Photo via @capsuleshow Instagram

On the heels of our talk with Kate Spade’s Kristen Naiman earlier this week, Fashion Tech Forum and INDX once again called upon the inimitable Drew Elliott of PAPER Magazine to lead a discussion on yet another important issue many brands – both emerging and established – are facing today: how to create, refine and maintain a consistent voice and branding in today’s evolving digital world.

Presented in partnership with the Capsule trade fair during the first day of the New York women’s edition of their show at Pier 94, our panel of experts included Yael Aflalo, Founder and CEO of Reformation; Gabrielle de Papp, Senior Vice President of Farfetch; and Ana Andjelic, SVP and Global Strategy Director of Havas LuxHub.

The three panelists provided the early morning crowd with generous insight into their own respective successes, along with tips they’ve picked up along the way. Here are some highlights and sound bites from the discussion.

On developing a distinct brand voice:

Ana: Luxury brands are now a collection of voices, both from inside and from outside.

Yael: Branding is at first a conversation, and then a little bit of iteration after that. The elevator pitch many brands use on their websites is unnatural. There should be a sense of discovery.

On storytelling as a branding device:

Gabriella: Great brands are great storytellers.

Yael: We call it ‘acting as if.’ We act as if what we believe is true.

Ana: Luxury brands should worry about having a clear point of view and a narrative. Many of them have great stories they’re not telling.

On competing with established, legacy brands:

Yael: I’ve made a lot of speeches to people who work at the company saying, ‘We have to be better with less.’ How are you going to take market share away from big companies? You have to be better than them with less resources.

Ana: For me, smaller brands are more nimble. You have to do everything, but you live and breathe your company’s ethos. It’s almost easier for you to tell that story than at, like, Carolina Herrera, when they have a community manager who has to learn about the brand. Smaller brands are much flatter in my experience. At bigger brands you have e-commerce in IT, and marketing is over here, and they don’t talk. There’s someone else in social media. They get paralyzed because they don’t have a process, because they’ve never done it before. Smaller companies, or digital first companies, started with that process.

Gabriella: It’s about being nimble and being able to move.

Ana: While legacy luxury brands worry about going online or getting into e-commerce, new brands are stealing their consumers.

On tailoring your message for various social channels:

Ana: Every medium has its own rules. The story needs to be told in a consistent way, but in a very different way depending on the medium. It gives brands more opportunities to tell their story in a strong but layered way.

Gabriella: We’re too busy thinking in channels, but the customer is everywhere.

On customer expectation:

Ana: The customer is spoiled. They expect whatever Amazon gives, whatever Farfetch gives. Uber. They’re spoiled by convenience, speed and efficiency. They expect the same things from legacy brands. If there’s one thing, it’s to keep removing friction. More seamlessness, more convenience. More free shipping. More free returns. That’s the competitive edge.

Gabriella: It’s about providing the best customer service you can. That’s what will make or break you.

On using data effectively:

Ana: Brands need to [change] from stalker to butler. How do you use data to really provide service that is really one step ahead, and don’t be a creepy stalker that is like, ‘Hey, you forgot this in your cart?’

Yael: I think what also is important is to use your gut. Right now, we’re also trying to decide on our return rate. What’s the return rate that we want to target? Half the table is like, ‘When we calculate the profitability, how many returns until it’s fine?’ And I don’t want to think about it like that. If I want to go shopping and I order something online, how many things do I keep and still feel good about the company? If you order four things and you keep two, do you still like this company? You should keep all of them? That’s not reasonable.