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Hermès, which famously claims it doesn’t do marketing, is conducting a masterclass in understated luxury brand building in Los Angeles this week. Presenting a theatrical production as “a poetic and cinematic performance”, the Parisian luxury giant is applying the same rules to this artistic event that it does to its products — beauty and whimsy backed up by a healthy dose of scarcity.
There were no billboards lining LA streets of the sort that Celine used to promote its rock-n-roll show at the Wiltern Theatre last December. Yet, On the Wings of Hermès — an hour-long theatrical production by the Belgian film director Jaco Van Dormael and his partner, the choreographer Michèle Anne de Mey — appeared to be fully booked before the first showing.
The first sign that this is no typical theatrical performance is the price, which is measured in access, not cash. The roughly 5,000 tickets are free of charge, but can only be obtained by invitation, or by those who knew to go to Hermès.com/Wings. General admission guests were mainly clients who learned about it from the stores they frequent in Los Angeles, or others who learned by word of mouth, the company says.
Hermès is all about the discretely unavailable. The Parisian luxury giant, which reported €11.6 billion in 2022 revenues, up 29 per cent over 2021, keeps consumers hungry by never fully sating their desires. It claims, for instance, that it is unable to increase production of its famous Birkin bags, possibly the most coveted products in its vast lines (and likely to become even more so following the death of the actress that inspired them, Jane Birkin).
Its strategy to sell Birkins famously hangs on a manner of pricing that far exceeds the amount printed on the price tag. Though Hermès routinely denies this is a strategy, its customers are keenly aware that obtaining a rare Birkin often requires that they make a multitude of prior purchases of silk scarves, enamel bangles and other Hermès products.
