Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
the design, the functions and the content. They expect the latter to be rich
and personalized as the brand experience ought to be more elevated when it
comes to relating mobile technology to luxury.
As luxury brands have become more accustomed to mobile technology, a
few brands have shown a shift in developing branded applications integrated
as content within mobile phones. An example of one of the first luxury brands
to follow this direction is the Hotel Plaza-Athenée in Paris which offers its guests
a mobile phone with a GPS system application containing the addresses and
maps to Paris' most exclusive boutiques, restaurants and tourist attractions.
The application also enables instant connection with the concierge service
of the hotel through click-to-call and provides the opportunity for the guests
to download the application on their own mobile phones. This real and rich
content that both informs, entertains and reassures has been an essential tool
in creating intimacy between the hotel and its clients as well as leading to a
higher number of returning visitors.
In July 2008, Chanel also launched an application for iPhone users to view
its Fall-Winter 2008-2009 Haute Couture Show. iPhone users could watch
a video of the fashion show and, through the touch-screen functions, they
could window-shop future collections and zoom in on details of garments
or accessories. The application allowed click-to-call to make an order and
offered other features such as store location, images and access to the news
feed of the brand. Users were also able to use the brand's logo as a screen-
saver on their phone as a way to reinforce brand presence. The application
was targeted at young, female, smart and sophisticated Chanel affiliates and
its aim was to evoke a sense of belonging to an exclusive community recog-
nized by the brand. However, limiting the application to iPhone owners was
no guarantee to exclusivity.
Also, although the application could not be perceived as intrusive by
customers - they are the ones to decide whether or not to download it - its
anonymous, impersonal and mass nature diminished its effect on clients.
Today's luxury client base seeks more than mass entertainment; it has also
become accustomed to being recognized, respected, communicated with
on a one-to-one basis. They also seek avenues to relate with luxury brands
through dialogue and exchanges. These are the aspects that the Chanel appli-
cation failed to fulfill.
Chloé shortly followed in the same direction by creating an iPhone inte-
grated application through which users were able to view the latest fashion
shows and contact a boutique via a touch-to-call function (see Figure 8.1).
Again, there was no additional value in this application because all the func-
tions that the phone offered could easily be accessed on the Internet and,
frankly, clients will always prefer to watch a video of a fashion show on a
large computer screen than on a mobile phone screen, unless they have no
choice.
