When the consumer becomes the creator - Bentley & The Surgeon
When former English monarch, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Bentley factory to check up on how her new vehicle was progressing, she witnessed first-hand the individual craftsmanship and personalisation that goes into every car produced by the 104-year-old British luxury automotive brand.
Built to commemorate Her Majesty’s first fifty years on the throne, the Queen’s State Limousine had handbag stowage specifically designed around the dimensions of her favourite bags. Even the fork that traditionally hand punctures the pre-stitched holes in the steering wheel was replaced with a silver version on this Royal Commission.
This level of one-to-one customisation may sound extreme but to Bentley Motors, it sets the brand apart in the luxury automotive space.
In an age where disruption is being driven by AI, automation and digitalisation, for luxury brands to outperform both their rivals and the sectors they operate in, they are increasingly looking to new and existing customers for more bespoke creative inspiration.
The challenge for the luxury automotive industry is that as technology and connectivity accelerate as part of vehicle design, the user experience is in constant danger of dilution. The thrill of driving is being replaced with safety and autonomous features designed for ease. So for brands like Bentley to remain relevant and instil passion, they must evolve the customer experience in more meaningful ways.
One such way is to seek out partnerships within the influencer ecosystem that share similar values and brand beliefs. Not every brand has a Royal customer connection but capitalising on synergies between a disruptor creator and a brand with an ‘outperformer’ mindset can be worth its weight in gold.
Bentley struck precious metal last year when it invited custom-sneaker designer Dominic Ciambrone (aka the Shoe Surgeon) to collaborate on a limited-edition line of Bentley-inspired kicks and a one-of-one ‘Bentley x The Surgeon’ vehicle.
Each of the limited-edition, handcrafted sneakers boasted unique facets including Bentley’s signature diamond quilting, cross-stitching found on the steering wheel, and premium leather identical to those used to trim Bentley’s unrivalled interior designs. These elements were combined with the Surgeon’s signature aesthetic and skull-and-scalpel monogram.
The collaboration ultimately put Bentley in front of a sneaker-obsessed stylistic audience who may have previously considered the marque an old-fashioned British brand. It allowed this younger, more aspirational generation to admire the craft and detail that goes into the modern Bentley design and relate it to how they express their own individualism through high-end fashion.
Both the Shoe Surgeon Ciambrone and the President of Bentley Motors’ American Region, Christophe Georges were on-stage at Cannes Lions this year. Together with Dipti Bramhandkar, Executive Strategy Director at Iris, part of the Cheil Connec+ network, they discussed how for brands with an ‘outperformer’ mindset, this type of bespoke creator partnership is vital when trying to cut through and showcase meaningful brand values against a backdrop of the latest moves in AI or some other technological development.
“Outperforming is about taking risks because you believe in something and know what your customers want,” Georges told the audience. “It starts with the design before the execution. By making it happen you will disrupt the market and to achieve this, you may need a creator that will help you to connect with a different cohort who shares the same values of craftsmanship, authenticity and the substance behind the luxury.”
The Shoe Surgeon was once commissioned by Nike to create a six-figure pair of gold and diamond-encrusted sneakers for LeBron James so he relished the chance to go behind the curtain at Bentley’s factory headquarters in Crewe, England.
“It was a very special moment,” he recalled. “Bentley is at the top of its craft and understands luxury and craftsmanship at the highest level as we do. They gave me the freedom to create outside my normal limits by giving me full access to connect with Bentley employees and to understand each other’s craft. When these types of creator and brand collaborations are done for the wrong reasons, it never works. But when it’s like-minded, it makes an impact and it’s fun, both the creator and the brand can push the limits of what’s achievable together.”
According to Bentley’s Georges, the luxury sector needs to drive trends, especially in areas such as sustainability and climate reduction because it's influential and people look to luxury brands to lead by example. By sharing the creative power with your customer base, they’ll feel more engaged in where the luxury sector is heading and how the resulting movement is disrupting for good.
I doubt the Queen ever forgot how her influence inspired a silver fork to form the holes in her personalized Bentley steering wheel. While fans of the Shoe Surgeon will now always associate Bentley's design with high-end sneaker fashion.
