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Introduction
“A simple artifact often holds the
essence of a whole social system”
Wuthnow et al. 1984: 4
The current world is a fuzzy world, which is in turmoil always looking for
innovation and change. Consumers are different from before, and they expect
something more from their shopping experience. Not only. They also need to
identify themselves with the brand more than before, and establish a deep
relationship with it. This can be done through some marketing strategies, such as
storytelling. Stories or narratives are powerful means to create a bond with the
client, because these are techniques able to elicit particular emotions and feelings
in him. Listening a story, the consumer has the right to bilocate, to lose himself for
a while, and to be embraced by the beauty of the tale. Storytelling enables to
increase and motivate people in their shopping experience. A foundamental role is
represented by the storytellers; they are the mediators between two different
worlds: the real one and the narrative universe. During my university path and my
last experience abroad, I had the possibility to analyze and to have a first contact
with this subject, and this is the reason why I have decided to analyze it in my
paper. I was interested not only in verbal means of communication, but also in
design, architecture and space. Tales, in fact, can be told in different ways, and
ambient communication is able to provide a significant contribution for this goal.
Environment, space, design, architecture, are all elements to be organized and
arranged in order to create the perfect place for the tale show. In the store,
everything has normally a precise role: from furniture to lights, from colours to
the staff. The importance of storytelling, linked with ambient communication and
space, is analyzed in the first, more theoretical part of my paper. But, nowadays,
everyone knows that this mix of communication strategies must be dressed with
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sustainability. People are more and more willing to be and to behave ethically,
trying to reduce waste and buying products they know where they come from.
Sustainability does not only mean to look green, today synonymous of cool, but
also to have a green supply chain, be green at every step of the production.
Thinking that this mix of storytelling, space and sustainability is a powerful trio, I
started to wonder if this could work for luxury brands, and if there were
companies, in this market sector, which were already using it. So, I started to
analyze Loro Piana. The choice I made was driven by different reasons. First of
all, thank to my university path and abroad experiences, I have learned how to
appreciate and improve marketing strategies and, at the same time, I was curious
about how this topic was integrated in top luxury brands. Therefore, after an
analysis of some brands, based on the topics of my research, Loro Piana was one
of the most representative company for what I was looking for, and it was also
available to share some information with me. Moreover, I had the possibility to
know it also because it is rooted in the same geographical area of me. From many
years I could started to appreciated the finest materials, really feeling the
difference with other brands, and it let me more and more aware of its culture,
based on tradition, dedication, passion, quality, craftmanship and innovation. The
whole research I made has been carried out through literature, several academic
articles and journals, and through repeated meetings at Loro Piana headquarters.
In all these occasions I had the possibility to speak with the marketing
communication manager (luxury good division), and therefore acquire as much
information as possible, and deeply know the soul of the company. I have finally
integrated, verified and confirmed the information I got, with online data by Bain
& Company, a top management counsulting firm; this integration has allowed me
to develop a general overview about top luxury markets and also about positioning
of these brands.
The excellence of Loro Piana comes from the encounter between the world’s most
exclusive materials and the finest Italian craftmanship: this is the key of their
success which have led them to the highest standars of quality. Garments are
created, with flawless attention to details. Loro Piana is an exclusive company on
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the side of marketing, because it does not invest so much on advertising. This is a
choice the company made, in order to not expose the brand so much, and trying to
establish relationships with the clients, but in a different and much more
authentical way. The company uses the finest fibers in the world for its garments,
and I was particularly fascinated by the story of the vicuña, an animal who lives
now free in the enchanting South American landscapes. It is the smallest member
of the alpaca, Ilama and guanaco family that lives wild in the Andes, and the
rarest, finest fibre in the world comes from it. This is linked with the story of Loro
Piana, because, in the past, Loro Piana had the exclusive honor of buying,
processing and exporting vicuña in the form of textiles and finished products,
given their commitment to the preservation and repopulation of these animals. I
chose to analyze this story, because is perfectly aligned with the values of the
company and because is a perfect example of storytelling. Vicuña case history’s
communication campaign is analyzed, focusing on its role of storytelling, space
and sustainability. Thus, this story is the starting point of the presentation of the
company, and especially of Loro Piana communication strategies and objectives.
Thank to these several interviews, I was able to really get the essence of the brand
and to understand why company-client relationship is foundamental. But, in order
to better understand the role of Loro Piana in an international context, I have
carried out a brief analysis of top luxury markets, finding out how Asian market is
now changing, what clients want right now, which kind of experience they expect,
and what they look for in their shopping. This analysis leads marketing
department to develop strategies to elicit satisfaction in the final customer.
Moreover, all this can be done caring simoultaneously about environment,
because sustainability and luxury have two aspects in common: durability and
rarity.
A brief analysis of Hermès finds room in the last part of the paper, because from
the interviews I have carried out, I was able to understand that this brand is
probably one of the point of reference in terms of storytelling. They developed a
“magic formula” able to lead them to a wider range of consumers, without
denigrating the real essence of the brand. Storytelling, dreams, drawings, design,
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etc., they are all techniques in common with Loro Piana, but Hermès is more
universally recognized. And this is surely due to the fact that they invest a much
greater amount of money in communication.
After this general overview about the aims of the paper and the subjects analyzed,
let the story begin.
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CHAPTER 1: THE NEW MARKETING: THE ART OF STORYTELLING
1.1 Consumer brand engagement
“In the present global market scenario, the pursuit of consumer brand engagement
(CBE) plays a key role in a new customer-centric marketing approach designed to
cope with the constantly evolving individual and social dynamics of postmodern
consumer behavior”
1
. Taking CBE in account allows to not undervaluate or
overevaluate customers. But, what is CBE? Although the concept existed much
earlier, the concept got widely used in the 19th century through the industrial
revolution. If the brand is sufficiently “attractive”, the consumer eventually buy.
But to be attractive is not enough. It must have a use. If the consumer feels the
product is the best choice for him, he will buy, and will be willing to assure a
repeated purchase. How to obtain this willingness? The marketer must operate in
keeping the brand salient in the consumer’s mind and, at the same moment,
keeping the customer “engaged” to the brand
2
. Engagament here, not only means
satisfaction with the product, but also willingness to promote, defend and do battle
with others, if necessary, on behalf of the product. Therefore, customer
satisfaction is only the first step to having a lasting relationship with the
consumer. What will keep the consumer with the marketer is his engagement.
Satisfaction and engagement are two concepts that go hand in hand, because
“when products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer
expectations, customer satisfaction results”
3
. Elicit satisfaction could be the
turning point in the business strategy of a company, because it gains loyalty of
customers, who in turn could become evangelists spreading the good word to
others, thus influecing them to become customers. Companies should recognize
the role of positive word-of-mouth (WOM), because it is highly credible, effective
1
G. GRAFFIGNA – ROSSELLA C. GAMBETTI. The concept of engagement: A systematic analysisof the
ongoing marketing debate. “International Journal of Market Research”, 2010, Vol. 52 Issue 6, p801.
2
Cfr. M. N. TRIPATI. Customer Satisfaction and Engagement - Customer Retention strategies for brand
manager. “The XIMB Journal of Management”, March 2014, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p124.
3
M. N. TRIPATI. Customer Satisfaction and Engagement - Customer Retention strategies for brand
manager. “The XIMB Journal of Management”, March 2014, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p124.
22
and, in most cases, free
4
. Even if sales or market shares indicate the company’s
performance in the market, the best indicator is maybe the customer satisfaction.
This is a foundamental topic for luxury brands, because they have few customers
who are willing to pay amount of money, but they expect something more then the
simple purchase. They want to know, be aware of what they are buying, in order
to be completely satisfied and keep their loyalty. These concepts are analyzed
below. So, satisfaction is not enough alone. Modern consumers pretend to be
engaged and it is responsibility of the marketers to do so.
Before to focus on the process of building the engagement, it is useful to
understand why this topic has been rosen in last years, and the answer is that there
were four main factors
5
that played a role:
1. Control over marketing communications. Nowadays, is very difficult for
companies to break the clutter and communicate to the fragmented
audience. TV advertising are not effective as some years ago and
advertising agencies are continuously innovating newer media, like in-
movie placement, mall floors, digital media, etc. to keep the customer
engaged and involved.
2. Customer turning into a communicator. The consumer today is different
than the past. He is active and he turned into a far more powerful
communicator thank to recent trend of blogging and other means of
webchats. These are powerful platforms for discussions, debates, criticts
and analysis along with friends and peers, who probably value this
conversation, far more than the communication from the advertiser. The
consumer is not the only one who has changed his role, because also the
marketer has turned from being a communicator to be a mute spectator.
Digital channels are very valuable for consumers, because they can learn a
lot about a specific brand from others’ perception. At the same time, online
4
Cfr. M. N. TRIPATI. Customer Satisfaction and Engagement - Customer Retention strategies for brand
manager. “The XIMB Journal of Management”, March 2014, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p124.
5
Cfr. M. N. TRIPATI. Customer Satisfaction and Engagement - Customer Retention strategies for brand
manager. “The XIMB Journal of Management”, March 2014, Vol. 11 Issue 1, pp125-127.
23
world represents important signals for influencing marketing strategy for
many organizations.
3. Reduced brand loyalty. As the brands are getting more and more similar,
the consumer is getting more and more confused about them. To choose the
right brand is harder now than in the past, and is now that the level of
customer engagement can be a differentiator in the purchase decision
process.
4. Media consumption. Consumers have a greater choice about the media to
consume, and often they pretend to access various types of media. For
instance, with the advent of Web 2.0, the consumer is merely not content
consuming static communication from the marketer but is actively
interested in participating in the communication. “It is no longer B2C but
rapidly converting to C2B where consumers wield the power to influence
business”
6
.
Jana Lay-Hwa Bowden proposed a process for the consumer brand engagement
which “incorporates the notion of mere satisfaction into a much richer process of
model of loyalty, one that examines the pathways and processes that different
experience-based segments follow on their journey toward loyalty through
satisfaction, delight, trust, involvement, and commitment toward a specific service
brand”
7
. I would like to analyze it here, because I believe it is very focused and
well-built. Employee engagement is argued to be positively related to individuals’
attitudes, intentions, behaviors, and business results such as job satisfaction, low
absenteeism, and high organizational commitment and performance. If employees
are highly engaged they will perform well with clients and obtain so favorable
evaluations. In Bowden model, the roles of commitment, trust and involvment in
the process of customer engagement for new versus repeat purchase customers of
a specific service brand, are analyzed. As it is shown in the figure below, there are
6
M. N. TRIPATI. Customer Satisfaction and Engagement - Customer Retention strategies for brand
manager. “The XIMB Journal of Management”, March 2014, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p127.
7
J. L. H. BOWDEN. The Process of Customer Engagement: A Conceptual framework. “Journal of
Marketing Theory and Practice”, 2009, Vol. 17, No. 1, p64.
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