Social Media: Thierry Mugler is Out of Control.

I've long felt that while slow to embrace the social media revolution, once firmly on board, the luxury industry would impress us all with their creativity and innovation. Granted, it's been a long wait. But one project, born from the fertile mind of reclusive French designer Thierry Mugler, has me feeling rather optimistic.

Before I tell you about it however, it is worth pointing out that up until now, the defining ethos of the luxury industry could be reduced to one little word: control. Every little detail from the glamorous, air brushed images used to pull us in to the particular folds of the layers of tissue paper that envelop the precious object of our desire, is a study in precision and control. The luxury experience demands no less. So, when a luxury brand willingly throws caution to the wind and voluntarily relinquishes control (to consumers no less) it's time to sit up and take note.

I did just that during a presentation by the Clarins Fragrance Group for Thierry Mugler's new project dubbed "Womanity", a contraction of terms "woman" and "community". There is no simple way to describe this project so please bare with me while I try. You see dear readers, there is no specific product in mind. None. Nyet. Nada. It could be anything from a fragrance to a television project to a car to a book. In fact, the brand has registered the "Womanity" trademark across multiple product categories.

I know what you're thinking. It's a gimmick. A ploy to make me want to buy something from the Thierry Mugler brand. I arrived at the presentation fully expecting to be treated to the usual pitch geared towards the launch of a new fragrance, time-defying cream or what have you. I was wrong. Instead, I was treated to a demonstration of a new website designed to reach out to women the world over and provide a platform for exchange. From this, the team at Thierry Mugler (including the reclusive designer himself), will draw inspiration for new products.

The concept is not new per se. It borrows to some extent from crowdsourcing, a process by which marketeers reach out to a targeted audience for ideas relating to product development and design. Crowdsourcing has been tried before most notably by Unilever and Microsoft ("Task Market"). This said, in previous instances, crowdsourcing was used in relation to a specific product or a specific set of services. It has never been used (at least not to my knowledge) by a luxury brand and never in a thoroughly open-ended way. Moreover, the platform allows participants to exchange with each other as well as with the brand giving it far more depth than in previous instances. As acknowledged by Joel Palix, President of Clarins Fragrance Group which owns the Thierry Mugler brand, while they know the starting point of the project (the launch of the Womanity platform), they have no idea exactly where the project will ultimately take them. For now at least, the possibilities are virtually endless.

To those of you familiar with the ways of the luxury industry, you no doubt understand that this flies in the face of all received wisdom distilled over decades, generations even. This said, as Palix explained, this is not as marked a departure as one might think for the Thierry Mugler brand. Rather, it is building upon a platform that in many ways already existed. Indeed, the brand has carefully cultivated a community of millions of devoted clients which long predates Web 2.0 and the rise of social media. For the Thierry Mugler brand, the Womanity platform is therefore the next logical step. The difference is however that the Internet now makes it easier to connect with and expand that community exponentially.

Granted, the Thierry Mugler brand retains control in terms of what products will eventually be developed as a result of this exercise (no brand would want to risk diluting brand value by developing products incompatible with its DNA). Also, it remains to be seen whether women will in fact want to purchase products derived from this interactive process as much as those crafted for them entirely by luxury brands in the traditional sense. Still, for an industry once aptly described by Oscar de la Renta's President Alex Bolen as populated by "a bunch of control freaks", this is a significant step forward. Fittingly, the Womanity website launches today, March 8, International Women's Day. I will no doubt be updating you on the Womanity project from time to time so please stay tuned.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[Make Do Style]

Watch this space indeed! Not sure what to make of it all.