December 7, 2017
Hermès' ready-to-wear fall/winter 2017. Image credit: Hermès
French luxury companies who leverage heritage dominate as the most-valuable brands from France, but smaller houses and foreign rivals are winning out in innovation.
WPP and Kantar Millward Brown’s BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable French Brands ranks Louis Vuitton as the most-valuable French brand at $35.5 billion. The report also notes that the top four brands ranked in the French Top 50 have also secured places in the standard Top 50.
French brands
Hermès comes in second behind Louis Vuitton as the most-valuable brands with $26.0 billion, followed by L’Oreal Paris at $24.5 billion.
Chanel is ranked as the fifth most-valuable French brand with $13.4 billion.
Chanel fall/winter 2017 features Gen Z's Lily-Rose Depp and millennial Cara Delevingne. Image credit: Chanel
France’s heritage and image as a country with the authority on all things beauty and fashion solidifies these brands’ statuses. However, these factors cannot help French heritage brands with their public images in terms of lacking in innovation.
A significant factor in the lack of innovation can be helped and attributed to the manner in which these brands interact with consumers. The retail industry has been completely transformed due to technology and shifting consumer behavior and it is important for heritage brands to embrace this.
Other factors could include brand product lines. The study shows that innovation helps assist brands with relevance in connecting to their audience.
The cumulative brand value from the top 50 French brands is $6 billion more than the United Kingdom’s top 50, at $240.4 billion. The French luxury sector is valued at $88.9 billion total.
Personal care and telecom providers follow the luxury sector in France at $45.4 billion and $31.4 billion, respectively.
BrandZ’s study also noted that brand’s who display the effects of using their products or buying from them resonate more with French consumers rather than long product descriptions. French shoppers are more interested in show than tell.
Additional insight
In the midst of a tumultuous year, the top 10 luxury brands saw their value rise 4 percent in 2016.
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2017 report from WPP and Kantar Millward Brown found that the panel of most valuable luxury labels remained the same despite some of the list experiencing challenges. While Louis Vuitton led the list for the 12th year running, second place Hermès is catching up with an 18 percent growth in brand value (see more).
Louis Vuitton and Hermès also dominated the top 10 most-valuable luxury brands in 2016, a difficult feat during a disappointing year for others, according to the global head of BrandZ.
During the session “Lessons Learned from the World’s Most Valuable Luxury Brands,” at Luxury FirstLook 2017: Time for Luxury 2.0 the executive explained that being a strong valuable brand brings back significantly more investment to shareholders. Luxury brands can make themselves strong and valuable through actionable strategies, such as through innovation (see more).
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