Havas Media Lab

As Kavita has mentioned, we have just returned from a trip to Delhi, where we took part in the IHT’s Sustainable Luxury Summit: we were fortunate to be part of a very impressive line-up of speakers and I undoubtedly had the worst fitting suit of them all. 

As you can imagine, the event was full of some very grand and beautifully produced rhetoric, which is just what one would expect from companies who excel in the luxury sector. The whole conference was an attempt to position luxury not as the laggards of sustainable practice, but rather the heroes. There are many people who would struggle to swallow that argument.

But in theory at least, the argument is quite strong, for one reason. If we’re all to adopt more sustainable lifestyles, then sustainability has to become more aspirational for everyone. It cannot be about less of this, fewer of that, infrequent trips to the other etc. It has to be about more of something.

More of something.

If there is one thing luxury brands do well, it’s making people want their products. It’s about people  sensing they’re getting more for their money. It’s about people buying an experience, rather than the box and contents. And it’s about authenticity.

These are all qualities that ALL brands need to recognise if they’re to derive the strongest, longest, most durable business case from sustainability.

But that’s the theory. At the moment, luxury brands are in no way leveraging their well-honed ability to engage with consumers in this way. And as a result, few consumers associate luxury brands with authentic efforts in this area - this is clearly seen in our soon-to-be-out-there research project Sustainable Futures 09, and was supported by some interesting stakeholder work presented at the conference by De Beers and The Ledbury Group. 

It seems the problem with luxury brands is that they do not know how to shepherd efforts in sustainability, into long term brand value. To put it another way, they do not seem able to make it relevant for their consumers, past a sense of duty or obligation. This was never more striking that when Monsieur Blanckaert from Hermés presented to the room. After an elegant and eloquent 20 mins of inspiring rhetoric, the audience was invited to ask questions. One chap - who actually works for Hermés - asked whether the famed Orange box (I didn’t even know about the orange box…) was getting in the way of the group’s sustainable efforts. In other words, all that cardboard, tissue paper and packaging could be perceived to be a step away from a more sustainable business, not a step towards.

A perfectly fine question. And a pretty obvious one.

But the response was poor. In fact, there wasn’t a response. Monsieur Blanckaert could not explain the role of the box in the company’s sustainable future. Except to say it was not going anywhere and would remain a key part of the company (which, judging by his reaction to the question, is more than could be said for the future of the poor guy who asked the question). 

In one fell swoop, this highlighted the challenge. The orange box IS Hermés (apparently). But the orange box plays no part in their sustainability strategy. If the two remained divorced, how on earth are consumers every going to link sustainable practices to their association with the brand? How is Hermés going to drive long term durable value from sustainability, if it sits at odds with the very central tenet of their brand promise - the orange box? 

Brands - not just luxury brands - have to find ways to imbue their brand promise with this stuff. Otherwise it will never be considered authentic and will remain an annexed also-ran to the central proposition. 

And before anyone gets out their diamond-encrusted mallet to wallop me over head for attacking such a prestigious brand and offering nothing constructive, let me say this. If the orange box is so integral to the Hermés brand, then the company is already in a strong position to derive brand value from sustainable endeavours. In order for sustainability to become an aspirational, fundamental part of the orange box experience, then take the orange box into those environments that will benefit from more sustainable practices: make it an aspirational, fundamental part of those practices. Make the orange box synonymous with sustainable efforts, not just in terms of materials and processes, but in support of projects, processes, initiatives and endeavours that bring long-lasting, real benefit. Use it as a beacon for hope and lens through which to see how to help. If luxury is all about buying an experience (albeit in an orange box) then make the packaging a key part of that experience. 

As we mentioned at the conference, luxury brands excel at creating an experience - an experience that includes the moment of purchase, but stretches so far back and forth around that moment.  As consumers become more discerning when it comes to luxury purchases, wouldn’t it be one of the most luxurious things you can do to buy something that encapsulates your feelings and thoughts for how the world should be? Isn’t that an experience you’d pay good money for? I would. For those luxury brands that can tell that story, that can weave those messages into the very heart of their brand, that can present such authenticity, there really is an opportunity to make sustainability aspirational and become heroes in the process.

G