Big, bold and beautiful
The power of the coffee table book is now being fully appreciated by luxury brand marketers. It’s taken 183 years.
Displaying books as conveyors of cultural value goes back a long way. From early home ‘intelligence signifier’ to luxury business tool, their communication strength was first noticed in 1850 when Montaigne observed, in dismay, that his essay ‘Upon Some Verses of Virgil’, was being used to show off rather than picked up and read. He said: “'I am vexed that my essays only serve the ladies for a common movable, a book to lay in the parlour window”.
He might have been irritated, but a cultural artefact, social trend (and printers’ delight) had been born…
In luxury brand marketing they have become powerful communications tools in the luxury marketing toolbox.
Large formats, expert craftmanship, fine design detail, tactility, visual impact, respect for narrative, history, and culture combine to deliver an exceptional reading, or social display experience, that is unlike any other.
Qualities that our luxury clients such as Bombardier (see above), and Universal Music appreciate.
Luxury coffee table book for Decca Luxe/Universal Music
Custom books are perfect for luxury brands: their rich aesthetic, design and print vocabulary is a stunning showcase to display a brand’s character, interests, beliefs, and values.
Generous in space and size, they entertainingly give readers valuable insights about legacy, achievements and inspirations.
Supersize coffee table book to market one single£64m London residence
We understand... because we make and create bespoke coffee table books
Our new venture - SO Books - teams us with our colleagues at SO Creative Studio, in a shared passion for luxury print.
We offer seamless end-to-end book making services:
From initial luxury brand strategy, market research, book design, content creation, copywriting, photography, retouching, translation services, project management, printing and fulfilment.
We collectively have over 25 years’ experience working with global luxury brands in sectors including art galleries, museums, architecture, property, interiors, B2B professional services, private investor projects, royalty, luxury jewellery and entertainment.
Our custom books are bespoke
Everything we do is unique, and tailor made. Luxury coffee table books can be any size or format. Book boxes can be any material from cardboard, wood, metal, glass, acrylic, resin, stone to 5000-year-old fossilised black oak, shagreen, mother of pearl, and real gold.
Beautiful custom book and book box concept for a superyacht called JOY
Not forgetting, digital coffee table books
Yes, coffee table books are unashamedly analogue – and therein lies their power – but we can also integrate emerging technologies.
Of course, we can print books lithographically or digitally, but augmented reality (AR) offers the best of both worlds - bridging the physical and digital worlds to create books with animation and sound.
For luxury brand marketers who want statement pieces of serious artistic value
Superlative high end production values featuring extravagant formats, exquisite imagery, beautiful typography and reading narratives, they should always be a rich celebration of luxury craftsmanship.
Custom book box and book for a company that extracts marble and other precious stone from rock
Whether a luxury brand needs the ultimate HNW and UHNW welcome, or an after-sales gift, a statement in the family office or reception, standout sales material, need to tell your brand’s success story, mark a special moment or establish market or cultural authority, a coffee table book has qualities that luxury customers desire:
Luxury brand marketing that delivers awe
Awe.
It’s not a word we use much in luxury brand marketing, but coffee table books have it.
No one is in awe of an Insta campaign, a DPS in Vogue, the usual third party luxury partner promo, a VR experience yet, or (and it grieves us to say, it no matter how well crafted), a website.
The world is making truthful emotional, and certainly luxury brand, connections, harder.
Done well, a coffee table book gives readers a sense of being in the presence of something bigger, literally, that can transcend one’s understanding of a brand.
Their physicality can be moving, leaving an everlasting impression, making a deeper sensory relationship. It is the ideal medium for luxury brand storytelling, for founder origin stories, history, milestones and achievements.
It is an investment in craftsmanship that speaks volumes about who commissioned such a book.
To learn more about SO Books, 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.
