Blog Archives - Page 2 of 8

August 30, 2023

It’s hard to find a brand naming agency

We know. But you’ve come to the right place. We offer professional brand naming services and creative naming solutions.

Naming. It’s hard to do. If you are a parent, you know this all too well. Will these children ever forgive their parents: Moon Unit and Dweezil, (Frank Zappa), Zowie (David Bowie), Apple, (Chris Martin/Gwyneth Paltrow) and North West (Kanye West/Kim Kardashian). I guess they didn’t use brand naming experts….

A name is of course a hugely important part of a brand strategy.

Important because the company or brand name is the first contact with your customer and its most elemental marketing communication. The name becomes a natural, authentic extension of your brand, and demonstrates to the world the values of your brand positioning.

For many companies, the name is the brand, and it sets the tone for everything it does. People will remember strong names and, if they are done well, they produce an emotional connection to a brand.

Names - words - have the power to shape worlds both real and imagined.

To distil a story, its elements and all the associated emotions and rationality into a single word or phrase is no small feat. It takes creative naming consultants.

Emotional benefit, cut through, memorability, originality, promise, impact, alliance to brand proposition, the right cultural connotations, imagery and meaning – naming can be complex and take time.

Name generation strategy

Thinking strategically is a smart starting point. Business objectives and rationale are as important as the name scope.

The best brand naming companies understand that they are naming the positioning of a company, a product, its tone, personality, its ideology and its story first. Not a mere name for the sake of it.

We are creating a word that starts a conversation or relationship with a consumer.

The creative naming strategy process itself can be personal, emotive, memory-stirring, legally challenging, intensely practical and culturally flexible. But done well they can have immense value and longevity.

History lovers will be interested to learn that Stella Artois can be traced to 1708 when Sebastian Artois bought a brewery and renamed it after himself. (Stella means “star” in Latin); Twinings Tea was founded by Thomas Twining in 1706. In 1891, Marcus Samuel began shipping kerosene from London to India, bringing back seashells for sale in Europe. Initially, the seashell business was so popular that it was most of the company’s profits. Samuel incorporated the name “Shell” in 1897. And Levi Strauss & Co. Company goes back to 1837. Founded by William Bass in 1777, Bass Ale became the first registered trademark ever issued by the British government. The brand became so popular that Manet featured it in this now iconic, erm.. trademark-friendly painting:

We have a proven brand naming process

Our innovative naming solutions methodology begins with understanding everything about a company or brand including a range of variable elements depending on the life stage of the company. But these might include its philosophy, vision, business priorities, culture, customer profile, core proposition, competition, planned operation/resources, supply chain and much more.

The more we know, the more effective the name will be.

Riches beyond compare: the words of the world

Names, names names… people like to break down their types.

And indeed, what riches there are, what choice! A treasure chest to communicate brand soul, with words being the tools of the trade:

Descriptive names, acronym names, founder names, invented names spanning the purely invented, mashed-up, smashed-up, pureed, shaken and stirred, foreign names (real and foreign-sounding), poetic, rhyming, names, experiential names, generic adjective-based names (eg advanced, superior, ultra, etc.)

Evocative names that are metaphoric not literal, that rise above the product offered, and paint a bigger picture. Many of the most well-known brands have evocative names.

The best of them lean into shared cultural knowledge, imagery, or association and usually work on multiple levels.

Brand naming trends come and go but inspiration and techniques remain constant, various and many.

We have etymology, pronunciation, phonetics, linguistics and translations.
We have editing, shortening, lengthening, reordering, tinkering.
We have personal life stories, corporate origins, science, nature, need states of the markets/of the consumer, mythology, folklore, philosophy, psychology, culture, arts, technology, botany, nature, slang, the celestial realm, architecture, cuisine, history, history, mood, emotion, nuance, colour… the glory of it all at our strategically focussed, commercially conscious, disposal.

An AI 'company name generator' isn’t quite the same.

All we want is a name that delivers an effective brand identity: tells the story, stimulates interest, is impactful and captivates hearts. Oh, and it helps if it’s a catchy brand name.

'If you have the words, you'll find the way'

Said the noted poet Seamus Heaney. We are of course no poets, but we do know our way around language enough to create powerful brand names.

London based Anew are a strategic brand naming agency. Developing unique business names for luxury brands is part of our expertise.

See more about our approach to creating brand names for companies, new luxury brand names, range names and premium product names, plus our brand naming portfolio here.

We help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution. We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually, to discuss any new projects you might be considering.

To get in touch do drop us an email.

Luxury is ageing gracefully

(Feature image credit, with thanks to LVMH)

Here's the fourth article in our series of ‘Brand Matters’ for Luxury Briefing, the renowned international magazine providing news, analysis and opinion across the luxury industry.

You can read the full text below.

"Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.” I know, I know. It doesn’t sound like a cheery start to a piece on luxury brands, but that’s the wise Saul Bellow observing the importance of our past. And history is important in luxury.

Compared to others, luxury brands are unusual in this one metaphysical sense as their ‘birth’ is more crucial to marketing than most. ‘Founded in...', 'Established in...', and 'Since...' are core features of much messaging and logo design. Like ageing humans, ageing brands have to keep doing things that give their existence purpose and meaning. Which is excellent news for marketing departments and branding agencies.

With luxury branding, this means continued devotion to expressing the playbook: craftsmanship, obsession, founder vision, and originality. You know that story by heart. And the heart is what counts in its telling. More than most businesses, age is often a significant part of the luxury story. But making a creative and relevant present from a sepia past is always the marketer’s challenge. Truly, existentialist marketing.

Because older luxury brands must continually ask themselves: Why do we exist? What greater purpose do we serve? What does our history mean? How do we remain relevant now? And other soul-searching questions. Here, we celebrate how old can mean strength, power and relevance through being vintage, stylish, cultural, familial, and classic — and brilliantly marry it all with contemporary rejuvenation and/ or innovation. It is a difficult act to pull off, and successful companies tend to their great trees of life thoughtfully whilst letting the green shoots flower. Here are some thoughts on how luxury has always worn it well and survived.

The fashion industry is well known for hiring new, young designers. Of recent note is Rochas, founded in 1925, which has just appointed the French designer Charles de Vilmorin as its new creative director. He is 24 years old. Harris Reed is the British-American creative director for Nina Ricci. He’s 27. Gucci, 102, has hired Sabato De Sarno, at 39 an industry veteran, whose brief is to ‘successfully translate the rich heritage and legacy of Gucci’, and show how the brand can last a lifetime and never go out of fashion.

Collaborations have become an innovative way of flying the youth flag. Now it is big business and a smart way of injecting new energy into many legacy/established brands. Clarks Shoes & Moncler, Louis Vuitton & Supreme, Babolat & Michelin, Nike & Tiffany, Manolo Blahnik & Birkenstock, adidas & Gucci, Dior & Birkenstock, Burberry & Supreme, Louis Vuitton & Nike, Loewe & Juergen Teller, Dingyun Zhang & Moncler, Tiffany & MSCHF, Fendi & Versace and many more.

When in doubt, reach for art. A good current example is Veuve Clicquot’s travelling Solaire Culture exhibition, recently seen in Piccadilly, London. It presents 250 years of the Maison's heritage interpreted by nine female artists who have each used the pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit of Madame Clicquot as inspiration. Visitors are invited to be ‘transported to explore Veuve Clicquot's cultural imprint from 1772 to the present day, viewed through the creative lens of an all-female team.’ They’ve done it well.

Uncharitably, it all reminds me of Dracula. Famously, he sucks the life force out of his victims to stay alive. Only fresh young blood rejuvenates him. I am troubled by this thought and maybe should seek help on a couch. (A luxury couch, of course. The Lockheed Lounge, formed from thin plates of aluminium riveted together, which curve around a body made from fibreglass-reinforced plastic, with three feet coated in rubber, was designed by Marc Newson; it was the world's most expensive design object, selling for a record-breaking $3.7m in 2015.) Yes, luxury has aged well, given what it has had to deal with. Debates over its very existence have annoyed religious leaders, politicians, and lawyers since ancient times. Matters of moral corruption, sin, lack of control, and excess, to name but a few, have been angsted over for thousands of years. All that, but balanced with the good things: beauty, design, innovation, the world’s best craftsmen, authenticity, and entrepreneurial courage. And always success. Luxury has never failed whatever disease, war, depression, recession or unrest has been flung at it.

I think luxury brands always get the language right. They like their words as opulent and crafted as the products we are selling. Everything should taste delicious, be sumptuous, lusciously fragranced, handcrafted, timeless, exquisitely finished and made to last forever. We like to live in a haze of ultra-luxurious, unparalleled, exclusive, private, discreet, elevated excellence.

We get the aura and ambience right. We understand how the cues of art, history and culture ennoble brands and customers. To create the right aura, you must be as real and pure as possible. The cultural essayist Benjamin Walter wrote that art loses its traditional and ritualistic value — its “aura” — if the environment is not as authentic as possible. Think art galleries or five-star hotels.

So, old age. Many brands deal with it gracefully and thoughtfully. Susan Sontag said, “What do we have from the past? Art and thought. That’s what lasts. That’s what continues to feed people and give them an idea of something better.”

And ‘something better’ is the whole idea...

A little more on Anew - a luxury London branding Agency

Anew’s two founders deliver: insights from market research, strategic brand thinking, new brand names, luxury logo design, messaging, online and offline content, coffee table books and luxury brand websites. We help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

Are mushrooms off the sustainability menu?

The luxury fashion world is digesting the news from Vogue Business that material innovation start-up Bolt Threads is struggling to raise funding for its leather alternative Mylo. They make mycelium-based fungi material and attracted much interest from the fashion industry; they had Stella McCartney, Adidas and Kering as sponsors.

But luxury brands containing the material have been slow to reach the market. Bolt have said “Despite our intensive efforts, the current macroeconomic climate has made it increasingly difficult to secure the necessary capital to support the scale up of emerging technologies’.

So far, so usual. Many ventures are experiencing slow capital take up right now. But what interests us is debate about sustainability this news has stirred.

Sustainability features are an important part of our design story for luxury coffee table book projects.

Our paper and material suppliers are at the forefront of new technologies and share our interest in sustainability. From paper made from seaweed, plantable seed papers, through to book binding fabric made from 100% recycled waste ocean plastic, we are always on the look out for sustainable materials and papers which are not only kind to the environment but also do not compromise on the quality of the bespoke books that we make for luxury brands around the glob .

For an end to end, truly sustainable journey we can also print coffee table books in a zero-emissions printing factory where all waste is contained at source.

But going back to the main topic at hand, commentators are frustrated/angry/for/against; here’s a taster:

How innovative “sustainable” solutions are often oversold by the media. In truth replacing incumbents is exceptionally challenging.
Most leather replacements are backed by or combined with plastics thus severely denting their environmental claim.
If you create sustainable leather alternatives and drive down the demand for leather, the price of leather will drop until it all gets used.
Leather is repairable and durable. Alternatives are not repairable or durable - or even healthy for your feet.
A pair of shoes can contain up to 45 components: the shank, the toe puff, stiffeners the reinforced binding, lining, hardware, insoles, padding, sock, sole, glues, all of which need to be considered - not just the upper material.
Designer Anya Hindmarch: "Leather, farmed in a regenerative way which is then tanned and finished in a responsible way, is often the most sensible solution when a by-product of the meat industry".
Bill Amberg: "I don't believe there is such a thing as plant-based leather. There are non-woven textiles which are very good, and in fact, we use them here at our studio. But in terms of replacing animal leather, they are not strong enough, repairable, or durable enough. They also don't have enough character, and they're too expensive. The two materials are entirely different."

Leather Naturally "The leather industry is witnessing a growing dialogue of misinformation about leather-making and the truth about leather alternatives. Do consumers know how leather is made and its sustainability credentials?”
The leather industry divided between the modernised tanning facilities (80-90% and the small tanneries operating without safe chemical, waste, and worker conditions. These small operators in countries like Morocco, Bangladesh, and India are the ones whose images are often used as as hubs of toxic leather production.
Leather should be reimagined creatively and combined with other materials rather than discarded in favour of plastic or lesser performing 'alternative leathers'. A more creative approach is needed eg using half the thickness of leather and bonding it to other materials or fabrics to create composites.

So, some of the arguments are complex on this one. As always with sustainability, one needs all the facts and knowledge to truly know what’s right. This story highlights that a one-size-fits-all approach is not always right for creating the best eco-solution.

The poor mushroom

It’s having a tough time, which is a shame as we very much like the shroom.

This will make you still believe in mushrooms.

A terrific recipe from Stanley Tucci’s Italian series.

Keeping the pot cooking

That’s what we do at Anew. Keep the luxury broth going.

We are a London based luxury marketing consultancy for ambitious businesses of excellence. Whether it’s insight from research, strategic brand thinking, a new brand name and logo design, messaging – or a luxury coffee table book - we help luxury brands increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

Read here all about SO Books, our joint venture with SO Creative Studios. This venture allows us to offer clients seamless end-to-end custom book and bespoke book box making service: from initial strategy, research and copywriting and content creation right through to luxury coffee table book design, printing and fulfilment.

We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

You can read more about us here.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

Creativity. From origins to AI. (The short read)

The third article in our series of ‘Brand Matters’ for Luxury Briefing, the renowned international magazine providing news, analysis and opinion across the luxury industry.

You can read it below.

Years ago, a four-footed ancestor of us all gazed out through the primordial mists, appraised a half-gnawed mammal bone, and decided things had to change.

The very first spark of the very first idea was struck. The human race was on its way to champagne, diamonds, watches, five-star hotels, and haute couture.

Later, in Lascaux, Dordogne, cavemen saw paintings on the wall and another spark was struck for brand narratives....

Where does commercial creativity begin? Those of us who work with brands spend our life with ideas. Our days are surrounded by them; the good, the bad, the desperate.

It’s being re-engineered as you know. AI is unlocking ‘a world of creativity’ with AI’d imagery, video, and text all remixed based on the audience it wants to reach.

In fact, creativity has been repositioned before. It doesn’t have a long history. Ancient cultures had no conception of it, seeing art as discovery, not creation.

Creativity, as we understand it, did not happen until the Renaissance when it was acknowledged that humans, not religion, had the ability to create something new. According to Aeon, things really took off in the business world after WWII, when the Manhattan Project was seen as proof that you could organise slightly peculiar, talented, people and achieve things that were new and consequential.

‘Creativity’ was then taken very seriously, particularly in the not-so-hidden persuasion business. It could no longer be left to chance. It had to be understood and owned. Who had it, and who could do it, who had that magic marker, who could delve into post-Freudian unconsciousness and create the desire to consume? Bill Bernbach invented the then-radical idea of ‘creative departments’ in the '60’s. They’re still with us, just.

Well, academic theory only goes so far. Regardless of what the cultural scientists say, luxury reveres the mystery of creativity. We mythologise it. We put it on a plinth in a gallery. We house it in a Parisian atelier. We worship the Maker. The Designer. The CD. It is in the marketing playbook. In part because it is so difficult to do with skill, style and integrity. In part because at its best, its humanity ennobles a brand story. Making the heart a hero in any story is hard.

Dave Trott, ad legend, said there isn’t any formula to creativity. “You have your personality, experiences, hobbies, a life lived. So, the idea – or at least the raw material – is already there. Inside you. It’s how you bring it out. There isn’t a formula – if there was it wouldn’t be creative. You have to do whatever it takes, and that changes every time.”

Creative Director Paul Arden said it’s OK not to know: “Experience is the opposite of being creative. If you can prove you're right you're set in concrete. You cannot move with the times or with other people. Being right is also being boring. Your mind is closed. You are not open to new ideas."

Every creative journey starts with a problem. Which can be scary. Stories about creativity tend to leave out this stage. (Tends to worry clients.) The feeling of not knowing the answer is itself part of the process. Before we can find that answer there might be fear. You must believe the solution lies beyond the horizon.

Think Archimedes in the bath, and Isaac Newton under the apple tree. We take the ideas we’ve inherited or we’ve stumbled across, and we reshape them. Shoulders, giants etc. Mark Twain said that “All ideas are second hand, consciously or unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources and daily use by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them.”

Whether manufacturing cars or making music, art, products, campaigns, design, logos, or sites, creators remodel what they’ve seen. They absorb the world into their systems and manipulate it to create a shock of New. Consider the cut-up technique, in which written text is cut up and rearranged to create new text. A Dadaist discovery, it was famously used by Burroughs and Bowie.

Why is all this important? Still, smart creativity and good ideas matter in the matter of gaining attention and selling. Someone needs to tend to the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, AI has raised the stakes. Original creativity matters more than ever.

AI algorithms don’t cry, laugh, or suffer, they have been nowhere, they didn’t live through it, they are pastiche, they have no inner being, and they don’t know truth. (Oh, don’t worry. We’re pros. We will adapt, we will endure, we will co-create, we will follow the path.) You can’t hold back the future.

Fashions come and go (NFT, anyone?), but human nature has actually changed little over the centuries. We should continue to appreciate deeply the sometimes-strange talent that brings forth ideas, products, and experiences.

Creativity, founded on meaningful insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will be much needed for the raw, nervous times ahead.

A little more on Anew - a luxury London branding Agency

Anew’s two founders deliver: insights from market research, strategic brand thinking, new brand names, luxury logo design, messaging, online and offline content, coffee table books and luxury brand websites. We help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

Nothing but the truth

Believe me

‘To thine own self be true’ runs the line above the old Conway Hall stage in Holborn where this month we attended a conference on Truth.

Put on by the wonderful team at ‘Watch Me Think’, the event - ‘Avoiding liars, lies and charlatans in your quest for the truth & trust’ - was packed, timely and thought-provoking.

Much quoted, beautifully and poetically phrased the line itself is spoken by Polonius to Claudius, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

It’s a way of saying that nothing at all matters more to how we should act than our own esteem. It says that we should stick to our principles, not assimilate, and that we should do what we believe.

Never has there been a greater need to explore these ideas - and in a perfect setting.

History sidebar: Conway Hall opened in 1929 celebrating Moncure Conway anti-slavery advocate, out-spoken supporter of free thought and biographer of Thomas Paine. The Hall is a hub for free speech and independent thought, for suffragettes, political radicals, scientists, philosophers, artists, performers, campaign, charities and other non-profit organisations.

(Image credit: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/)

A truly marvellous place.

We listened and learnt about how truth is presented, used, abused, exploited, created, celebrated, personally and professionally, in the brain, in the Self, at its best, at its worst, from a range of experts working in the field.

We heard from experts in market research, brand, marketing, brand consultancy, politics, journalism, self-help, global shopping insight experts, AI technology, programming, neurolinguistics, advertising planning, Alice Sherwood, author of Authenticity, and a personal experience on finding one’s own truth in the corporate world.

No one faked it.

So, 11 speakers on the importance of truth in today’s world. You know the background themes: AI, division politics, 24/7 news cycle, real life/digi life reality, consumer/category/market/company truths, the nature of insight industry, language, brand stories (they sound like fiction) and much more.

It turns out we can have too much truth.

The importance of truth

You’d think we shouldn’t have to spell it out. But look at the world!

Without the truth, there can be no real morality, justice, equality, unity, success, freedom, love, security, peace, spirituality – maybe even survival.

And yes, brand success. What is a brand’s truth and can it be trusted.

As Chief Tinkerer and CEO of Watch Me Think, let’s share Alistair Vince's headlines and summaries here:

How to spot the lies

We were told to look out for people who try very hard to convince you with a lot of unnecessary detail. However, people can be nudged towards honesty with social proof, reminders to do so and “watching eyes”.

Context is king

(Image credit: https://storywarren.com/pearls-before-breakfast/)

Not everyone lies deliberately. Context is king and can influence what people perceive to be true. We were presented with the 2007 Washington Post feature, Pearls Before Breakfast, where one of the world's finest violin virtuosos played in a DC subway at rush hour. He earnt a measly $32.17 and was largely ignored. In a deeper dive into context, we were flagged consensus, language and scale as all playing a role.

Whilst explaining the anatomy of a con, writer Alice Sherwood told us that the most important part is context. As long as you look the part and are where you’re meant to be, you can get away with scary amounts.

We were encouraged to build teams with different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. Because those experiences, that context, will shape their truth and allow for better, broader thinking.

Lies and market research

Alistair Vince spoke about lies in Market Research and what we can do about them. He talked through the rise of fraud, the examples seen and what to ask agencies.

He also encouraged us to consider whether our mix of methods is giving us the best chance of getting to the truth. Are we communicating that truth honestly? And are our organisations set up to hear that truth?

Communicating the truth

Telling the truth isn’t always a comfortable thing to do, especially if you discover something against conventional wisdom.

People hate being wrong. But they like to learn something new. Breadcrumb the answer and let people find it. But at what point does spinning a positive become lying? Easy. If you’re not willing to add a source to the "truth", then you’re on the wrong side of the line.

The panel also discussed how, when getting to the truth, not everything can be done in a quick, cheap or agile way. Similarly, when explaining how the internet became such a disinformation dystopia, it was explained that one of the reasons journalism is in a pickle is because it’s hard to do good, well researched work when people expect stories for free online.

Cole Moreton shared a truly excellent tale of when he interviewed Scarlett Johansson. It taught him to get out of the way of the truth by recognising his own agenda. The more you get out of the way, the more they can say what they want to. Otherwise, you’ll miss the point that’s right in front of you.

All in all, an esteemed panel indeed of experts: Alice Sherwood, Patrick Fagan, Dan Thwaites, Adrianne Carter, Sandie Dilger, James Pickles, Sally Henderson, Martyn Atkins, Megan Goodwin, Mark Whalley Keith Sleight, Katie Angier, Cole Moreton and of course Alistair Vince.

The truth about luxury brands

We can tell you all about it.

Honestly. We’ve been doing for a long time.

London based luxury marketing consultancy Anew are brand development and marketing specialists for ambitious businesses of excellence. Whether it’s insight from research, strategic brand thinking, a new brand name and logo design, messaging, online and offline content or website development, we help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

You can read more about us here.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

Jewellery brand storytelling is no longer a luxury

(Feature photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash)

Seems like everyone has a brand story: leaders, followers, the minority, the majority, the left, the right, the top, the bottom, the east, the west, our friends, foes, political parties, religions, bands, artists, the local artisan (pricy) coffee shop round the corner, and of course luxury brands.

Brand narratives have become accepted and used by everyone.

We’re all experts on story arcs.

Their very ubiquity might mean they have lost power.

But no.

As was pointed out at a recent conference on Truth, though brand stories may sound like fiction, we’re all still in the lab distilling facts and desires into a disciplined beginning, middle and ends.

It’s the holy mantra in luxury jewellery brand marketing and copywriting – and we do it well here at Anew, with over 25 years experience working in jewellery branding and marketing.

Though HNW’s/UHNW’s are brand literate, marketing-savvy consumers, and are highly aware of how these are arrived at, and why they exist, there are strong engaging stories out there.

Nowhere is more dependent on good brand stories than luxury jewellery.

The recent Royal Coronation jewellery narrative had a few things to say about itself, but here’s a small selection from other people:

Ruth Tomlinson

Unconventional beauty whether in the rarity of material or a curiosity in nature

Joseph Brooks Jewellery

Handcrafted, raw beauty, from the bedrock and punk rock

Shakti Ellenwood

Talismanic jewels created consciously while singing ancient Indian mantras and weaving spells, dreams and blessings into their very bones

G Suen

Linking tradition and innovation: dynastic craftsmanship is mixed with the latest technology

Sonia Petroff

Inspired by the archives of designer Sonia Petroff to make a confident, feminine style statement

MATILDE

Bringing nature’s rawness, imperfection and beauty to jewellery design that is inspired by the power of three female generations.

Fabio Salini

Former Cartier and Bulgari designer creating precious stones with innovative materials such as leather, rope, copper, bronze, ebony, carbon fibre and titanium

Bario Neal

A design-forward, women-owned and feminist company. leader in ethical sourcing and progressive manufacturing

David Yurman

One long art project. Fuse fashion, art and jewellery into signature design concepts revolutionized an industry, creating an entirely new category - American Designer Jewellery

7879

Harks back to the traditional way of selling jewellery as they used to in places like India - based on weight of the metal and its inherent value. An interesting example of deep legacy made contemporary

Thameen

Founded by two young Qatari sisters creating designs combining old Qatari style gold for modern daily use

And as Matilde herself said to us the the other day, its worth investing the time and effort to do it right

"For me it continues to be important to take my time and not rush. I think it can be easy to get carried away and almost ‘too excited’ about the growth of your brand that can lead many to make mistakes that could have been avoided if you had taken things slower and really considered them"

Who understands how to make brand narratives work excitingly on and offline?

We do.

Brands are not only storytellers. They are publishers, cultural agents of change, pioneers, social activists, environmentalists and must adapt to different fast-moving audiences.

Anew are brand development and marketing specialists for ambitious businesses of excellence. Whether it’s insight from research, strategic brand thinking, a new brand name and logo design, messaging, online and offline content or website development, we help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury jewellery brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

Based in the heart of London, we'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually, to discuss any new projects you might be considering.

Get in touch here

Why craftsmanship’s vulnerability will win in a tech world

The second article in our series of ‘Brand Matters’ for Luxury Briefing, the renowned international magazine providing news, analysis and opinion across the luxury industry.

You can read it below.

‘There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in” sang Leonard Cohen. Mistakes, error and ambiguity are not the kind of words the business world embraces wholeheartedly. Especially businesses involved in luxury craftsmanship where the desire for superlative perfection and exquisite quality is the norm.

But look at the ‘pursuit of excellence’ from the viewpoint of craftspeople. They, like artists, don’t worry about chance or that ‘simple twist of fate’. If allowing for a change of mind is seen as exposing their vulnerability, then bring it on. Being part of the human condition inspires them.

Creativity is not some academic addition to humanity, to be called on when the need arises and then laid back in its box. It is part and parcel of human existence. Getting it wrong and ‘failing better’, is the engine of innovation and change.

Nowadays, all this introspection and interior energy has to work with the brute rationality of technology. As automation drives all aspects of our lives, I ask myself where and how analogue craftsmanship fits in, and whether we need to imbue luxury with a new type of value.

We've been hearing about AI for years and now it’s here. Oh, I know ChatGPT-4 will be writing articles about human craftsmanship, probably more entertainingly than this one, next year. So, who wants handmade craftsmanship? Will its artisan appeal fade? It’s been a brand mantra for hundreds of years, but what will its future value be? I’ve always thought that handmade craftsmanship makes luxury more desirable because it adds difference and depth. This means grace, quirkiness, character and personality. So, let’s examine the relationship between craft and tech. The old rational/emotional seesaw, the eternal dynamic.

On the one hand, the luxury craftsman adds value to the product through dedicated (sometimes obsessive) mastery and feel. The craftsperson’s work is rooted in human nature. It can mean not knowing the answer; which in turn can inspire creativity and bring life to ideas. Musicians have to make mistakes, play the wrong notes, in order to get them right. (Painful to hear if you live with it, but true).

On the other hand, we have the logical precision of automation and technology. Each world has to produce value, positive experience, connection and business success.

Craftsmanship demands human labour, and we know people consciously or subconsciously judge the value of luxury based on the perceived effort put into it. But is the human effort applied to technology similar? Is a computer programmer a master craftsman? If luxury craftsmanship is about the love and attention you give to a product’s stitching, the tender care of a vineyard’s grapes, or the exactness of diamond cutting, is coding a software program the same? I believe it is not, but recognise it’s not clear-cut. The story of art throughout the centuries is also the story of new materials, processes and resources. Hockney loves technology for instance. Reasons to be cheerful if you value craftsmanship: Bain & Co forecast a move from mass-production and a rise in valuing the art of process. Last year they opined:

“Luxury brands will need to leverage their cultural avant-garde position and insurgent excellence to overcome the challenges ahead and shape the world. Luxury is converting into art, with the ultimate objective of transcending from its original form, rooted in craftsmanship and functional excellence, towards broader meanings, empowered by imagination and symbolic power, to build its handmade creations.”

There are sectors that make a virtue of tech and handmade working together. Watches have messaged handmade craftsmanship for generations but use automation as proof of quality, not a lack of luxury value. Consider the Louis Vuitton Tambour Horizon Light Up, ‘the world’s most creative connected, never-seen-before, smartwatch, the ultimate luxury tech product.’ Or the Gucci x Oura Ring, a collaboration featuring Oura's Gen3 technology and Gucci ‘empowering individuals to connect with themselves throughout the day via wellness insights’.

I don’t have a nostalgic view of craftsmanship. Spit n’ polish, floor shavings, a Bunsen burner, and some sepia-tinted gnarled hands has its romance, but the robot – as Time does – marches on.

I hope luxury’s appreciation of the past means it won’t let craftsmanship go entirely. An algorithm won’t be driven to innovate because it isn’t a founder who needed to create to overcome tough times or turn the experience of vulnerability into a business. Maybe luxury craftsmanship, at some deeper level, expresses an optimism about life. It’s bringing something new into the world. Maybe, with the impending Metaverse and a life beckoning ahead of looking only at a screen, it signifies real sensory experiences. And maybe, vitally, that physicality grounds us. Famed craftsmanship writer Richard Sennett views the act of physical making as a necessary part of being human. He said about technology:

"The enlightened way to use a machine is to judge its powers, fashion its uses, in light of our own limits rather than the machine's potential. We should not compete against the machine."

In other words, we should focus on what tech can do best rather than let it totally take over. If automation can breathe new life into the market, with interactions that respond and change luxury in amazing ways, and do it without losing some humanity, that can only mean more meaningful luxury brand experiences. Let’s end on Freud: ‘Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength’.

A little more on Anew - a luxury London branding Agency

Anew’s two founders deliver: insights from market research, strategic brand thinking, new brand names, luxury logo design, messaging, online and offline content, coffee table books and luxury brand websites. We help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

Is less more, in luxury?

‘Less is more’ is a phrase we London-based luxury brand marketeers routinely use. It means a specific attitude, value and tone for how luxury should be presented in UHNW/HNW marketing and brand communications.

It means simple colours, straightforward typography, design that promotes functionality and usually a sense of calm. We all believe such a minimalist approach to artistic or aesthetic matters is more effective creatively and commercially.

At its most purist, it is about expressing only the most essential and necessary elements of a brand design strategy by getting rid of any excessive and therefore, unnecessary components and features. Minimalism takes form, colour, space and reduces them to such simplicity to get to their essential nature – which is a perfect design philosophy for many luxury brands.

It was architect Mies van der Rohe who came up with the thought. His mantra was simplicity, open spaces and materials like industrial steel and glass to create the 'bones' of interiors. The creative industry embraced this wholeheartedly.

‘Less is more’ in luxury brand communications and image making means not being overly showy. It is about subtlety, understatement, distance. It doesn’t shout. No bling, no big logos. It is the softest of soft power. It is what UHNW’s want now.

Look at Succession’s ‘stealth wealth’ wardrobe: neutral palettes, quiet luxury, ‘if you know, you know' appeal and the fashion critics say, very boring. It’s attracted much comment for its very ‘beigeness’. Cucinelli sales have soared.

Interestingly their site opens with a quote from Kant: “Beauty is the symbol of the morally good’ … which neatly takes us from luxury brand design to luxury business and morals:

Why less is more - more or less

The Wisdom of Frugality: a book by Emrys Westacott has appeared on our radar and made us muse – briefly it’s true - on frugality, simplicity and the contradictions these throw up in luxury.

Luxury has form here we know. It has been in the moral crosshairs over its very existence since time immemorial. It has troubled religion, politics, the law; matters of sin, lack of control, excess have been raised to name but a few – and now its environmental responsibilities.

On the one hand writers, philosophers and religious leaders have seen a certain frugality as a virtue and have associated simple living as a key to a good healthy life; something to give us wisdom, integrity and happiness.

And, with our environmental crisis, a simpler way of life looks more sensible. (We won’t include the Luxury Wellness industry in this observation right now. Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t want a return to pre-industrial basics, she wants a successful luxury lifestyle business.)

On the other hand, a strong case can be made for luxury and extravagance. We are luxury brand consultants after all!

Luxury has Good Things: beauty, design, innovation, cultural taste making, the world’s best craftsmen, authenticity, and entrepreneurial courage.

See many earlier blogs on this for example 'Luxury branding and craftsmanship' and 'Sustainability and luxury - what do they have in common?'

Before: less really was less

Pre industrialisation, living with less, and more simply, wasn’t a lifestyle, or a virtue, it was a stone-cold hard fact of miserable nature, forced upon you.

Consumerism changed all that – yes, we have played our part – and we have been locked into business growth strategies promoting consumption based on the ability to sell more. Affordability, speed and convenience were placed ahead of other considerations like the availability of raw goods and natural resources to make what was being sold.

Now, less is back again, but more never went away

Two factors: economics and environmentalism have changed things.

You know the mood music, you’ve seen the smoke coming out of the chimney.

The eco backdrop. Conscious, not conspicuous, consumption.

‘Abundance thinking’ is out.

‘Old Luxury’: excess, opulence and status is out.

‘New Luxury’ is in: from being about the product to being about the process and experience. From ‘what’s new, to what matters’.

So, thinking about simplicity and luxury, frugality and extravagance, is evolving as it always has.

When so many people are finding life tough, show off displays of opulence and wealth don’t seem right.

And yet, as the FT headlines, the increase in luxury good spending is ‘extraordinary’ (Source. FT 27/4/23.)

People want to eat cake. Luxury’s doing very well.

More is still more

According to Bain, Jan 2023, the global luxury goods market took a leap forward in 2022, despite uncertain market conditions. The industry is poised to see further expansion next year and for the rest of the decade to 2030, even in the face of economic turbulence.

The overall luxury market tracked by them comprises nine sectors: luxury cars, personal luxury goods, luxury hospitality, fine wines and spirits, gourmet food and fine dining, high-end furniture and housewares, fine art, private jets and yachts, and luxury cruises. They predict a market better equipped to cope with economic instability because ‘their customers are less sensitive to downturns.’

So be it.

The FT has devoted a Big Read to the subject on how all this year’s traumas and crises have made little impact on the luxury sector. Which should be encouraging for all luxury brand agencies.

We make luxury brands count for more

What you see is what you get. Two experienced luxury brand marketers working on your business.

Anew are a London- based luxury brand agency who help companies – such as Bombardier, Universal Music, Hatch Mansfield and Boodles - increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas, new branding names, market research and faultless execution.

We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

You can read more about us here.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

AI means expectations are greater for luxury marketing

(feature image source: https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-oaksz)

The bells toll amidst the media frenzy of predictions of what life with AI/Chat GPT is going to be like.

Bill Gates said last month that ‘Artificial intelligence is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the Internet’.

So, what are our media, cultural and news worlds going to be like?

If every style, every idea, every song, article, picture, film, artistic technique, can be artificially created… what will be real?

Will we live in a permanent crisis of trust, a Kafkaesque Big Brother nightmare?

The first question we will ask – on seeing, reading or hearing anything – is ‘Man or Machine’? Real or Unreal?

Consider the following recent stories – and there will be many more to come.

Criminal scammers cloning a teenage girl’s voice with AI, and using it to call her mother to demand a $1 million ransom.

Or the photo of Pope Francis wearing a white Balenciaga puffer jacket which turns out to be fake.

(Image source: New Scientist/ These images were generated by the AI tool Midjourney/MIDJOURNEY/REDDIT)

This Balenciaga pop-culture mashup commercial is all entirely generated with AI. It shows characters from the Harry Potter films - Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, Snape, McGonagall, Dobby—as gaunt models with aggressive cheekbones dressed in gothic capes and leather jackets. In 3 weeks, it got 5m views.

And here’s what people do to beautifully agonised-over luxury brand content, this time for Rolex.

The Stage says AI is stealing voice-over jobs.

The music industry is asking streaming platforms not to let AI use copyrighted songs. In a letter to Spotify and Apple Music, Universal Music Group expressed fears that AI labs would scrape millions of tracks to use as training data for their models and copycat versions of pop stars. The Guardian says that music generators are not quite at the same level of mainstream accessibility, but can make convincing song fakes of like Kanye West doing a whole cover version of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now.

Israeli winery Mahsenei Hashuk is using ChatGPT and Midjourney for marketing and branding for the ADOM wine range.

Profoundly destructive lies or artistic innovation and creativity? It is complex. AI products are in their infancy but as they develop, they will no doubt impact the creative areas generally including image, sound creation and writing.

Com on feel the noize

(Image source here)

If you think it’s bad now, it’s going to get much worse.

There’s so much noize out there, though you may call it cultural abundance, especially in the digi world.

Many of us, especially the young and the smart who know their way around, can get whatever they want for free. Free news, free music, free films, free TV, channels, gaming, free content of all kinds.

(Though erm.. not luxury brand marketing strategies, copywriting, website design, art direction, luxury coffee table books, name creation, advertising and market research).

And for all that content…. no one’s content…

People are more depressed and anxious than ever; we have a mental health crisis on our hands especially with young people.

Tech used to make things more trustworthy. A photo, (remember those Polaroid Instamatics), a video, a recording.

To be fair, not the ads. Never the ads. Ad men were ranked lower than double glazing salesmen, lawyers, and politicians on the trustometers.

I go to a site now and I ask myself, do I trust it. Who’s funding it, who are the backers, are the writers known and legit. Where is their source, their intel from. How do they make their money.

(Image source: https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer)

We all go to Google first.

But we all know it’s SEO’d to death, or riddled with placement ads, so that extra factor has to be ‘baked in’. As they say.

So what can you trust?

What luxury is good at: beauty, design, innovation, the world’s best craftsmen, integrity, authenticity, entrepreneurial courage… physicality and experience.

Brand narratives: origins, founders with a mission, authenticity, provenance, history, craftsmanship, quality, scarcity. Tales of triumph over tragedy, provocation, challenge, mischief, bravery, innovation, technical mastery…

The human bit. AI tech that works for the client. The tech must be Servant to the brand marketer’s Master.

Which might be good, because us humans are talented at that part.

The emotional engagement, connection, integrity, craftmanship, soul thing…

Bill Gates and the tech community put forward a positive case for AI. Optimists all, mostly, they believe it will reshape the way people work, learn, travel, get healthcare, and communicate.

Well, let’s be positive, and hope they’re right.

Luxury brand marketing will surely adapt and thrive as it has throughout many other seismic trends in history.

Where can I find a London luxury brand agency that I can trust?

You've found it.

Anew are brand development and marketing specialists for ambitious businesses of excellence. Whether it’s insight from research, strategic brand thinking, a new brand name and logo design, messaging, online and offline content or website development, we help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

We are particularly adept at working directly with luxury brands, business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are committed to sustainability, outstanding quality and craft.

Based in the heart of London, we'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually, to discuss any new projects you might be considering.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

The word ‘luxury’ is not luxury

(Feature image credit here)

Louis Vuitton is advertising their watches in a new luxury brand campaign. Interestingly, their end line is ‘High Watchmaking’.

For those not familiar with the watch world, ‘High Horology’ or "Haute Horologie” means fine, luxury or high-quality watchmaking. The word is used to describe watches created using the finest techniques, with the most complicated functions, and the most intricate details. It’s out of the luxury brand copywriting playbook.

If you know what high watches are, you’re in the in-crowd. If you know how to pronounce A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet or Jaeger Lecoultre you belong. Most people don’t know what a high watch is.

So, exclusivity matters in luxury brand marketing, including its words and copywriting.

But the word ‘luxury’ itself is absolutely not luxury.

Love luxury, love success

For thousands of years, the wealthy created markets through their love of luxury. Chinese silk, Eastern spices, Venetian glass, Swiss watches, Meissen porcelain, Staffordshire pottery and French couture. They created, each in their turn, rich niches.

Smart founders and luxury copywriters used them to develop lucrative markets through the desires and aspirations of the less rich social classes.

The very success that has been achieved has probably negated any serious sense of the original word.

Which is over-used, cliché ridden and applied to just about every luxury brand sector you can think of. From the usual wine, jewellery, holidays, cars, hotels, aviation, skincare, fashion etc to celeb brands to er....toilet roll. (end line: Wisdom in every Wipe), vinyl flooring, and shampoo.

(See here, from Esquire Magazine, some of the most ridiculous luxury products. Chanel tennis balls anyone?)

It seems like any company can adopt a luxury brand strategy even if it does not actually produce a product or service usually associated with the sector, e.g. Apple.

But it is also - still - the most immediate short-hand way to signal rarity, exception, quality privilege, and price.

Louis Vuitton's line led me to think, yet again, how we struggle to reframe our haute, our high-end, sector’s presentation.

Luxury brand marketing: who writes 'luxury'?

The HEC Paris business school examines the issue:

Although luxury brands cultivate the myth of their humble origin and vaunt their continuous loyalty to pure craftsmanship, the reality of the luxury sector today is that of mega-brands, of mega-groups holding a vast portfolio of brands. Some are still family owned (Chanel, Hermès) others are listed (LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Swatch).

An in-depth analysis of the websites of many leading luxury brands and groups reveals a paradoxical absence, that of the word “luxury” itself.

Hermès never uses the word, nor does Porsche, LVMH itself now refrain from using the word in its newest corporate website, favouring the words: excellence, dream, exceptional and exquisite.

Altagamma the syndicate of all Italian luxury brands never uses the word “lusso”.

ANEW has constant client conversations about ‘accessible luxury’, ‘casual luxury’, ‘new luxury’ – not to be confused with ‘old’ luxury.

We have those as well. (They are always followed by words like ‘relevance, meaning, modernity, technology, Gen Z…)

Depending on your point of view, these phrases – lazy luxury copywriting even - either shows we have lost the meaning of the sector, or it has matured into something all-encompassing and flexible.

Luxury should mean craftmanship, perfection, exceptionalism, exquisite aesthetics all backed by founding beliefs, culture and values rooted in a very specific local past. Many a luxury brand founder story is about innovator beating tough economic times or hard personal circumstances.

Luxury should also mean relevance, disruptive creativity and sustainability.

In 2019 the New York Times reported on The Louvre Abu Dhabi’s luxury exhibition which presented the evolving, often conflicting, interpretations of the word luxury.

They ask: “Is it ostentatious spending on trend-driven whims like handbags and lipsticks, or investing in unique pieces associated with a specific place or period? Is it a concept rooted in product or experience? An ever-changing social construct? Or today, in a frantic world cluttered with objects, screens and logos, is it time itself?”

If the New York Times is confused, imagine how we feel.

Here’s a picture of a solid silver C18th French soup tureen, with cover, to get things back on track.

(Image reference: Gary Stockbridge)

Reclaim the meaning of luxury back

In the absence of any other phrase or word, it will have to be in its brand communications. In good luxury copywriting, art direction, brand narratives and engaging ideas.

That means getting back to the roots of luxury, its know-how, its history, its reason for being, its unusual grace, its relationship to craftsmanship – helped or not with technology.

In a luxury brand’s quest for perfect perfection, it should have a closeness, to art to produce a feeling more than mere ‘I got it’, and status. Ideally…some kind of aesthetic elevation.

Anew kind of luxury

Well, we can’t promise spiritual enlightenment with every luxury copywriting brief. Like Willie Nelson’s sad songs and waltzes, they’re not selling this year.

We started in 2016. A London branding agency whose two founders produce insight from market research, strategic brand thinking, new brand names, luxury logo design, messaging, online and offline content, luxury copywriting, coffee table books, or luxury brand websites. They help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.

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