Former Louis Vuitton boss offers business advice at luxury marketing event hosted by AUS

American University of Sharjah (AUS) hosted some of the world’s top business practitioners and academics in luxury marketing this week for the 2021 AUS-Chalhoub Symposium on Luxury Marketing and Branding, including keynote speaker Pauline Brown, former chairperson of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) North America and author of Aesthetic Intelligence.

The symposium provided a review of the impact of COVID-19 on the personal goods market and the future of the industry­, with Brown specifically addressing how luxury might be reinvented through a set of “aesthetic intelligence” principles in order to create products, services and experiences that stand out, resonate with customers and create long-term value for businesses.

Presented by the Department of Marketing and Information Systems and the School of Business Administration (SBA) at AUS in collaboration with the Academy of Marketing’s Consumer Psychology and Cross-Cultural Research Special Interest Group, the boutique online event brought together the latest thinking in theory and practice in luxury marketing and provided a platform for collaborative research and insightful exchange of ideas between international scholars and practitioners.

AUS is home to the Chalhoub Group Professorship in Luxury Brand Management, a center of excellence for research and teaching in luxury marketing that was established in 2013 with an endowment by the Chalhoub Group. The professorship is currently held by Dr. George Christodoulides, Professor of Marketing at the university’s School of Business Administration (SBA), who led the symposium.

“The subject of luxury has recently attracted considerable attention by both business practitioners and academics. Despite a slowdown in sales due to the global pandemic, the value of the personal goods market is expected to bounce back to growth and reach upwards of AED 380 trillion by 2025, according to a 2020 study by Bain & Co,” said Dr. Christodoulides.

“Given the significance of the luxury sector to the global economy, luxury brands often need to turn classical marketing knowledge upside down to preserve their prestige and dream value; it is now more important to develop specific theory and actionable frameworks to help managers steer their luxury brands through the pandemic and return to growth quickly,” said Dr. Christodoulides.

A total of 26 competitive papers were presented at the symposium by an international panel of reputable researchers, addressing topics such as luxury after COVID-19, luxury in the circular economy, sustainability, ethics and activism for luxury, luxury experiences and pop culture, and art and luxury.

In early 2022, the best of these papers are expected to form a special edition of the Journal of Strategic Marketing, a publication which is highly regarded in business and academia reaching 165,000 readers per year.

In addition, a Meet the Editors session consisting of the editors of seven high-impact journals publishing research in luxury allowed the development of a systematic and rigorous research agenda on luxury.

Taking the lead in luxury marketing education for the region, AUS offers a range of relevant courses for undergraduate students wishing to pursue a vibrant business career in this important and growing sector.

“Our courses take into account not only the latest research and global trends in luxury but also the special requirements of the sector in the Middle East region. By giving our students access to initiatives such as this symposium  and opportunities to interact with professionals in this field, our position as a leading provider of luxury brand teaching and learning continues to grow,” said Dr. Christodoulides.

For more information about the Chalhoub Group Professorship in Luxury Brand Management at the School of Business Administration at American University of Sharjah, visit www.aus.edu/sba.