A coffee table book says much about your luxury brand

This unashamedly analogue medium has become a powerful communication tool in luxury brand marketing and personal story telling.

It delivers the major themes of luxury brands and indeed personal life journeys - creativity, beauty, highest quality craftsmanship, authenticity, design, authority, legacy, history, achievements, inspirations and future vision – in a bespoke experience like no other.

If these stories are important to you, a luxury custom book is the perfect platform to present your premium brand or personal world in more detail, with more emotional impact, with more weight, with more style than other media.

Its strong design aesthetics and compelling copywriting, makes it a unique addition to a luxury brand’s marketing –something many leading luxury brand marketers appreciate.

Source: Anew/ SO Creative Studio

The natural fit between print and luxury

Both are benchmarks of quality, care, and professionalism.

Brands also promise exclusivity, aspiration, cultural/intellectual capital, and tangible experiences that stimulate the senses – and that’s what the best luxury coffee table books deliver.

Just as it takes time to make an excellent product, it takes time to read a book. They are read with more focus and attention than a speedy scroll hunched over a screen.

Substance and meaning

Here’s LVMH’s view on it:

“What sets a luxury brand apart from an everyday brand lies in its essence, which is an act of creation. It’s about a vision brought to life via an uncompromising commitment to craftmanship. Sustainable quality and creativity are the reasons why consumers grant luxury brands their trust, why they are inspired by them

So, print is a natural place to belong for luxury brands – they share similar values. Print stands for substance and meaning. In the same way it takes time to craft a luxe product or experience, print offers a precious time of lean-back to people; it develops trusted POVs and offers a safe environment.”

Source: LVMH/Moët Hennessy’s Global Branding & Media Director Véronique Louise. 2019

Touch and physicality

Pages must be turned, ink and glue can be smelled, the sheen of paper valued, binding touched, weight felt, spines appraised, texture gauged, embossing lingered over. Time has been taken to achieve these sensory experiences.

Discerning UHNW’s want to see and touch beautiful products. Touch of course can affect our emotional, physical and intellectual responses, so a luxury brand book’s tactility builds a physical connection with consumers - which also reinforces the premium quality message.

A book’s physicality also delivers the luxury brand mantra of authenticity. It is a world of colour-rich, high-resolution, handmade, inked glory.

It is screen free, and it is real.

Control and creation

Books allow luxury brands to control the storytelling. These can be presented without the filters of other media outlets – especially social media or content that has to be SEO based. (Sites are becoming homogenised in a way that offers little brand differentiation or emotional pull to the product)

Not in a superficial way, but in a manner and style that reflects what affluent, intelligent, successful HNWs want.

Source: SO Creative Studio

Gain and weight

A luxury coffee table book carries a certain weight, both physically and metaphorically. Unlike lighter, more disposable, books these are crafted with heft, making them feel substantial in your hands. This creates a sense of permanence, reinforcing the idea that this beautiful bespoke book is an object of value. The density of its pages speaks to the richness of its content. The simple act of lifting a book conveys importance and gravitas.

Size and presence

Luxury coffee table books are often oversized, designed to command attention and create an imposing presence in any room. The large format allows for high-resolution imagery to be presented in stunning detail, turning each page into an immersive experience. The generous dimensions make these books the perfect centre piece for table, gracing the shelves of a library or a private reception area for your VIP clients , inviting guests to leaf through their pages and engage with their content. Their very presence signals an appreciation for beauty, knowledge, and refinement.

(Source: SO Creative Studio)

Awe and joy

A well-produced coffee table book is a visual feast. Stunning photography, high-quality printing, carefully curated layouts. We speak of beauty, prestige, discernment, elegance, and grandeur in their purest forms. Done well, bespoke custom books are like objets d’art. Whether minimalist, modern, opulent or baroque, the design reflects the identity of the luxury brand – or individual - producing it.

More than a book

Unlike digital media, which is fleeting and ephemeral, a beautifully crafted coffee table book - a phrase that does not do justice to the experience - a tactile pleasure, a journey through imagery, and a statement of sophistication. It can endure. It can become a treasured brand asset or possession, passed down through the ages.

At its best it is a nuanced relationship between words and images, with each complementing and enhancing the other in conveying meaning and evoking emotion.

Source: Anew/ So Creative Studio

We design, write and print bespoke coffee table books

SO Books is where we copywrite, design, produce and print luxury coffee table books.

SO Books teams us with our colleagues at SO Creative Studio, in a shared passion for all things luxury, including custom coffee table books.

Our book design service offers seamless end-to-end book making services. From initial strategy, depth market research and content creation right through to book design, printing and fulfilment.

We have over 25 years’ experience working with global luxury brands across a wonderfully diverse range of market sectors. From art galleries, museums,architecture, property and interiors through to jewellery, B2B professional services, private investors and private family businesses including royalty.

Commissioning a bespoke coffee table book is the perfect opportunity for luxury brands and individuals to present valuable insights about their inspirations, achievements and legacy.

To learn more about our approach, the service we offer, printing using sustainable print solutions, multi-language and transcreation opportunities – see here.

Or get in touch if you want your luxury brand marketing to deliver an emotion unlike anything else.