For Daniel Langer
Chris Lona
Twenty first century digital craftsmanship. It's 2025. Let go of the status quo.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your recent response, and kind words, to my comments on a recent post of yours.
It seems you often discuss how luxury brands become “watered down”, lose sight of the essence of luxury, and succumb to what could perhaps be referred to as, “Walmart paradigm” temptations.
In light of this, I hope you don’t mind further comments as it relates to these topics.
High standards are very difficult to maintain. In luxury and life, it seems that every turn of a corner is met with elements attempting to erode them.
Part of this perhaps stems from the nature of people’s tendency toward doing what is easy. There is also the “Grass Is Greener” credo. And declining standards also have a close relative by the name of complacency.
There is another critical element that, in my opinion, degrades over time. This is innovation. A close second is creativity.
I am by no means as informed or knowledgeable as you on these topics; these are only observations gleaned from attempting to maintain my own standards, aspirations and craftsmanship at the highest level possible.
Hermès initially innovated in the luxury market by establishing a reputation for exceptional craftsmanship in high-quality equestrian accessories like saddles and harnesses,
As we know the legendary Birkin Bag remains an enduring icon of aspirational luxury even today.
Looking ahead to Hermès Birkin's future, expect ongoing innovation and creativity. With Hermes' willingness to blend tradition with contemporary design, new designs and styles will engage trends and innovations in the luxury handbag market.
Conversely, Gucci has been criticized for a lack of innovation and brand relevance which has contributed to a decline in sales. As you point out the Chinese market is crucial and HSBC and Barclays downgraded Kering, (Gucci’s parent company) noting Gucci's struggles in the crucial Chinese market.
It would make sense that innovation is a key element in the luxury sector. The things that brands innovated at their genesis set them apart by creating unrivaled, exclusive and emotional experiences. In one sense what they created was a means to an end.
To buy a KIA comes from a practical need for transportation. To invest in a Bentley Motor Car means unrivalled “extraordinary journeys” which fuel emotional and exceptional automotive experiences through innovation, performance and craftsmanship.
It perhaps follows then that continual and vigilant innovation to create emotional experiences is critical to adhering to, and maintaining, the standards that set them apart, and elevated them to a luxury brand, in the first place.
It perhaps also follows that they become complacent and static, seeking those “grass is greener” temptations and thus compromising and undermining their status as a luxury brand in favor of the frivolous, transitory, status quo, quest for revenue and even cheap.
As I pointed out in my recent comments to you the digital space is ripe, low hanging fruit, for luxury brands.
When the KIA and Bentley brands look and function essentially the same on the web, there is little real and meaningful differentiation of experience and emotional resonance between them.
When I added human narration with Bentley’s own background music, large text to match the narration, one key, mouse, or touch navigation and large image galleries using and enhancing existing presentations, these unprecedented innovations elevated the Bentley brand online to a status and level that only they possess; making Bentley’s web presence worthy of the Bentley brand.
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They also dramatically increased accessibility, removed obsolete access barriers that still exist from the 20th century and significantly reduced the digital carbon footprint of Bentley videos by up to 14,000%.
The Bentley twenty first century digital craftsmanship presentations are viewable by appointment only.
Reach out to me for access to these presentations.
It makes sense that luxury brands would continue to focus more on their physical world experiences. After all, this was the initial context from which their luxury brand was born.
But now, by ignoring the potential of the digital space, they are undermining their own brand. A vast majority of websites are still treated as “newspapers”, complete with terms like “fold” and “page”. And videos are relics whose origins derive from a previous century. They are used because they are known and no one seems to question if there are any better solutions that are more suited and aligned with the digital space as their context.
In both cases, everyone, including luxury brands, uses the same templates and format. This effectively establishes the generic web. Where no differentiation exists, and, as stated above, there is little real and meaningful distinction of experience or emotional resonance. Since everyone uses them, exclusivity is non-existent.
You said, “in 2025, emphasizing the paramount importance of authentic storytelling, exceptional client experiences, and mastering the 4E framework (Emotion, Experience, Engagement, and Exclusivity) to create extreme value (is critical) to win in a rapidly changing luxury landscape.”
I would respectfully add innovation to this list. Particularly in the digital space.
You, or anyone reading this article may feel free to reach out with comments and questions.
Thank you for all you do to illuminate the landscape of luxury.
Comments from post
Chris Lona: The lack of emotional, engaging, exclusive experiences in the digital space is an overlooked and untapped resource.
Brands undermine themselves, either consciously or unconsciously.
Problem: Providing exquisite experiences in the physical world while ignoring opportunities of exquisite experiences online.
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Impact: Physical world experiences unfulfilled due to an absence of online engagement, lack of differentiation & abandonment from compromised usability.
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Daniel Langer: Chris Lona well said. And in critical markets like China the digital journey is so overlooked. It’s always easy to blame underperformance to external factors, but in luxury every touch point matters and for the next generation it’s all about digital touch points, at least when it comes to inspiration and desirability creation