Sobhita Dhulipala  in and as Her Story

Jewellery is a necessary luxury in India. Yet, the country’s rich history with jewellery hasn't resulted in its meaning having evolved with the times for its wearer. Craftsmanship and aesthetics are its wheels, the celebrity endorser its linchpin. No wonder that the modern Indian woman, one who can discuss the structural details of Loewe and the minimal luxe of Raw Mango, showed little interest in a category that added nothing to her personality.

When we at Open conceptualized a jewellery brand for Walking Tree, we wanted to change this. As India’s leading jewellery design house, Walking Tree  understood that jewellery is more than the sum of metal and stones. We created Her Story to delve deeper into what jewellery meant to the consumer, a brand that asks what makes something precious? And then turns that insight into jewellery of the highest aesthetics and craftsmanship.

As a luxury brand that is all about introspection, how we communicate was key. Her Story understood the power and appeal of a celebrity's relationship with a brand so they brought on someone who was as sensitive and passionate about finding meaning in everything she does, as the brand.

Sobhita Dhulipala is a no-holds-barred actor, who refused to play it safe right from her debut. Her outre roles and her articulate, self-assured personality off-camera is, in a way, the very embodiment of the Her Story spirit. So, when she came on board to endorse the brand that is steeped in the individual expression, it felt like fate.

As someone who constantly defied definition, Sobhita was the perfect person to pose the question "What does precious mean?"

The campaign with Sobhita introduced Her Story’s first six collections. Ambition, vulnerabilities, hopes and desires informed each of them, making the light, beautiful pieces heavy with meaning and depth. Chameleon-like, Sobhita transformed into that emotion, becoming the essence of the collection pieces that she wore. Introspective, strong, emotional yet calm, she brought alive the new femininity that Her Story stands for. Her fearlessness in showing the deepest, most secret part of her is what made her perfect for the brand that wants you to tell your story.

“What will make you wear jewellery like it was an essential part of you?” the campaign asks. For us, it was to see someone we admire reveal her many facets through jewellery, finally showing that jewellery is not the sidekick but the soul of the heroine. See the campaign

The Future of Forever

While everything Marilyn Monroe is bona fide timeless, her sultry rendition of ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ hasn’t aged quite as well. Not because of Marilyn of course. The blame solely lies on the diamonds.

Everyone thought that the diamond’s bright future was set in stone. But it’s turning out to be a very different story. And a very complicated one too with changes happening at every level. Increased volume of production brought the value of the diamond down by 26% from 2010 to 2019. Rough diamond imports rose in India but polished diamonds export fell nearly 13% over the decade. But these are all technical details that shouldn’t really affect how valuable, or rather invaluable they would be to the wearer of a diamond. The sales were dropping despite the value drop. 

A quick search on google on the state of the diamond industry will throw up articles after articles of why diamonds are no longer an object of desire with millennials. This is by no means a recent turn of event . For nearly a decade, the diamond industry has been ‘declining at an alarming rate’ as cited by one article. A Diamond Research & Data website that mapped google searches for diamond jewelry, saw a fall of 44% from its peak in 2010.

There was a serious disinterest in diamonds and it had a lot to do with what the diamond stood for.

 

While everything Marilyn Monroe is bona fide timeless, her sultry rendition of ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ hasn’t aged quite as well. Not because of Marilyn of course. The blame solely lies on the diamonds.

Everyone thought that the diamond’s bright future was set in stone. But it’s turning out to be a very different story. And a very complicated one too with changes happening at every level. Increased volume of production brought the value of the diamond down by 26% from 2010 to 2019. Rough diamond imports rose in India but polished diamonds export fell nearly 13% over the decade. But these are all technical details that shouldn’t really affect how valuable, or rather invaluable they would be to the wearer of a diamond. The sales were dropping despite the value drop. 

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A quick search on google on the state of the diamond industry will throw up articles after articles of why diamonds are no longer an object of desire with millennials. This is by no means a recent turn of event . For nearly a decade, the diamond industry has been ‘declining at an alarming rate’ as cited by one article. A Diamond Research & Data website that mapped google searches for diamond jewelry, saw a fall of 44% from its peak in 2010.

There was a serious disinterest in diamonds and it had a lot to do with what the diamond stood for.

LAB-GROWN DIAMONDS: FIT FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER

Changing attitude towards marriage, being socially and ecologically responsible and most importantly, redefining what millennials consider luxury were all key factors in the diamond losing its luster. The diamond needed a change in more ways than one.

When we set out to create a brand for New York-based RIAM Group’s lab-grown diamonds, the consumer sentiment just didn’t seem in our favor.

We listened everywhere we could, and took in consideration what the intended wearer were  unequivocally telling us with their searches.

We decided that instead of trying to be something the diamond no longer needed to be, we had to create a brand that the consumer wished for, but never found. The first thing we did was change the narrative around lab-grown diamonds, infusing them with luxury and modern aspiration. Bigger in size, highest standards in diamond quality and modern aesthetics made them the best choice for the discerning customer. On top of that, lab-grown diamonds are earth-conscious which fit right in with our wearer’s ethos.

ALTR, as we called it, became a mirror to the current diamond industry and showed it a future full of new desire and excitement. As a tech-infused, future-facing brand it took upon itself to expand the industry’s horizons. To do that we also reimagined our wearer. Tapping into the importance of self-worth, we created a platform that changed the spotlight from the diamond to the wearer.

Forever defined the diamond, but Shine Brighter defines her. She brings her own style and is comfortable in whatever situation you throw her in. She defines the goals of her life and aces them in her own way. As a campaign, Shine Brighter was everything that a diamond wearer wanted to reflect through her choices.

Since ALTR’s inception, it has earned the moniker of the ‘world’s most talked about lab-grown brand’. The lab-grown diamond market itself has grown exponentially  to account for approximately 15% of all diamond sales. Google trend analysis confirms our way of building this brand. Since 2014, while the search volume of ‘diamond jewelry’ has steadily declined, the search for ‘lab-grown diamonds’ has climbed higher.

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The Luxury of Togetherness

Jack Daniel’s is known for bringing people together. The brand’s storied legacy and unforgettable communication has made it the number one whiskey brand around the world. But in India, it suffered from a unique problem. Jack was known and yet unfamiliar. 

Diwali is one of the biggest seasons for spirits industry. Almost all of them create specialty packaging to make them gift-worthy. Of course for Jack, being just another pretty face on the table was not an option. Instead of becoming the object, we turned Jack into an occasion, with our packaging.

The Diwali Taash Party is the stuff of friend-circle legend. These quintessential Diwali events start well before the festival and sometimes last long after it too. The gathering is an informal and spirited one and therefore the perfect occasion for Jack to own.

While the real reason why Old No. 7 is integral to Jack Daniel’s is a mystery, the luck of number seven was definitely something that we wanted to share with everyone. The pack was designed to be the ace  of the taash table. Elements and characters from a deck of cards added the festive glow to the pack and number seven wove subliminally through the whole design to tie the brand with the occasion.

The simple principle of what brings people together in a context that was true to the brand, helped create an instant connect and made the pack the default choice to give to the ones we wished luck to.

To shiny tomorrows

There is a piece of wisdom in the Sindhi culture that seems counterintuitive at an individual level, but fundamental to how commerce works. They wish for expenses, not income, to grow; because when people spend more, people earn more.

Hope is an essential commodity. Scary things happen when fear sets in. Negative consumer sentiment sets into motion a self-feeding cycle of downward spiral, which then takes a lot of effort and time to get out of. At a time like now, when the world is navigating the twin tasks of saving lives and saving the economy, the one thing that can bring in as much hope as the vaccine, is hope itself.

Luxury brands are in the business of designing shiny tomorrows. They work at the frontiers of creating desire and optimism. They create seductive canvases: a higher, more fulfilling and enriching place to be in, where our unarticulated aspirations find wondrous expressions; where we get to escape functional monotony and ordinariness that our lives tend to slip into. ‘Un peu d’air sur terre’ (a little bit of air on earth) — like the Lacoste campaign proclaimed. An idea of life that floats in defiance to the terra firma of reality.

When we spend on our needs, we are rational and evaluative; we buy products, deeply conscious of our daily existence. When we spend on our wants, we are driven by desire; we momentarily escape into what can be.

Today, as we find ourselves trapped in an extended deprivation setting, we itch to break free. Studies are revealing the psychological impact of the pandemic. There is a yearning to reclaim all that we have lost, and more. As people at the frontier of creating desire, luxury brands have a duty (and not just the opportunity) to feed this yearning. Because in feeding this yearning, lies the nudge that can trigger positive consumer sentiment.

This is a time for luxury brands to increase investment in creating and putting out communication. Burberry’s latest campaign is set in a dirty London bylane, amid hail. An unusual setting, probably cueing the grimness of the world today. But what then unfolds is a mesmerising dance sequence, performed by people wearing Burberry trench coats. The message seems to be, with an inspiring fantasy, we can fight anything.

The digital medium, while obviously being a sales channel of great importance, is first a place to create seductive worlds. Brands like Gucci have shown how it can be used to create exciting engagement, with great business impact. Design is the secret sauce to building rich engagement and experience. Luxury brands, on the back of breathtaking art direction and production, elevated the magazine as a medium. A similar opportunity awaits with digital content — to liberate it from the free, fast lens.

If anything, this is an opportunity for luxury brands to cast their nets wider. More people today value indulgence more. Giving them opportunities to indulge is the opportunity. It is expected that the second-hand luxury goods market will pick up in a big way. What it tells us is that the means might have shrunk, but the aspiration hasn’t. Every brand needs to create offerings that allow more people to indulge a little. The sites on indulgence might change (like home and self-care are new areas of focus), but there is opportunity to allow more people into the fold.

While there are many struggles that a recessionary environment brings in, the power of luxury brands is that their currency is the future. And nowhere is an inviting future a more compelling idea than now.