Avita and Givenchy design director Matthew M. Williams jointly signed the 011 screen.
As a newly emerged electric vehicle brand, Avita obviously hopes to use the high-end positioning of luxury goods to upgrade its own grade and highlight a noble temperament.
But just pasting a few logos on the body, changing the seat texture, and then engaging in a pure black color 011, can it achieve the purpose of "self-raising" and let the people recognize its high-end positioning?
I have always felt that the essence of high-end is backed by innovative design and technology.
Also as a latecomer, Tesla's high-end is not based on the careful thinking of co-branding with luxury goods; Huawei mobile phones sold to Apple's price, but also excellent software and hardware experience first - even if it is co-branded with Porsche, but the differentiated value of co-branded products is more reflected in the different functional configurations such as memory chips.
On the contrary, if the first product has not yet been tested by consumers, they hope to set the tone for themselves by bundling luxury goods, it is inevitable that there is a kind of impetuosity that is eager to achieve but lacks self-confidence.
Whether the brand is high or not is often determined by the consumer's experience, rather than whether it has been co-branded cross-border design with the big brand, especially for cars with heavy functional attributes.
Is the design of cross-border joint names worthless?
Not really. In fact, there are not many precedents for cross-border luxury design of automobiles, but what is remembered is often to solve practical problems as the fundamental purpose, rather than to regard the added value of marketing gimmicks as the ultimate goal.
For example, Audi designed the Shanghai official announcement and the British women's Stella McCartney cross-border joint name last year, without large-scale hype publicity, nor did it use the Stella McCartney logo to decorate the body everywhere, only some of the design thinking and production practices common to the two brands.
Stella McCartney is not a top luxury, compared to LV, GUCCI and other big brands are only a niche designer brand. However, Audi, as the head of the luxury brand, chose Stella McCartney, the reason why it pays more attention to its environmental protection and sustainable brand attitude - Stella McCartney does not use leather, only uses recycled cashmere and organic cotton, and even the packaging bags use nylon and polyester fiber made from recycled waste.
In the leather-infested luxury industry, Stella McCartney's self-deprecating martial arts behavior is regarded as a confidant at Audi.
In the large-scale industrial consumer goods market, environmental protection is difficult to promote, both because the processing cost of recyclable materials on the supply side is higher, and because there are not a few consumers in the market who uphold the cognition of "leather = luxury, environmental protection = cheap".
This is a common problem for Audi and Stella McCartney, and Audi has also chosen to stand with Stella McCartney to promote the decline in the cost of environmentally friendly materials and changes in consumer perception.
The Audi e-tron GT carpet and floor mats are made of the same Econyl recycled nylon as Stella McCartney, the Seat's Kaskade material is also made of 119 recyclable plastic bottles, and 27 parts such as the Q4 e-tron headlight assembly, wheel arch lining, fenders, body trim and wheel cover are also made of recyclable materials.
Only by relying on large-scale procurement to reduce the price of environmentally friendly materials, and strive to make consumers recognize and accept, will environmental protection not be reduced to a marketing slogan in the air.
For example, in September last year, Mercedes-Benz cooperated with American fashion designer Heron Preston to make clothing, which was made of airbags used by Mercedes-Benz in safety crash tests.
These materials, which would otherwise be wasted, have also been turned into new commodities through sustainable design concepts. Mercedes-Benz chose Heron Preston because its personal eponymous brand is known for sustainable design and launched the "Re-Design" project in 2018 – these airbag apparel are part of the project.
There are many examples of this, including domestic intellectuals who, when choosing to work with the architectural genius Heatherwick, also carried the "Can cars purify the surrounding air?" And "Can the car really be people's second home?" "Two questions come.
Including the bold street lamp charging pile, it is also trying to solve the problem of difficult to plug and unplug the charging gun through automatic pulling.
Or to solve the pain points, improve the experience, and even change the industry's car-making ideas from the bottom - the upcoming mass production of Zhiji AIRO is also realizing the original intention of cross-border co-branding with Heatherwick through technologies such as hot shoe magnetic architecture.
Obviously, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Zhiji do not need to prove their brand value by co-branding with high-cost luxury goods, but want to promote the sustainable development of society together with like-minded luxury goods.
The former is designed for marketing, and the latter is designed to influence marketing. The starting point is different, and it also reflects whether your design and marketing are honest and whether they can be remembered by the market.
Instead of disappearing after a big show, the two sides of the cross-border joint name have their own money and left, what to do.
Starting from experience and demand, using the strengths of another industry to pragmatically solve the pain points of the industry, and even promoting substantive design changes, changing the mode of production and supply, is the greater significance of cross-border design - otherwise just paste a few logos on the body, change several different materials, and then engage in a communication color, any brand can try, and naturally can not highlight the unique thinking of the brand, and the high-end positioning that follows.
Cross-border co-branding should be the result of the embodiment of brand values, not a process of pursuing exposure.
Of course, Avita's choice of partners Matthew Williams also has such thinking, but instead of focusing on the three words "Givenchy", I think it is more important to pay attention to the ALYX brand that he pioneered in the early days.
Although it is not famous, the high-profile ALYX Visual sustainable series that uses old fabrics and explores new technologies, and its eco-friendly T-shirts produced on the condition of anhydrous and chemical raw materials from recycled plastic bottles, are quite flavorful.
And then there's the need to show some real commitment to bold innovation and honest design. In fact, at the time of the launch of the Avita brand, the "E.I. User Demand Theory System" advocated by it once made my eyes shine, and I also expected that this new force that pays attention to the connection between emotional needs and design experience will bring different inspirations to the industry. Including the choice of cooperation with Huawei and CATL, each of the duty-making routes is also full of the sense of déjà vu of the pioneer of change.
Then, as a high purity domestic product, instead of relying on the face of foreigners to prove the high-end, it is better to focus on the joint cross-border with the Ningde era and Huawei itself, which is the luxury product that can be most recognized by consumers, and it is also the most in line with the universal rules of relying on innovative technology to achieve high-end positioning.
For example, before the Ningde era had planned to launch CTC chassis technology with direct integrated batteries on Avita 011, thinking along this point, maybe doing some peripheral design around CTC to strengthen this technical advantage is also more high-end than sticking an MMW logo.
You see Tesla, which has put CTC technology into production, has arranged a large number of display devices with efficient integration of 4680 batteries and chassis at the opening ceremony of Giga Texas, and the taste of fashion creativity is no worse than Givenchy's fashion show.
Of course, it is still expected that more high-end brands represented by Avita who intend to become The pioneers of Chinese design will come up with solutions that are truly design-driven, face the pain points and improve the experience, rather than spending too much energy on the matter of co-branding with luxury goods, and losing their way in the surface effort.
When a group of new brands want to come to you for a joint name, your high-end positioning is self-evident.
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