As you may have noticed, Van Cleef and Arpels recently launched an elaborate web-based publicity campaign for its new boutique collection entitled Une journée à Paris. Built around one theme - a day in Paris - the collection recounts two different stories, one romantic, one child-oriented, with Paris and its numerous monuments as a backdrop. I had the privilege to discover the new collection last week along with a group of French bloggers at the fabled jeweler's Place Vendome headquarters in Paris*.
The collection is undeniably charming with tiny, graceful figures relating each respective tale as it unfolds throughout the City of Lights. As one would expect, the pieces are very finely crafted with Van Cleef and Arpel's characteristic attention to craftsmanship and quality either in rose gold accentuated with coral, diamonds and mother of pearl or, white gold accentuated with lapis-lazuli, diamonds and mother of pearl. Each story line includes a pendant, sautoir, ring, bracelet and watch. The watch is particularly impressive from a technical perspective as it involves intricate moving dials that create a two-dimensional, shifting tableau with figures emerging and disappearing behind the mother-of-pearl dial over a period of twenty-four hours.
But it isn't just Van Cleef's meticulous craftsmanship and technical expertise that impresses. I was also impressed by the clever use of web-based and mobile technology to create a well-integrated and interactive marketing campaign to support the product launch. Given how reluctant the luxury industry has been to embrace the Internet, this offering from a luxury industry heavyweight such as Van Cleef and Arpels along with Dior's Lady Noire Affair campaign released last month, marks a welcome shift in the luxury industry's approach towards the Internet.
In this instance, the campaign features a short web-based film that integrates both the romantic and child-oriented story lines with an interactive component that allows viewers to click and discover the jewelry component corresponding to the character. The site also features an application which allows viewers to create their own itinerary through Paris. The result is an entirely personal journey through Paris that has a cool feel that mimics Lelouche's classic mad dash through Paris at night with a camera strapped to the front of his car. In keeping with the walk through Paris theme, an iPhone application was also developed especially for the campaign which allows users to access addresses, telephone numbers and other useful information corresponding to the itinerary selected.
The increasingly thoughtful and well-integrated internet-based campaigns emerging from the luxury industry is currently one of the most interesting aspects of luxury marketing. Given the magnitude of resources, both financial but especially creative, that a brand such as Van Cleef and Arpels can invest in devising an Internet campaign such as this one, it is entirely conceivable that an industry long considered a web-laggard could one day become a leader in the domain. It is definitely something to look forward to. To view the collection and learn more about the campaign, please visit the Une Journee A Paris website.
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
* As a guest of Van Cleef & Arpels, my round-trip ticket from London to Paris was paid for by Van Cleef & Arpels.
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