Fashion + Art + Digital = FASHION IS FUEL

If you happen to be in Paris during the Paris Fashion Week and you feel like taking a breather from the frenzy of fashion shows, trade shows and all other manners of "fashion weeks shows" happening all over the city, you're invited to discover and explore the fine art works of the talented contemporary Artist Call Me Frank.

This mini exhibition titled FASHION IS FUEL captures the beauty and energy of fashion through a series of paintings expressed in the unique style of Call Me Frank, which  blends multiple layers of paintings, drawings and the thickness of Perspex to give a feel of depth and perspective. Needless to say, each piece is sure to capture the emotions and trigger some inspiration in the mind of those seeking beauty as a form of expression.

The sensory environment of this mini exhibition is completed by smooth ballads diffused from the Bluetooth-enabled Zikmu Wireless Speakers designed for Parrot by Philippe Starck, bringing a complementary and pleasurable digital experience.   

Download your invitation by clicking here (and don't forget to bring it, you'll need it at the entrance!)  

If you make it to the exhibition, I hope you enjoy it!

The Club e-Luxe International Summit Evolves!

I’m pleased to inform you that the 2012 Club e-Luxe International Summit will be held on Wednesday 6^th June 2012 at the Ritz Hotel Paris. The theme we’re focusing on is “E-Commerce, F-Commerce & M-Commerce” and related topics to be analyzed include Multi-media shopping, E-boutique & Luxemosphere, E-Customization & Co-Creation, Branded Content, Virtual Reality, Channel Integration, & more! Needless to say, both I and the Luxe Corp team are looking forward to this event with great enthusiasm!

This event particularly holds special meaning to me, for several reasons. First, it is the 9^th Club e-Luxe event that I will be hosting on behalf of our company Luxe Corp in the last six years. It is unbelievable how these six years have flown by and I cannot help but reflect on the early days of Club e-Luxe when the majority of luxury brands literally “switched off” at the mention of the word “internet”. Today I marvel at how far both Club e-Luxe and the luxury industry have come in the digital arena, particularly in light of the cultural transformation that luxury has undergone due to digital media and innovation.

Secondly, this will be the last Club e-Luxe event to be held at the Ritz Hotel Paris for a while… You may be aware that this emblematic hotel which has defined Parisian elegance since 1898 will be closing its doors this summer for extensive renovations lasting close to 3 years. The Ritz Hotel Paris welcomed Club e-Luxe upon its creation six years ago and hosted us during our first event on 5^th June 2007. Since this date, the Ritz Hotel has been more than a solid partner. The hotel has been our second home (and our office, if I may add) as well as a sure companion of our participants, clients and collaborators, taking care of our needs and wishes at every moment, in its tradition style of discretion and elegance. We will miss this glorious institution for a while but we’re reassured that as neighbours, we will keep a close eye on the door for the grand re-opening.

Finally, this is the year that Club e-Luxe will step forward into the international luxury arena. For six years, luxury houses and companies have come to us in Paris from the four corners of the earth. Regardless of whether they’re based in France, the U.K, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Brazil or elsewhere, these forward-thinking luxury companies have relentlessly made trips to Paris to attend Club e-Luxe’s events, even as some of them quietly but insistently whispered their invitation to us to come to their cities. We have decided to listen to them and to take Club e-Luxe to them. So I delightedly inform you that in addition to the two annual Club e-Luxe events held every January and June in Paris, Club e-Luxe will also introduce events in two key international locations. Keep an eye on the Luxe Corp website for the official announcement.

In the meantime don’t forget to register for the Club e-Luxe International Summit on 6^th June by clicking here and to download the teaser brochure by clicking here.

A New Wave of Digital Luxury Emerges at the 2012 Club e-Luxe Breakfast Seminar

Not too long ago, the luxury sector was widely and publicly derided for being a laggard in the adoption of digital media and innovation. Those days are all but forgotten, as references for best digital practices have been emerging from the luxury sector through noteworthy initiatives by luxury houses like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Boucheron, Tiffany & Co and a host of others. A look at the vast array of information on the frequently updated online digital luxury magazine Web & Luxe is enough to confirm this. Luxe Corp has also recognized this “influx” of luxury in the digital space and demonstrated its commitment to reinforcing the dialogue between the luxury and technology sectors at the most recent Club e-Luxe Breakfast Seminar held on Thursday 12^th January 2012 at the Ritz Hotel Paris.

Focusing on “Enhancing the Luxury e-Reputation & e-Business” through key aspects of digital media including motion picture, multi-media, gaming media, mobile media, social media, customization media, tablet media and others, the event brought valuable insight to the latest innovations in relation to luxury.

Following its tradition “à la lettre”, the renowned Club e-Luxe Breakfast Seminar gathered some of the brightest minds and most radical innovators and digital visionaries to share their knowledge and innovations with an audience comprising of the most forward-thinking luxury brands. Led by Luxe Corp’s team of Luxury Business Analysts & Strategists, these leaders of innovation took the audience on a virtual journey through what can only be described as astute presentations and illuminating DEMOs.

Luxe Corp’s Uché Okonkwo introduced the event by giving a glimpse into what to expect from the presentations, DEMOs and debates; as well as Club e-Luxe’s traditional “Spotlights” and “Highlights”, when participants are spolit with highly-priced digital giveaways. Following this, the ultra-sensitive topic of Counterfeiting Luxury was addressed. Luxe Corp revealed that the internet has become the No.1 source of luxury counterfeit products; and showed that the internet could also be the No.1 channel for the fight against counterfeit luxury products. Luxury brands were challenged to be creative in sending the message of their stance against counterfeiting products through branded digital content.

Tre Azam, the CEO of Myndplay then introduced the power of interactive story telling through an innovation that marries digital technology with neuro-analysis. He surprised the audience by showing how a digital device could enable people control the actions in a movie through their thoughts. He revealed that using motion pictures and movies to tell the luxury brand story shouldn’t be a simple exercise of script, styling and action but should rather have engaging, entertaining and interactive dimensions that make the consumer part of the action. Tre took the audience through an exciting live DEMO in which a member of the audience volunteered to wear the Myndplay Brain Band which allows a two-way interaction between an ongoing movie and the viewer using EEG and Bluetooth. The volunteer participant was then able to participate in the movie through actions that included opening cans of drinks and chasing thieves down a street, simply by focusing and thinking. The audience was speechless in awe during this magical moment. If one word could describe this Presentation and DEMO it would be “awesome”.

 

Emmanuel Ducros, the CEO of Arscénique, the experts of interactive media and audio-visuals then took the stage and took the audience further into the world of virtual reality. He presented three technologies that enhance the luxury brand experience both virtually and physically. He showed touch-free gesture controlled displays that enable the public interact with interactive content on enhanced surfaces including store windows. The audience was able to watch video clips of people virtually tweaking and enlarging pre-recorded video clips by simply moving their hands, legs and bodies.

He also showed touch-free 3D depth gesture controlled displays which provide images and interactive content in 3D formats and allow people literally “go into” the content and become part of it. His inspiring live DEMOs, which were in the form of two custom-built multi-touch displays showed everything from how interactive content could turn simply transform into “engaging” and “entertaining content” as well as how consumers can be part of the process of brand experience.  They included an interactive floor that reacts to gesture and touch, a multi-touch interactive table and a touch free display on a store window available 24hours 7 days a week so that consumers can interact with the brand even when the store is closed!

Emanuel Ducros emphasized that consumers recall brand messages and carry these messages forward in higher numbers following exposure to interactive marketing. He also demonstrated that interactive media contributes significantly to a higher probability of purchase as well as brand affiliation.

Malka Klutmann, Artistic Director of the renowned French fine jewellery brand Jaubalet then took the audience through the innovative concept of e-Customization of high jewellery, introduced by Jaubalet, which has changed the rules of fine jewellery design and retail forever. With digital media at the core of its strategy and offering, Jaubalet successfully built a luxury brand with a solid positioning and an enviable customer service platform, without any physical stores. Malks’s presentation and DEMO broke the perception that fine jewellery pieces are “sacred objects that may only be sold through sacred physical stores”. Her presentation included a live DEMO of the digital customization process of the brand on its website. This was followed by a Conversation around the success factors and challenges of the concept, where the intrigued audience was able to ask her related questions.

Daniel Robles of Hootsuite made the next presentation on how to manage the luxury e-reputation in the context of social media and interactive media communications. The current reality is that nearly all luxury brands have official presence on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube; but at the same time nearly the same number of luxury brands has no control of their online reputation. Daniel showed the audience how to monitor online conversations in order to best optimize both the brand’s visibility and reputation across social channels. Using Hootsuite’s unique social media monitor platform, Daniel showed the audience how to ensure that the chatter of social media doesn’t drown out the brand’s own story. He led the audience through a live DEMO that focused on control, measurement and security of the luxury e-reputation, through tracking and extracting the mass of data related to a brand and their competitors online. The DEMO also showed how brands may use engagement techniques to recruit key influencers and drive positive social ROI.

Graeme Harvey, the CEO of Huzutech then took the stage in an engaging presentation and DEMO on how to integrate the world of gaming in the digital luxury communications and experiences. He showed the value of Huzutech, which is a platform that enables luxury brands to build customized social games. Graeme revealed that there are more than 1 billion registered accounts on numerous virtual worlds and indicated that 2011 was the best year for social gaming to date. With social gaming expected to grow at more than 30% in 2012, it is time for luxury brands to pay attention to this digital domain. He showed several DEMOs of online games that indicate the key features and impact of different types of virtual world online games; and also answered the all-important question of whether luxury brands should be part of existing social games or create their own games. The audience was also encouraged to use the principles of social gaming to formulate more interactive branded content where the consumers will not only be entertained but will also be involved.

The final presentation was a Roundtable Discussion on the topic of “The Next Frontiers of Social media, Multi-media, Digital media and Gaming media in Luxury”. All the Speakers were invited to share their vision of how they foresee the near-term evolution of digital media in general and in particular in luxury. They first heighted that in digital terms, the future is calculated on the basis of months and not years, due to the rapid pace of evolution of technology.

The speakers also unanimously agreed that the convergence of technologies is inevitable in the future and that digital integration will be a byword for the future. This highly interactive session also featured a Q&A session with members of the audience; as well as an analysis of the future of technology based on this inspiring video by Corning.

Following the series of illuminating presentations and DEMOs by inspiring speakers, Luxe Corp took the audience into its traditional Spotlights and Highlights which featured four Raffle Draws in which 4 lucky participants won highly priced products from HP and Parrot.

In addition each participant received a Gift Bag containing luxury products from Luxe Corp’s Living Emotions series and an innovative digital gadget offered to all participants by Metronic.

The next Club e-Luxe event will be the Club e-Luxe International Summit to be held on 6th June 2012 at the Ritz Hotel, Paris and will focus on the theme of E-commerce, F-commerce and M-commerce. The event will gather digital experts to share the latest innovations and technologies with luxury brands as well as offer insight and solutions for the most challenging related issues facing the industry.

To stay connected with Club e-Luxe, visit the Luxe Corp website: www.luxe-corp.com

To download this Synopsis in PDF click here

2012!

Here is wishing you an excellent and rewarding 2012. Looking forwarding to shring all things luxury + digital with you! Thank you for your continuous support.

Luxury Online on Author's Muse

A few weeks ago, I received one of those rare phone calls that have nothing to do with a deadline, emergency, client problem or a similar pressing issue that currently punctuates my life as a Luxury Consultant. It was a pleasant call from the Founder of Author’s Muse, who had read my book Luxury Online and found it interesting enough to want to feature it on her inspiring website. I was pleasantly surprised because in my digitally-accented life, I have somehow unconsciously concluded that people don’t read books anymore – at least on paper-, except they’re preparing for an exam or on a long flight or stuck in an airport or the like. I was thrilled to find out that she has not only read my book but actually all of its 352 pages! (I have much respect for people that read books this long)

During our chat, I became increasingly impressed by her passion for books and undeniable interest in vast subject areas. It not only fired my desire for knowledge and but also much respect for her boldness in stepping into the unpopular territory of “books” in an age where people prefer to stay informed through short text messages and coded language sent via digital media.

Click here to read the interview on Author’s Muse and while you’re on the website, check out the stimulating interviews of several other Authors. You never know from where your next inspiration will emerge... Ciao.

12.01.2012 - Club e-Luxe Breakfast Seminar

The next Club e-Luxe event, (the annual Breakfast Seminar) has been announced by Luxe Corp and the golden date is 12.01.2012!

Following Club e-Luxe's tradition of the last five years, the Breakfast Seminar will gather some of the sharpest and innovative minds in the luxury industry to provide them access to the latest developments in digital luxury. This edition has a particularly exciting dimension as it will introduce the strategies, applications, tools, systems and approaches that have currently qualified "Multi-Media" to preface "Luxury" as a business term. Its annexes such as tablet technologies, social media, digital media, customization technologies and counterfeiting in the digital context will all be dissected through Presentations, DEMOs, Debates, Q&A sessions and networking. 

Save the date and stay tuned for more information! In the meantime, you may read the Synopsis of the last Club e-Luxe event, the annual International Summit held last May 31st at the Ritz Hotel Paris.

Luxury Clients Change the Digital Luxury Game at the Club e-Luxe Summit

“The Luxury Cyber-Resident”. This was the theme chosen by Luxe Corp for the 5th edition of its now renowned Club e-Luxe International Summit, held on Tuesday 31st May at the Ritz Hotel, Paris.  

In its now familiar tradition of marrying luxury with the latest offerings from digital media, new technologies and innovation, Club e-Luxe once again gathered some of the brightest digital innovators, conceptors, inventors, developers and thinkers of our times to provide luxury brands with an entrée into the “now and here” of digital media and innovation today.

Through a full-day packed with presentations, debates, conversations, DEMOs and workshops, peppered by “Spotlights” like raffle draws; and “Highlights” like gifts galore, not to forget the three-course lunch and cocktail party, the Club e-Luxe summit raised the bar for digital luxury excellence once again.  

Though connected by a central theme, the topics and their impact were far-ranging, from Optical Illusions and Virtual Reality DEMOs to, 3-D Movie Making techniques, Olfactive Technology presentations, Virtual World simulations, Social Media metrics, Consumer Psychoanalysis in key markets (Europe, North America, China, Brazil and Latin America), Liquid Fabric technology, E-commerce applets, Branded Content techniques and so much more! It was one of those days that could qualify as “full immersive days”.

Luxe Corp began by giving an overview of the ‘real’ cyber-resident and their current post economic and social crisis psyche, as well as how digital media has permeated every fabric if their lives and is re-shaping their expectations from luxury brands, both online and offline. Then Electronic Shadow, blew the audience away by showing how technology could transform physical spaces into immersive environments through optical illusions, virtual reality and the fusion of conception and perception. The audience understood how digital technology could turn a physical setting in Paris into anything from New York’s Fifth Avenue to Brazil’s Amazon forest in a matter of a few clicks and a few seconds. Above all the associated sensory experience could be completely “distance-protocolled” from the web. Talk of magic! This is not for the faint hearted.

Electronic Shadow also showed another dimension of virtual reality, which enables people or brands define their personalities and then transform into a shape to be admired on the screen or to be printed on paper or as a crystal object from a 3D printer. Yes, it means that you will be able to hold the inner you in your hands or place it in your home as an “object d’art” or even wear it as a pendant around your next. Who says technology is not fun?

Following Electronic Shadow was Magic Lab, the experts of 3D movies and animations. They showed the magic of movie making in the context of 3D and computer graphics generation and rendering. Through video clips and narratives of the “ground work” in movie-making, from concept development to storyboards creation, dialogue, animatic, shooting, animatic, modelling, texturing, shading, lighting, rendering, composing, music and sound effects, the audience was able to get an insider eye in the magic of movies.

Miim the Fashion Robot is Back to Paris!

Some of you may remember a post I made in November 2009 where I mentioned my “friend” Miim, the Japanese human-like robot, created by AIST Japan. As one of the most advanced Humanoid Robots around and the world’s first fashion robot, Miim not only talks, walks, claps, waves, smiles, frowns, sings, exercises and even dee jays, she can also hold her own in a press conference! I first came across Miim after she just made one of her first appearances in Japan, and was catapulted into the world of possibilities that she could bring to a fashion or luxury brand in both creativity and business. I imagined a world of luxury retail where Miim and her “sisters” could animate stores through product displays and entertainment and infuse life into store windows through interactive exchanges with pedestrians. I imagined Miim on the runway as a model and entertainer, bringing a new dimension to the defile. I even imagined Miim in the design studio as the “perfect” model, doing everything from fitting to tidying and assisting. The beauty of Miim is that she can do anything you want, because she is a moving computer. You only need to program her!

One of Miim’s creators honoured our invitation to speak at last year’s Club e-Luxe International Summit held on 4th June 2010 at the Ritz Hotel Paris, where we saw even more of the seemingly endless possibilities of how this human-like robot could bring freshness and excitement to a luxury brand. My eyes nearly popped out after that presentation.

Today, Miim is back to Paris and this time she is dancing her way through town! You can view her at the Japan Creative Café stand at the ongoing “Futur en Seine” innovation festival until Sunday 26th June. She has two dancing sessions per day between 10am and 6pm and I assure you that you won’t be the same after this experience! Rendez-vous at : Le Cent Quatre, 104 rue d'Aubervilliers / 5 rue Curial, 75019 Paris.

Enjoy, while keeping an eye out for the Synopsis of the latest Club e-Luxe Summit held last Tuesday 31st May at the Ritz Hotel Paris.

Talking Digital Luxury

Last Friday, we were delighted to see Club e-Luxe featured in France 24's "Live From Paris" morning show, where Jessica Michault spoke enthusiastically about innovation in fashion and luxury. Two of the digital luxury innovations that were presented and DEMO'ed at the Club e-Luxe International Summit held on Tuesday 31st May 2011 at the Ritz Hotel were shown as illustrations of how technology is changing the landscape of luxury. 

Keep an eye on this page for the full synopsis of the event. In the meantime, enjoy the video!  

#eluxe

It's been a very busy but highly eventful and productive few weeks! One of the results of this "high season" is a highly successful 5th Edition of the Club e-Luxe International Summit held last Tuesday 31st May 2011 at the Ritz Hotel Paris. Luxe Corp welcomed digital luxury executives from major and emerging luxury companies as well as thousands of virtual participants via Twitter. If you missed any part of the show, you still have a chance to get a glimpse through reading the conversation via Twitter by following Luxe Corp @Luxecorp or linking to #eluxe, @webandluxe, @buzz2luxe and @theluxechronicles.

Also keep a date with this page in a few days when the full Synopsis will be published.