Hot 100 Brand Champions: Florent-Aymeric Dubiez, marketing and communications director, Montblanc UK.
Intense is how Florent-Aymeric Dubiez describes the past year for Montblanc’s UK team, and listening to him reel off the lists of goals achieved and objectives met leaves us a little lightheaded.
“These last two years, we have witnessed a strong turnaround of the business: intensification of the relationship with our partners, development of new collections with a strong value proposition, exploration of new territories and design, a new media campaign and an increased consistency across all marketing levers,” says Dubiez, a well-travelled Parisian now living in London. “There have been a high number of new product launches across our different categories, the roll-out of a new impactful communication campaign and the opening of new doors and boutiques, including the relocation of our Bond Street flagship boutique. Within this fast-moving pace, we stayed very focused by sharing the ambition of the maison and implementing it across all marketing and sales channels: a greater media presence, visual merchandising excellence, intimate business relationship, amplified press exposure, increased training and knowledge of our sales ambassadors to ensure stronger customer experience.”
Phew. Well, while the journey may have felt frenetic, the destination has been arrived at smoothly, with the new strategies delivering a record year for Montblanc in terms of both sales and brand visibility.
For Dubiez, who likes to knock a little of the intensity out of life with a long round on the golf course, the hard work will continue into the next year. He is a great believer in consistency, both professional and personal, and says that by doing more of the same, and doing it well, Montblanc will be “on the right path to become the leader of luxury accessories for men”.
So it’s a good thing we pinned him down for a little respite in his favourite restaurant Casse-Croûte, which he loves for delivering him a slice of home in Bermondsey, because he’s going to need to keep his strength up – it’s all starting to look pretty intense again.
