Van Cleef & Arpels

BXP diagnostic framework identifying four buyer profiles across 5 markets. AVA Digital Awards Platinum.

Role

Lead · Strategic framing · BXP

Challenge

No buyer framework across markets.

Scope

Research · BXP · Strategy · 5 markets

Impact

4 profiles. 5 markets. AVA Platinum.

01 · Situation

Ultra-luxury brand. No framework to understand how buyers actually experienced it.

Strong brand, defined digital presence, no structured understanding of how different buyers actually related to the Maison. Decisions were being made without a shared analytical framework across 5 markets.

✕ No buyer framework

No structured understanding of how different buyer profiles related to the Maison across markets

✕ 5 markets

Buyer behaviour and expectations varied significantly across geographies, with no shared analytical framework

✕ Experience gaps

Disconnect between brand promise and actual experience at key touchpoints, unmapped and unaddressed

✕ No shared language

Teams across markets had no common framework to discuss and prioritise experience decisions

The design challenge

02 · Approach

Diagnose before designing.

Diagnose before designing. Buyer profiles and experience gaps mapped before any experience recommendation.

Buyer profile framework

Tension

Different buyers. No common way to talk about them.

Every market team operated on a different implicit buyer model. No shared language to discuss or prioritise experience decisions.

Call

Identify and formalise four buyer profiles from the BXP analysis.

Four profiles identified and formalised from BXP analysis: purchase motivations, emotional expectations, relationship to the Maison.

Result

Four profiles. One shared framework across 5 markets.

One shared framework across 5 markets. Experience decisions evaluated against specific buyer expectations, not a generic luxury consumer.

Experience gap analysis

Tension

Brand promise and experience reality were not always aligned.

The gap between brand promise and experience reality was unmapped. Improvements were being made without prioritisation logic.

Call

Map the gaps between promise and experience for each buyer profile.

Gaps mapped against brand promise for each buyer profile across key touchpoints. Severity and opportunity value assessed per profile and market.

Result

A prioritised map of experience opportunities across 5 markets.

A prioritised map of experience opportunities. Evidence-based investment decisions replaced assumption-driven ones.

BXP strategy

Tension

Market teams making experience decisions without a shared strategic framework.

Market teams making experience decisions independently, creating variation in quality and missing cross-market learning.

Call

Create a BXP framework that works as both a diagnostic and a governance tool.

BXP framework designed as both diagnostic tool and governance mechanism. Experience principles derived from buyer profiles.

Result

AVA Digital Awards Platinum. A framework adopted across 5 markets.

AVA Digital Awards Platinum. A strategic framework adopted across 5 markets.

Take away

03 · Outcomes

What the framework produced.

Strategic clarity before experience design. A framework that created shared language and prioritised experience investment across 5 markets.

Before→After

No buyer framework across markets

→

4 profiles. Emotional mapping.

Experience decisions by assumption

→

Gap analysis. Evidence-based priorities.

No shared language across markets

→

1 BXP framework. 5 markets aligned.

buyer profiles

identified and formalised from BXP analysis across 5 markets

markets

aligned on a single buyer experience framework

AVA Digital Awards

Platinum

recognition for the BXP framework and approach

shared language

experience decisions aligned across all markets

04 · Takeaways

Three things this confirmed.

Strategic frameworks are design outputs. The BXP work produced buyer profiles and a gap analysis, not screens. That is design at its most valuable.

Shared language is a governance mechanism. A common framework determines the quality of every experience decision made after it.

Ultra-luxury experience design requires emotional precision, not demographic segmentation.

Closing

The framework was the deliverable.

The framework did not produce a new interface. It produced a shared understanding of who the Maison was designing for.

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