Ceo jean christophe babin bulgari
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According to media company Launchmetrics, Bvlgari often performs better than Cartier and Tiffany on the red carpet — at the last edition of Cannes Film Festival the Roman house garnered $10 billion in media impact value (or MIV, a proprietary measure of Launchmetrics) vs Cartier’s $ million and Tiffany’s $ billion. Launchmetrics notes that dressing former Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach at the latest Cannes Film Festival had been particularly rewarding as it generated 43 per cent of the brand’s $10 billion MIV.
“Whether you sell it or not, high jewellery is beneficial for the brand. And when you sell it, unlike haute couture, it’s very profitable,” comments Babin.
However, he’s cautious about overexposing high jewellery. “We could sell even more high jewellery, but then we risk becoming like Bentley, a brand people think they cannot afford. We’re more akin to Porsche, which offers expensive sports cars and nice family cars.” Although Bvlgari has, like all luxury brands, increas
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December 6,
Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of LVMH-owned brand Bulgari, gives his views on the challenges in China and how he sees the market evolving, while the brand’s fragrance head Jonathan Brinbaum provides insights into the luxury perfume category
How do you see the state of the fragrance market?
Jean-Christophe Babin: The fragrance market is quite resilient and posting sell-out growth in virtually all countries, with China being the exception. But the decline in China is much more limited in fragrance than it is in fashion or in hard luxury. For Bulgari, we are growing thanks to the restructuring we did over the past five years, which involved reducing distribution from 24, points of sale to 6,, revamping our brand portfolio and creating a true high end with Gemme and Allegra, which will be close to 30% of sales this year. We also upgraded the older fragrances so that the whole portfolio remains consistent with the brand elevation, which is driven
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French by birth, Italian at heart, Jean-Christophe Babin was born in Paris into a family of lawyers. After receiving his mästare of business administration at only 21 years old, Mr. Babin completed his military service in the French Navy fleet and started exploring the world. His career began in the sales and marknadsföring department of Procter & Gamble. At just 39, he was promoted as the youngest member of Henkel’s executive committee and was appointed Senior Vice President at the company’s headquarters in Germany. Later Mr. Babin joined LVMH Group to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of TAG Heuer. After 12 years at the helm, he turned the brand into one of the most dynamic and accomplished Swiss watchmaking houses and was awarded eight Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix.
In Mr. Babin became Chief Executive Officer of the Bvlgari Group. In eight years, he repositioned Bvlgari as the reference brand of contemporary, global jewelry and transformed it into a leading player in