Company History
Lladró is a brand focused on handcrafted artistic creation and production, whose core activity is the creation of high quality porcelain sculptures. The personal style of its creations and their ability to express the most positive feelings has made it a world leader in its sector. All Lladró sculptures continue to be produced in the City of Porcelain in Tavernes Blanques, a town on the outskirts of Valencia, Spain.

Case Study Concept
The objective is to establish relevancy as an iconic lifestyle brand and appeal to young, affluent consumers. The company encourages the approach to include new product development. The new product plan must be supported with a recommended media plan, visual merchandising plan, PR campaign, distribution plan, pricing scenarios, and preliminary sales forecast.

Design, Business and Marketing Plan Solution
The students visualized an innovative brand concept that embraced, exploited, and stretched the boundaries of porcelain, while enhancing a luxurious aesthetic. Through exploratory research, it was determined that the best way to reach out to a new audience was to create products that embody design, functionality, and luxury, while offering interpretation and fostering interaction. The students felt the best way to achieve this goal was to introduce Besos de Luz by Lladró, a brand that is edgy, modern, high-touch, and tactile, yet still draws upon the rich heritage of Lladró.

Besos de Luz by Lladró consists of two contemporary, cutting-edge product lines: Amorph and Chainmail. The Amorph line offers a range of amorphous-shaped, handcrafted and hand-designed tabletop products that the avant-garde consumer can utilize, embrace, and interpret. Chainmail creates an entirely new, fluid way to use porcelain, presenting a lavish selection of jewelry combining porcelain with the likes of gold, silver, and pewter. Chainmail Lighting amalgamates the two product lines to create a range of lamps and lights, so the luxury of Besos de Luz by Lladró encompasses the consumer’s entire home and lifestyle.

The recommended five year strategy aims to position Lladró as an alluring luxury brand prominent for the aesthetic design and functionality of its products. A new store which incorporates the tactile, engaging nature of porcelain while fostering creativity will be opened in a contemporary area of Manhattan. The beauty and luxury of the brand will be conveyed through various specialty pieces intended for public relations purposes, and a presence in various upscale media vehicles via advertisements, editorials, and product placements. Collaborations with noted Spanish artists, along with online product customization offerings, present the consumer with a rich mix of tradition and originality.

The team leveraged the diverse skills of Parsons and Columbia Business School students, and learned that success in the luxury business stems from the auspicious blend of design, marketing and business skills.

The Lladró Project Team
Steven Charles, Columbia Business School
Charlly Greene, Columbia Business School
Ui-Jin (Michelle) Lee, Columbia Business School
Yue (Molly) Tu, Columbia Business School

Douglas Best, Parsons The New School for Design
Irene Fong, Parsons The New School for Design
Brietta Yung, Parsons The New School for Design