What Hermès Can Teach Us About Building a Brand That Lasts

There is something interesting about Hermès that has very little to do with handbags.

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For a brand so closely associated with exclusivity and luxury, one of its strongest lessons sits much closer to the root of its value: craftsmanship.

Hermès has spent almost two centuries becoming more itself.

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Founded in Paris in 1837 as a harness workshop, the house has evolved enormously, but the principles underneath it have remained remarkably consistent: quality, creation, precision and attention to detail.

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There is a patience to that philosophy that feels increasingly unusual in a culture built around speed, novelty and constant reinvention.

Brands are encouraged to keep moving. New positioning. Fresh offers. New ways of staying relevant.

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But Hermès offers almost the opposite lesson.

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A strong brand does not necessarily become stronger by continually adding more. It becomes stronger by becoming clearer about what it actually stands for. No matter the storm.

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But brand longevity is not the same

as staying the same

I think about this often when founders tell me they have outgrown their brand.

The instinct is usually to change everything with them.

The colours. The logo. The website. The aesthetic.

And then call it a rebrand.

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But before changing the visible parts, there is a deeper question to explore:

What is actually going on here? Underneath the brand, at its core, what is the purpose for it all?

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Hermès has evolved far beyond its beginnings as an equestrian workshop. New collections are created. New ideas are introduced. Culture moves, and the brand moves with it.

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But the underlying brand codes remain clear: craft matters.

And when a brand protects something like that for long enough, it compounds into a remarkable reputation.

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Its latest illustrated campaign makes this a particularly good example.

At a time when brands can generate models, environments, product imagery and entire creative worlds through AI, Hermès chose hand-drawn illustration and animation.

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Pen. Ink. Paper. An individual artist’s hand.

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That choice feels like a statement in itself. A continuation of the same commitment to craftsmanship that has always sat underneath the brand.

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So perhaps that is the more useful question to take back to your own brand:

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Does what you are creating next, strengthen what we want to be known for, or are you just following a trend?

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If you want full human focus on your brand, book in your creative power session here

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(image sourced from https://www.hermes.com/au for case study reference only).

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