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In the digital age where mobile Internet is prevalent, do books still have value?

But for luxury brands, books remain one of the most important ways to spread brand culture.

At the end of April, Zegna released a new book, Born in Oasi Zegna. A month later, the book was presented at an event in Shanghai.

Unlike conventional books that record the development of a company since its founding, "Inheritance from Zegna Oasis" begins with the story of the brand founder's afforestation plan, and then conveys the brand's symbols and practices of values ​​over the years.

After founding the brand in 1910, founder Mr. Zegna launched a large-scale afforestation program centered on the woolen mill. Today, the Zegna Oasis in the Biella Mountains of Piedmont in northern Italy is a natural wonder stretching over 100 square kilometers.

"Zegna is most proud of not making clothes, but Zegna Oasis." The brand accurately spreads this concept to the outside world through books and activities. This is a fascinating legendary story, which also conveys the brand's respect for nature, awakens social responsibility and awareness of biological protection, and closely connects people with the environment, value and well-being with an advanced integrated concept.

Compared to the ESG concept that has become popular in recent years, Zegna had already put it into practice a century ago and has been passing it down to this day.

In early May, following the release of the English, French and Italian versions, the Chinese version of Kering | Building Dreams from Rocks was officially released. The book reviews the entire process of Kering Group from a small timber trading company with only 6 employees, witnessing the times, crossing cycles and becoming a global high-end luxury leader with more than 49,000 employees and annual revenue of approximately 20 billion euros.

The first edition of this book was published as early as 2023 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the group's name change and the 60th anniversary of its founding. The book reviews this entrepreneurial adventure and reproduces the key strategies and decision-making scenes in the group's major transformations, allowing readers to more clearly understand how Kering has explored a path suitable for its own development in different eras and grown step by step into a pioneer of the times.

The book contains both magnificent macro records and sincere and moving details. For example, after a long and arduous negotiation, PPR (the predecessor of Kering Group) completed the acquisition of Gucci. Just a few hours later, the news of the collapse of the Twin Towers (9/11 incident) came, and the lawyer immediately called the founder of the group-

Francois Pinault received an urgent call: Sir, given the current emergency, although it is difficult, we can try to cancel the contract. He only thought about it for a minute and answered decisively:No, I never break my promises.

These examples seem to reflect a certain character of the PPR Group, which is indispensable for the creation and development of the group.

Compared with boring financial commentary, this more relaxed and natural communication method of restoring real events can not only allow readers to clearly understand the development history of the group and its brands, narrow the psychological distance between the brand and readers, but also to a certain extent enhance readers' reputation and loyalty to the brand.

As a result, books have become a communication vehicle that deeply carries Kering Group’s development trajectory, brand DNA, founder’s experience and other important brand assets.

On July 10, Louis Vuitton’s “Beijing Style” pop-up space opened simultaneously in the four major districts of 798CUBE, Gulou, Liangmahe and China World Trade Center, exhibiting and selling selected books including the Beijing and Paris special editions of the "Louis Vuitton City Guide", as well as gift, sports, travel and lifestyle product series.

Created in 1998, the Louis Vuitton City Guide depicts the charm of major cities around the world, making business or vacation trips for travelers full of joy and interest.

To explore the essence of each city, Louis Vuitton invited journalists, writers and literary figures to contribute, and collaborated with artists, business people and creative talents to express the unique atmosphere of each city between the lines:

Stay in five-star hotels and visit boutique shops;

Enjoy delicious food in restaurants and take a break at corner bars;

Go deep into antique shops and wander through designer salons;

Visit museums and monuments - each "City Guide" is like a treasure map, recording the "interesting treasures" in the city.

Each volume invites a guest writer from the local area to lead readers to explore a unique path and tell the stories of their favorite hometown. (For details, see ")

Currently, only Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu are included in the list. Following the guidance of the guide, readers may discover a different Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, "familiar cities, but also fresh scenery."

I was once given a book titled "Vacheron Constantin - Artist of Time", which was a large-format picture book officially launched by Vacheron Constantin to celebrate the brand's 260th anniversary in 2015. The book records Vacheron Constantin's history of high-end watchmaking and unique skills passed down from generation to generation since its founding in 1755, as well as the brand's watchmakers and art masters' unremitting pursuit of excellent quality and superb skills.

How has Vacheron Constantin achieved its continuous development and become one of the brightest stars in the fine watchmaking industry amidst all the political and economic turmoil?

This fascinating work leads readers to explore this legendary historical journey in depth through a series of amazing true stories. It vividly showcases Vacheron Constantin's professional skills and artistic craftsmanship, aesthetic harmony and elegant decoration, and reveals the watches from the brand's historical heritage series and private collection series, as well as historical materials and the latest models.

These beautiful pictures and texts create a fascinating dialogue: paying tribute to history and the mission of continuous innovation, and looking at the world and the determination to continuously break through and seek new things.

In view of the passage of time and the difficulty in displaying masterpieces of watches from past dynasties, this book, which has been translated into 11 languages, has become a reference book for watch enthusiasts around the world to understand Vacheron Constantin. It is also one of the important channels for me to understand the development of the Vacheron Constantin brand.

There are many carriers that can spread brand culture, such as movies/videos, audio, exhibitions, etc., and these carriers have a wider range of dissemination and stronger social interaction attributes. Why do we still need books?

Let me share my point of view. In 2015, I was the executive publisher of a luxury industry magazine in Shanghai and wrote a column, "In the era of 'paper media is dead', why do we still publish magazines?"

Why do we publish magazines? It is about aesthetic experience, and also bears the responsibility of screening customers and accurate communication.

Just like candles - from the perspective of lighting, candles should have disappeared from history since Edison invented the electric light in the 1870s, but it has transformed itself into an "atmosphere creator" for candlelight dinners (Western food).

From this example, three aspects can be derived:

First, even though modern technology has made it possible to create LED electronic candles to decorate candlelight dinners, the flickering light and shadow of traditional candles, the fragrance they emit, and the warmth they convey are all things that electronic candles cannot provide. Just as no matter how advanced electronic screens are, compared to ink paper, they cannot provide the gentle feeling of touching paper, the fragrance emitted by ink, and the intimacy of looking into each other's eyes. This is an extension of the product function transformation level;

Second, for many Chinese people, eating Western food is a waste of money, a luxury, or even pretentious behavior, but for some people, Western food is part of their lifestyle. This is true for Western food and magazines. This is an extension of the customer/reader screening level;

Third, eating Western food is not just to fill your stomach, it has a lot of social or emotional factors in it. Similarly, reading magazines is not just to get information, but more of a kind of aesthetic enjoyment.

In my opinion, a good magazine has three kinds of beauty: the beauty of words, the beauty of pictures, and the beauty of the layout that combines words and pictures. If you tear off a page of a magazine, frame it, and hang it on the wall, it will be a work of art. This is the extension of the value that the product brings to customers.

In addition, in terms of the transmission of content information, the immersive viewing experience, the depth of emotional connection, and the expansion of usage scenarios, books have incomparable advantages over videos, audios, exhibitions, etc., and can even provide content output for them; and the civilization carrying effect and educational significance behind books will further enhance the cultural height of the brand.

In order to create touches that touch the hearts of the audience, the luxury industry has been breaking the boundaries of traditional communication methods.

Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, the world's largest luxury group, once said: "LV is not only a fashion brand, but also a cultural and creative brand. It is precisely because LV participates in all aspects of cultural life that it can reach a wide range of customers, from the most important Generation Z (who are loyal fans of Louis Vuitton) to more mature customer groups."

Just like the "Beijing Style" limited-time space that has just been unveiled, in addition to four offline physical stores, LV has also opened a limited-time online bookstore on Douyin for the first time, delivering the "City Guide" to more people through the Internet; it has invited ski athlete Gu Ailing to lead everyone in reading the "City Guide" Beijing special, and well-known cultural figures such as Hong Huang to share their unique insights.

Using books as a medium and taking advantage of the speed and breadth of the Internet, LV is able to screen high-quality audiences (potential consumers) from the vast crowd. This can be said to be a pioneering, bold and fruitful exploration.

Founder of Tsutaya BooksMasuda MuneakiWhen introducing the brand concept, he once pointed out, "I don't sell books, but life proposals are what I think must be sold."

In his imagination, the staff of Tsutaya Bookstore is like a "life proposal consultant" who can "propose" to customers and "propose the best lifestyle" in communication with customers, and books are just one part of building a lifestyle. This is another excellent example of using books as a medium.

Facing a future that is more uncertain than ever before, luxury brands are also working hard to explore more diverse ways of communicating with their target audiences. In a turbulent situation, books with certainty often become the best record and communication carrier of brand cultural DNA, which is also certain. Books can transcend time periods, cross regional barriers, integrate cultural differences, and help luxury brands continue their journey for the next century.

No.5900 Original first article | Author Ou Jiajin

About the author: Financial writer, senior financial media person; focuses on creating the "Luxury Goods in China" series of books.

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