From the relaunch of the Eighties classic, Panthère de Cartier, to extraordinary jewels with echoes of the company’s vast archives, Global Head of Marketing and Communication Arnaud Carrez understands the demand for heritage with a strategic return to Cartier’s jewel-making roots.
Tell us about the Résonances de Cartier collection, and what your favourite piece is?
I am very happy to unveil this collection, which is another facet of Cartier style, and is a new and very exciting journey for us. We are a living language and we keep on enriching our vocabulary with new creations. Résonances de Cartier is also a very exciting project as I feel it is very true to who we are as a brand at Cartier, since it is about triggering emotions, creating energy, and style. My preferred piece is the emerald necklace because I feel it is very true to the spirit of this collection, as it is both classic and a very eye-catching novelty.
You speak about emotions and luxury, tell us how challenging is it to create the dream and the desire in today’s fast world?
I don’t think it is about strategy, I think it is about ensuring that the heart of Cartier’s creative studios is composed of people as passionate as our Creative Director Jacqueline Karachi. They need to be ready to take risks and challenge themselves, in order to generate new ideas. Cartier is very big, but it is still human and personal, which is what you can see in our different creative studios. Our teams are very passionate and are not complacent, pushing boundaries, and coming up with new jewellery techniques and innovations.
Moving from jewellery to watches, can you share with us the response to your new collections since SIHH?
It has been very good, and beyond our expectations. We keep on revising our forecast on Panthère, which has been very successful in terms of results across all regions, and it is creating a positive buzz for the Maison. It has certainly come at the right time, as it was very important for us to have a strong feminine watches story, as this is the core of Cartier. It is a watch, and also a piece of jewellery too, with a contemporary communication platform. I particularly like the idea that we didn’t come up with another novelty, and instead chose to relaunch a classic.
What is Cartier’s communication strategy, to ensure a balance between attracting millennials and still speaking the same language that your existing clientele needs to hear?
I think today we are watching our clientele in a very static way, by age bracket, whereas I think we should instead look at it from different angles. Around the world there are so many diverse communities, so it is about finding the right balance and working more on relevance, with the Middle East being the best example of this. If you look at five or ten years ago, Cartier was a very centralised organisation applying the same to all markets, whereas today it is about collaboration and co-construction to find the right balance in each region.
RESONANCES DE CARTIER
What can we expect to see for the main direction of Cartier in 2018?
What I can tell you is that we will definitely build on what we have done this year. Cartier is a big brand, playing in the same league as Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, so it is about avoiding short-term opportunistic choices, as instead we need consistency, continuity, and coherence. We have done some very exciting work in the past year, particularly on our foundations, vision, and values for the Maison to redefine the brand, and things are falling into place. So, now the vision and framework are clear to move into the year ahead.
Can you define 2018 in one word?
Surprise!
By Lara Mansour Sawaya
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