The Four Quadrants of PR and Luxury Brands

(The Four Quadrants of Public Relations)

Like any other company, luxury brand marketers, advertisers and public relations practitioners work to put their company out to the public with their best foot forward. The four quadrants of public relations from Social Media: How to Engage, Share, Connect by Regina Luttrell sets fourth the idea that four sections (media, community, business, and government) are intertwined and stresses the importance of a knowledge in each section for public relations practitioners.

Thinking about my interest in fashion and luxury brands, conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) does a great job at promoting these four quadrants in their individual houses and parent company as a whole,

Media: "Public relations professionals work closely with the media to distribute their messages to the public." (Pg. 5)

In the case of LVMH, a wealthy, trend-setting public is strategically targeted. Each brand has their own social media presence - for example, Kenzo and Sephora have big Instagram followings - and place print advertising in relevant magazines and papers. Those working for LVMH and their brands must create innovative ways to attract new, lasting customers (who follow the same ideologies as the luxury company) but still keep the essence of the exclusivity.

Community: LMVH does a few things to give back to the community as a whole, but most of the work is done by each individual brand. One example of the company's engagement with their community on the focus of inspiration of young artists. LVMH has helped create programs for young students to encourage their artistic intersts (link to their page can be found here). The company even offers scholarships and sponsorships for up and coming artists and designers. This falls under the idea that practitioners are having to constantly organize and monitor community relations (Pg. 9).

Business: From my memory, I cannot think of any major scandals that have been severely detrimental to the LVMH group and its brands, but I do know that in recent times creative directors for some of the fashion brands have been "jumping ship" and heading to other non-LVMH companies. While it is not widely known if it is because of bad business practices by the group, LVMH has committed to the highest quality of products and working environments for their employees. 

Government: In recent years LVMH has worked with the United Nations and their Women's Empowerment Principles campaign. LVMH and their cosmetics branch have signed the initiative to create equal opportunity for women in the workplace (see the list of companies here). This also coincides with the community aspect of the four quadrants.

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As a whole, many luxury brands lack communication through social media and company websites. The point of public relations is “to create, cultivate, maintain, and grow successful social strategies by building strong social relationships,” (Pg. 24) and social media is a great tool to use for that. Take CHANEL for example. The fashion house has had an Instagram account since 2012, but it wasn't until October of 2014 that the page was used. Even with no content on the page, CHANEL managed to have over a million followers. I don't know if it created more anticipation about the brand or if it made it seem more exclusive, but after CHANEL starting using the Instagram page, they gained another 3 million followers. 

Times are changing though for luxury companies like CHANEL. They have a massive YouTube following (because of their mini-movie ad campaigns like this one with Pharrell). CHANEL has also announced that it will start and eCommerce website for their elusive clothes and handbags starting in 2016. While this falls more into the marketing side of things, this is a major deal for the company. Authentic handbags and clothes could only be bought in department stores and CHANEL stores since the creation of the company. This shows how much of an impact the internet and social media is playing into the business structures of luxury brands. Only time will tell if other luxury brands will follow suit.

:::Destiny Cook :)

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