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Alumni Interview: Harsh Mann - IFA Paris MBA Luxury Brand Management Graduate

Michel Temman: Where are you from in India? Please tell us more about yourself and your path until your fashion studies at IFA Paris and the creation of HM Luxury Consultancy?

Harsh Mann: First, I’m a graduate of the MBA Luxury Brand Management from IFA Paris and it has been a forte all this while and was the driving factor to the creation of my luxury brand consultancy. I hail from the vibrant city of Delhi. Since my childhood, I had a penchant to choose paths which challenged me on their ways. Always interested in unique approaches to things and following a creative path that no one usually chooses to go for. This led me to have a passion to do something great, something that meant something for the society as well as me. So this is where my dream began, of becoming a successful entrepreneur and facilitating ease of doing business in the Indian luxury industry with my vision and creativity by the formation of this Luxury Consultancy.

M.T.: You graduated from the MBA Luxury Brand Management of IFA Paris. Why did you decide to enroll in this MBA and how valuable was it? What did you learn specifically that changed your vision of the luxury world?

Harsh Mann: During my work experience in retail in India, I saw a huge potential in the luxury industry. Hence, to make my skills sharper and knowledge of luxury industry wider, I decided to join IFA Paris, because where else could I have learned about luxury but in Paris, where it all made sense. The course modules that IFA Paris offered for our MBA were all in tune with the stepping stones of my management bucket list. Being able to learn from the faculty who have an impeccable experience in its’ field of teaching and to get the opportunity to interact with luxury industry professionals in Paris during our MBA was an experience in itself. IFA Paris was proposing to study in Paris but also in Shanghai with students from many countries and nationalities. I was interested by this city exposure. My already curious mind was blown away with knowledge and understanding of the luxury world in Paris and every step further I took made me realize how I am in the right place to make things matter to me and to the industry. Getting to know about the culture of luxury and fine living from the city of Paris was an experience in itself. Combine that with the never-ending knowledge of art, fashion and heritage acted like a cherry on top of the cake and expanded my vision in this industry.

M.T.: When, how and why did you create HM Luxury Consultancy? Can you introduce your agency?

Harsh Mann: I started this luxury consultancy almost two years ago, in order to offer the best possible creative solutions to the upcoming or already established firms in the Indian industry. At HM Luxury Consultancy, it is our vision to provide quality creative solutions to our clients - Indian and foreign companies, luxury brands - we cater to their every need as a brand, making us a 360-degree service provider. We in our own words consider ourselves as a doctor that manages the brands and help them to get rid of any impediments that they have in their way to success. Providing the best business strategies according to different demographics and furnishing the ease of doing business with utmost returns on their investment is what we strive to offer our clients. For instance, at the moment we are the only agency in India which provide services for the implementation of tailor-made guerrilla marketing campaigns to each business profile!

M.T.: Who do you target precisely with HM Luxury Consultancy and could you introduce your first projects and wishes?

Harsh Mann: Our target market includes B2B professionals from various industries in the market ranging from fashion, hospitality, lifestyle, automotive, food & beverages, real estate, and travel. But as we are growing, the avenues of businesses we are being associated with is nothing but widening, leading us to expand our horizon to a bigger audience altogether. Apart from B2B, we cater services in B2C avenues as well, which includes a variety of personalized services in luxury concierge and image consulting. To give an example of our first projects, we provided branding services for the formation and healthy running of a luxury adventure and wellness brand named Devadars based in the Indian Himalayan region. To be able to create a feeling of eternal experience of a lifetime through the doors of the online presentation of a brand was something of a challenge. But we are proud of the very first work that we implemented and are happy with the success it garnered for our client. Let’s keep in mind that any foreign player in India must be very smart and know the country well. Mumbai and New Delhi are two totally different markets. We are here to help them.

M.T.:How would you define and describe the Indian luxury and fashion markets today? 

Harsh Mann: A decade back, the luxury industry in India was something different from what it is now. The consumption patterns in India have changed and the rapidly developing luxury brands in India need to execute plans that are more suited to meet the needs of the new India. Lots of foreign companies are already established in India: Louis Vuitton, Berluti… The list is infinite. We talk with many of them and they support our move. The timing is good because the new consumers in India are more exposed and know the phenomenon of luxury better and are more specific about what they want and what they expect in terms of services. These consumers have the resources to be able to travel and compare the quality of products and services of the brands worldwide due to which it is imperative that we need to communicate to them with a certain finesse.

The increasing wealth with the young consumers and the middle-class segment has given a boost to new ways of selling and adaptation of alternative methods including artificial intelligence and digitalization in the retail culture to reach the final consumers. The luxury market in India is now more than $30B and if certain factors remain intact over the time, it is expected to grow rapidly in the next five years. The phenomenon of influence from the global market has transformed these luxury products and services from being an aspiration to being a need. The adoption of luxury by the Indian wedding industry has been on a sky high which is helping the segments of hospitality, fashion, watches & jewelry and beauty. Tapping the market and helping it evolve at this right time is the need of the hour and this is what we aspire to achieve from the services we are offering to the luxury industry in India!