From a global pandemic to Black Lives Matter, 2020 has dramatically altered customers’ needs and expectations of brands and businesses. Day 1 of the Walpole Festival of Luxury Marketing examines how the mindset and priorities of the luxury consumer has changed, what they now want – and expect – from luxury brands, and how brands can reach these ever discerning, and demanding, customers both now and in the future.
Session 1: How to Build a Brand with Heart by Farrah Storr, Editor-in-Chief of ELLE UK and Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank
The Festival opened with a rallying cry from Farrah Storr, award-winning Editor-in-Chief of ELLE UK, social mobility commissioner and author of The Discomfort Zone. Farrah, in conversation with Walpole’s CEO Helen Brocklebank, discussed how to build a luxury brand with heart – an ambition she has poured into her first year at the helm of ELLE UK, the world’s leading authority on fashion and style.
Session 2: Customer Deep Dive with Bain & Company and The Future Laboratory
In this session we heard the latest insights from The Future Laboratory and Bain & Company. The Bain team opened the session with an overview on how COVID-19 has impacted consumer trends in the fashion-luxury industry, discussing what’s new vs. what is an acceleration of an already ongoing shift of paradigm, what is “here for now” and what “here to stay”. Chris Sanderson, Founder of The Future Laboratory was up next, and examined the luxury consumers of the future with a presentation of their new Tribes Report. The report spotlights 12 affluent consumers who are pioneering an innovative approach to luxury. Challenging what it means to be wealthy, this mindful group of luxury consumers have chosen a lifestyle that prioritises freedom and self-fulfilment over a settled existence.
Session 3: How to sell Brand Britain to the World? by Kevin Chesters, Co-Founder of Harbour and Dan Ramsay, Director of the GREAT Capaign.
Kevin Chesters has 25 years’ of experience marketing great British brands globally in his role as Strategic Head of some of the most famous advertising agencies in the world. His talk helped us separate the “baggage” from the “assets” and give a point of view of how best to leverage the modern version of the “Best of Britain” to sell our brands more effectively. This is a new updated version of his talk to take into account data and learnings from lockdown and the impact of COVID-19. Following Kevin’s talk there was a Q&A with Dan Ramsay, Director of the UK’s GREAT Campaign.
Luxury has traditionally focused on the in-store and in-person experience, so how has 2020’s shift to digital communication impacted on brands’ relationships with consumers?
Day 2 of the Festival answered this question and more, with a focus on the new ‘language of luxury’: how do we communicate with the luxury consumer now?; plus an exploration of the importance of storytelling and the right tone of voice, and how e-commerce can provide as rich an experience for the luxury customer as the traditional bricks and mortar.
Are you a luxury brand leader, founder/owner, marketeer, communicator or advertiser? Join Walpole – the sector body for British luxury – for five days of unmissable insights, compelling content and networking opportunities this September, as we uncover the new rules of marketing for the ‘new normal’ and how best to reach the luxury customer, post-pandemic – all from the comfort of your own home.
"It's important that we don’t focus too much on what the problem is, and make sure we are ready with initiatives to come through this with success - focusing on the future as well as the present is useful."
Today's 'lockdown leader' is Michael Ward, the Managing Director of Harrods and Chairman of Walpole, who discusses how he is preparing to reopen 1 million square feet of retail space from nothing, as well as why investing in people is essential to achieving one of the key pillars of sustainability.
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