LEADERS

Big Bang Rebrand: The PPR Transformation

by

Rony Zeidan

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

PPR group changes its name for KERING

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

A very well crafted rebrand requires, time, patience, vision, belief, and creativity, which are attributes reflective of the luxury industry, and synonymous with branding methodologies and processes. So what is behind PPR’s decision to rebrand? How? When? did this happen? This is a very interesting case study to observe and analyze.

In recent times, there has been an interesting overlap between brands and their leaders, where in certain cases brands carry the names of the founders and the reflection of the founder’s personality is seamless. And in other cases, the brands embody an entirely other stand-alone entity, separate from their leaders.

Yet, in the rebrand of PPR, there are a lot of tie-ins with François-Henri Pinault, Chairman of the Board and CEO of PPR. Let’s start with the name ‘Kering’, which at first glance sounds and looks like a typo, due to it’s proximity to the word ‘Caring’; apparently an intentional move on behalf of PPR.

“ The industry is having a hard time assimilating going from a name that sounds like a logo, to a name that sounds like a feeling ”

‘Ker’ means HOME in Breton, the origin of Mr. Pinault, which is synonymous with the new positioning of caring and nurturing of the apparel and accessory portfolio of brands. “Kering is a name with meaning, a name that expresses both our purpose and our corporate vision. Strengthened by this new identity, we shall continue to serve our brands to liberate their potential for growth,” says Mr. Pinault.

The brand’s mascot is a stylized OWL symbol that draws from the heritage of Mr. Pinault’s family and symbolizes vision and wisdom. All-in-all it is a nod to Mr. Pinault celebrating his career and onward thinking business approach towards his portfolio of brands: Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Girard-Perregaux, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane….

I admire the bold face change of the brand. It takes a strong and visionary leader to embark on such a venture, and an inhibited group to have the patience and wisdom to perfect it. The overall reaction I’ve been witnessing in the industry is having a hard time assimilating going from a name that sounds like a logo PPR, to a name that sounds like a feeling.

François-Henri Pinault unveils the new logo

Time will tell if the move was right from a branding perspective, but one thing is sure, is that it doesn’t matter. A strong luxury conglomerate will not be affected by a name change, instead they are shedding their skin from the past, and bringing on a newer skin that will glisten and shine in the world of luxury.

Kering is ready to take over the luxury world; Could this name change signify a whole new strategy of luxury domination?

To further investigate Branding on Luxury Society, we invite your to explore the related materials as follows:

The Art of Luxury Brand Design: The Unsung Hero?
What Makes for a Successful Luxury Re-Brand?
What the 2012 BrandZ™ Top 100 Means for Luxury

Rony Zeidan
Rony Zeidan

Founder / Chief Creative Officer

I am a creative director and brand developer specializing in the fields of Fashion, Beauty, Hospitality, and Luxury. Driven by desire to bridge my past client experience (Ralph Lauren, L’Oreal, LVMH) of nurturing and protecting a brand’s core equities, with the agency proficiency of communicating those core attributes, I established RO NEW YORK; As a boutique full service agency, we limit our client base to a select group that allows us to personalize each experience

LEADERS

Big Bang Rebrand: The PPR Transformation

by

Rony Zeidan

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit : This is the featured image credit

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

PPR group changes its name for KERING

Rony Zeidan, founder & chief creative officer of RO New York Inc, examines the biggest branding surprise in the conglomerate luxury world, PPR’s recent name change to KERING

A very well crafted rebrand requires, time, patience, vision, belief, and creativity, which are attributes reflective of the luxury industry, and synonymous with branding methodologies and processes. So what is behind PPR’s decision to rebrand? How? When? did this happen? This is a very interesting case study to observe and analyze.

In recent times, there has been an interesting overlap between brands and their leaders, where in certain cases brands carry the names of the founders and the reflection of the founder’s personality is seamless. And in other cases, the brands embody an entirely other stand-alone entity, separate from their leaders.

Yet, in the rebrand of PPR, there are a lot of tie-ins with François-Henri Pinault, Chairman of the Board and CEO of PPR. Let’s start with the name ‘Kering’, which at first glance sounds and looks like a typo, due to it’s proximity to the word ‘Caring’; apparently an intentional move on behalf of PPR.

“ The industry is having a hard time assimilating going from a name that sounds like a logo, to a name that sounds like a feeling ”

‘Ker’ means HOME in Breton, the origin of Mr. Pinault, which is synonymous with the new positioning of caring and nurturing of the apparel and accessory portfolio of brands. “Kering is a name with meaning, a name that expresses both our purpose and our corporate vision. Strengthened by this new identity, we shall continue to serve our brands to liberate their potential for growth,” says Mr. Pinault.

The brand’s mascot is a stylized OWL symbol that draws from the heritage of Mr. Pinault’s family and symbolizes vision and wisdom. All-in-all it is a nod to Mr. Pinault celebrating his career and onward thinking business approach towards his portfolio of brands: Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Girard-Perregaux, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane….

I admire the bold face change of the brand. It takes a strong and visionary leader to embark on such a venture, and an inhibited group to have the patience and wisdom to perfect it. The overall reaction I’ve been witnessing in the industry is having a hard time assimilating going from a name that sounds like a logo PPR, to a name that sounds like a feeling.

François-Henri Pinault unveils the new logo

Time will tell if the move was right from a branding perspective, but one thing is sure, is that it doesn’t matter. A strong luxury conglomerate will not be affected by a name change, instead they are shedding their skin from the past, and bringing on a newer skin that will glisten and shine in the world of luxury.

Kering is ready to take over the luxury world; Could this name change signify a whole new strategy of luxury domination?

To further investigate Branding on Luxury Society, we invite your to explore the related materials as follows:

The Art of Luxury Brand Design: The Unsung Hero?
What Makes for a Successful Luxury Re-Brand?
What the 2012 BrandZ™ Top 100 Means for Luxury

Rony Zeidan
Rony Zeidan

Founder / Chief Creative Officer

I am a creative director and brand developer specializing in the fields of Fashion, Beauty, Hospitality, and Luxury. Driven by desire to bridge my past client experience (Ralph Lauren, L’Oreal, LVMH) of nurturing and protecting a brand’s core equities, with the agency proficiency of communicating those core attributes, I established RO NEW YORK; As a boutique full service agency, we limit our client base to a select group that allows us to personalize each experience

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