Page 18 - Rolls Royce, Bentley Mihi Exculta Magazine (Made for Me) - Issue 8, designed and produced by Connell Marketing Associates, UK

PREMIUM BRANDS
The Only
Name
In Town
The Signature
Says It All
Louis Vuitton is the name in luggage.
T HE SON OF A CARPENTER from
the Jura region of eastern
France, Louis Vuitton opened his first
shop in Paris on the Rue Neuve des
Capucines in 1854. He was to change
the whole concept of luggage.
Until Vuitton, who had begun his career
as an apprentice trunk-packer, luggage
had been fairly rudimentary, often little
more than wooden crates. Vuitton’s first
innovation was to offer flat-topped
trunks which could easily be stacked in
railway coaches or in the holds of
transatlantic liners. Then, in 1876 he
made his first travelling wardrobe,
complete with removable trays and
Ein
Schriftzug
sagt alles
Es kann nur
Einen geben
Louis Vuitton ist die Nummer 1 in
Reisegepäck.
18 MIHI EXCULTA - April 1999
hangers. retain that indefinable, extra dimension of sophistica-
This monogram-covered ward-
robe trunk - the product which
made Vuitton’s reputation - is still
being made today and is the vis-
ible sign that the company re-
mains true to its origins.
The world moves on, however:
not only is the business of travel
and all the paraphernalia which
goes with it very different from
that of the mid 1880s, the global
awareness of luxury brands
means that companies such as
Vuitton have to guard their brand
image very carefully if they are to
1854 eröffnete Louis Vuitton, Sohn eines Zimmermanns aus dem ostfranzösischen Jura,
sein erstes Geschäft in der Pariser Rue Neuve des Capucines.
tion which sets luxury product marketing apart from
the rest.
The global luxury brand market has more than
doubled since the mid 1980s, moving from $20 billion
to around $47 billion.
One of the guiding principles which separates the
true luxury brand from the also-rans is that it
maintains a living link with the qualities which
brought it to notice in the first instance. Vuitton’s
central philosophy has not changed in 150 years – it
still stakes its reputation on products which are a by-
word for functionality, value-for-money and, above all,
quality. It is these values which makes Vuitton luggage
aspirational.
In 1987, Louis Vuitton joined with Moët Hennessy to
form what is known today as the LVMH Group, controlled
by Financière Agache. When Yves Carcelle became president
of Louis Vuitton in 1990, he was very aware that its
financial health rested on just one product line - 95% of
sales were due to the Monogram line. The choices were to
diversify immediately – the favoured route of many others
– or to concentrate on what it did best, travel and luggage.
In effect it did both.
The company began to regenerate the image of the
Monogram line but it also set in motion the
development of other lines of leather goods – such as
shoes and ready-to-wear fashion - ready to offer them
when they and the market were ready. Meanwhile, the
company began introducing new, mainline products
and opening new stores.
Because so much rests upon its brand image – which
has to include the way customers are treated as well
as the product itself - one decision was obvious, to
retain control of its own distribution in whatever
market. Even where its does not own its own outlets,
such as in major department stores, the company still
uses its own staff, its own fittings and its own
inventory.
Louis Vuitton does not franchise and has no plans
to do so. Integrity of the brand and product positioning
is, and remains, paramount.
The results have been spectacular. Since 1990,
turnover has increased from $691 million to around