Last week, La Conférence Luxe & Digital gathered 40 speakers, 50 journalists, and over 300 industry representatives who shared their experience and views on today’s digital trends in the luxury and fashion industry. This international event, which held its first and second editions in Paris in 2010 and 2011, took place this time in Moscow. It was co-organized by Digital October, the Russian capital’s leading tech event organizer and venue.
Among the speakers for the event’s Fashion segment, Alison Lewis (Agent of Presence) demonstrated new technologies she is using to create the next generation of fashion: dresses that light up in rhythm with the heart beat, accessories that change color depending on mood, and jewelry with WiFi access. Lewis is positive that the future of high fashion depends on the new materials and new approaches to using technologies and design.
Georges-Edouard Dias of L’Oréal explained how his company uses digital marketing and social networks to achieve viral effects in selling products online. L’Oréal cherishes its relations with the fans of its 27 brands, he explained, because the support of these people is critical to promoting the company online.
Axel Springer’s Anna Shashlova shed some light on the problems that global luxury brands are facing when they approach the Russian online media. Those challenges primarily include the language barrier, lack of clear metrics for online advertising, and a long approval process for any changes made to campaigns.
Concept cloning doesn’t always work in Russia
In the Media and Communications segment, Frederic Wickler (JWT Paris) shared his two-fold view on the role of technology in the luxury market: technologies make the fantasies happen, and open the access to new information. Consumers can personalize luxury products using the simple tools in the online store. Personalization and social component are the newest breakthough the luxury brands enjoy due to new media.
Nicolas Halftermeyer of Parrot demonstrated several high-end products of AR.Drone, a manufacturer of wireless headsets and wireless speakers, and shared his frustration in the challenges they are facing in the Russian market. Although the products have a proven track record in numerous other markets, the Russian market seems unresponsive to the traditional ways the company uses to promote its products.
At the end of the conference, the audience was presented with two French and five Russian startups in the field of digital luxury. The Russian startups were competing with each other, and both the offline and online audience had the chance to cast their vote for the best startup. The winner was a Russian startup, TagBrand, whose web and mobile service allows a community of brand fans to tag and recognize brands on their pictures.
