"Innovative and distinctive brand expresses experiences that rivet minds and run away with hearts."
In order for any brand to be perceived as above quote, it has to emphasize on one essential factor in its business; design. In the past with Industrial Age thinking, a company usually focuses on reducing price and inventing high technologies to help master that. Now, the importance is shifting towards the concept of customer experience, eco-sustainability, social responsiblity, and the use of design. Today, innovation won't work without emotions. Brand won't perform well without its meaning. A new business model must be embraced.
To compete with others, brand needs to differentiate itself by means of design and innovation. Design itself is considering a powerful tool with its abilities to pinpoint potential trends in the future, invent something unique, build connection with customers, for example. The world is now focusing on Design Thinking.
Design is moving up to become key factor indicating success of a brand. Creativity is inevitable as a drive for economic growth. Every detail of a company can exploit benefits from design one way or another since design is now moving forward from tangible products to processes, systems and organizations as well. It empowers a brand with the ability to attract customers and sustain them as loyalty ones.
Moreover, there are 2 more components defining business success; brands and their delivery. Brand that employs design as differentiation tool and a way to enhance customers' satisfaction tend to become more successful and irreplaceable in the market. Their profits margin is really high, for example, Googles, Apple. Besides, doing so with agility fulfills everything. A brand needs to be open-minded, active, innovative, and receptive to new ideas in order to sustain its competitive advantage at the forefront.
Last but not least, eco-sustainability or going green is widely accepted all over the world. Any company needs to show that they care for the nature, for the earth, for the welling being human being. Customers are not only looking for quality products, but also a good feeling towards themselves for consuming guilt-free affluence products and doing good deeds to the society at the same time. There are various ways to show sustainability to a brand such as reusable materials, reducing pollutions, waste reduction, CSR activities, but the question is how far a brand could go in doing so, especially in a case of luxury brands?
As the world is paying attention to sustainability and benifits back to the environment, there are growing concerns over the effects it might have on luxury brands and consumers experience. How can a premium brand be sustainable and at the same time remain stylish? Luxury brands are about quality, craftsmanship, emotions and also exquisite experiences. On the other hand, almost every brand does realize the importance in this sustainability issue and try hard to go along with the trend. However, with eco-everything, will it destroy luxury brands' image and what they stand for? In many countries nowadays, for example France, has passed out a new law limiting the use of packaging to only protect a product while tremendous amounts of luxury brands use packagaing as a way to deliver beyond-expectation experiences and offer more to customers. It is a controversial area here but for luxury brands, all they need to do is to maintain its consistency in delivering sumptous product/service while paying back to the nature as well. The world needs to see the proof that eco-luxury is possible, isn't it?
Bibliography
1. Neumeier, M. (2008) 'The Designful Company', Design Management Review, 19 (2) pp.10-15
2. Hildebrandt, S. (2009). Sustainablity: Luxury Brands' Friend or Foe? Available at http://www.brandpackaging.com/Articles/Feature_Articles/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000693202 (Accessed 29 March 2011)
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