Bernard Arnott: The King Of Luxury Brands

Bernard Arnott described the LVMH group in 2010 as "creating the century". In addition to LVMH's record revenue, he jumped to the fourth place of Forbes's world richest list in March 2011 with his personal net assets of $41 billion.

As the richest man in Europe, Bernard is not as popular as Americans Bill Gate and Warren Buffett. But he has become famous for his LV, Dior, Givenchy and Heuer.

Create brand like LV

In 1854, a French Aviator founded LV, who made the first LV suitcase with waterproof canvas and designed the famous LV logo for him in 1896.

In the early twentieth Century, long distance ocean travel began to spread, and LV was able to enter the high-speed boom.

By the 1980s, the smooth LV brand went into a blind alley: the choice of boring housewives was expensive and exquisite, but nothing new.

In 1987, Arnott bought LV, his unique fashion and luxury business philosophy to revitalize the aging brand.

Shortly after taking office, Arnott fired a group of LV senior executives. He appointed Eve Cassel as the new president and hired young New York hip-hop style designer Mark Jakob to revise the style.

According to Arnott's request, Jacobs has read the history of LV. He has set a series of modern elements on the old LV. The most classic two LV handbags are designed like this: one is to make LV logo graffiti, and another one is the Japanese artist Murakami Takashi participating in the design of the five color six color LV logo on the pure white background.

Arnott was very satisfied with Jacobs's design and described her as "the perfect fusion of modern tastes and LV's historical traditions". This is what Arnott has always wanted.

"New wine in old bottles" is only part of Arnott's brand philosophy. He also inherited LV's flaws in quality.

At the LV headquarters in Paris, France, there is a crusher specially designed to destroy the unqualified LV products. The inspectors check the sutures on the handbags one by one, or one or less, will be sent to the shredder.

What attracts people will also be rejected. When LV needs to attract a new round of eyeballs in the fashion world, it will be useful.

His main duty is to create momentum for LV. This is why Arnott chose him, and is also Arnott's third weapon.

Cassel's work includes hosting large public relations activities and picking the hottest celebrity endorsements.

Marvin Traub, former chairman of New York's Dyer department store, evaluated LV's eye strategy, saying that only LVMH group would like to spend 1 million 500 thousand US dollars to configure two giant LV suitcase models in front of its Paris store.

Not only is LV, but every brand of LVMH group has penetrated Arnott's business philosophy.

In 2000, CELINE (Celine) was also an aging brand with a loss of 16 million dollars. When Arnott bought it, he appointed LV two character Mark Lubiya to take charge of the company. He replayed the old trick: he picked up the history of CELINE, which was founded in 1945 in Paris, and was built on high-end leather shoes. It was interpreted by LVMH as a symbol of Europe's reemergence after World War II. At the same time, Arnott also hired Mike Cole, the American designer who was the same as Jacobs, to repackage CELINE's image and launch a series of modern female style products.

CELINE packaged by Arnott quickly became popular among professional women all over the world. Zenith, Pu Qi, and Dior (Dior) all relied on this way to get reborn in Arnott's hands.

When Arnott summed up his secret to control the brand, he said, "the establishment of luxury brands is much more difficult than other businesses. It needs to create a kind of consumer demand that does not exist at all. To fashion luxury brands, we must follow a formula: by mining the history of the brand and interpreting it with suitable designers, we can define the brand identity; strictly control the brand quality and sales; ingeniously create momentum and attract eyeballs."

Whether Gucci, Gucci or Prada (Prada), competitors dare not say that they have done this, but Arnott let LVMH have everything.

Givenchy men's wear designer Howard Boateng once said with emotion: "in LVMH, Arnott is God."

Marching into developing countries

When Arnott recalled the first time he brought LV to China in 1992, he said: "at that time, there were only bicycles and no private cars could be seen. Who can imagine that LVMH has opened 25 stores in China."

Arnott is always a forerunner, and his first impressions have helped him win the market with his competitors. Asia and developing countries are his next target.

In early November of last year, Arnott visited a private city for 6 weeks in a week in Asia. The two most trusted think-tank went around: daughter Delphine and President Sidney Toledano of Dior. At the end of the month, he went to Asia again with his son Anthony. The visit lasted for a long time and visited many details.

"Sometimes he adjusts the 5 centimeter error of the shelf installation himself," Anthony said.

Like bringing luxury goods to China to take to other developing countries, Arnott still has a long way to go. He said he likes to see people react in stores, like competition, like leading and expanding their advantages.

In 2009, LVMH opened its first exclusive store in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, with a population of only 1 million 100 thousand and a distance of 120 km from the Russian border. However, the store has already started to make profits. Ulan Bator

Aiming at developing countries, Arnott had to do so.

As the largest luxury group in the world, LVMH must maintain its momentum of rapid growth. It is an inevitable choice to extend to the remote areas on the basis of the existing 2500 franchised stores.

He said: "there is no doubt that the development of Asia and developing countries is promoting the world economy, the luxury industry has its laws. Although the world economy is very low, the whole luxury industry is on the rise, and the economic growth of developing countries such as Mongolia, Lebanon, Poland and Vietnam is a big reason.

"LVMH's revenue in Brazil, China, India and the Middle East has accounted for 20% to 25% of the total LVMH performance, which is much less profitable than those with stronger purchasing power in Europe and the United States, but the European and US markets are close to saturation.

Although LVMH's share price rose 60% last year, Arnott's personal net worth swelled to $41 billion, but he said there was something other than money.

The modern art enthusiast described himself as ambassador to the French heritage and culture. He said: "the products we create are symbolic, just like the symbolic meaning of Palace of Versailles."

Arnott did put his eyes on the long term, but not just numbers. He wanted to influence the whole world with his fashionable luxury brands.