Transcription
Right. So, here's today's viewer question. They're saying, "I'm launching a new luxury business. How do I brand myself so people see me as luxury?" Um, and not just someone charging more.
I mean, that is that not like the eternal question. You know, everyone seems to think that they can just print a logo and then in gold maybe and then that's it. Job done. You're luxury.
Yeah. Totally. It's delusional. People forget, you know, that Fortnhams didn't become Fortnhams because someone said, "Let's make shopping bags shiny." You know, it became Fortnhams because if you bought a toaster there, it was wrapped up and carried to your car as if you just bought the the crown jewels, right?
Yeah. Oh my god. Toasters and tiaras.
Yeah, precisely that. And that's the point though, isn't it? It's behavior, not decoration. I think the mistake that most new businesses make is assuming that luxury lives in the packaging. It doesn't. I mean, packaging is important. Absolutely. For sure.
But it lives in the tiny, I suppose, consistencies that add up to an atmosphere, doesn't it?
Yeah, for sure. Because like, as a consumer, that's exactly it. So I don't sit there thinking, "Ah, yes, atmosphere carefully created." I just know whether I feel either a bit special or a bit awkward. That's it.
Yeah. Exactly. And and this is it, isn't it? That, you know, you've got this idea that um the the feeling of awkwardness is usually because someone in the chain broke character, you know, because luxury in in it's theater, isn't it? You know, if if one if one actor forgets their line, then the spell is broken. I mean, you can have Pini on the website, but if your invoice turns up in comic sands, then you're just Gregs with delusions of grandeur.
Don't drag Gregs into this again. Oh my god, you've been on Gregs for years. It's breezy.
Because Gregs is perfect. You know, Gregs is consistent. It doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. You know, imagine if Greg suddenly started putting sausage rolls into, you know, expensive bags with ribbons. It would be absurd. But this is the thing that happens in luxury, though. You know, new luxury brands do the complete reverse all the time. They sell you a £3,000 ring or watch or whatever it is and then they send you an invoice from a Gmail account.
Oh, I've actually seen that. And I thought if you can't afford a proper email domain or someone to show you even how to do it, then maybe you shouldn't be charging me four figures.
But this is exactly it, you know. And I suppose that would be the first bit of advice that I'd give that branding it's not about the frosting. It's actually the plumbing, you know, it's it's the things that nobody notices like email addresses or in invoices or hold music, you know?
Oh my god.
These are the things that people notice.
I mean, hold music, right? You do have a massive thing about hold music, don't you?
Yeah. Because it matters, you know? You can't you you can't say you're crafting timeless object and then you know put me on hold with tiny Ed Sheeran. Luxury is not Ed Sheeran.
Poor Ed Sheeran. He's he's doing all right. I mean, yeah, but I get your point. But what then would be luxury hold music? Silence or or or something ambiguous, you know, a string quartet that nobody can place maybe. Or anything that says, you know, we're not desperate to entertain you while you wait. Just wait.
Oh, that sounds terrifying.
Yeah, that's cuz that's cuz it is. But that's also half the fun, isn't it? It's like some some achingly luxury boutiques that you that you that you walk into and immediately feel the need to prove that you deserve to be there.
Oh my god. I do remember that. You know, the first time I went into a Chanel. So embarrassing. And I apologize to a mannequin, you know.
And yet I bet you probably still bought something.
100%. A lipstick, but only because it was the cheapest thing in the shop. But it did feel a bit like a ticket into the club, you know.
But yeah, precisely this. And that's also um a lesson, I suppose, in induction, you know, don't sell me a product. Don't Don't try and force me into it. Induct me into a world. So that lipstick is actually a Trojan horse.
You're making it sound very manipulative.
Of course it's manipulative. Although I like to call it influence, you know.
I know. I was going to say you don't like the word.
Normally I get corrected.
Yeah. So it's influence, not manipulation.
Okay, fine.
But so is perfume. You know, nobody buys Chanel number five because they're desperate to to to smell of aldahhides. They they buy it because, you know, it lets them borrow Marilyn Monroe's ghost.
Oh my god. I mean, that is true. She didn't she famously say Chanel number five when she I was asked what she wore in bed or something?
Yeah, exactly. Somebody asked you, you know, what you wear in bed and she said Chanel number five.
Amazing.
That's amazing. That's so cool.
But I suppose as well, you know, new brands panic because they don't have that heritage, you know, that Chanel number five heritage. So, so they invent one.
So suddenly you'll hear, you know, new brand saying that their great-grandfather was handstitching Staddles in 1820. No, he wasn't.
He was flogging car parts in Cuddon. Maybe not in 1820, but he was flogging something in Cudon. You know, stop it. It's stupid.
It is stupid. The thing and the worst bit about it in this day and age is Google ruins that story in like five well minutes seconds. It's so easy.
Well, I mean AI probably destroyed it in half a second. You know,
I think the trick isn't invention. It's anchoring. You know, you can anchor yourself to something older than you, materials, locations, crafts. You know, a a whiskey brand can be new and still borrow credibility from a 300-y old B. I mean, yeah. Or Kashmir goats with better lives than their customers, right?
Heritage by proxy. But that's what you do when you haven't got your own century of history. And there's nothing wrong with it.
Yeah. And as a consumer, I don't need to be told you're old. Actually, it's just as exciting when you're new. I just need you to feel like you'll be here in 10 years time. Oh, that's very perceptive.
Because endurance is is the true signal, you know. It it I suppose it's it's something that terrifies us as well, longevity, you know, which is why shortcuts don't work. And the temptation, especially with a lot of new brands, is to buy followers, you know, and rent a Bentley or a Ferrari or whatever for Instagram and stick luxury in the company name. But I mean, that's costume jewelry branding. It looks shiny, but it bends under pressure.
Yeah. And speaking of names, I've always thought that if you call yourself luxury, whatever, you've kind of already lost.
Yeah. I mean, it it's true. It's like calling yourself Cool Dave. If you have to say it, you're not, which is ironic, I suppose, coming from someone who owns a company called Luxury Academy.
I mean, a touch. It is different, isn't it? So, yeah. But what? Okay. So, if they're not to use the word luxury, what should they do? What works?
I mean, use something ambiguous, you know, something that doesn't explain itself too quickly. Chanel doesn't mean luxury handbag shop or luxury couture or whatever. It just means Chanel. Let the meaning cement itself over time.
Yeah. Okay. But that is that is a bit scary though, isn't it? Starting with something that means literally nothing and trusting that people are just going to catch on.
Terrifying. Yes, I suppose so. Which which is why so few actually do it.
But it's also why it works. You know, Google, Dior, Prada, Miumu, Chanel, Gucci, they all started as meaningless words.
True.
That came to mean something over time. I know people are going to say, "Oh, well, you know, it was their name." Yeah, but their name was meaningless.
Yeah. Abs. I mean, absolutely. But I think a lot of new brands kind of fall down because the staff don't believe it either. And you can tell like, you know, if you go somewhere and they someone's trying to sell you a £5,000 sofa or something and their eyes are basically going, "Yeah, I wouldn't pay for that either."
Yeah.
You know, price embarrassment, which is why training is part of the branding, or at least it should be. You know, you're not just you're not just training sales techniques. You're you're teaching people to hold the illusion without flinching. You know, the assistant at Hermes can say with a completely straight face, we don't have any bags. While literally standing in front of them, that's conviction. That's conviction.
I mean, seriously. And and as the consumer, it's weirdly persuasive. If they believe it, I'm going to believe it.
Yeah. Well, exactly. That's the alchemy, isn't it? M so if I was starting a business I'd be thinking this all sounds like I don't know a lot of pressure is there any one simple thing I should do first perhaps.
Yeah, stop thinking of branding as something you absolutely need at the start. You don't.
You need money at the start.
You know, not a fancy brand. You know, you your brand is whatever the client thinks it is. So yeah, buy the domain name. That's important. You know, pick a type face, stick to it, and train your people. And for God's sake, whatever you do, don't discount.
What? Never.
No.
Why?
Nothing destroys luxury faster than 40% off. You know, exclusivity can be fabricated for sure, but once it's revoked, it can never be restored. Even if well so even if nobody's buying you just don't discount. You just hold your nerve.
Yeah. Especially then.
Scarcity is believable when it looks deliberate.
Mhm.
If you panic and start slashing prices, you've you basically admitting that you've been lying all along.
Oh, that's harsh.
I mean, luxury is harsh. That's what makes it luxury. I mean, you kind of sound like you're describing a slightly abusive relationship there.
Yeah. I mean, many clients would agree. And yet, they keep coming back.
Yeah. Well, because the story is too seductive, isn't it?
Exactly. And so is the status that it brings.
Right. So, the takeaway is don't fake it halfway.
Exactly. Halfway is fatal. You know, better be honest as as Gregs than dishonest as Gucci.
I mean, and now Gregs are going to be calling their lawyers and maybe they'll send us some sausage rolls. You never know.
Oh, well, they'll send me a chicken and mushroom slice. I don't particularly like their sausage rails. And they'll tell me to shut up. I know not liking their sausage rails. It's complete sacrilege, but I don't particularly like their sausage.
I know, but you'll happily accept the chicken and mushroom slice.
Of course I will. I love a chicken and mushroom slice. It's fair enough.