Case study detailing Affinitive’s work for Diptyque Paris, the legendary French perfumer and maker of luxury scented candles, home fragrances and a body care collection.

1. social media in the luxury
market
an
case study

2. Overview
diptyque Paris, a French luxury fragrance company
with a global audience, looked to expand their
international presence to the eclectic and selective
luxury consumer. While aspiring luxury consumers
were certainly welcome, diptyque looked
specifically to engage with luxury enthusiasts who
were already familiar with diptyque‟s history and
attuned to its lifestyle aesthetic.
Though diptyque‟s social media presence was non-
existent at the time, content and conversation
coming from their customers presented an
opportunity to connect in a personal, unique way
for the brand.
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3. Luxury Social Media Challenges
“Luxury products are for the elite, yet social technologies are for everyone.
Luxury brands face a unique conundrum of marrying these 2 worlds.”
- Forrester Research
Challenges Facing diptyque and other Luxury Brands in Social
Media:
Promise of Allure & Exclusivity: It‟s difficult for a brand to selectively
choose who to interact with via most social networking channels and this
segmentation if done incorrectly could cause a major backlash.
Maintaining Integrity of Brand Image: For a luxury brand, image is
everything. Many luxury companies are reluctant to experiment with new
marketing strategies for fear of distorting their brand image.
Brand Aesthetic: Because a luxury brand needs to maintain the
appropriate aesthetics, social media can be a more difficult and more
expensive proposition for them.
Brand Recognition: While renowned in France, diptyque‟s recognition as
a leading scent and fragrance company in the U.S was promising, but overall
lacking in volume and voice.
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4. Objectives
diptyque aimed to raise
awareness in the U.S. for its
brand and products through a low
cost, high impact social marketing
strategy focused on activating its
existing cult following, growing
its online community, and driving
consumers to its properties both
online and in-store.
In addition to increasing brand
recognition and “owning” the
conversation on fragrance
and scent education, diptyque
sought to gain leverage that would
help launch new initiatives and
products in an inventive manner.
Share of Voice – diptyque vs. competitors
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5. Solution: Redefine Exclusivity & Luxury
“It's not cool to be excessive anymore...or being gaudy…It's really about
elegance and understatement.”
Tory Burch
Many recognizable luxury brands are having success online by connecting with
current customers on Facebook & Twitter by creating communities around sharing and
aspirational values.
• Make it easy to find your brand in social media
• Make best use of your brand website
• Make use of sharing tools to help enable customers to share content on company branded
sites such as blog posts and product images.
• Create original content for social media & commit to consistent communication
• Follow the 80/20 Rule
• Devote 80% of content to inform, inspire, amuse and connect with your fans around a
brand, and 20% of content around product-driven messages.
• Highlight high profile (celebrity) fans
• If celebrities and industry tastemakers are using your products and talk about them, echo
it back and highlight from your own efforts.
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6. Singular Presence
diptyque created a singular
Facebook and Twitter presence that
reflected brand ideals.
The diptyque voice focused on
candle history and brand
education in a witty,
approachable, and engaging
tone.
The Facebook Page integrated
content experiences from the official
website adding points of discovery,
while Twitter proactively engaged
with devotees. In reaching out and
making key suggestions as well as
initiating conversation, diptyque was
able to build a loyal, active
following.
An ad spend was executed reaching
targeted, desired consumers to get
the conversations started.
Confidential

7. Brand Voice
One of diptyque‟s challenges
was presenting itself as both
accessible and
aspirational, staying true
to the tenets of being a truly
luxury brand.
The brand voice was one of
approachability. Content was
posted earlier in the day to extend
diptyque‟s international reach and
was highly visual or educational in
regards to products, scents, and
fragrances.
The brand voice was
knowledgeable, warm, and witty,
but never over eager or casual.
Engagement was limited to
customer service and answering
questions to allow for the organic
celebration of the brand.
Confidential

8. International Influence
Foremost a French luxury brand
(and with many fans based in
France), diptyque needed to
appeal to an international
audience but also stay true to
their French heritage.
Page content and
experiences were often
translated to French and
geo-targeted to fans with
language preferences set to
French. Customers who asked
questions in French were often Retailers, Blogs, Magazines, Celebrities
answered in their native
Liberty London
language. 36,464 Followers
Habitually Chic Savoir Flair
13,721 Followers 11,574 Followers
Diptyque engaged with US and Saks 5th Avenue GQ Fashion Molly Sims
77,300 Followers 111,194 Followers
French influencers on Twitter, 25,723 Followers
building credibility and goodwill
Harrods Models.com Chanel Iman
internationally among the 56,640 Followers 64,068 Followers 92,726 Followers
„Twitter elite‟.
Confidential

9. Visual Experiences
To increase awareness of new products
and brand history, diptyque created
applications to create an engaging
visual consumer experience.
Experiences included pages for their
Roseros and 34 boulevard Saint-Germain
launches, a product overview, and a brief
history of the diptyque brand.
Confidential

10. Sample Gifting
In Fall 2010, diptyque
embarked on an Eau Duelle
fragrance giveaway.
Participants “liked”
diptyque‟s welcome tab and
filled out an address form to
receive a free sample of their
Eau Duelle fragrance.
The entry gate was open
for two days in which
time it was picked up by
several major influencers
and spread virally,
resulting in 3,600 new
fans in 48 hours.
Foursquare promotions were
also executed in store to give
away sample products during
major sales and product
events.
Confidential

11. Products Launch
French tandem of illustrators
Kuntzel & Deygas paid homage to
the eternal love of Beauty and the
Beast.
diptyque‟s welcome tab was re-
skinned to reflect the beauty of
Rose and Eros with a Roseros
video, inspiration sketches,
and a photo gallery.
Roseros was live throughout the
month of February.
The end results were
overwhelmingly positive and
beneficial in garnering attention,
and boosting conversation and page
views. Roseros sold out on
diptyqueparis.com within a
matter of days.
Confidential

12. #ScentMemory
To promote awareness of the
brand‟s new social presence,
diptyque hosted Scent Memory
events, 5 day Twitter hashtag
gifting events displaying fan-
submitted scent memories within
an elegant and sleek Facebook
experience.
Over 750 brand mentions and
400 followers were garnered
during the two scent memory
events.
Holiday sales of Scent
Memory products showed a
noticeable spike in sales
during the week long
promotion.
Confidential

13. Facebook Results
Affinitive took over management of the diptyque
Facebook page in late 2010. By late 2011, the page
had grown by 5,500%.
Diptyqueparis.com traffic from Facebook increased
dramatically, boosting sales „significantly.‟
Among competitors, diptyque grew to become the 3rd
most Liked brand on Facebook within their
competitive set.
Total Likes
50,000
40,000
30,000 23,000+
20,000
10,000
0
Confidential

14. Twitter Results
@diptyqueparis began Twitter in late 2010. By late
2011, it had surpassed all competitors in followers
and influence (highest klout among competitors.)
Twitter Followers*
3,700+
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
6,000
5,000
4,000 Total Followers
3,000
2,000
1,000
Total Following
0
Jan-11 Feb-11 Mar-11 Apr-11 May-11 Jun-11 Jul-11 Aug-11 Sep-11 Oct-11 Nov-11 Dec-11
Confidential