Effective Storytelling Techniques for Luxury Brands

In today’s digital age, luxury brands can no longer solely rely on their origin story, nor on their longevity to maintain their status. With the advancement of technology and, of course, social media, if luxury brands want to stay luxury, they need to effectively engage, interact and influence their target audience. Their online presence isn’t just about raising brand awareness, it’s about maintaining relevance amongst a new generation of users.

Luxury Brand Storytelling Techniques

So, how does a luxury brand stay relevant today? Through storytelling. This is an age old marketing technique that is still effective, even in the digital age. Storytelling not only helps brands connect with their consumers, but also helps their overall business positioning. This is powerful because how your brand is positioned in the marketplace will determine what kind of consumers it attracts. Below we will go over some of the best brand story examples you can integrate into your marketing strategy.

Minimalism

When it comes to luxury brand storytelling, less is more. While minimalism is a very popular art movement that’s also represented in fashion, the idea of only having the bare necessities can be applied to luxury brand storytelling as well. Keeping your story short and sweet ensures that your brand is making a bold statement: This is who we are. This is why.

Minimalism also works perfectly for digital marketers because many descriptions and captions are limited to a certain number of characters. The key is to be able to capture your brand’s essence within those descriptions. This makes for an effective storytelling technique because you’re getting straight to the point, which is what luxury brand consumers want. They want to know that what they’re getting is stylish and sophisticated. It was Coco Chanel herself who said, “[s]implicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”

Personalisation

Consumer personalisation always makes for interesting brand stories because, when shoppers are able to personalise their products, they feel more included. This is an important aspect of storytelling for luxury brands because it helps uphold the idea that their products are part of their lifestyle. Personalisation can also further help communicate the idea of a lifestyle, particularly when attached to the correct influencer. For example, one of the best brand story examples that uses personalisation is Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins.

By choosing high profile celebrities like Justin Bieber and the Kardashians, Calvin Klein was able to reinvent their look and appeal to a new generation of consumers. The use of a hashtag also helps SEO for digital storytelling because of the amount of individual users and clicks using that tag. This campaign combined style with interactivity, and the result was over 645,000 tagged photos on instagram with the #MyCalvins hashtag. Melisa Goldie, Calvin Klein’s Chief Marketing Officer noted that, “[t]he goal is always to sell the product.” She continues onto saying, “relevance is the driver of commerce.” She believes that, “to be a relevant brand means that everyone needs to be talking about you and there has to be a conversation. Sales are 100 percent as important as is driving a relevant conversation.”

Choose a Charity 

Another effective and constructive way luxury brands can tell their story is through charity. By aligning your business with a charitable organisation, you can show your consumers that your company cares, which is reason enough for many to go to you. In effect, this creates it a very compelling storytelling method.

One luxury brand that had wild success with this particular storytelling method was Lacoste. Easily recognisable with its alligator logo and bright polo shirts, Lacoste partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature to replace its iconic reptile with 10 endangered species to raise money for these animals. The SaveOurSpecies campaign not only reminded consumers of Lacoste’s signature branding elements, but also helped raise money and awareness for endangered species across the globe. This brand storytelling strategy is as productive as it is effective.

Sharing Real Stories

One luxury brand storytelling tactic that brands have been doing for decades is sharing real stories. Luxury jeweler and specialty retailer, Tiffany and Co., has been doing just that for this holiday season. With their #BelieveInLove campaign, they’re sharing real love stories of real people and how their products play a real role in those love stories.

They’re showcasing these love stories on their website and prompting users to shop the story because they understand that beyond their product, there are feelings involved. When it comes to telling your brand’s story, you want to be able to convey a feeling or a message you want your consumers to associate with your brand. Whether it’s the feeling of falling in love, or the passion you feel for a particular issue, you want to make sure that your story resonates with your consumers.

The Re-Cap

Hopefully these brand storytelling examples have given you an idea for how you can better tell the story of your own luxury products. These are just some ways you can push the boundaries of communication and really connect with your consumers. Remember, there is no one brand storytelling definition — do what makes sense for your business. Let’s look at the storytelling tactics one more time:

• Keep your story short, sweet and simple and only include the essential components for telling your brand’s story
• Add a level of personalisation your consumers can connect with to increase interactivity and engagement
• Choose a charity to partner with for an effective and constructive luxury brand storytelling campaign
• Share real stories from your consumers connecting with your product to convey real feelings

Good luck and don’t forget to share your story with us!