Luxury Brand Management in Digital and Sustainable Times. Michel Chevalier
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The Square of Veracity
The semiotic square can be applied to the meanings generated by the semantic axis “being/appearing”: It is the square of veracity, proposed by the semiotician A. J. Greimas (1917–1992) and used extensively in the analysis of representations.
This scheme may initially seem abstract, but its use is simple. As in the previous model, contrary and contradictory relationships generate four types of concepts: being/appearing, not being/not appearing.
From the tensions created between these different poles emerge several categories of meaning that will allow us to classify various discourses of luxury and, hence, better identify issues that brands have to face.
Being and appearing simultaneously is truth: in other words, one is really what he seems to be. On the other hand, being and not appearing is the secret: one does not show what he really is. Not being and appearing is the lie or sham and imitation: one sets out to be something other than what he or she really is. Finally, not appearing and not being escapes the space of discourses: it shows nothing and is nothing. It is here in the category of wrong, false, or simulacrum.
Armed with this representation, we can characterize the different forms of luxury we have mentioned so far (see Figure 1.6). The sides of the square can be assimilated to axes of intensity on which we can position various categories of luxury—or, more specifically, various brands.
What we called “true luxury,” to distinguish it from “intermediate luxury,” is positioned around the top left vertex, in the category of the truth. However, we see that we need to introduce a separate new distinction, because that genuine luxury can be either displayed, such as the bright red Ferrari car, or kept discreet, as the Patek Philippe watch.
Figure 1.6 Semiotic Square of Veracity
Of course, this expensive Swiss watch is also noticeable: for many potential buyers, it will be important that it can be displayed, and Patek Philippe does not intend to discourage such buyers. We feel, however, that its watches have no vocation to be staged with the same ostentation of bright Italian luxury cars or golden Rolexes with diamonds. Patek Philippe communication respects this nuance. In the visual communication material, the product is not predominant; it appears almost inadvertently, as a symbolic detail of a scene centered on the transmission of family values. In Ferrari communication, on the contrary, the car is the inescapable star.
If Patek Philippe is positioned on the upper left vertex of the square at the intersection of the secret and truth axis, Ferrari would be more on the top horizontal line on the right side of our scheme.
No one doubts the authenticity of the luxury of Ferrari, which is based on three sources of differentiations:
1 Its innovative capacity at the level of motorization and design of high-performance cars
2 Its competence, continually renewed, to be competitive in Formula 1 racing
3 The relative rarity of its cars maintained through appropriate self-imposed productive limitations
We are thus in the presence of two brands, Ferrari and Patek Philippe, both having unambiguously established their status as authentic luxury. The fact that this real luxury is conspicuous for Ferrari and discreet for Patek Philippe derives from the use made of their products by their respective consumers. The profile of the majority of the owners of branded products influences their brand identity, but there will always be the exception of the “Ferrarista” who uses his car discreetly and the newly rich showing off with his new Patek Philippe.
Leaving the area of true luxury of the upper part of the veracity square, we find, on the right-hand side, the area of intermediate luxury. Taken in contradictory dynamics, intermediate luxury claims appearance, but it is dragged down toward the false by its economic constraints. It can be located anywhere on the axis of the lie except on the vertex of not being, where it would simply cease to exist. Intermediate luxury reflects the continuum of modern luxury: brands ranging throughout the axis of imitation (lie), from the most expensive ostentation to the low range of light and cheap imitation still able to promote a meaningful sham of distinction.
There is, of course, no judgment of value in our analysis: all positions are legitimate, and a brand can hold its identity at some point of the scale, provided that it remains aware of its positioning.
In the world of intermediate luxury, the ambition is to give a feeling of exclusivity and of true luxury, thanks to products that remain economically affordable to the greatest number. It is therefore a world of appearance and imitation, located on the right side of the veracity square. And for good reason: facing economic constraints, these brands cannot differentiate as strongly as others merely through the superior quality of their products. They cannot avail themselves of a deep authenticity and, therefore, their clients would not find any advantage cultivating discretion and secrets: they have nothing worthwhile to hide.
Intermediate luxury wants and must be seen: it will therefore find strength in mass communication, which does not forbid the preservation of some form of distinction by carefully choosing its vectors. Brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Longchamp, and even Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors have been successful in this positioning by creating, thanks to the talent of their communicators, an imaginary world seemingly reserved for a selected few but in fact transposable to the multitude. This is the strategy of intermediate luxury: feeling of access to luxury, for everybody and at affordable prices.
The rise of a brand such as Swarovski illustrates the success of this category. Crystals substitute for diamonds that few people can afford. It is crystal, but it sparkles: it is made for display! The strass (or rhinestone), icon of our times, attribute of a civilization of virtual fantasy (such as costume jewelry) that cultivates superficiality. The “do as if” creates a sort of a pact between the brand and its consumers, through a playful communication where the wildest desires are encouraged through image.
Intermediate luxury (and the strass) is therefore distributed along the scale of the lie/imitation axis of the veracity square, which spans from appearing to not being, where reigns the need of imitation of social classes, tribes, or characters.
The veracity square highlights the continuity existing between intermediate and ostentatious luxury: it is just a question of a difference in gradation—or resources—and, to some extent, intermediate luxury can be included as a degraded version of ostentatious luxury. This opens new opportunities for segmentation. This is an area where Ferrari has become a master: in the Ferrari Stores, the general public can cultivate its passion for the brand by buying all sorts of gadgets, T-shirts, key chains, and so on, in the colors of the Scuderia, while some happy few, through a completely disjoint distribution network, may acquire its automobiles.
Five Sources of Legitimacy
If luxury is defined by an opposition to a standard, if the credibility and the competitiveness of a luxury brand are built on the choice of this norm and on the type of selected deviations, what may be the main sources that will establish the legitimacy of luxury brands?
Gilmore and Pine, in their book Authenticity, suggest five main sources of brand authenticity.21 They can be extended to the world of luxury.
What the authors call authenticity does not correspond exactly to the notion of true or real luxury that we introduced with the veracity square. Rather, they deal with brand credibility, that is, their ability to be recognized as a genuine sign of luxury. Whether we consider authentic, intermediate, discreet, or ostentatious luxury, all brands need sources of luxury legitimacy, each of them according to their respective needs. The intermediary luxury, for example, does not escape this requirement; but because of economic constraints,