Holland a Brand

As CCO and partner of JANOU LLC, a global creative search agency, we have gained a valuable perspective on how the marketplace and consumers relate to events. In fact, clients often view us as a barometer for what is happening in the world as our network of business partnerships comprises a 360-degree range of industries and markets worldwide. We track the perceptions of leaders in the business, creative and design industries and closely observe how they in turn influence others.

We observe that global trends are re-shaping the landscape: global leadership is bending toward the right, the planet is burning, we don't speak anymore of climate change, but climate disaster and nuclear war is closer to reality. These forces have undermined our trust in institutions and leaders from the political, financial, and business worlds as the world is becoming more flat with the global marketplace having become a reality. There is an added urgency to a national dialogue about the need for new approaches, new solutions, different ways of thinking and new models. The old, proven traditional system is outdated and can be the downfall of many global brands. The changing new zeitgeist is touching our lives in a profound way.

The key corporate assets that will define the successful businesses of the coming era are: Trust, Transparency, Innovation, Diversity, and Sustainability whereby Design Innovation has become the core and foundation for change.

More than ever, companies need to build a business strategy around those values. The new generations will no longer accept the hollow advertising campaigns that worked well in the past.

The Dutch are known for their down to earth pragmatism and their efficiency; they know how to simplify life. They are also known to be thrifty (Shall we go Dutch?) and to combine a common-sense approach to life and business with a healthy respect for individualism.

Holland is often associated with tulips, wooden shoes, legalized pot, and prostitution, but Holland is also known for its Dutch design - sleek Schiphol, cool Rotterdam, the amazing dykes that protect the country of which half of it is under the sea level. But more importantly, the Dutch are in many instances ahead of innovation in creating new ways to preserve energy, 3D printed concrete housing, floating homes, air-cleaning bikes that suck smog and make clear air by peddling, cars using solar energy via rooftops, Boyan Slat's Ocean Cleanup and more amazing innovations within agriculture and the Food Industry.

It is an enlightened way of living, a life of sustainability and recycling and thoughtful use of natural resources, an entirely new value system which is the foundation of Design and Design Thinking. And it all started with the Bicycle and the Windmill which is the foundation of what we call 'The New Luxury'. These values were not invented in Holland—they are merely deeply and authentically part of the Dutch DNA."

The New Luxury

Beyond the shared sense that luxury is that which we perceive as exceptionally desirable and inspirational, there is a clear definition of goods and services that command a premium. Consider the few whose habits and tastes define and re-define luxury and greatly enhanced the value of the brand,

Movie stars and business tycoons, for example, once helped establish the limo and the private jet as the most desirable means of transportation and they have now helped turn that upside down: It is Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts who have made that most un-limo like vehicle Tesla and the Prius, the new status symbol (and greatly enhanced the value of the brand).

The new generation is taking up the task to save the planet. A 16-year-old girl from Sweden, Greta Thurnberg, has more value and credibility among so many people than most of the leaders in the world have earned. The new generation, and certainly the new talent in the world is not buying the propaganda of the old luxury labels any longer. They are highly aware, astute and skeptical of anything that is not authentic, transparent, practical or sustainable. Those values are defined as the New Luxury.

Less is now desirable—it’s actually cool—and the windmill and the bicycle are perfectly emblematic of this new value system.

Author: Janou Pakter | Founder & CEO Janou LLC