Key points covered by Suzy Menkes as opening remarks and philosophical guidelines to the conference, followed by a conversation with Gucci’s Frida Giannini…

“Let’s stretch our minds and think how those movie stars of the early XX century felt, when all of a sudden the industry enthusiastically embraced sound and abandoned silent movies.

We are in front of a similar evolution right now, with the phenomenon of social media. A new generation without deference for the legendary brands and stores is approaching the luxury industry.

Brands now are losing the control they had when they only appeared in controlled environment such as stores and magazines. Bloggers now morph into fashion critics. Let’s think of BrianBoy. Twitter funnels devastating comments in 140 characters to thousands of users.

At the same times brands have the fantastic opportunity, by harnessing technology, to reach out to a truly global audience. The purpose of this conference is to explore the positive effects technology can have on luxury.

There are both physical changes and a shift in the state of mind, the attitude.

- E-commerce is already a reality, ten years after its early stages.

- Social networking is an important shift in how people interact. Let’s think what would have happened if in 1989 people had had this opportunity: would the Berlin Wall have come down sooner?

- The endless opportunities offered by mobile phones are a reality. In Japan women wave their phones during catwalks: not for taking pictures, but for capturing the bar codes of the dresses.

- Smart fabrics can play a big role in the fashion and accessory industry.

- The Amazon Kindle offers a new format on which to visualize content, smaller than a PC but bigger than a smart phone: media will need to provide appropriate content.

Fashion and luxury should not feel threatened by bloggers, by interaction and feedback, by comments and suggestions. There is a lot of white noise but some blogs shine out.

You cannot slow down technology. You need to be able to identify the positive sides of techno. Thanks to technology luxury is back to its early days by customizing…online.

Have brands lost control?

Not really, if they are able to use the skills of brand management differently, and not recycling old ideas online. From a monologue to a conversation, embracing clients’ wishes and ideas.

Welcome to the first Techno Luxury conference in Berlin. A town with a hard edge and a vibrant, young population. With the signs of history, and high tech architecture epitomizing technology, the ideal framework with our discussion. You can participate in the debate by asking your questions from the audience, and from the web, via SMS and Twitter”.

My follow up: check out the Berliner Morgenpost video preceding the conference

Enter Frida Giannini, Creative Director @ Gucci.

She kicks off the conversation with Suzy Menkes by showing figures.

Time spent browsing by people aged 12-24 : online 47%, TV 47%, Newspapers 3%, Magazines 3%.  Her takeaway is: We need to open more to the new generation. We need to prepare a platform in order to follow customers who don’t browse printed media as a main source of information or inspiration. Check out the dynamic ad campaigns in the links below, half-ad, half-movie.

Gucci’s e-commerce kicked-off in early 2o02 with the US, now it also cover China China is already number one for e-commerce revenues. There are 2 millions customers on e-commerce. The Gucci Facebook page has half a million fans. For the new generations, the net is where we foster and build loyalty.

Just like Bailey also Giannini shows examples. Rihanna’s partnership on the handbag campaign was magnified by a making-of video, which is like a show behind the show. Video content is regularly updated (Gucci eye web). Giannini says A video crew now follows me, it’s embarassing at first but fans of the brand want to get a feel of the creative process.

The Gucci I-phone application got downloaded 3,500 times at the time of writing. The Gucci console epitomizes the strong relationship between music and the brand (it’s a powerful emotional vehicle). I follow online the next generation of musicians, music is core for my inspiration as it is for our fans.

It seems that Frida Giannini is speaking about a pop-star group. Quite a different language compared with Tom Ford’s sexed-up image, a static one. Experience Berlin’s page on Reflect and Connect. Put it in another way, it’s Burberry’s the Art of Trench again.

Suzy Menkes: Frida, do you use the social networks yourself?

Giannini: Yes, I browse the Facebook page 3 times a day.

Suzy Menkes: are you afraid the brand may run the risk of losing its cachet?

Giannini: not many people know that 80% of our handbags are still done by hand. Funnelling this information in our corporate narrative online using innovative media actually enhances our image.

Suzy Menkes: Frida, what is your “techno dream”?

Giannini: I would love to have a personal sales assistant always available for me.

Suzy Menkes: do you use Twitter?

Giannini: yes, I am surrounded by people who tell me what’s happening and keep on investigating the blurred frontiers of online media.

Suzy Menkes: are there any questions for Frida Giannini from Twitter or the audience?

My question to Frida Giannini: During the previous conversations and presentations there’s been a lot of talk about how to bring “the store” to the customer, ie online. Do you think that luxury brands, like Gucci - which have a large network of brick-and-mortar stores in fantastic but expensive locations – will also need to use technology the other way round, ie, for bringing more customers to the store? Do you think that Twitter, but also Location-Based-Service mobile applications will be helpful for engaging the customer?

Frida Giannini: Absolutely. The stores are empty now. There is no traffic. E-commerce is important, but technology can definitely help us bring more loyalty also to the brick-and-mortar store.

Suzy Menkes: THAT was a very good question!

My follow up: check out the symbiotic relationship between pop-up stores and social networks with Mark Ronson and Gucci partnership for the NYC opening – also on e-commerce, Canada just joined…cool Country uh?