The Digital Frontier in Luxury

On Friday morning, November 6th, the luxury, fashion and media world's most influential thought leaders and executives gathered at The Times Center in midtown Manhattan for Innovation Forum, an unprecedented half-day summit addressing the changing luxury landscape. Professor Scott Galloway's LuxuryLab, in partnership with the Stern Luxury & Retail Club served as hosts to the 15 speakers. One speaker remarked he'd never seen so many Louboutin's and Kelly bags in his business school days - a sign of the growing interest among MBA's to gain entrée into the luxury and retail world. The conference surely afforded students access to network with attendees from all areas of the industry.

Professor Scott Galloway started the morning off by welcoming guests and setting the tone for the rest of the day. He emphasized findings from his "Digital IQ" report, and the importance of luxury brands continuing to strengthen their digital footprint and engagement of consumers on the Web.

John Demsey, Group President of Estee Lauder Companies, described the phenomenon of authentic viral content. He used the example of "Chantal's Smokey Eye," a home video made by a M.A.C. makeup artist getting millions of unaided views on YouTube, to talk about the growing trend of more personal heroes in the cosmetics world. Chantal, along with others like Lauren Luke, are YouTube phenoms that ordinary women can related to. In the case of Luke, she now has her own line of cosmetics at Sephora.

According to Gina Sanders, the publisher of Lucky magazine, print is not dead - it's print "AND" digital - and how they work together. Lucky's new iPhone application instantly connects consumers to the products featured in editorial and advertising content in the magazine and gives them the power to buy and pick up same day all at their fingertips.

Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, wanted to buck the old adage that money cannot buy happiness. Through his research, he has discovered that wealthier consumers are generally more secure, and thus satisfied, than their less affluent counterparts.

Echoing the importance of bringing content to consumers, Peter Horan, CEO of Goodmail, focused his discussion on the impact of the "edge" of the network. Why force consumers to come to your website? Instead, brands should bring the content to consumers where they want it, when they want it, whether that is on Twitter, Facebook or directly in their email inbox.

In between the two sessions, Vosges Haut Chocolat hosted a tasting which included their signature truffles in flavors like caramelized grits in white chocolate and coconut macadamia nut in milk chocolate. They also gave out free sample bars of their 70% cacao dark chocolate Dominca bar and their Reishi Enchanted Mushroom bar. Guests were also treated to refreshments and other snacks and got the chance to mingle and discuss what they had just heard presented.

During the afternoon session, distinguished speakers continued to emphasize the importance of emerging digital media. Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO of IfWeRantheWorld started off her presentation by stating that the luxury brands of the future would have three key elements in common: elitism, empathy, and immediacy. She elaborated by saying that luxury brands need to continue to be exclusive, they need to create inviting retail environments in which customers are pleased to shop, and they need to give customers what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. The key takeaway was that digital is no longer a separate consideration or even an option. It is a reality and it is everywhere. "You wouldn't call your hairdryer your 'electric hairdryer' or your iron your 'electric iron' and as with digital, there is no digital marketing - just good marketing."

Francois-Henry Bennahmias, the CEO of Audemars Piguet, agreed vehemently with Gallop and talked about the lack of creativity in the luxury world. With a price tag in the six figures, theirs is a truly aspirational brand. But, in a sea of luxury watches like Rolex and Patek Phillipe, he posed the question of how his brand's advertisements stand out from the crowd? He pointed out that all watch ads tend to look identical and believes that luxury brands need to up the ante once again. He also stressed the importance of engaging with clients outside of advertisements on a very personal level through events and one-on-one interactions.

Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water (www.charitywater.org), reminded the crowd that one of the world's greatest luxuries was ready access to clean water. He noted that 1.1 billion people go without clean water each day. His organization aims to build water filtration systems in rural areas of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In three years, with the help of more than 60,000 donors from 200 countries and 300+ media mentions, charity: water has raised not only massive awareness, but more than $10 million, funding more than 1,400 water projects in 16 developing nations. Those projects will provide over 700,000 people with clean, safe drinking water.

Following the conference, students and alumni were invited to partake in lunch at the W Hotel's Blue Fin. Past president Daria Burke marveled at the club's accomplishments over the years and continued success with a special Champagne toast provided by Moet & Chandon. All guests were treated to a delicious lunch and dessert buffet. On their way out, guests were given a goody bag stuffed with treats from the likes of Juara Cosmetics, Lancôme, and Banana Republic.