Page 18 - Rolls Royce, Bentley Mihi Exculta Magazine (Made for Me) - Issue 1, designed and produced by Connell Marketing Associates, UK
P. 18
PREMIUM BRANDS
Re-writing the
bottom line
Montblanc Re-Invents the
Pen as a Cultural Icon
Computer technology is making the pen obsolete; so why is
the global market for writing instruments today worth more
than $5bn?
And why is the very top end of the market - where the sort
of money changing hands for one pen would be enough to
purchase a respectable laptop - its fastest growing segment?
The answers are simple. The industry learned how to sell
dreams not writing tools.
In the early 90’s, Montblanc,
owned by the Geneva-based
Vendôme Group, devised a strat-
egy which would transform its
product offer from being an old-
fashioned eccentricity into a
sought-after symbol of achieve-
ment; one which, moreover, was
likely to increase in value as it
got older. To own a Montblanc
pen was to appreciate the art of
the written word.
18 MIHI EXCULTA - May 1997
