Welcome to the November edition of The Hype – our monthly digest of the hottest products, trends and innovations from the world of premium and luxury retail, hand-picked by our Premium Panel.
#ShakeitBaby with the HermèsShake
French leather goods designer Hermès has just released a video entitled #HermèsShake to show off its range of luxury gloves. In the two-minute video we see a couple performing a range of intricate choreographed handshakes whilst wearing a selection of Hermès gloves. The brand is often praised for its creative content and sense of humour, yet our Premium Panel felt they had completely missed the mark with this campaign. Comments ranged from it being ‘too long’ and ‘didn’t grip them’ in a way a playful piece of brand content such as this should. Overall, the panel felt it didn’t create any desire to indulge in a £400+ pair of gloves. Hermès has previously stated that they don’t have a marketing department which could explain why they have focused on the creativity and novelty in this piece rather than appealing to their target audience.
Bespoke by Anya Hindmarch
With Christmas gifts on the forefront of everyone’s mind this month, our Premium Panel has been lusting after Anya Hindmarch’s beautiful bespoke collection of leather goods. Incorporating everything from key rings and wash bags to notebooks and keepsake boxes, the brand’s bespoke service allows you personalise your item with a monogram or quote of your choice – making an already special gift into something entirely unique!
Nancy’s Nails
Here at Leapfrogg, we love Liberty’s, so we were very excited to see that the Liberty of London documentary was back on our screens this Christmas. Last week, Nancy from Essex was discovered at Liberty’s annual Best of British event which sources unique and innovative products from emerging design talent. Nancy came to Liberty’s Managing Director’s attention after putting her heart and soul into a range of scented nail varnishes. Obviously, he wasn’t wrong with placing an order for her products as currently the whole range is sold out!
Liberty loyalty goes mobile
While we’re on the topic of Liberty, the panel were also impressed with Liberty’s new Tapestry app which launched in the App Store this month. On walking through the doors at Liberty’s, a customer’s iPhone is detected by an iBeacon, which triggers the Tapestry app to unlock Liberty loyalty vouchers. The app takes a customers’ Instagram ‘likes’ and matches them against the brands available at Liberty and the loyalty data they have on the customer.
Advent calendars go premium
With only a couple of days left to get your mitts on an advent calendar this year, our Premium Panel has their eye on some of the most luxurious ones on the market (obviously!) The Panel’s favourites were the Jo Malone perfume calendar, Liberty’s and Benefit’s beauty calendars – or if you’re feeling particularly extravagant, how about this Wedgewood version from Harrods for only(!) £12,000.
The battle of the Christmas ads
November also saw retailers unleashing their Christmas adverts to the nation after many months of planning and most likely millions of pounds of expense.
John Lewis brought a tear to our eyes with Monty the Penguin – and a whole plethora of Penguin merchandise to go alongside it. Our Premium Panel wasn’t overly keen on the advert and felt ‘they had seen it all before’, preferring Marks and Spencer’s and Mulberry’s offerings.
Take our first survey and win Fortnum & Mason Christmas hampers
This month, also saw our first Premium Panel survey go live. If you’d like to get involved, just answer these few questions about your Christmas shopping and you’ll automatically be entered into our prize draw to win one of three decadent Fortnum & Mason Christmas hampers worth up to £150. We’ll even make sure they’re delivered in time for Christmas Day! Click here to take the survey.