Christian Louboutin, Dancer In A Daydream

Luxury brands are growing confidence in their take up of social media marketing. Increasingly, rather than perceiving social networks as relinquishing control of their carefully branded environments, luxury brands are rapidly getting to grips with the idea of consumers as a key distribution channel in themselves. Luxury brands such as Dior are now investing their marketing efforts into the creation of fun and beautiful digital content that extends the story and messaging of their brand.

Check out a shortlist compiled by The Business of Fashion, showcasing a range of such fashion films from Chanel’s cinematic take on the sophisticated dancefloors of St Tropez, through to Christian Louboutin’s playful and quirky illustration of a creative daydream.

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Consumers as your distribution channel

Social networks are set up as a perfect channel for luxury marketers to harness the power of word of mouth marketing. In a time where consumer scepticism is at an all time high, survey by PR firm, Edelman (2006) found that 67% of consumer goods sold as a result of word of mouth, by a three to one margin people are far more likely to trust “average people like me”.

As the authors over at Fashion’s Collective blog write “having a loyal customer take hold of a brand piece and share it with their circle via word of mouth is pure. solid. gold.”   See full article here

Fashion marketers are now taking this one step further and engaging with consumers by providing or in some cases even co-creating content with their audience.  This is the future currency that will build consumer advocacy for their fashion brand and products. “People on social networks love to share. Find the people who are passionate about your industry, your brand and your products, reward them with valuable information and content, and then watch as they put all of their passion, zeal and social media acumen to work promoting your brand to the rest of their social network.” (Ryan & Jones, 2009).

What does this mean for 2010 and beyond?

In a study by Outsell Inc (cited at LuxurySociety.com) digital spending is expected to eclipse print ad spending this year for the first time ever. With a further study by the Society of Digital Agencies showing a continued upward surge in digital media investment for 2010. 81% of brand executives surveyed expected to increase their digital projects in 2010, and 50% will be moving cash from traditional to digital budgets.  See more

A marketer’s ability to identify and reward influential and loyal consumer brand ambassadors will most certainly reshape the traditional value chain as they themselves become an essential and highly effective distribution channel. The key challenge now for luxury brands is in creating such a network of well-aligned marketing partners – from social media fan communities who are powered by aspiration and desire for conversation around the brand, through to influential bloggers, and even traditional media partners such as Vogue, who, with the recent announcement of the launch of their iPad app, appear to be quickly adapting their publishing strategy to the needs of the luxury advertising sector and its increasing consumer demand for inspiring, lustworthy digital content.

A very neat collaboration here for both parties.  Although this isn’t strictly digital luxury it demonstrates a very modern approach to brand platforms.  Coke benefits from the huge cache Karl brings to it along with his self-professed addiction to the fizzy beverage, and Karl continues to do one of the things he has done beautifully throughout his career, which is create accessible entry points to high end brands.

Not only has Karl designed the bottle, but he also shot the ad campaign.  Details are the bottle is made of aluminium and comes neatly boxed with a bottle opener, available at Collette.  This is not the first designer collaboration Coke Light has undertaken, but it may well prove to be their most significant.

Pod 1′s Fadi Shuman gives us his opinion about what’s in store for ecommerce in the luxury sector this year.

Full story at Figaro Digital

We’re big Chanel fans at SoL, but can’t help feeling that Karl’s latest ‘Vol De Jour’ film, available via their iPhone app, falls a little short of the mark when it comes to creating interesting digital content.  Why?  Because frankly it’s dull.  Beyond being able to see various pieces of the collection and getting a glimpse of Lara Stone in her smalls, it is of little value to the user, and therefore misses a major social opportunity.  This is reflected in the low views and ratings on public broadcast sites and largely disparaging user comments.  The experience is flat because it doesn’t embellish the brand and it leaves you wondering why Chanel doesn’t have more to say, which it certainly does.  Cool bike though…

“Train de Nuit” is a short film by Chanel N°5, that was released earlier this year. The film, which stars Audrey Tautou and Travis Davenport, is the work of legendary French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It tells the tale of a brief encounter between a man and a women traveling to Istanbul on the Orient Express, who’s lives are brought together with a little help from N°5.

In the lead up to the festive season the film is getting plenty of air time on television channels worldwide. But it’s the digital aspects of the project that have caught our attention.

The film was initially released online at www.chaneln5.com, back in May. The Flash website is beautifully executed and is a very good extension of the overall campaign. As well as showing the films – both the long and short versions – the site provides a fascinating looks at the making of the films including an interview with Jean-Pierre Jeunet and plenty of behind-the-scenes photography.

Interestingly, the campaign extends well beyond the website. Much of the campaign has been promoted via the brands own Facebook group, which currently boasts almost half a million fans. To many, involving consumers in the conversation only takes away from the mystery and potentially endangers a luxury brands positioning. Though a cursory read through some of the comments posted by the 1613 fans who recommended the film, reveals that there is very little being done to harm the Chanel brand in this case.

Aside from Facebook, the campaign is also getting promotion through an email marketing drive, which we picked up on courtesy of Elle Tea. And there’s plenty of Chanel conversation taking place on Twitter also.

We think it’s great to see brands such as Chanel using digital channels to breath extra life into the great campaigns they produce.

more.madame is a new website by Chanel & Le Figaro. The high-end digital mag promises new content each week, under the categories of fashion, culture, travel, video games and art. The current instalments include an animated fashion shoot entitled ’24 heures chrono’ and a selection of interviews with French creatives. A separate Chanel Joaillere section contains a series of movies based on Chanel product range. At present only two are available, one focused on the craftsmanship of Chanel jewellery, the other showing a range of watches.

The site is very well produced and certainly conveys a sense of luxury. But the experience is a very linear one and the site lacks any interactivity at all. It’s positive news to see brands such as Chanel engaging with user via digital channels. But to truly benefit from the web they need to relinquish some of the control that for many years has underpinned the very nature of their brand.