A very elegant and decent brand building commercial by Louis Vuitton. One sentence strikes me: "A journey does not only show us the world, but how we fit in." If there is one aspect that luxury companies have neglected in Japan, then it is the cultural context, to study the setting, the broader context, societal rules, finer shades of meaning and semiotics. Luxury is social, it is cultural. Brands tend to ignore cultural changes and the meanings that brands can construct within them. "As long as it works, ..." the message of A CEO from a luxury company selling with great success in the Japanese market. But why does it work? What does this mean? What do customers think about your brand, about your products? If you would ask ten companies if they are sure about what their own customers are really thinking about them, what associations they connect with the brand, you would probably get ten negative responses. Marketing experts in Japan tend to guess. They give up on the possibility to really understand the dynamics that govern luxury consumption in Japan.Understanding what position the customer holds in the brand image, what he thinks and feels when purchasing, what impression a customer has when she clings to her bag to provide her with social security, with acceptance within her peer group network... There are many opinions, many surveys that barely scratch the surface due to organizational constraints. Nearly no one makes the effort to ask the customer. Directly. Focus groups are not the same as engaging in conversations.
Luxury brands should take the journey themselves, into the shopping jungle of Tokyo. Enter Lumine in Shinjuku with a student and ask her to describe which shop means what to which customer. Ask the office lady during lunch time, in which shopping district she shops for her favorite brand bag and why she is not fond anymore of LV or Gucci, but now prefers Chloé and Marc Jacobs. Ask her why. Ask her when it happened. Ask her what her friends are thinking, what magazines they read. Enter their minds. Find out, discover where your brands are positioned in the world of your customer. Make the journey.
There is a way to enter the minds of Japanese consumers, to engage them with the brand, to make the brand part of their lifestyles, thoughts and dreams. To do so, you have to understand the journeys they want to take, the daily cultural patterns, their dreams and the power of social gratification and stratification at work every day, through all age groups and parts of society. There are patterns that want to be discovered. Don't spend your time in the office. Start the day as a marketing expert by drinking coffee in Omotesando, watch people, talk to them, engage them. Say goodbye to corporate structure and educate yourself, taking the best source available: the consumers.
