Havas Media has announced plans to roll out a new division for luxury brands in Asia this year.
Headquartered in the global fashion hub of Milan, the unit will be introduced in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo this year, and will be led by former Giorgio Armani and Versace executive Isabelle Harvie-Watt.
Called LuxHub, the new unit will call on luxury experts from Havas Media’s creative sibling, and work with BETC Luxe in Paris and Havas Luxe in New York.
Harvie-Watt, who has run Havas Media Italy since 2011, said: “Luxury brands realise that they need to change the way they communicate and start building stronger relationships with their consumers. Digital transformation is no longer an option. Growing online distribution and strong content strategies are the new norm. LuxHub is a great step forward to further closing the gap in language between agencies and luxury clients and the way luxury audiences are evolving.”
“In our recent global survey, in-store shopping is still the favoured purchasing method for half of luxury shoppers, while 24 per cent shop mainly online,” she added. “However, statistics show that this move by a quarter of the respondents to shop online is not being matched by the brands with over half (54 per cent) stating that luxury brands should engage more with their consumers in the online experience”.
