KEY POINTS:
The supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Nicolas Cage and opera singer Katherine Jenkins are among the rich and famous standing ready to promote Montblanc, the pen-maker that is transforming itself into an international luxury goods brand.
As any aspiring entrepreneur will tell you, creating an upmarket brand from scratch
is no easy task
While it's true that Montblanc's pens have been a natty accessory for the discerning consumer since they first appeared in Germany in 1906, it is only in the last 15 years that the company has diversified into leather goods, watches, and more recently, fine jewellery.
Montblanc is now the fastest-growing brand of South African parent group Richemont, which also owns Cartier, Dunhill and Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Rita Clifton, head of Interbrand consultancy in London, believes Montblanc ticks all the necessary boxes to become a leading player in a sector that is already crowded with heavyweight competitors such as LVMH, Tiffany's and Gucci, to name but a few.
Clifton says: "Montblanc are renowned for their craftsmanship - a must if you want to sell goods for premium prices.
"Secondly, the customer experience is tightly managed; products are sold in places which reflect Montblanc's DNA. It would be pointless, for instance, to make goods available in unsuitable premises that could damage the way a brand is presented.
"Finally, the Montblanc management has brought celebrities on board; and that matters: when James Bond drives an Aston Martin or a BMW in one of his films, people remember it. When brands are flaunted by footballers, their wives or by film stars, it's a stamp of approval. Brands are status symbols, after all."
Life hasn't always been plain sailing for Montblanc. When managing director Lutz Bethge joined in 1990, the company was facing ferocious competition and shops that stocked Montblanc pens were being pushed out of plum positions in shopping centres as Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Burberry bought up the best sites.
"Things had to change," remembers Bethge. The upshot was a strategy, developed in conjunction with former Montblanc chief executive Norbert Platz, to turn the firm into a diversified luxury goods company.
The fountain pens became even more upmarket, with limited editions selling for up to $125,000. Montblanc also tightened its grip over its distribution chain by expanding its network of shops worldwide. They now number more than 330 in countries as far flung as China, Japan, Italy and the US.
From being a predominantly German company - with its headquarters in Hamburg - today most Montblanc sales are generated internationally.
Bethge says the brand is committed to the highest standards of European craftsmanship.
"I cannot envisage a time when we would shift production to low-cost markets in Asia or elsewhere," he says.
"I am not saying that Asians don't make good craftsmen, but the heritage is in Europe. One of our trainee employees must practise for six months making brass nibs for our pens before he can graduate to making gold nibs - we are that specialised."
A similar approach is employed when it comes to making watches: Montblanc launched its first range in 1997, and opened a factory in Switzerland the same year.
"It had to be Switzerland because that is the country most associated with the manufacture of branded, high-class watches - and the expertise is Swiss," says Bethge.
Recently, Montblanc hosted a VIP gala in Chamonix in the Swiss Alps to launch its gold and diamond jewellery range.
Naomi Campbell presented the most precious offering: the Etoille necklace. Guests including Mick Jagger's former wife Jerry Hall and Phil Collins' daughter, Lily, were among those who listened to an impromptu concert by Bryan Ferry at a glitzy party.
The Montblanc brand, it seems, is going places.
But how much of the Montblanc story is hype?
None of it, if you ask the investment houses that follow Richemont in Europe. Antoine Colonna, luxury goods analyst at Merrill Lynch, says: "One day, Montblanc is going to outsell Cartier. Few brands that I follow - possibly with the exception of Burberry - have done as phenomenally well in the last five years."
- OBSERVER
