In the aspirational economy, there is always pressure for newness as consumers continually evaluate items and brands differently. Are they sustainable, factual, is there inherent knowledge or layers of social status? Is there a signature aesthetic?
Brand owners, creators and marketers are increasingly becoming custodians of an imagined world, and curators of a past and future that fits a specific angle, creating a dialog with a consumer community.
We need to understand how the shift is happening from commodity to collectible, from consumer to member, product to story and brand to character. In this new environment visual culture is the new discipline, and that is why brands with a history elevate it to a culture and those that don’t have a history invent it.
We must package and operationalize our brand story through the entire customer journey of loyalty, bonding and advocacy that is organic and cost-effective, and through collaboration build social capital and a brand community of those with discerning taste.
Re-mixing a luxury brand to maintain relevance can be achieved by re-contextualizing the past and re-mixing both the familiar and the surprising. If we look for the original ‘spark’ that made our brand a success originally, we can develop a creative strategy to refresh and translate it for the next generation.
While data analytics can provide commercially useful indicators of consumer behavior, we need to turn to creative intelligence and visual culture to compete successfully in the aspirational economy.
The packaging looks so good! Beauty inspires the discerning and elevates the consumer to collector, sustaining that position requires a consistent process with clear measurable benefits. Beauty is an ‘easy’ category as there is a clear appetite for innovation, and a willingness for consumers to experiment, but brands must show tangible benefits that are measurable and scalable for the business.
The Luminous team is intentionally international, we are in-market with insights and specialist expertise in the geographies where our clients aspire to succeed. We know that to realize the brand and business ambition, its essential to understand the importance of culture, and to create a visual language and signature aesthetic that resonates with the next generation and is above all desirable.
