Luxury marketers, long seen as resistant to change, have benefited from the progress made in augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence during the first half of 2017. Here are 10 software and technology efforts in luxury marketing for the first half of 2017.
RETAIL
10 Luxury Brands Embracing Software and Technology in 2017
This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
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
Luxury marketers, long seen as resistant to change, have benefited from the progress made in augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence during the first half of 2017. Here are 10 software and technology efforts in luxury marketing for the first half of 2017.
For an industry supported by high-level customer service, technological tools have been the ideal method to respond to today’s consumers' digital-first approach to consumption and information. The future of marketing will continue to rely on these advancements even more as the line between physical and digital blurs further.
Here are the top 10 software and technology efforts in luxury marketing for the first half of 2017, in alphabetical order:
1. Amazon
Amazon might be changing the manner in which consumers interact with fashion now that its new artificial intelligence device Echo has been outfitted with a camera for style advice.
Consumers who purchase the new Amazon Echo will have the ability to receive fashion advice in regard to their outfits through the device’s camera and its artificial intelligence solution. Fashion designers will likely have an avenue in the future to further connect with consumers through this feature
Amazon’s Alexa will now be getting sight in addition to hearing. The new Echo will be able to capture photos through its camera on the front of the device.
Artificial intelligence will open new doors and opportunities for luxury. Image courtesy of Amazon
2.Estée Lauder
Beauty marketer Estée Lauder is helping consumers visualize its cosmetics on their own faces through a personalized try-on experience.
Buying beauty online without a trial can be a challenging prospect, as consumers are unsure how a particular shade will appear on their unique skin tone. Estée Lauder is looking to solve this problem and drive more confident purchases by incorporating ModiFace’s automatic facial analysis technology into its ecommerce platform, allowing shoppers to view makeup on their faces in real-time.
Estée Lauder uses AR for personal try-ons. Image credit: Estée Lauder
3. Gemfields
Colored-gemstone miner Gemfields provided peace of mind for its brand partners and consumers through a gemological paternity test program.
Gemfields’ Emerald Paternity Test leverages technologies developed by Gübelin, a Swiss, family-owned firm known for its gemstone expertise, high-jewelry and timepieces. The jewelry sector at large has increased its ethical and environmental responsibilities due to the many social issues that surround the mining of precious metals, diamonds and gemstones.
Raw emeralds sourced by Gemfields. Image credit: Gemfields
4. Google Arts & Culture
As fashion and technology continue to merge, Google has launched a new platform to tell the stories behind the clothes we wear.
Google Arts & Culture, the technology company’s nonprofit cultural institute designed to share arts and culture in a curated online space, has launched “We Wear Culture” to explore wearable culture in detail. The effort tackles trends such as the hoodie to larger picture topics such as the collaboration between art and fashion, craftsmanship and the impact of the fashion industry, among others.
Google Arts & Culture's We Wear Culture launched June 8. Image credit: Google
5. LVMH
Luxury goods conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton awarded French startup Heuritech with the inaugural LVMH Innovation Award. Leading up to Paris’ Viva Technology June 15-17, LVMH named 32 finalists from more than 500 submissions for its first-ever Innovation Award. The French conglomerate launched the award to help move the luxury industry forward by financially supporting young companies.
Founded in 2013, Heuritech leverages artificial intelligence to detect trends online. Heuritech’s technology understands consumer tastes, which can be useful for online retailers working to push appropriate product and content on their sites.
Virtual reality at LVMH's Luxury Lab during Viva Technology in 2016. Image credit: LVMH
6. Sephora
Beauty retailer Sephora is helping consumers achieve their desired beauty look with help from artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
The color matching feature on the Sephora Virtual Artist bot for Facebook Messenger has been extended to Sephora’s mobile applications for iOS and Android, allowing consumers to find and try on product shades that correspond to hues in images. The retailer’s updates also include the expansion of its try-on feature to cheek color cosmetics for the first time.
Sephora Virtual Artist Looks. Image courtesy of Sephora
7. Shiseido
Japanese cosmetics brand Shiseido took the artificial intelligence trend one step further by employing humanoid robots on its assembly lines.
In a cosmetics industry first, Shiseido is working toward establishing a new form of manufacturing through a collaboration between humans and robots. While commonplace on mass automotive assembly lines, the high-end and luxury space has yet to trust humanoid robots to undertake the tasks typically taken on by its skilled workforce.
Shiseido humanoid robot. Image credit: Shiseido
8. Sotheby's
Auctioneer Sotheby’s brought surrealist masterpieces to life by using virtual reality, further demonstrating technology’s place in the art world.
Sotheby’s created a 360-degree virtual reality film, viewable on YouTube and heightened through Google Cardboard, that brings viewers within the surrealist paintings included in its March 1 auction in London. Sotheby’s Surrealist Art Evening Sale includes four works by Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, André Masson and René Magritte.
Sotheby's Masters of Surrealism exhibit. Photo by Ian Gavan, courtesy of Sotheby's
9. Rolls Royce
British automaker Rolls-Royce further personalized bespoke, while simultaneously giving visual effects students a leg up in their careers, with a new initiative.
Rolls-Royce is supporting emerging talent in virtual reality with a program that also benefits its customers. For its bespoke division, students from Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore were invited to design new programs in which customers can interact with the brand through VR.
Rolls-Royce VR program in Singapore. Image credit: Rolls-Royce
10. Yoox
Online retailer Yoox took shoppable selfies with the help of augmented reality.
Yoox has partnered with augmented reality application Lumyer to animate its followers' selfies. Applicable for both photos and videos, the Lumyer app adds unique effects through the use of lenses, similar to the interactive filters available on Snapchat.
The retailer has created a number of fashion filters on the Lumyer app. Users can browse a selection of sunglasses, bags and other accessories on the application and apply the pieces to their selfie of video, and if inclined purchase the goods seen in-app.
Article originally published on Luxury Daily. Republished with permission.
