Luxury brands move to merge corporate content and eCommerce platforms, as Ferrari integrates the Apple iPad mini and Siri technology into its FF hatchback
The Latest Digital: Baselworld, Zegna & Ferrari
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 brands move to merge corporate content and eCommerce platforms, as Ferrari integrates the Apple iPad mini and Siri technology into its FF hatchback
The new website by Six Senses Hotels
Will digital marketing bring new consumers to luxury brands? According to a new survey from Luxury Interactive and ShopIgniter the answer is a resounding yes. The study found that the leading business driver among luxury brand marketers, for investments in digital and social media, is in fact new customer acquisition.
63% of the luxury marketers surveyed predict that by 2015, digital marketing will be the most important form of marketing for their brands — more important than traditional print, TV or loyalty programs. This very year 85% will increase their digital spend and 72% will increase spending on social media marketing.
“ Social media creates opportunities to drive product discovery, generate new customer insight & move prospects closer to a purchase decision ”
“While acquiring new customers in social media is logical given the demographics it draws, luxury brands need to develop strategies built on extending their brand promise, inviting fans in and providing the exclusivity they expect,” explained Marko Muellner, VP marketing at ShopIgniter, in a statement.
“Our experience shows that roughly half of a brand’s social fans are not in the house file, which means there is ample opportunity to not only introduce the brand to a new customer, but also find opportunities to drive product discovery, generate new customer insight and move prospects closer to a purchase decision.”
Baselworld, App
The Baselworld 2013 App is now available for Android, Blackberry and iOS, offering help for those negotiating the new hall layouts. The free appincludes interactive 3D hall plans, detailed information about exhibitors and an overview of events and press conferences. Users can add their own notes and photos to an exhibitors entry.
Download: Apple
Source: Retail Jeweller
Christian Louboutin, Chinese Social Media
Christian Louboutin has launched on Sina Weibo, Youku and Tudou, as the brand looks to extend its digital influence in Asia. A new ecommerce site to service countries within the APAC region will be launching in the coming months, alongside a simplified Chinese corporate website and a dedicated ‘Stop Fake’ site.
Websites: Weibo, Tudou, Youku
Source: Christian Louboutin
Condé Nast, Web TV
Condé Nast has announced its latest digital push: an online video network, featuring Glamour and GQ-branded original video series sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Microsoft and Mondelēz International. More “branded programming” featuring other Condé brands will follow, more than a year after Condé announced the launch of a new entertainment division.
Source: Fashionista
Escada, eCommerce
Premium womenswear label Escada has launched its first e-commerce website in its home country of Germany. The site marks the brand’s first transactional website, offering apparel and accessories from both the mainline Escada collection as well as the sub-brand Escada Sport.
Website: escada.com
Source: Fashion United
Ferrari, Apple Integration
Following the appointment of Eddie Cue – Apple’s software and services guru – to Ferrari’s board, the luxury automaker has announced that Siri integration and a pair of iPad Minis are now standard on the Ferrari FF. The FF, its all-wheel drive, four-seat hatchback, will have iPad Minis installed in the headrests as part of a new rear-seat entertainment package.
Source: Wired
Jaquet Droz, Website
Celebrating its 275th anniversary, Jaquet Droz has unveiled its new HTML 5 website, infused with the brand’s DNA and the latest on-line technological innovations. All content can be shared on numerous social networks like Facebook or Twitter, and is available in 8 languages (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russia, Simplified Chinese, Japanese).
Website & Source: Jaquet Droz
Lanvin, mCommerce
Lanvin has launched its e-store on its mobile-optimszed site. The brand announced the new shopping channel to consumers with a direct email and Twitter campaign. When mobile users access Lanvin’s site on their mobile device, they are brought to a homepage where they can scroll right and left through branded content such as exclusive items available on the e-store, fashion show videos, collections and window displays.
Source: Luxury Daily
LuxDeco, App
LuxDeco, an online destination for luxury home products, will launch its first shoppable magazine app for the iPad on April 24th. The latest trends and interior styles are brought to life in video features, captivating photo shoots and exclusive interviews with renowned tastemakers, stylists and connoisseurs of design.
“With over 25% of our audience coming from the iPad, a luxury shoppable magazine was the obvious next step”,says founder and CEO Jonathan Holmes.
Source: LuxDeco
Proenza Schouler, Website
Proenza Schouler has reinvigorated its website, the final phase of its rebranding, undertaken in collaboration with art director Peter Miles. Stocking a range of small leather goods, accessories and select items from the Spring 2013 runway collection, the revamped site will significantly expand Proenza Schouler’s presence in e-commerce.
Website: proenzaschouler.com
Source: Business of Fashion
Six Senses, Website
Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas has launched its new web site, in keeping with the brands new visual identity and repositioning. The Web site makes full use of the group’s vast library of extraordinary images, highlighting the aesthetics, experiences, and natural beauty of the locations that Six Senses call home.
Website: sixsenses.com
Source: Hospitality.net
Zegna, Website
As part of its comprehensive digital strategy, Ermenegildo Zegna, has consolidated its online platforms, Zegna.com and the Zegna Online Store Powered by Yoox Group, under a single interactive structure that delivers full coverage of hot new style trends, fashion news and exclusive content together with a fashion-forward online shopping experience.
Website & Source: Zegna
For more in the series of The Latest Digital, please see our most recent editions as follows:
– The Latest Digital: Gucci, Porsche & Raymond Weil
– The Latest Digital: Labelux, Burberry & Chanel
– The Latest Digital: Cartier, Prada & Tod’s
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.