This document summarizes research on commercial friendships between luxury salespeople and wealthy customers. It is based on observations in luxury stores and interviews. Key findings include: 1) Luxury boutiques function as social hubs where wealthy clients socialize with salespeople, nurturing commercial friendships. 2) These relationships involve a high level of trust and intimacy, with salespeople and clients sharing secrets and personal details. 3) However, such close relationships can also enable customers to take advantage of and subjugate salespeople who fear losing lucrative clients. 4) Being a top salesperson requires balancing close intimacy without becoming the customer's actual friend, and being available at all times to service the client's

1. CCT APPLIED RESEARCH
Bernard Cova, Kedge Business School Marseille
CULTURE, CONSUMPTION & MARKETING

2. • 12.15 – Introduction to CCT applied research
• 12.45 – Chat discussion
• 12.50 – The HP 12C ethnography
• 13.10 – Chat discussion
• 13.15 - Ethnography of the Super Rich
• 13.35 – Chat discussion
• 13.40 – Break + watching Carrefour videos
• 14.00 – Chat discussion on Carrefour videos
• 14.10 – The Black Market study
• 14.50 – Chat discussion
• 15.00 – Ethnography of La Scala Loggionisti
• 15.10 – Ethnography of Mutuelle des Motards
• 15.20 – Final chat discussion

3.  Adopting an overly managerial view towards
things prevents consumption from being
analyzed in its full range of experiential and
socio-cultural perspectives
 CCT suggests a kind of market intelligibility
that should enable managers and other
stakeholders to reorient their market actions
without necessarily having to rely on
simplistic or reductionist toolkits

6. Tribal
marketing
Relationship
marketing
CULTURAL
BRANDING
Collaborative
marketing
Retro
marketing

8.  For CCT, while many companies focus on loyal
‘marriages’, it is more relevant to focus on
other types of emotionally vested loyal
relationships

10.  For CCT, it’s not a matter of attempting to
directly influence consumers, but of
providing them support in interacting with
each other through activities of their
community, which, in turn increases their
level of engagement and loyalty

12.  For CCT, we live in a retroactive age: we are in
the midst of a full-blown nostalgia boom in
which throwback branding is burgeoning and
‘newstalgia’ is all around

14.  For CCT, consumers are more and more
committed to providing unpaid work for the
exclusive benefit of the brand: they become
brand volunteers

15.  Relationship marketing: Going beyond the
brand marriage metaphor
 Tribal marketing: Creating, developing and
maintaining a brand community
 Retro marketing: Inventing the future by
reinterpreting the past
 Collaborative marketing: Co-creating the
brand with volunteers

16.  CCT researchers cast branding in a different
light by examining it from the standpoint of
the consumer’s life world, i.e. the web of
communal relationships in which they are
suspended and the agency they are capable of
 This perspective - named ‘cultural branding’
impacts directly upon the management of
brands and helps to rethink branding
approaches along more critical lines

17.  Brand identity, i.e. corporate representations
of the brand via brand names, logos, simbols,
characters, spokepersons, and slogans, etc.
 Brand culture: the way brands [and not
companies] participate in, and co-create,
culture in a brand society

18. THE HP 12C STORY
Bernard Cova, Kedge Business School, Marseille
Published in 2014 in the Handbook of Anthropology in Business

19. • Launched in September 1981; 19 years old
[in 2000]!
• Expensive in its market segment
• Bestseller financial calculator in the world
• Price inelastic; any change harms sales
volume
• Quantitative market research shows no
alterations should be made to the product
• Consumers love it, they consider it
beautiful
The HP 12C, one of a kind

20. The 12c
• Enables a rapid visualization and summary of
customers’ financial calculation
• Fits into a coat pocket and was therefore
easy to carry
• Uses specific RPN, which is hard to learn but
performs well
• Is recommended by business school
professors from North America to Europe
and South America and used in their lectures
The HP 12C, one of a kind

21. The HP 12C, one of a kind

22. • The calculator looks old
• Technology is obsolete, too costly to maintain under
today’s standards
• Competitors are getting better every day
• HP has to be proactive at defending its market share
and leadership
• HP wants to be considered an evolving, high-tech
company
But by the year 2000…

23. Conduct qualitative market research to understand the
reasons behind this phenomenon
• The users have attributed a number of intangible
values around the 12C without HP’s participation
• The only way to leverage off from the 12C history
is by understanding what happened outside HP,
understand the “LIFE” of the product in the market
• HP does not know its customers, databases exist
of who is buying the 12C… Everybody uses it!
• “In today’s world, can numbers and demographics
communicate the consumer behavior around a
product?”
How to move forward...

24. • High level HP management
questioned severely the value
of the research
• Comparatively, the price per
interviewed/observed
consumer was:
o10x that of quantitative
research,
o2x focus groups
• Procedures require minimum
of three comparative offer to
create a new supplier for HP
• HP had limited choice of
qualitative research agencies
Challenges with a non-traditional
approach to market research

25. • Ethnographic study in four countries:
o Major 12C market (USA)
o Second 12C biggest selling country
(Brazil)
o Important HP calculator market
(Norway)
o Reference country (France)
• 7-9 observations + in-depth interviews
per country
• Screen factors:
o 12C users,
o not restricted to finance industry
professionals,
o age bracket mix required
New ideas get their way in 2000

26. The ethnography study explored these
questions:
• What was the 12c’s itinerary from
purchase to use: where was it
stored, exactly who used it, who
had bought it (as a gift, for
example), was the family involved,
etc.?
• What practices were involved in the
12c’s use; what objects were
associated with it (suitcase, suit,
shirt, car, etc.); what spaces were
associated with it (living room,
office, street, etc.); what uses were
prescribed, permitted, or
prohibited?
New ideas get their way ...

27. • “For me, the story started in 1982 with a secret
initiation ceremony. I was taken to the personnel
director’s office and handed a small cream cardboard
box. I was told the serial number had been recorded
against my name and, should I ever leave the bank, I
would be expected to return the package – complete –
upon my last day. Inside that cream box was an HP-
12C financial calculator”
• “It takes a little getting used to [the RPN], but it’s like
driving on the right or left side of the road. It depends
on which way you start; if you change, it takes a bit of
a learning curve”
• “Whenever I switch jobs, I just peel the old business
card that is on the back and tape my newest one on”
The life of the 12c

28. • “You don’t go to meetings without your 12c. Lots of
times in a meeting, the CEO will ask you a question,
and he expects an answer immediately: not tomorrow,
not when you go back to your computer and think
about it. Without the 12c, I don’t know how long you
would have lasted in the company”
• “For a broker to appear professional, he needs all the
proper tools to make his appointments run smoothly.
The 12c is the right tool!”
• “One of my colleagues has got a 17b and a 19b. I’ve
tried both, but I wouldn’t change my 12c for them. My
12c is simple, nice, and it’s got all the functions I
need. It doesn’t need to be more advanced”
The life of the 12c

29. The life of the 12c

30. 12C
 Control, stability
 Sustainable
A plurality of meanings

31. • Gave HP understanding of the 12C
phenomenon
• Showed HP the risks they would have to take
• Showed HP the ‘untouchables’
• Created consciousness of how customers are
living with the 12c
• Gave HP insight into calculator usage trends
beyond the 12C
• Created a precedent in the way HP do
marketing
The value of the ethnographic
research for HP

32. •No change / Milk the Cash cow
•Special 12C / Limited edition
o Design changes
o Packaging changes (box, case, etc)
o Communication changes
•12Cp with a distribution partner / Co-marketing
•12C as a brand range in finance / Umbrella
brand
•12Cp co-branded with a name outside of the
world of finance
•12C as a specific BU / Autonomous approach
o range of products
o range of partners
o range of markets ...
0%
Diversification
100%
Alternatives for HP

33. HP has taken the industry-standard, world-renowned HP
12C and improved it. The HP 12C Platinum now includes
both RPN and algebraic entry and more power to perform
industry-specific calculations with four times more memory
2003: Launch of 12c Platinum

34. “Many people wonder: Should I get the HP 12c
Platinum or the old standby, the HP 12c gold.
Personally, I'd recommend getting both.
Like most things, each model has advantages and
disadvantages, but both are still among the finest
feats in engineering in terms of a calculator”
2003: Launch of 12c Platinum

35. 2006: 25th anniversary

36. • HP is celebrating 25 years with the “Tales of the
Amazing HP 12c Calculator Contest,” a nationwide
competition that asks entrants to submit their most
creative and incredible real-life HP 12c Calculator
success stories
• The contest runs from February 10 through May 1,
2006 and is open to U.S. residents who currently own
or have owned the HP 12c calculator
2006: 25th anniversary

37. • “At Columbia Business School in 1999, we were required to have
and taught to use a 12c. When we started the hardest course of
all—Business Finance—we were taught to use MS Excel for large
valuation projects. For the final exam, we had laptops and were
given Excel files with the annual financial statements of a complex
fictional company to create a sale price valuation.
• Unfortunately, as soon as the test started, my laptop died! There
was no spare computer available, so the attending TA gave me a
printed copy of the financial statements and blank exam booklet.
• I took the test with only my 12c and a pencil. 24 hours later,
grades were published, and thanks to my 12c I had earned an A!
Despite the ‘advantage’ of using laptops and Excel, only seven
others matched my A-grade! After hearing my story, the professor
made 12c’s mandatory for students!”
2006: Winning essay by Srinivasa
Rajan

38. 2009: On social media

39. 2011: 30th anniversary

40. 2011: 30th anniversary

41. 2011: 30th anniversary

42. 2011: 30th anniversary

43. 2013: The 12c App
• Bloomberg CFA Tom Keene relies on the HP-12C calculator
app on a daily basis:
o “The HP-12C calculator. No, not my beat-up original.
The HP-12C Platinum App is new and improved”

44. 2019: To be a Brazilian Accountant

45. 2018: To be a Brazilian Accountant

46. 2021: 40th anniversary
In 2021 the Hewlett-Packard HP-12C turns 40 years old!
Today when most electronics are usually replaced after a couple of years it
is incredible that an electronic device from the 1980s is still being
continuously manufactured today!

47. 2021: 40th anniversary

48. COMMERCIAL FRIENDSHIP IN
LUXURY
Bernard Cova, Kedge Business School, Marseille
Forthcoming in 2022 in the Journal of Business Research

49.  For the wealthy clientele – the Super Rich - that
regularly frequents luxury stores, luxury boutiques
become safe havens, away from crowds, where they
stop to chat and socialize
 For them, luxury boutiques are a kind of third place
between home and work, where they can nurture
social links, especially with salespeople

50.  Commercial friendships refer more specifically to the
friendships customers develop with service providers
 Repeated service encounters in which customers and
service workers open up to each other about their
lives can lead to deeper, more affective
relationships, imbued with a less instrumental, more
communal orientation
 Commercial friendships also exist in luxury retail
between salespeople and clients

51.  Focus on the interaction between salespeople and
habituated luxury customers
 21 days of participant observation, with an average
3 days in each of the 7 stores (each dedicated to a
specific brand) in 2 countries (3 in France and 4 in
the US) including informal conversations with store
managers and salespeople
 Long interviews with 29 habituated customers in
the US and 11 in France

52.  “I have a lot of memories with clients. There
was this client who wanted a ring for his wife,
with some red in it. So I started showing him
some rubies. In a department store that is rare.
He thought about it and then called me later on
my phone, very naturally. I gave him space. And
now he comes back regularly and he comes
back if I am not around.
 There is a relationship of trust. Clients like that
are like friends. Some just come to get a coffee.
There does not need to be a transaction”
 (Eric, store manager, Paris)

53.  “In the store, the people that I know there,
they'll come out, they'll see me right away,
they'll shake my hand, they call me by my first
name.
 If feels more like a friendship and a personal
bond between the members at the store and I.
I like that it doesn't feel like you're just another
client. They really kind of sit you down, do you
want a Perrier, do you want a glass of wine. Sit
down, you know.
 They'll take you up to the private VIP room
upstairs where you can kind of be away from
everyone. They can show you stuff on a
computer. This is what I want”
 (Conrad, male client, Los Angeles)

54.  Luxury foregrounds the importance of secrets and
gifts in commercial friendships
 Usually, when someone lets another person in on a
secret, it is because she/he trusts this person and
wants to create a strong bond
 In the context of luxury, salespeople and customers
routinely build the hidden architecture of their
relationship using the powerful glue of shared
secrets

55.  “There are relationships in luxury
stores that are like confessions.
It’s things that even people’s
best friends don’t know, so it’s a
relationship that can be very
special [...] And confidentiality in
our profession is a primary and
fundamental quality. When I was
working in stores I didn’t talk to
my wife or my parents about the
people I saw who had somewhat
public profiles. And it’s part of
the confidentiality pact”
 (Bertrand, store manager, New
York)

56.  Commercial friendships in luxury
can lead to the intimacy trap: a
relationship where customers take
advantage of their intimacy with
salespeople to subjugate them
 An ambiguous friendship that
resembles the ambiguity of the
master/servant relationship
 “The salesmen are so afraid of
their customers because there
are customers who have changed
the life of a salesman, that’s
clear (...) When you sell them
millions and millions, it changes
your life” (Louis, Regional
Director)

57.  “Un grand vendeur, what we call top salespeople, are
people who manage VIP customers with purchases
ranging from 500,000 to several million euro, they
have a very particular relationship, that is to say, they
even go as far as going to the opera with them, there
is a very intimate relationship. And the grand
vendeurs’ intelligence is knowing that they will never
be the customer’s best friend.
 It is also a profession of extreme service, we must not
forget that a grand vendeur can be called at any time
of the day and night, because Madam decided she
wants… a new brooch and that she absolutely needs it
for dinner”
 (Marie, Marketing and Communications Manager)

59.  “I work with this woman called Aline. She is a
saleswoman. She is fabulous. We were walking
down 5th Avenue around Christmas time around
two years ago. We walked in the store. I had sort
of in my mind designed a watch I wanted. I saw
the watch in the window. I am an interior
designer. These things would come into my
head. She let me try the watch. I thought about
it.
 About three months later, I was walking by and
she sees me looking in the window. She comes
out and she says I remember you looking at this
watch at Christmas. I was really impressed with
that”
 (Melany, Customer, New York)

60.  Salespeople can manage the intimacy trap by
becoming indispensable while foregrounding their
role as salesperson