How luxury brands attract jetsetters to their stores

2024-08-02 04:47:00

Ravello is about an hour’s drive east of Positano, the legendary town on the Amalfi Coast, whose narrow streets are filled with tourists early in the morning. In the medieval village everything is more sleepy, if not less beautiful. The Italian nobility realized this as early as the 12th century – and built the Palazzo Avino. Today it is not the blue-blooded people who look out over the Tyrrhenian Sea from the baroque villa, but rather the well-heeled vacationers looking for peace and quiet. And anyone looking back from the Tyrrhenian Sea can see Valentino’s red parasols on the rocks last summer. The Italian luxury brand based in Rome was on summer vacation at a five-star hotel that time – and covered the hotel’s beach garden along the rugged, gray stones in its legendary color.

From the Costa del Sol to the Côte d’Azur: Southern Europe is a longing place in the summer months. Those who can’t make it to the end are where the beach vendors are looking for buyers for towels and hats. And those who can give a sunbathe where swimming and surfing form a symbiosis: in the pop beach clubs, which, with their beach skirts and swimming rings wrapped in designer clothes, have become status symbols for traditional houses; which spreads throughout the European summer ends – and sometimes beyond – almost every well-known hotel has a well-known team on its side.

Loro Piana pop beach club in Saint-Tropez.Pursue

As if there wasn’t enough luxury here, Givenchy, Gucci & Co. have been fixing the top spots with their designs for several years now. Missoni’s iconic spikes competed with the waves of the Mediterranean in Sardinia last year. This year on the Costa Smeralda: Givenchy. Dolce & Gabbana invites luxury travelers to bathe and stay in the world of majolica patterns in six locations: southern Spain, southern France, Sardinia, Sicily, Liguria and the Hamptons near New York. Balmain is a holiday in Athens.

Anyone who travels to the heart of a brand. This is what the fashion houses are aiming for: Because fake brand products are increasing and more and more fashion lovers are buying their vintages, they are faced with a big challenge of attracting customers to them . And that’s where experiences are key: You can’t buy a day at the Balmain Beach Club in any second-hand store, and you can’t get a cheap copy of it in any online store either.

Matching the sea: Dolce & Gabbana has styled the Carillon Club in Portofino.PR

Experiences connect customers more emotionally to a brand. There are neurological reasons for this: new experiences activate the “novelty factory” of the brain. It releases dopamine, which increases the reward system. And because people are more willing to try new things when they travel, they don’t worry about their money and like to take care of themselves, the distance from the beach to the store is not far: Beach clubs are also convenient in boutiques where unforgettable memories can be shared. with it Part design can be stored physically. They are usually limited capsule collections supported by smooth surfaces. These bags, kaftans and sunglasses can be presented and bought anywhere better than here. That’s why they are only here exclusively, which makes the experience and the item even more unique. The reason is that anyone who decides to take a vacation, regardless of whether they are rich or not, always does so so that they can feel better when they leave than when they arrived.

For the customers themselves, these travel experiences offer the opportunity to experience their favorite with all their senses, to breathe in the attitude to life that goes with it and to completely immerse themselves in the world of luxury buildings: toilets, umbrellas, shower rings. , Surfboards and towels with which brands dress up their chosen locations, show the core of the brand down to the last detail: Balmain keeps its position clean. Anyone who bathes in Dolce & Gabbana will bathe in the aforementioned majolica patterns, while Loro Piana focuses on timeless elegance on its beach side.

An in-body experience: Balmain Beach Club in Athens.Getty Images for One & Only

Of course, it’s all incredibly beautiful – which brings with it another bonus: guests share the view. Sand, beach and social media is a combination that always works. And the more beautiful, the more extravagant the motif, the better. That’s why luxury brands’ summer pop-ups are well received on social networks. From architecture to furniture, they are a masterpiece of aesthetics with their lounge areas, lounges and shops. Every beach, every collection – a photo you just need to take and send.

These pictures and videos are clicked millions of times, generating hashtags like #tomatogirlsummer or #mediterraneanstyle. Hashtags that capture the spirit of the brilliant summer in Europe and everything it stands for: wealth, peace of mind, jet set, exclusivity. Brands are traveling to where the buyers are, rather than the other way around. They decorate the existing spaces of well-known hotels and legendary beach clubs – a partnership that is mutually beneficial because it attracts the rich and famous and generates content. The target group then almost shows those who aren’t there where they really could or should be. Whatever your beach vacation might look like: a champagne cooler instead of a cool box of sand, a Dior daybed instead of a thin beach towel.

Vacation means letting go, treating yourself, immersing yourself in other places. That’s why the line between luxury travel and luxury culture is widening, not only on European shores. The world’s first Louis Vuitton hotel is currently being built in Paris; Christian Louboutin opened his hotel in Portugal last summer, not in the airport city of Comporta, but half an hour south of there in Melides. Bulgari hosts guests in Milan and London. Fendi has its holiday home in Rome, Versace and Armani in Dubai. More and more fashion houses are trying to create a retreat that preserves the essence of their brand and encapsulates it in holiday memories. Maybe as a simple souvenir or a suggestion in the shopping bag of the guests.