Dear Members,
September always brings with it a kind of back-to-school mood – habits built up in one’s first 18 odd years die hard – and perhaps the feeling is more than usually strong this year. Now that 77% of UK adults have had both jabs and we edge towards a cautious normality, many of us are ironing our work uniforms, investing in nice new stationery, and readying ourselves for a turbo-charged Autumn term. The Walpole Future of Luxury Summit on 6th September is here to help: think about it as a crash course in the ideas and themes that will help power-up your thinking, giving you all you need to take advantage of the considerable opportunities that lie ahead.
It’s been a testing 18 months, and the twin challenges of Covid and Brexit are not going to disappear anytime soon, but luxury’s recovery can and should be swift with some commentators predicting the post-covid boom could even mean British luxury exceeds the growth predictions Walpole made back in 2019. As Bain will share in their Summit presentation on the global outlook for luxury, the pandemic has been a huge catalyst for change for the luxury industry. Inevitably, there will be winners and losers, but the winners will be those who have the know-how and the mindset to ride the wave of transformation which will sweep over the sector between now and 2030. Walpole’s job is to equip its members with essential insight and Bain’s take on what’s ahead is unmissable for brands who want to be ahead of the steep growth curve that lies ahead.
The pandemic has also rocket-fuelled the luxury consumer’s interest in sustainability, and I’m particularly interested to hear what Anya Hindmarch will say when she talks to Times Luxx’s Kate Reardon. If you remember ‘I am Not a Plastic Bag’, you’ll know that Anya has long felt luxury isn’t luxury unless it comes with a clean conscience, and her plastic shop at the innovative Anya Village in Pont Street is the latest iteration of her focus on ‘fashion with purpose’. It’s clear that part of luxury’s leadership status is invested in balancing purpose with profit – and our panel, Guardians of the Galaxy: Luxury’s mission to drive responsible change, with speakers from Farfetch, Roksanda, Estée Lauder Companies and more, asks how brands are navigating the mission-driven consumer landscape, with luxury CEOs increasingly having to add ‘pioneer’ and ‘politician’ to their job spec.
Digital became the only game in town during the pandemic, but what did the enforced shut-down teach us about customer behaviour, and importantly, what lessons will stick as the world moves forward?The panel for ‘Calling the Shots: Covid and the Empowered Customer’ will have some trenchant observations that every Summit attendee can take home and apply to their own business, and Facebook’s Lisa Yeates will share her lessons for turning social content into luxury sales as social commerce grows its power as a channel. Social commerce is deeply embedded for successful luxury brands in China, but what other compelling trends are emerging in that key territory, particularly as the repatriation of luxury spend into China is set to continue, at least for the foreseeable future: Tong’s founder, Adam Knight, will tell us the five things you need to know if you want to win that market. We’ll also explore what luxury travel will look like in the future – are we set for a return of jet-set glamour, with an accompanying elevation of luxury experiences? Our panel on the possible post-pandemic upgrade is set to ask that question and many more. And given luxury, with its twin engines of retail and hospitality, has been one of the most disrupted of all sectors, London Business School Professor of Marketing, Nader Tavassoli, who has consulted for many of the world’s most successful luxury brands, will help us make sense of the impact with his presentation on ‘Coherent Disruption’.
If, like me, you feel a year and a half of WFH has atrophied your imagination and dulled your creativity, Kev Chesters will be with us to tell us how we can all access a spot of cutting-edge behavioural science to retrain our brain and unlock our innate originality. It’s the booster shot you need to get you back in the game, and all ticket holders will go home with a copy of Kev’s timely book, 'The Creative Nudge'. Creativity makes the link to Culture with a capital ‘C’ - and Chanel’s Global Head of Arts and Culture, and former CEO of the Serpentine Gallery, Yana Peel will give us her view on why luxury and culture are inextricably linked, and why luxury is not only a culture generator in its own right, but has also an essential role to play in the preservation, protection and promotion of Culture, not least because of its power to connect with the affluent customer. And next to the glamour of culture is the adrenalin-fuelled excitement of luxury automotive, with McLaren CMO Gareth Dunsmore in conversation with FT How to Spend It Deputy Editor, Beatrice Hodgkin, about the new rev count in McLaren’s luxury engine.
It’s a tremendous programme and, like all Walpole happenings, the secret sauce is not only about what you’ll learn from the speakers, it’s also about the people you’ll meet. After so much Zoom and too few people, the added-value of Walpole’s Summit will be the serendipity of new connections and the re-kindling of relationships. Not only have we created thoughtful spaces throughout the day to connect over coffee, lunch and cocktails, we have also changed how you can experience the Summit itself – rather than the usual theatre seating, you’ll be on tables, cabaret style, which makes it infinitely easier to have those interesting conversations with fellow delegates. I always say that you should leave a Walpole event having learned something interesting, met someone new, and with the germ of an idea that you can take back to your business – it seems to me that we need those things more than ever before, and I hope you’ll feel we’ve thought very hard about how best to make sure the Summit delivers on that promise.
And finally, I should say a word about the space: Walpole’s Summit marks the official opening of The Londoner, one of the most exciting and original new super-boutique hotels to open in London. Situated between The National Gallery and Leicester Square, it’s an architectural and engineering triumph, and a huge asset to London’s luxury hotel scene. For anyone coming from out of town, or anyone who
wants to treat themselves, The Londoner has created a special Walpole staycation package, valid from 6th to 30th September – I only live a tube ride away but having had a tour pre-opening, I am very tempted.
I can’t wait to see you on 6th September.
HELEN
