The Chinese car brands already in Europe? They are just the tip of the iceberg. Original Article German Original Article French Original Article English And for many, the hardest part is only just beginning. The challenge is no longer simply building a good car. When dozens of capable, affordable and genuinely well-built models arrive across […]
A brand perspective on a hundred years of the Mother Road Route 66 turns a hundred in 2026. It was never designed as a symbol. It began as an argument over a number. A businessman from Oklahoma wanted the round 60 for his link from Chicago to the Pacific, Kentucky claimed it first, and 66 […]
We live in an age of acceleration: Strategies are updated faster. Products are launched faster. Decisions are distributed across more teams, markets and technologies. AI promises to make almost everything faster still. More productivity hacks everywhere, yet we feel busier than ever. And there is a danger hidden inside all of this commotion: Brands and […]
Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business is a series of invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally. We live in an age of relentless comparison. Brands compare features. Entrepreneurs compare growth. Professionals compare status. Consumers compare lifestyles, prices, […]
Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business is a series of invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally. Simplicity is often mistaken for ease. But anyone who has truly tried to simplify will understand that simplicity is effortful. It […]
Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business is a series of invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally. In luxury - and in life - aspiration is oxygen. Cut it off and the dream dies. Feed it wisely, […]
Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business' is a series of invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally. The age of AI is not arriving - it has arrived. What does this mean for luxury and its value propositions? […]
In luxury, the invisible often matters more than the visible. The silent codes, the invisible signatures, the intangible ethos — these are the real moats. How can non-luxury brands shape such profound distinctiveness? By defining and living a value system that becomes a gravitational force for people, decisions, and differentiation. Just as luxury brands do […]
In luxury, beauty is not about ideals from some Utopian neverland. It is about ideals that can become real. In the words of François Henri-Pinault, CEO of Kering, one of the top global luxury conglomerates: “We share a strong vision of what luxury is. It is beauty with a purpose, beauty with an intention.” How […]
Luxury brands know very well how tradition and legacy add value to their business. They are excellent and using these concepts to bolster internal culture and amplify desirability. But for luxury brands, tradition is not just about the past. It’s about creating the future. What can non-luxury businesses learn from the world of luxury about […]
Luxury brands have mastered the art and science of selling so well that they don’t need to sell to anymore - because they are being bought from. They don’t sell goods and services. The goods and services sell themselves. As Prof. Peter Drucker put it: "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the […]
Innovation in luxury is driven by an obsession with excellence. It involves the relentless pursuit of refinement, research, and development to continuously enhance the products and services offered. In this context, "good" is the enemy of "great," as mere adequacy is never enough. As Salvador Dali aptly put it: "Have no fear of perfection—you'll never […]
Not all collaborations have the same value or impact. Some collaborations provide a good boost to the brand or even sales; others carry risk and can even be more harmful than beneficial. Too many collaborations are either inconsequential or, at best, provide small short-term returns. There is a widespread assumption that there is power in […]
People collect memorable experiences, slices of life and pleasant personal moments. Brands can deliver this. In fact, some brands - and especially luxury brands - do deliver this extremely well. How? By designing and implementing multi-sensory brand experiences. “The rules of customer experience management haven't changed all that much. You still need to be […]
The allure of luxury extends far beyond the tangible. Luxury brands not only create strong customer and employee loyalty but also command premium pricing, yielding substantial profit margins. The question of course becomes: what if these principles could be adapted by businesses beyond the luxury sphere? Can businesses harness the power inherent int luxury pricing […]
Purpose Beyond Profit: How Luxury Brands Are Redefining Success The luxury industry not only creates the finest objects and experiences, but its companies also excel at putting a higher purpose, beyond profit, at the heart of their business model. These companies have long been driven by a deep sense of their raison d'être, embodying their […]
Scarcity has always been an important principle for luxury brands around the world, and in my opinion it can certainly be useful to apply the scarcity principle to many non-luxury brands as well. The scarcity principle is about how people have a tendency to place a higher value on things that are perceived to be […]
Aristotle was not in the luxury industry, nor was he a craftsman - but he surely knew a thing or two about quality. He famously once said “quality is not an act, it is a habit.” The role of quality goes beyond just the quality of a product. Having a top-quality product is only one […]
Brand positioning is a simple concept, but hard to get right. Why is positioning so important not only for companies, brands but also for individuals? What are the benefits of positioning? And how can you go about finding your own position? Here’s a crucial reminder to get us started: if you don't define your own […]
As Stewart Wallis from the New Economics Foundation once stated: “History tells us that a value shift is triggered by creation of a new story about how we want to live.” Most companies in most industries are not good at storytelling. Their marketing or corporate communications departments are missing the opportunities and benefits the best […]
When building your #brand, please think luxury 💎. I use principles of luxury branding to explain, mostly to non-luxury businesses, why and how this space serves as a beacon in brand building. There are many learnings to be had. For starters, rather than relying on superficiality and run-off the mill messaging, a strong brand focuses […]
“I think if the people who work for a business are proud of the business they work for, they’ll work that much harder, and therefore, I think turning your business into a real force for good is good business sense as well.” Sir Richard Branson Most board and executive perspectives still separate profit and Purpose […]
What does a vision statement entail? And how do you envision your future? Defining your vision gives you a visual and even sense of direction. It allows you to create a clear path that directs you towards a goal. Remember: If you don’t know where you’re headed, how will you get there?
Your brand, a product of both your culture and history, is a steady rock. This might be your unique point of stability for the decade(s) to come. More than ever, your investors will be looking for these rare elements of stability. We suggest that now is a good time to take stock and reflect on what makes you unique.