four wheels luxury industry is decidedly Bentley. How did Bentley succeed in telling an old tale in a modern language? With a 53 billion pixels photo. What at first sight seems the picture of a bridge, is the photo of the Bentley logo inscribed on the backrest of a glorious Bentley Mulsanne. The message? Attention to detail, another qualifying characteristic of luxury.
Attention to detail and timelessness can be easily attached to passion and excellence, and these two examples prove that it’s not that hard to communicate a heritage story using a modern language. Contrary to common belief, crafting an engaging story that resonates with modern affluent consumers, and remains true to a luxury brand’s traditions is an easy task, not a difficult one.
Stories never change, the language changes, how we tell stories changes, but please bear in mind that stories have no values, they describe things. The value is there when you challenge something or argue about something relevant to the customers: timelessness, authenticity, attention to details, craftsmanship, rarity, mystique, etc. These are the values upon which luxury brands are built and appreciated all over the world.
What storytelling does, is carrying the message most emotionally: its goal is ultimately connection, it is making the customers feel part of the story, and see themselves in it. Your customers may forget your message, but they won’t forget how you made them feel. This is called involvement.
Now it seems that to communicate most effectively, luxury brands need the right content and the proper involvement. There is no point in telling a story in which the customers can’t see themselves. Luxury is minimalistic elegance and choice, in no way the RKOIs’ flaunted abundance can dethrone timeless luxury principles like “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance”. It’s an easy victory; why not accept the challenge?
On his manifesto at Lanvin, Alber Elbaz wrote: “At the end of the day, maybe we are no longer the industry of newness, because that was taken by technology, but we’re still an industry of a man and a woman and a thread and a needle, and of fabric, and a dream. And we need the dream”.
There is no better way to agree with Alber Elbaz than telling everyone his simple truth.
#luxury #storytelling #brandstorytelling #luxurygoods
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Author and journalist for many decades, Domenico (Nick) Gandolfi is a content strategist, business developer, and digital marketing manager who is also a storyteller at heart. Nick Gandolfi firmly believes that all stories are important because they go to the heart of things and people. This story appeared originally on my Linkedin profile.
