We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniel Langer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Our mission is to create extreme value for our clients. This is critical in my point of view. Luxury is often confused with opulence, rarity, or other rather descriptive attributes. However, after years of research I came to the conclusion that luxury, fundamentally is about the perception of extreme value through the eyes of clients. Extreme value means that there is emotion and desirability. Hence, I am obsessed with creating opportunities for my clients to create extreme value for their clients. The more value is created, the more successful will the brands be.

Daniel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the founder and CEO of Équité, a leading brand strategy and activation firm working with the who is who in luxury globally. I also have the pleasure and privilege to be he Executive Professor of Luxury Strategy and Disruption at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and I also teach luxury at NYU in New York. Through pioneering the academic research on luxury and advising many of the leading luxury brands in the world, I became one of the world’s most renowned experts on luxury brand building and extreme value creation in a digitally disrupted world and with Millennials and Gen Z, named one of global “Top Five Luxury Key Opinion Leader to Watch” in a quantitative analysis by Netbase Quid.

Équité evolved to one of the leading luxury strategy and brand activation firms worldwide combining brand positioning with creative implementation. Most of our projects focus on assessing gaps of our clients and then provide tailor-made solutions to make them more successful, premiumize the brands and unlock the brand power through meticulous focus on extreme value creation, capabilities, brand storytelling, and exceptional excellence. An important part of my work is to lead luxury master classes around the world including for sales teams and I am a frequent keynote speaker at luxury events. Over the last months I have been presenting in places like New Dehli, Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt, Paris, Florence, Milan, London, Qatar, Cape Town to name a few.

My education includes Harvard Business School and I hold a MBA and a Ph.D. in Luxury Management. My luxury management books are published in English and Chinese and became the gold standard in luxury education and management. I am regularly featured in the media including WSJ, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, New York Times, Forbes, and the Economist. I write regularly for Jing Daily, Tatler Asia, South China Morning Post, and Robb Report.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I love change. Therefore we obsess with understanding and anticipating how markets are developing and especially how rapidly clients are changing their expectations. We probably have the largest knowledge base on affluent Generation Z and Alpha. What I love is that every client is different, not just across different product categories, but also from their brand stories.

For me it is an obligation (but also a pleasure), to pivot with each client, to respect their individual starting points and then create solutions that are as unique as they are.

This also includes adapting to different cultures and situations. I sometime like to describe myself as a “cultural chameleon” with a high adaptability to different cultures, people and organizations. What helps me is that I lived in 4 continents, and speak 7 languages. My goal is to help my clients to lead the change and a precondition is to embrace change.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am convinced that every brand can be successful, but this means never to compromise on the clarity and quality of brand storytelling and its execution. When clients work with me, they can expect that I will push back if needed and be non-compromising on my determination to make my clients brands more successful. This means that I often disagree with the status quo of a situation. I am unafraid to tell inconvenient truths and be thought-provoking. Because brands that compromise will never stand out and will never be as successful as they could. Extreme value creation requires determination and boldness. And boldness means that not everyone wlll agree.

Contact Info:

• Website: daniellanger.digital
• Instagram: @drdaniellanger
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlanger/
• Other: https://equitebrands.com