Schillings luxury brand forum: protecting brand identity
Business & entrepreneurs
Comment | 22 July 2011
There was so much talk about glitz and glamour in the capital last month, you’d be forgiven for thinking London Fashion Week had started early. But rather than the arrival of catwalk divas and designers, this high-end atmosphere was caused by the exciting allure of the launch of Schillings’ new Luxury Brand Forum.
The theme for the first round-table discussion held at the Ivy was "Protecting Brand Identity".
I shared our thoughts about how protecting brand identity in the current environment requires brands to focus on three key elements: (i) the product, (ii) the public faces promoting the product; and (iii) the private faces behind the business. In my view, the brands which will be the most successful over the next decade, particularly in international markets, are those that take a holistic approach to protecting all three elements and are prepared to invest in early preparation.
James Wallman, the Editor of LS:N Global, then advocated a controversial approach to counterfeiting, arguing that fakes are good for a business. He was followed by Charlie Abrahams from MarkMonitor who explained in a recent study of five luxury brands, it was found that a staggering number of visits intended for the brands’ websites (over 120 million per year) were being stolen by cyber-criminals.
Discussion round the table touched on various other issues relating to protecting brand identity, particularly on how to deal with the increase in "super-fakes". There seemed to be a general consensus that the key to dealing with these potentially thorny issues is good corporate positioning. There was also widespread agreement that the chocolate pudding was superb!
So a very interesting debate, to be followed by several exciting events in this sector later in the year. If you’d like to receive details of future events or receive more information about the matters discussed, please contact Daniel Ingram-Fletcher.
