In other blogs and sites

A few links to early news and interviews about the Wharton School Publishing editorial research behind our forthcoming book:

Maria Vrachnos, Principal at Peep Insights, New York, performed an interview for trendsetting trend research website PSFK:

www.psfk.com/author/mariavrachnos/

Turin-based design and innovation boutique, Experientia, contributed to our selected expert review on the manuscript of the book, and honored our authors' efforts with an "early bird" review on their blog, "Putting People First":

www.experientia.com/blog/upcoming-book-on-the-high-en/

Thanks to Mark at Experientia, for his time and critical feedback (yes, it hurt. Yes, we liked it:-)

More posts to come, as soon as the dialogue unfolds.

Upcoming events to pre-empt Wharton School Publishing book on luxury and High End

A number of activities were planned -with the active support of Philips Design-, to promote the forthcoming publication of our Wharton book on luxury and High End. Because the book will not be launched in retail until the end of this year, the choice was made to initiate and / or to contribute to a number of qualified -and fun!- panels in the conference circuits.

After the first speaking engagement with Prof. Jem Bendell and NetImpact in Geneva, this is the current schedule of activities in planning:

September, the 24th, Montreal, Canada

ESOMAR 2008 Congress, Panel: "Luxury and Research"

Panelists: 

Paul Nunes, Executive Research Fellow, Accenture, and Author, Harvard Business School Press

Wolfgang Schaefer, Chief Strategy Officer, SelectNY, Berlin / London / Geneva / Dubai / NYC

Scott Williams, Chief Marketing Officer, Morgans Hotels, New York

Philip Verhagen, Director, Umbra / U+, Toronto

Moderator: Marco Bevolo

Second half of October, TBD, Parma, Italy

"Sense of Luxury" Fair, Panel: "Luxury and Culture

Panelist: Marco Bevolo

November, the 17th, Istanbul, Turkey

ESOMAR "Opposites Attract: Creative Industry and Research converge" workshop

Faculty: Simon Wilson, Director, The Hasley Group, UK, Marco Bevolo

This workshop might be replicated before the end of the year at the ESOMAR Brand Forum in Paris, France.

December, the 18th, Moscow, Russia

Eventica "Global Luxury Forum"

I will have the pleasure to join Lieran Stubbings, talented event director, in her Advisory Board, to contribute to the program and eventually join some of the sessions, TBD.

There will be more events and activities planned in the next weeks: check out this space regularly, if interested, and yes, I do hope you will be interested enough to join me on any of the above!

NetImpact "Sustainable Luxury" panel, 13 May

It was a great honor to join Jem Bendell, Founder of Lifeworth, Geneva, and co-author of WWF "Deeper Luxury" report, and Tim Han, founder of Timothy Han, London, upcoming brands of candles and body care good for the soul, on the "Luxury in a sustainable world" panel, at NetImpact 1st European conference, in Geneva. Prof. Bendell moderated the panel with wit and depth, illustrating the key trends that will lead luxury to re-think itself from a viewpoint of eco, social and longer term impact. Tim introduced the philosophy behind his trendsetting company, unveiling how the likes of Donatella Versace and British film celebrities go "green & soul" by choosing his candles and essentials. As a panelist, I presented some key highlights from the Wharton School Publishing research. Just one example: Did you expect China to go sustainable, when it comes to luxury? If your answer is "No", then think again: it will. Then, the floor was open for questions from the qualified audience, including business representatives from the likes of Lush, Edun and DHL, and a mix of bright MBA students from all over the world, for a triggering Q+A. This was the first time NetImpact organized a European event, and coincidentally also the first panel where the Wharton School Publishing work on luxury and High End was discussed. It was, ca ca sans dire, a great pleasure to be there!

Birth of a Blog

Et voila', this blog was born. And it was born with a purpose: to inform, to update and to trigger the discussions about the forthcoming Wharton School Publishing book by Parlin Prize recipient Howard Moskowitz, MJI CTO Alex Gofman, Philips Design CEO Stefano Marzano and myself. The book is due towards the end of this year, an early draft manuscript dated April 2008 was circulated with the temporary title: "Platinum by Design: Understanding Contemporary Luxury to Create Tomorrow's High End" to selected experts and friends in the last two months, and more is coming up. There is a new title on its way, however the one above describes pretty well what we are talking about. This blog is complementary to our current website:

www.futurehighend.com

administrated by Alex at the other side of the Ocean. There you can find all official information, including updated testimonials from thought leaders and opinion makers, here you are invited to read more the "behind the scenes" stories towards the book launch. Curios? Keep checking this page, for more info's.