[PRAY WATCHES MARKETING STRATEGY][This paper outlines and highlights key digital and luxury marketing strategies for Pray watches.]

October 2015Pray Watches

Clay de SouzaMarketing Consultant

2014 was foretold to be the year that tips the scales, with more

than 50% of well heeled customers discovering, actively looking

and shopping for luxury items by means of digital channels. This

evolution is encouraged by shoppers who are online to save time,

yet remain likely to finish the purchase in-store.

Going by an April 2013 Luxury Institute study on the multichannel

purchasing habits of United States Internet users with incomes of

at least $150,000, 48& of those surveyed discovered information

about luxury fashion online by means of a computer. However,

only about a 1/4th actually finished the purchase online.

Moreover, eMarketer discovered that a monstrous 74 % of

purchases inquired on smart phones and tablets are completed

in-store.

This brings me to the first strategy:

Mobile

We are inclined to consider that mobile consumers as akin to

desktop consumers, but on different devices. This is just not the

case.

Most mobile time is simply “mobile” aka “phone time”. Digital

marketers and I in particular have been struggled to find that

right perfect time to market digitally but recent times are

changing all of this.

With more than 70% of daily Facebook and Twitter users on a

mobile device, marketers must think mobile-first.

For marketers marketing luxury products this is particularly

challenging as device constraints and consumer expectations

limit the richness of the experience.

But with my skill and creativity, I will embrace the constraints

without compromising brand promise.

Understanding the purchase intent journey

I have been trying to figure out what makes people purchase as

long as Marketers have been selling, nevertheless it is a disjointed

challenge and gathering the data at every step has been

unattainable.

Digital Marketers have made a lot of progress due to the likes of

Datalogix (which I would for us to use) and others and, as a

result we should are on the verge of the next evolution, if we

even almost completely “wire” the journey.

The one main constant in the modern world, is the Smartphone.

In the next phase of digital marketing, understanding how and

why consumers buy will be vital to attracting the next generation

of affluent shoppers.

Omnichannel movement continues to gain traction

Our ability to reach any given consumer across our strategies will

emerge and quickly grow with proper implementation which

incorporates devices. This will enable you and I to better

understand the customer journey and the patterns likely to drive

discovery, exploration and consideration. We can utilize a

multitude of automation software products to help us with this

including (but not limited to) Marketo, HubSpot , and neustar .

With more than half of U.S. affluent consumers soon discovering

new luxury products online, it is imperative that we understand

how these trends converge.

Making connections between channels will be essential as well.

“Can I schedule a consultation from my phone?”, “Can I easily

share what I have liked on the Web site with an associate?”

Social + mobile + storefront = Magic

Mobile applications are the key bridge from digital to the “store”. I

will look for major innovation in a few categories that will extend

this magic, specifically apps that enable shoppers to feel

connected to the luxury experience, such as Tourneau’s virtual

watch tray that allows online research with pick-up in-store or

social shopping apps that enable consumers to “like” and manage

products through Pinterest, Wanelo, Polyvore and ShopKick.

I will need to also watch and learn from mass-market retailers’

innovation and use of digital wallets such as Apple’s Passbook and

Google Wallet that can store gift cards as well as brand-specific

apps that enable shoppers to manage and receive in-store

redeemable mobile offers from anywhere.

The last mile

Vicinity-based mobile notifications that pull information from the

app categories above are closing the last mile between the

retailer and the consumer.

Apple’s iBeacon (Bluetooth SMART), NFC and other location-based

technology will finally begin to take hold.

I as a marketer know that getting someone into the store is 90

percent of the challenge here.

Once there, it is a matter of experience, discovery and driving

toward high-value products.

With Apple’s deployment of iBeacons, I can now communicate

with consumers and track everything from how many got close to

the store, entered the store, and which products they browsed

and bought.

For digital marketers, the long awaited online to offline closed

loop reporting will finally be a reality.

Be everywhere

Luxury marketers from empirical research are notoriously skilled

at creating rich experiences from fashion shows to print ads, they

have been slow to go deep on digital.

Content is currently the fuel that drives digital marketing. As

Burberry has so deftly shown, reaching new affluent consumers

requires broad content creation and distribution strategies.

From Instagram and Vine videos to maintaining a Tumblr, I like

luxury marketers must find key audiences and engage in their

worlds, adhering to their rules.

Being early adopters of new social mobile technology can give us

credibility – watch, learn and be ready to jump-in.

But content strategies are hard to form overnight, so I must work

now to see how I can apply my essence and promise across

emerging platforms. We should do it now so they can be more

nimble in the future.

Social Mobile convergence and luxury’s traditional focus on

building experiences that drive loyalty is great for marketers

ready to take advantage of the ability to tell a cohesive brand

story across channels.

Brands that are able to personalize the experience throughout the

customer journey, up to and including the last mile, will see that

the dividends drive serious business value, which will only

accelerate as millennials grow in their purchasing power and

share of affluent luxury consumers.

In luxury brand management, most industry players have realized

that experiences are essential. But most of what I know about

designing customer experiences stems from my hospitality work

with Hilton Worldwide, as well as additional research. Luxury

brands are an entirely different proposition and require a very

specific approach to brand management and marketing. Based on

extensive research of the market in collaboration with Pernod

Ricard, here are six things you need to focus on in order to

design and market a true luxury experience.

Advocate beliefs

Luxury brands should advocate beliefs to customers rather than

simply rely on brand values. Beliefs go further; they’re more

specific and, consequently, more segmenting. Unlike mass

brands, luxury brands should not strive to please everyone, but

those customers whose beliefs align with their own.& tech

Be more than a logo

When consumers think of a true luxury brand, they’re likely to

think of a whole set of visual icons, rather than one single logo.

These can include monograms, brand symbols, logos, colors,

patterns, images and even concepts. A good example of this

is Bottega Veneta, whose leather goods display no visible symbols

or logo, but are instead recognised by the weaved leather pattern

of their products. Then there’s Chanel. Think of the brand and

you’ll think of black and white, the number five, the camellias,

pearls, or a little black dress. You so far have a good logo to work

with.

Involve the customer in a ritual

A true luxury brand cannot stop their offering at the product; they

must go beyond that to offer unique services or rituals. This can

start with something as simple as attentive sales people and

prompt customer service, but it should really go beyond that to

create a consumption “ritual” that allows customers to experience

the brand.

Perfume brand Le Labo does this very well. Using the premise

that the quality of perfume deteriorates over time, it

revolutionized the consumer buying experience by offering a

special personal experience: each Le Labo perfume is hand-

blended and individually prepared in front of the customer at the

moment of purchase. The glass decanter is then dated and the

customer’s name is printed on the label. After taking the perfume

home, the customer must let it marinate in the fridge for a week

before using it. Through this ritual, buying Le Labo perfume

becomes more than an exclusive product; it becomes a personal

experience. Another good example is Porsche, which innovated

the delivery process by allowing customers to pick up their new

car right off the assembly line in Germany.

The store is a temple

Luxury brands must pay extra special attention to the way they

sell and innovate at the point of purchase. Before, it was enough

for luxury brands to use brick and mortar stores to sell their

products, but they must now aim to design multifunctional,

controlled spaces that create brand experiences and

communicate brand beliefs. These types of stores function almost

like a temple for discerning consumers.

An example of this is Prada, which embarked upon a unique

project with Dutch research studio AMO and renowned architect

Rem Koolhaas. The result of this collaboration was a wide-ranging

project that included special “epicentres” – stores designed to

provide a working laboratory for experimental shopping

experiences. BMW World in Munich is another example of a

temple-like showroom, where consumers can “experience” the

brand rather than simply buy the product.

Pull customers into an exclusive circle

Mass brands define who their customers are and “push” products

towards them. For luxury brands, the roles are reversed:

consumers must be “pulled” towards the brand with the promise

of belonging to an exclusive community. Many consumers may

want access to this circle, but only a select few who truly share

the brand beliefs can really belong.

To this end, luxury brands should create artificial barriers or

initiation rituals to select which customers gain admittance. If a

customer wants to buy a premium Apple product, all they have to

do is pay the price. But Hermés customers must form a long-term

and intimate bond with the brand if they want to be offered the

opportunity to buy one of the manufacturer’s “it” bags. Rather

than putting customers off, this behavior creates a sense of

belonging to a special circle. Customers stay loyal and are

rewarded for it.

Communicate legends to establish a myth

Mass brands compare themselves with competitors and

communicate their advantages over them, but true luxury brands

should not do this. Rather, they should aim to communicate the

legends associated with the brand to establish a myth. Rolls

Royce achieves this by inviting a select few of their customers to

manufacturing facilities to see and experience the company’s

storied production process in person.

Myths should be conveyed indirectly and should be consistent in

every point of delivery, including products, stores and marketing.

Luxury brands often achieve this by inducing a degree of mystery

or by making a connection with art to communicate myths in an

elevated way. Chanel actively keeps the myths associated with its

creator, Coco Chanel, alive and these myths feed the brand to

this day.

Public figures

Public figures or celebrities have traditionally been employed as

one of the marketing mix in luxury brand advertising and they still

continue to garner attention, credibility and impact.

Public figures can span from film stars to music personalities,

from sports personalities to royal families and even the designer

themselves.

But because celebrity endorsements are no longer exclusive to

the luxury space and extensively used and abused across mass

categories, they take a different meaning when it comes to luxury

brand endorsement.

Not only does the public figure’s associated values and

personality have to resonate with that of the luxury brand’s aura,

but there is a distinct difference in the way celebrity role is

crafted, executed and strategically used.

Beyond traditional advertising – largely print in selected media –

less in-your-face advertising tools are employed such as

accessorizing or dressing celebrities for their walk down the red

carpet, product placements within movies and television

programs and invites to special events.

This strategy attempts to remove the appearance of “selling”

while still promoting the product by making it seem as a part of

the celebrity’s lives, thereby positively affecting the consumer’s

attitudes, brand value and purchase intention.

For example, Chopard has been official partner of the Cannes Film

Festival for the last 14 years, showcasing and premiering its

collection by accessorizing celebrities on the red carpet.

Long-form-commercials or short-films have also used the

celebrity-factor.

Chanel, for instance, recently created a three-minute film with

actress Keira Knightley who replaced Kate Moss in its ads for its

Coco Mademoiselle fragrance.

Other previous faces of Chanel have included French star

Catherine Deneuve and Nicole Kidman, who represented Chanel

No. 5.

Similarly, as a part of its “core values” campaign, Louis Vuitton

used its Web site as the online medium to showcase its celebrity

endorser’s journey and his or her story to bring to life how the

brand has been promoting the art of travel and inspiring

legendary journeys.

 Placement

The retail branded environment in luxury branding is all about

heightening the consumer’s brand experience and amplifying the

brand aura.

Hence, the branded environment and the movement of truth is

where it must “live” the brand by orchestrating immaculate

detailing that engages all senses of the discerning audience.

Starting from the choice of store location, the chain of touch

points that consumers interact with, the salesperson’s

presentation and the impact of each touch point is critical in

creating a unique indulging experience.

That said, today’s evolving luxury consumers are increasingly

looking beyond the typical sophisticated, over-the top,

cosmetically elegant presentation or even the exclusive invites,

privileged previews.

With the increasing democratization of luxury brands and the

rapid emergence of masstige brands, luxury consumers have

become more discriminating and demanding.

These consumers seek a more knowledgeable and professional

assistance and a trusted and reliable collaboration helping them

to manage their stature and lifestyle.

Not only has this led to the new business offerings, but luxury

brands are also increasingly investing in training and empowering

their sales staff.

Another important point to note within the placement factor is

that it is not limited to the physical environment where the brand

retails, but it extends to all of the environments or consumer

touch points with which that brand associates itself.

This spans from the extremely selective niche media where it

advertises to the sports, events, art and conversations with which

it identifies.

For example, Rolex associates itself with more than 150 events in

golf, sailing, tennis, motor-sport, arts and equestrian tournaments

rather than with sports such as football or cricket that have more

of a mass following.

Public relations

Public relations in luxury branding plays an enormous role in

image proliferation of the brand, thereby subtly influencing public

opinion.

PR is also employed to convey other supporting messages and

attributes of the brand that cannot be explicitly captured in

advertising, but are by no means are less important to create

brand’s personality, mystique and emotional values – whether it is

via the pedigree factor or via public-figure any of the previous

seven P’s mentioned.

It is also a sophisticated branding machine for maintaining

ongoing relevance and dialogue with the luxury consumer,

especially in fashion, technology and seasonal trends-driven

categories.

At a tactical level, PR is used to generate buzz and convey brand

news, point of views of inspirers and influencers including

celebrity talk or the designer speak and a crucial support for

brand activation such as the fashion weeks, sport events and

themed previews.

Pricing

While few have resorted to sales and discounts, most others play

it by adding more value to the purchase such as gift with

purchase, gift certificates or rebates for the next purchase,

multiple item discounts, online or email exclusives, more loyalty

points and no shipping and handling charges by online retailers.

Luxury brands also use as a channel luxury retailers such as

Harvey Nichols and Saks Fifth Avenue that offer annual sales via

slightly lower prices.

Another strategy employed by luxury brands is creating an

extension into a secondary line with relatively lower price points

such as Giorgio Armani’s Armani Exchange, Roberto Cavalli’s Just

Cavalli, Prada’s Miu Miu and Alexander McQueen’s McQ lines.

The Challenge

As eCommerce presences throughout the luxury industry

accelerate, luxury apparel retailers find themselves with a unique

challenge: How do I create a tailored experience to our brand

loyal customers by the click of a button? More so, how can I

deliver a curated experience that mirrors the traditional in-store

experience, without point-of-purchase face time?

Because of the nature of the industry, these questions are often

difficult for luxury marketers to answer my research finds. The

marketing strategy requires more sensitivity to customer

relationships than in other industries, based on a few key

findings:

1. Luxury consumers demand authentic, personal interactions.

They expect to share memorable and meaningful engagements

with the products and services to which they are loyal.

Similarly, luxury consumers feel a sense of ownership in the

brands they identify with.

2. These consumers psychologically desire particular lifestyles

and experiences. It’s important to understand that for these

shoppers, perceived product value increases over the lifetime

of the product, making it very important for luxury retailers to

stay engaged throughout the customer lifecycle, not just at

point-of-purchase.

3. Luxury consumers identify with product authenticity, and

consequently lose interest in brands when they become

overexposed and fall mercy to brand dilution.

So how can luxury retailers deliver the same compelling customer

experience in an online setting, and continue to develop unique

relationships, so customer retention is achieved?

Targeted email campaigns are a proven way to engage with your

customer base. These engagements involve personalized

interactions, allowing loyal relationships to be formed, and then

retained.

The Solution

In brief, here are just a few ways luxury apparel retailers will

strengthen customer retention by including retention automation

in their email marketing strategy:

1. Thank your customers by triggering post purchase email

messages, increasing customer lifetime value.

2. Identify your best customers based on product, purchase

and customer data or an RFM analysis, and reward them to

strengthen customer loyalty.

3. Target churning customers through win-back and cart

recovery campaigns, to earn profitability on otherwise lost

sales.

4. Personalize your email marketing campaigns with automated

product recommendations based on previous purchase

behavior.

The Result

By leveraging product, purchase and customer data in email

marketing campaigns, luxury marketers will increase retention

rates and customer lifetime values, and engage in long-term

customer relationships, which will reveal vast unforeseen

amounts of untapped revenue.

The 9 Pillars of Retention Automation framework help

marketers like me plan and implement retention marketing

campaigns through key stages in the customer life-cycle. Build

the 9 Pillars of Retention Automation into this-your marketing

campaign and start retaining customers today.

As a B2B Marketer, I’am Responsible For a Lot

I am on the hook for more than just moving prospects through the

funnel and delivering leads to sales. I’m responsible for managing

the customer relationship. But how does it feel to the customer

when that transition takes place? All too often, the first contact

with sales feels like starting the conversation over again. And for

customers who have already invested time and energy learning

about a company and their products, this can be a jarring

experience. Great composers use consistent melodic themes over

the course of a piece. As a marketer, it is my responsibility to

ensure there is harmony and consistency over the full lifecycle of

the customer relationship. But linking the conversations that

marketing and sales have with prospects depends on my ability

(and willingness) to share insights that are born from data.

What if you were to approach your role as not only getting a

prospect ready for sales—but also getting sales ready for the

prospect? Marketers typically think of sales acceleration as

shortening the sales cycle (abbreviating the time it takes to make

a lead sales-ready), but it’s time that we extend the concept to

include what we can do to help sales close on the deal faster. By

doing so, you will prepare sales to continue, rather than reinitiate,

the relationship that began when a prospect first clicked on one of

your search links or a banner ad.

Ready to start building stronger customer and prospect

relationships?

Keep Sales and Marketing on the Same Page

If a composer wrote an incredible music score, but handed the

orchestra pieces of paper with only the title, what would be the

result? Or even worse, what might it be like if the musicians

received sheet music but chose to ignore its directions and notes?

The result would be cacophonous. Unfortunately, due to frequent

disconnects between sales and marketing, this kind of dissonance

is frequently felt by prospects and leads.

We hear over and over again how the educated buyer is

completing more of the purchase journey before contacting sales.

As a result, marketing departments like yours are being held

directly responsible for revenue. However, for most B2B sales,

customers will talk to sales before making their final decision.

Think about how the transition feels to your customers. Do they

feel like they’re continuing a journey or starting a new one?

If you’re accountable for revenue, you have to think beyond the

lead to how (and if) it is developed. That’s why there’s more

incentive than ever to meet expectations not only for lead

quantity, but also for lead quality. Further, marketing must start

thinking about the continuity of the relationship after the lead

goes to sales. We’ve got more of a vested interest in the outcome

than ever before, so we need to take a more active and

collaborative role with sales.

It shouldn’t be that hard. As marketers, we spend a big part of our

lives trying to figure out what customers care about and how we

can tell a differentiated story so they’ll buy our stuff. Sales cares

about the exact same thing. The key is that we need to stop

thinking about the “handoff” between sales and marketing, and

start thinking about how to integrate the conversation.

Improvising On a Consistent Theme

Jazz musicians are adept at taking a melody and finding new ways

of interpreting and presenting it. One musician can start a theme

and the next can improvise off of it, expanding and exploring.

That same interplay should exist between sales and marketing.

By the time sales picks up a lead, the relationship “theme” has

already been established. So how do you make sure that sales is

taking advantage of and building on that foundation?

There isn’t a big secret or any kind of magic—it’s really about

increasing transparency and improving communication. The

better (and faster) the sales team understands what marketing

has done prior to the transition, the easier it will be for them to

pick up the lead. Most importantly, marketers have to remember

that customer information and insight don’t just come from digital

footprints. Insights also come from the interactions that sales reps

have directly with clients. The more that sales sees that you’re

embracing what they’ve learned, the more receptive they’ll be.

Have you ever watched drummers count off the introduction of a

song? They make sure the band is paying attention, and then

provide a starting time (often by clicking their drumsticks

together). This helps the band get aligned to the rhythm so they

can start together. That’s what marketers need to do to start

creating organizational alignment: Make sure that the entire

organization is paying attention and then establish a rhythm that

everyone can agree to. Everybody is already driving to the same

outcome: building a relationship with a prospect or customer. But

we need a central point, a “click” if you will, around which we

align. Customer data can be that click. By using real customer

data, not only will we create better alignment with sales, we’ll

develop better marketing, because it’ll be more aligned (and

more responsive) to what customers actually want.

Key takeaways

In conclusion, the key this marketing strategy is to boil down to

the following three points:

• Product excellence by itself in not enough. The luxury brand

must perform at an experiential level as well.

As luxury consumers evolve, not only does product quality act as

a point of differentiation, but also as substance to justify a

premium value and pricing.

• While pedigree factor is important to celebrate the years of

mastery or lineage, it is crucial to generate ongoing relevance

and dynamism through the persona, PR and public-figure factor.

• Luxury brands must continue to maintain a certain degree of

exclusivity and stature with the paucity factor and the placement

factor – from the retail experience to the touch points with which

it associates itself.