Several months ago, I saw a huge Vivienne window decoration at the Louis Vuitton store in Nagoya Midland Tower shipping mall, one of the modern luxury shopping destination in the Nagoya station area. While it probably did grab some attention, I had to feel how it the misalignment with their brand strategy around the cute mascot, Vivienne, which I believe would be dramatically vamped up if it had been made some strategic efforts in addition in order to make the most of the opportunity.
The first thing that people would notice is the yellow and black color combination. It is strong, but since it is purely consistent on the window display, it can't have much depth in its creative art especially because it is revealed to those who don't recognize the mascot and wouldn't get it 3D. To those who do know who Vivienne is, it feels big and flat. People expect the window display to be the most attractive things that the shop has, and this yellow and black gigantic Vivienne does not attract many people to come inside, and because of its funky image that it suddenly wears, it looks festive but not too exclusively to high-end customers. Enough criticism, right...?? But this is because I love Vivienne! The visual appearance is important for pull marketing. It is the important entrance to the customer journey funnel, and the shop wants to be realized as something that allures the customers in the way they want to get engaged or to aspire.
Secondly, regarding the "depth", it does not have much to see in it as there is no story that can be felt, or it is not aligned with any online marketing. Vivienne has been well-recognized through Instagram, for example, with the hashtag #findvivienne, and the concept is very cute. It is the mascot that works very well with the gentlemen's clothes and I believe that was how it was used as well. The cute mascot hops around in the world of gentlemen Louis Vuitton, come with the image associated with someone like an active cheeky boy that's adorable and cool. These "Vivienne-like" images and stories are catchy and heart-grabbing enough, and should be expressed in the display as well. How would it seem if it was painted smaller as a wooden mascot here and there hiding themselves behind the huge model dressed in the latest Louis Vuitton clothes? Why not draw these models so huge that they can't fit in the window with eye-catching touch like manga, and add more real looking Vivienne so that the fans can notice the cutie secretly so that they get more exclusive feeling? Stories can be expressed in art and creative.
Misalignment can imply the lack of integration. Recently, Louis Vuitton has been showing their brand stories and images as a historic travelers brand. At many of their stores, shoppers can feel and experiment their travelers spirit. They don't just showcase their products, but actualize their world with interior and exterior which is always very beautiful. Vivienne display is great, but it could have been better with more authentic brand story taken into consideration especially because it is in Japan where people still choose brands for their status and dismiss what they really are about.
Chinese people lining up in front of the luxury boutique shops in Paris have been very famous but Japanese people do that, too. What I felt the most at last was the combination of the campaign and the local market. Luxury brands are there to be aspired and demanded by the mass, while they are only available for the very few selected people. In the economic world it is the high price and affordability that distinguish who may purchase the very special products, but would it be always like that forever and ever even in this new era where things, information, money and people, all of them are considered to be resources and assets and the value that people have toward those keep changing and getting diverse? For example, more South Asian consumers, according to Nielsen data a few years ago, pay money to the products made from the brands they like and think are good for the society, than consumers in other regions. They pay money to buy the same products with the same features from someone they admit as "a great brand", which is what matters to them.