Branding and promotion strategies of the small luxury brand "à la française": Diptyque
- Eloïse Niklaus
- Nov 15, 2020
- 5 min read
The story of Diptyque began in Paris at 34, boulevard Saint-Germain, in 1961. Three friends named Christiane Gautrot, an interior designer, Desmond Knox-Leet, a painter, and Yves Coueslant, a theatre director and stage designer, decided to associate. They opened a shop together to exhibit their textile creations. Christiane and Desmond soon became the creative souls, while Yves was in charge of administering this nascent enterprise. Gradually, this shop was transformed into a place apart, a sort of “chic bazaar” made up of many unexpected and original items that the friends brought back from their travels. Then, Diptyque showed, just two years later, the desire to expand its business. Thus was launched a first range of scented candles in 1963. The collection paid homage to nature and had the ambition to create an intimate olfactory universe in perpetual evolution, as the seasons go by. Also, this launch served as a base for the olfactory activity of the brand, which was soon to move in the perfume and created in 1968 the first unisex perfume, soberly entitled "L'Eau", a small revolutionary breakthrough for the time.
Diptyque is a niche brand, far from mass production and for which quality is essential, which defines itself as a "perfume house that offers an art of living through the senses", as Fabienne Mauny, Executive Director of the House, explains. She is working to make the brand shine "while protecting its selectivity". Confidential and discreet, it is an insider brand that is not well known by the general public, which must adapt its promotion to its identity. In order to make a name for itself, the brand uses an impeccable and unique communication system, combining simplicity and efficiency with elegance and refinement, without breaking its historical rule: Zero Advertising. However, this does not preclude the brand from communicating on social networks or appearing regularly on the beauty pages of the women's press or on the blogs of influential women, who are kept informed of the latest news. Since the brand's reputation is largely based on its insider customers, it is well known that Diptyque's scents have been leading the way for quite some time now for all the wealthy amateurs of interiors such as Catherine Deneuve, Elton John, Madonna or Meghan Markle, who have graciously promoted the brand. Indeed, the brand assures that this is only the result of good relations maintained with these VIPs, invited to events of the firm.
Diptyque does not allocate a marketing budget or invest in communication: the company works on "intuition" and uses various elements to assert its strong personality.Starting with storytelling, which is widely used when launching new products or product lines. The example of the 34 Range, launched in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the house, echoes for instance the historic boutique at 34 boulevard Saint-Germain, and is a reminder and storytelling to the public of the brand's roots, highlighting its belonging to Paris and the fact that it is a brand with a rich history; this campaign also enabled the client to discover aspects of the brand that were previously unknown, moving from the status of a simple client to that of an insider, then being able to promote the brand himself.
The house is also aware of the importance of enhancing the ancestral know-how of its luxury craftsmanship and has thus enabled customers to discover the other side of the scene through photo reports or even a short film, presenting the time required to manufacture a product, the number of different trades involved in the production process or the exceptional skill of the master craftsmen. This was the case, for example, for the video of the Giant Candle "inside and out", in which the House shows the behind-the-scenes of the creation and introduces its high-end manufacturing workshops. Indeed, this technique makes it possible to enhance the value of the house and its products in the eyes of the customer, to justify the prices, while creating and offering them a dreamlike dimension.
To make a name for itself, the brand also relies on the launch of mini collections, offering products that are different from those in the permanent collection, and the highlighting of small seasonal collections each year. It offers more colorful packaging, variations in label layout, which offers renewal and topicality, then easily deployable on the various online and offline communication media available to the house. For example, this was the case for the Voyage collection, with the use of photographs for the first time for the different visuals and media.
Most often, these mini collections and seasonal collections are realized in collaboration with partners, artists, carefully chosen, handpicked, allowing a certain renewal, the construction of new stories, the contribution of a signature, a paw, or even potentially a clientele. The goal is to break and play with the graphic codes carried by the brand, to merge the universe of the brand and the artist with whom it collaborates, allowing the outside contributor to bring with him his codes and his story, and to surprise the regular customer. This is what was done during the collaboration with the painter Julien Colombier for instance, who was commissioned to create three visuals to illustrate the release of three new fragrances (Sapin, Liquidambar and Oliban), who then opted for the color representation of the plants used in the composition of each fragrance. In addition to the artists, the brand collaborates with famous craftsmen, such as the renowned porcelain brand Virebent for the creation of the Giant Candle, and with commercial partners, now positioned in the hotel, corporate gift and duty free segments. On the other hand, there is no question of integrating the shelves of a Sephora type retailer, at the risk of galvauding the brand.Collaborations are a real added value for the brand.
The firm has its own network of stores, reserving exclusivity in the most strategic locations, which play an important role in the communication of the brand. As Fabienne Mauny explains, "it is contact with our own customers that allows us to promote the brand and explain our product offer". Over the past few years, the company has strengthened its presence in more than 45 countries and has 63 directly operated boutiques around the world (including 20 in the United States only) from Toulouse, Paris or Aix-en-Provence to Hong Kong or Tokyo, whose layout is always carefully chosen and designed. Beyond that, Diptyque masters the art of pop-up stores and ephemeral boutiques, playing a major role in its communication, creating a buzz for a few weeks by combining an exhibition on its history, creative workshops and perfume sales, offering customers a real experience, a journey.
Digital is not left behind, with a growing e-commerce site and the use of social networks to communicate and launch communication campaigns, as in the case of the City Candles, with a short conversion campaign on Instagram during 4 days, which had the effect of developing sales in a spectacular way.
By Eloïse Niklaus, 11/12/2020
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