Gerard Duran
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
Gerard Duran, Head of Marketing, Harrods
With more than 12 years of expertise developing global brands, the Head of Marketing at Harrods, Gerard Duran, is a strong proponent of combining data and creativity to increase brand relevance and company success.
In his current role, Duran leads all things marketing, including brand marketing, customer, and marketing strategy. He is also responsible for all divisions and categories within Harrods- the world’s leading luxury department store.
His expertise in brand management covers a range of industries and marketplaces, including luxury, retail, FMCG, wines & spirits, and travel retail. Before Harrods, Gerard was the Travel Retail Category Lead at the Bacardi Group. Prior to Bacardi, he was an agency veteran at Ogilvy, McCann, and J. Walter Thompson.
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“When I think about the best-in-class brands in terms of sonic, they’ve managed to stick to something that eventually becomes part of the brand identity, and they adapt it to whatever medium comes along. But, unfortunately, sound comes as an afterthought for most brands.”
— GERARD DURAN, HEAD OF MARKETING, HARRODS
Uli Reese: What is the first brand that made a serious impact on you?
Gerard Duran: I admired Nespresso from the very beginning. The advertising was catchy; they were smart at getting George Clooney and this separate lifestyle they created around it. I remember when they opened their first store in Barcelona when nobody really knew what Nespresso was, and going to the store and finding it fascinating. Later on, I was lucky to work for them.
Reese: We just passed $40 billion in sales on voice-driven e-commerce, but why this explosion now?
Gerard: It’s tech-driven. Also, in marketing, there's an obsession with always wanting to be early adopters. Whenever there's a new technology or platform, we want to jump on it and think about how we can turn it into something that will give us a competitive advantage. In luxury, people used to look to Burberry as the case study because they had this massive digital transformation and were always ahead of the curve. Brands want to experiment with voice, so they're in a good place in case it turns into something that massively scales. Also, maybe consumers are saying there’s something missing, and it would make their lives so much easier if they could interact with Alexa through voice.
Reese: What are the challenges sonically for an iconic brand like Harrods?
Gerard: It’s not just about Harrods but retail and luxury in general. I see massive importance in sonic, but I don't think sonic can live in isolation in the industry I work in. It's all about the experience. Luxury starts when the need is fulfilled. It's a sensorial experience; it has to do with what you see visually, the colors, textures, touch, smell, atmosphere, and sound… they all contribute to what you feel. Voice in isolation is limiting because you're missing so many factors that help build the overall experience.
Reese: Will there be a Harrods in the Metaverse?
Gerard: Who knows. The Metaverse could be a playground where you can be as creative as you want, but there are so many components. At Harrods, our Food Halls, for example, are admired worldwide. It's not just about the design and architecture you see when you walk in, but also about the smell of the bread, the pastries, the fresh food… so there is clearly a challenge in making justice to it within an environment that's purely visual and sound driven. But again, who knows!
Reese: Harrods is long-established, but how can you make it sonically future-proof?
Gerard: No matter what new technology comes, there will always be a role for it.
When I think about the best-in-class brands in terms of sonic, they’ve managed to stick to something that eventually becomes part of the brand identity, and they adapt it to whatever medium comes along. But, unfortunately, sound comes as an afterthought for most brands.
When I think about the previous brands I've worked for, I'd always get visual brand guidelines for every new project. But when we go into a retail and immersive experience, it's way more than visual; it's sensorial and experiential. So no matter what medium comes our way, we'll always be able to represent that brand in a consistent manner. Looking at one sense in isolation is potentially a missed opportunity because there's so much you can do to enrich that piece of branding you have.
Reese: But the brand book for Harrods should appeal to the five senses. Do you agree?
Gerard: Any brand should. The worst thing that can happen to you as a brand is that after interacting with a consumer many times, they don't remember you, what you told them, what you sounded like or how you made them feel.
Reese: And that's the most important thing…
Gerard: Yes, we need to think about it in a 360 way. There are so many elements, especially in retail. For example, at Harrods, on the top floor, we have our Salon de Parfums, where you can have a private consultation about the finest and most exclusive luxury fragrances. The experience needs to be cohesive with what's happening in terms of the colors, lighting, design of the space, and even down to sound. If we have music, how loud is it? What kind of music is it? Does it have lyrics? What kind of sensation are we trying to generate because we're not just brand-building; we're in the business of selling. So we need to think about what experience we want to create for the customers who walk through that door, and how we want to make them feel.
Reese: Sonic is the sense that's most trust-building. What do you say to the fact that it goes straight into our sub-subconscious self, where we make our buying decisions?
Gerard: It's subjective. The opinion you have about music says things about what kind of person you are. Maybe visual is slightly more standardized, and I don't know if it’s because we’re more used to it, but conversations about sound sometimes become uncomfortable. My experience when I was at an agency was that clients wouldn’t have strong opinions about music in the same way they did about messaging. Our conversations were functional. People felt uncomfortable putting their own opinions out there.
Reese: Now everyone with a cell phone is a music expert, which is unhelpful…
Gerard: When I worked on big FMCG brands, we didn't always test different music options. Sometimes we’d have the same music across all different visuals. We wouldn't have many music options, or at least we wouldn’t give it much importance as to how effective the music was. If you had a way of measuring sonic, you’d be able to say what you think is cool or relevant.
Reese: We don’t have those tools in place yet but would measurements be important to you?
Gerard: When people are stressed, they go to Spotify and look for relaxing music, so clearly, it does something to our emotions and nervous system. If we can test that and how different music generates different reactions and feelings, we should care about testing because we’re trying to move people emotionally.
Reese: There’s the argument that sonic works a lot faster than visuals. What are your thoughts about that?
Gerard: I’d argue that sight is a passive sense, so even if you're not looking, you're seeing, but with sound, you can be present but not listening. I can’t remember walking by our windows or our stands and not remembering visually what was there, but if you were to ask me what music was playing, I wouldn’t know. I’d have to listen actively. So I think that potentially, since we don't notice it as much in an active way, we don't give it as much importance.
Reese: But with the rise of sonic, should it now have the same importance?
Gerard: The more I think about it, the more I realize how important sonic is, and potentially how much we forget about it. Essentially, we're missing a big part of the puzzle. A feeling is so much more than just seeing. Our senses work together, and they work with emotion, and that generates action - and that's what we're looking for in marketing. We would be way more effective in making that a reality if we tapped into all the pieces and tools we have at our disposal. That way, we can protect our brands in the long term.
Note: The interview took place in London, UK on the 7th of October 2022.
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