In luxury, desirability is often spoken of as if it were a natural property of certain products. It is never a given. It is the result of precise, patient and consistent construction. For Bonhomme, the desirability of a luxury brand rests on three inseparable conditions: an identity that embodies a vision, a consistency that allows no exceptions, and an experience that carries the promise through to the most ordinary gesture.
Written by Morgane Urbain, co-founder and creative director of Bonhomme.
1. What desirability in luxury really is
Desirability is an emotional perception that comes before rational judgment. It arises from the tension between the inaccessible and the aspirational. A desirable luxury brand does not sell a product. It sells a sense of belonging, a worldview, a promise of elevation.
2. What the great houses have understood
Hermès almost never talks about its prices. The brand conveys rarity through the restraint of its visuals, the richness of its narrative universe and the absolute consistency of its expression over a hundred years. Bottega Veneta disappeared from social media in 2021. This radical move paradoxically strengthened its desirability, by asserting that the brand did not need to be seen to exist.
3. The Bonhomme method: Essence Form
Faced with the temptation of the literal, Bonhomme developed Essence Form: translating a brand's deep identity into an abstract visual form that carries meaning without explaining. In luxury, directly showing what you do is almost always a mistake. Photographing a watch movement to illustrate craftsmanship belongs to the realm of demonstration, not conviction.
As a branding agency in Paris, Bonhomme uses this approach to convey what a house is, even before the product is discovered.
4. Lederer and TAG Heuer: two ways of embodying excellence
For Lederer, Bonhomme created an abstract graphic pattern that captures the precision and elegance of fine watchmaking without ever showing a movement. Essence Form says, in the language of form, what the house is. TAG Heuer's e-commerce packaging turns opening a parcel into a brand moment: a black outer box, a red interior, the iconic shield.
Zeina A.: "With Bonhomme's help, we were able to create a complete, unique and premium experience for our customers."
Drawing on its branding expertise, the Bonhomme agency works with established houses and emerging ones alike, with the same high standards in every case.
5. The mistakes that keep coming back
• Illustrating craftsmanship instead of embodying it. A watchmaker that shows off its
movements belongs to the realm of demonstration, not conviction.
• Piling on signs of wealth. Too much gilding has the opposite effect.
• Neglecting secondary touchpoints. Every detail contributes to the
overall perception.
• Confusing modernization with dilution. A luxury identity can evolve
without losing its essence.
6. The Bonhomme vision
Bonhomme believes that the desirability of a luxury brand is the result of discipline: resisting what is expected in order to build what is right.
Founded in 2013, and having worked with major luxury houses on more than 125 projects, the Bonhomme branding agency has developed precise expertise in what desirability demands in today's environments.
"In luxury, desirability is not built by showing what you do.
It is built by making people feel what you are. That is the whole difference
between an identity that illustrates and an identity that embodies."
Morgane Urbain, co-founder & creative director
"A desirable luxury brand is a brand that has understood it has
nothing to prove, and builds every detail of its identity from that
certainty."
Emmanuel Cruellas, co-founder & design director
