Future-Proofing Luxury: Strategic Production in the Age of Constant Content Demand

Feature by LEAP Luxe.

Twenty years ago, luxury brand marketing was a different world.

The media landscape was straightforward; brands had the benefit of executing creative campaigns across a select few, well established media channels. From the familiarity of press and billboards to the mass reach of television and radio, these formats, though distinct and dynamic, offered a reassuring sense of predictability. Fast forward to today, and the digital revolution has completely reshaped the playing field. With the explosion of digital platforms, luxury brands must now produce an ever-increasing volume of assets tailored for multiple channels and audiences, each demanding specificity, nuance, and personalisation.

While marketing budgets have statistically grown since the digital boom, the reality is that they are now diluted across an expansive array of modern channels. This shift has placed an acute emphasis on efficiency, agility, and the ability to maximise output without compromising quality or brand integrity.

Traditionally, luxury brands have relied on predominantly ‘creative’ agency partners to both ideate and produce their marketing assets. But with a more modern need for high volumes at speed, the efficiency of this legacy production approach has come into question. High agency fees alone can make marketing budgets unpredictable and unsustainable, and while speed is more critical than ever, creative agencies - often juggling competing priorities and resource restrictions - can sometimes fail to keep up with real-time brand needs. As volume demand increases, so do costs - yet output has been seen to slow, response times lengthen and cracks in quality begin to show. The process becomes painful for both parties with gaps in expertise and capabilities putting output at risk. Perhaps most frustrating of all, marketers are being pulled away from strategy and innovation, forced instead to act as project managers, caught up in oversight, logistics and proverbial plate-spinning.

Recognising the need for a more efficient, cost-effective production solution, some luxury brands with high production needs - such as Burberry and Chanel - have pivoted to in-house production models. While this approach offers greater control over quality, brand guardianship and budgets, it is not without its own set of hurdles. Overloaded internal teams, especially when centralised across multiple markets, can often struggle to keep up with demand. In-house teams are typically built for specific outputs, making scalability and bursts of high volume needs a challenge. This rigid team structure can also raise issues around technical limitations as the rapid evolution of digital production tools requires continuous investment in skills and technology. Though the cost savings against traditional agency fees can be proven in many instances, the financial impact of increasing headcount, hiring and managing a newly formed department indefinitely aren’t to be discounted.

These potential operational inefficiencies can ultimately lead to frustration, burnout, and, most critically, a failure to capitalise on the full potential of modern marketing opportunities.

Recognising that no single model fits all, luxury brands are now crying out for a more tailored and flexible content solution to bridge the gap between efficiency and creative excellence. 

For those brands who execute in bursts, investing in a handful of campaigns per year, the wisest route for efficient content production would appear to be a meticulously curated roster of niche expert partners; retaining overarching creative campaign ideation with a core agency (or internally, as we are seeing happen more), while separately soliciting specific production execution to specialist partners. This method allows for streamlined rollouts without sacrificing artistic control, but equally risks fragmented output and comms-heavy stakeholder management.

But for those brands needing a consistent and constant production of assets? An answer to the possible restrictions of the in-house approach is a freshly formed hybrid model that features dedicated, embedded talent - a newer, more agile solution that sees production experts hiring and fully managing full-time talent on behalf of brands, and placing them directly into brand teams with a cost-effective salary+ investment model.  This more agile approach to bolstering specialist production resource - operating as an in-house team would, but with the flexibility, innovation, and scalability of an external agency partner - provides modern brand marketers with speed and agility in execution, access to cutting-edge technology and refined production processes, and a reduction in managerial burdens such as hiring, training, and long-term headcount commitments.

Flexibility and adaptability for these bespoke production processes will be key. As AI and automation capabilities continue to advance within the content marketing sphere, they will undoubtedly shape and simplify the future of asset production. Though limited, AI driven tools are already being used to optimise workflows, automate versioning, and streamline repetitive tasks. However, as luxury brands operate in a space where artistry, craftsmanship, and brand storytelling are paramount - qualities that AI has yet to master at the highest level - until technology fully catches up, the need for flexible, highly responsive production solutions remains crucial.

Luxury marketing teams are under immense pressure to deliver high-quality, high-volume content at speed. The traditional model of agency partnerships, and the resulting revolution of fully in-house production are proving insufficient in a landscape that demands constant adaptability. By embracing hybrid production solutions, where dedicated experts are integrated seamlessly into brand ecosystems, luxury marketers can reclaim their strategic focus, ensure creative consistency, and maximise efficiency.

In an era where content is king but efficiency is queen, the brands that find the right production formula will be the ones that thrive. The question is no longer if luxury brands need to evolve their asset production models, but how quickly they are able to adapt them to stay ahead.

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If you’re curious about the best method of omnichannel asset production for your brand, you can schedule a free consultation with the production solutions experts at LEAP Luxe by emailing enquiries@leap.luxe, or via their website leap.luxe.