Protect the brand!

Johann Rupert, the Chairman of Richemont ; which owns Cartier, talks about how Cartier management once wanted to introduce a mobile phone.

This suggestion ticked off Johann and his son. He explained how after apprx two years you throw your phone away and get a new one. Compare that to any of the Cartier jewelry, the popular Cartier love bracelet which was introduced in 1969 is still used as a gift till this day.

“Cartier is not meant to be thrown away”

If Cartier created a phone, in just two years, people would put the old phone in the drawer and buy a new one. And that's not how Cartier products should be treated

Rupert’s wife even keeps the box in which the Cartier jewelry arrived in.

When was the last time you did that for a phone ?

So by introducing the phone, management would have diluted the Cartier brand as it would become something that could be easily shoved into the drawer.

These are the lengths to which management of luxury goods companies must go in order to protect their brand.

Brand equity equals Pricing Power