Sell a seemingly ordinary notebook into a luxury product. Why does Moleskine notebook make people pay for its tone and feelings?
Round black notebook with rounded corners, rubber band hoop, or stripes, or lattice, or blank inner pages, stretchable back cover inside pocket, this is the minimalist design Moleskine notebook, a price of 129 yuan to Notebooks ranging from 500 yuan. As the "Hermes" in the stationery industry, Moleskine is tens of times more expensive than ordinary notebooks, which also brings considerable benefits to it. Currently, Moleskine's sales of notebooks alone amount to more than 90 million euros a year.
What tone does Moleskine have? Why is it so expensive to sell? What exactly is being sold? Why are consumers willing to pay for its "tune"?
Who is Moleskine?
By the 20th century, Moleskine had become a legendary notebook among European artists and intellectuals. From Van Gogh to Hemingway, Picasso ... some very representative figures, many drafts, notes, plans, ideas and even emotional emotions were recorded and stored on Moleskine one by one before they became famous paintings and amazing works. . Van Gogh has used 7 Moleskine, all of which contain hand-drawn sketches and even completed works, including his famous work "Vase with Sixteen Sunflowers" ("Sixteen Sunflowers (2.430, 0.03, 1.25%) Vase").
Moleskine was born in a small family-run workshop in France. For more than a century of its life, Moleskine remained unknown until it was finally discontinued in 1986. In 1997, Modo & Modo, a small stationery company in Milan, Italy, saw the business opportunity of Moleskine and officially registered the Moleskine brand, making the notebook that has been circulating in Europe for many years reborn in Italy. Moleskine's core brand has always been notebooks, but now, in addition to selling notebooks, Moleskine also has backpacks, wallets, pen accessories, writing tools and reading accessories. Since its development, the brand's product catalog has exceeded 200 pages.
"Moleskine is no longer a daily consumer product in the pure sense. People buy it, it is more a spiritual need." According to Roberto Lobetti Bodoni (hereinafter referred to as Roberto), global CMO of Moleskine.
"If you simply sell the function of a notebook, it is impossible to sell a high premium, but if you sell emotions (time, memory, identity testimony), for consumers, these cannot be priced, so the product is set to a High prices are completely acceptable. "Zhang Li, a professor at the National Development Institute of Peking University, pointed out.
A storytelling brand
Moleskine is willing to say that he is a storytelling brand, and its success is related to a clear positioning-Moleskine targets those creative consumers who are pursuing quality of life. "We are not just selling notebooks, we are also selling good stories." Roberto told Business School reporters.
In fact, this is also in line with the sales logic of luxury goods: People pay not only for product functions, but also for their "blood", the story behind it, and the layering of users.
So, since Moleskine officially registered the brand in 1997, the most used and the most digging is the continuous storytelling. For two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Hemingway to Chatvin, European artists and intellectuals have been closely related to this notebook. Their notes, diaries, manuscripts, and ideas have been promoted by the brand as history. Moleskine hopes that such a book with heritage value and storytelling can also stimulate consumers' desire to buy.
In addition to being associated with these historical celebrities, Moleskine also invites contemporary designers, celebrities, and artists to create on their notebooks. The works will then be displayed on a global tour. The brand wants to let people know that these wonderful ideas are realized in the Moleskine book, and of course you also deserve a book of your own.
This marketing method does bring a lot of revenue to Moleskine. At present, Moleskine only sells more than 90 million euros in notebook sales annually.
Of course, the brand also needs "peer", and the peers Moleskine found are some super IPs. Well-known brands such as Line Friends, Lego, and Coca-Cola have become partners of Moleskine. Including "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Prince", "Star Wars", Doraemon and other cartoon characters and popular movies, the joint sale of customized products is designed to stimulate people's imagination, thinking and creativity It is a great way to make money for the brand.
"To enable products to respond quickly to consumer needs, especially those that are dominated by spiritual needs, we must learn to make content." Zhang Li pointed out, especially to follow the needs of the media, to appropriately follow the hot spots, and have Very strong and responsive supply chain capabilities. At this point, Moleskine is better than many similar stationery brands. Some brands may only buy one style in three years.
Try cross-border marketing
Moleskine, like many other brands, not only makes a single product, but also uses the brand to broaden its market. They also sell "peripherals" such as tool belts, pens and backpacks. The most powerful "peripherals" are the recent Moleskine Café. Moleskine opened the first coffee shop in the Asia Pacific region to Taikoo Li South, Sanlitun.
Open the glass door of Moleskine Café and you can see the whole space at a glance. Without too many partitions and furnishings, Moleskine made the whole space clear and orderly. The dining area is full of modern light wood, bright white walls and warm-toned furniture, which contrasts with the black and white tones of the homage to Moleskine notebooks, with the brand's natural attributes, consistent simplicity, nature and comfort.
In order to open the Chinese market, the first thing Moleskine came to China was to open a flagship store in Sanlitun Street, and also opened his own cafe. The reason for choosing Sanlitun is that Moleskine, as Beijing's most important cultural, commercial and leisure business district, can share Moleskine's unique "café littéraire / cultural cafe" with Beijing in this diverse lifestyle community.
Moleskine is clearly based on the development of luxury brands. Not only does it open direct stores worldwide, but the locations are high-end shopping malls in the bustling commercial districts of first-tier cities. At present, Moleskine has nearly 63 stores in many countries and regions around the world, of which 30 are in mainland China and Hong Kong, such as Guangzhou Tianhui Plaza, Beijing APM, Shanghai K11, Shenzhen Vientiane City, Hong Kong IFC and other high-end shopping center.
According to Lorenzo Viglione, CEO of Moleskine, Moleskine Café is a milestone in the development of Moleskine. It is a new attempt in retail. It also hopes that through the combination of culture, coffee, food and shopping, it can provide a brand new experience for brand fans and new audiences. Brand place to experience the concept of Moleskine fostering a new platform for creative life.
At the opening party of the Moleskine Café, MA Yansong, the founder of MAD Architects, Sheng Shidong, the main actor of the Central Ballet, and Gao Peng, the curator of Today Art Museum, were also invited to share their insights on creativity from their respective professional fields and explore the impact of creativity on China. The impact of contemporary cultural development. On the day of the event, Ma Yansong's "Landscape City" personal works exhibition also opened simultaneously, giving visitors a chance to enjoy his wonderful design works up close.
Why are these artists invited across borders? On the one hand, it is naturally because of the historical stories about Moleskine that are related to artists. In addition, Moleskine also emphasizes that in cross-border choice, it is strongly advocated to associate brands and people with the same temperament as its users. At the same time, it is the tradition of Moleskine to cooperate with outstanding local artists. Roberto stated that "these three artists have three characteristics that represent different Chinese cultures and different fields; they have a part of Beijing culture (11.610, 0.07, 0.61 %); Have some artistic influence. "
Legendary stories, precise positioning, creative products, smart marketing methods, etc. are all important factors that make ordinary stationery sell luxury goods. Of course, for Moleskine, what should be considered is how to deal with a world in which writing habits are decreasing and becoming more and more digital. "Although everyone can't do without digital products, Moleskine can still satisfy some people's nostalgia and demand for paper. And the brand persists in this tradition. People will continue to use physical notebooks and inherit the beauty of writing." Roberto said .
Zhejiang Huangyan Huifeng Stationery Co., Ltd. is one of the China suppliers specializing in the production of Moleskine style notebook . Check out our exquisite quality products, welcome to visit: https://www.chinesestationery.net
