Kravet Inc., the fifth-generation family-led powerhouse in textiles and home furnishings, continues to set industry standards with its portfolio of distinguished brands. Today we talked with, Suzanne Cohen, Kravet’s Chief Marketing Officer about the company’s strategies for growth, brand management, and how they keep consumers engaged in the digital age.

This conversation provides a wealth of information for manufacturers, designers, and industry professionals, covering:

• Prime opportunities in the luxury home furnishings market
• Maintaining brand identity across a diverse portfolio
• The role of digital and video content in luxury marketing
• Kravet’s dedication to the trade and omni-channel experiences
• Future directions for licensing and collaborations

Whether you’re a manufacturer refining your marketing approach, a designer seeking to understand your go-to brands, or a design enthusiast, this conversation offers a compelling look into the strategies driving one of the industry’s most respected names.

DNN: As Kravet’s Chief Marketing Officer, what do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth in the luxury home furnishings and textile market?

Cohen: Today’s consumer has grown up in a very visual world, where beautiful instagrammable design is table stakes. As the consumer is more exposed to the luxury interiors industry and trade-only products, they want more of a say in the brands that their designers are using. 

They care about the products that are included in the projects – they need to not only be beautiful, but quality products that are made to last. 

At Kravet, we have the largest selection of performance fabrics for indoor and outdoor, and an extensive collection of indoor and outdoor furniture as well. The luxurious products we offer are durable and fit the qualifications of our most discerning customers.    

DNN: Kravet has a vast portfolio of distinct brands. How do you intend to develop and communicate unique identities for each while maintaining overall brand cohesion?

Cohen: The Kravet Family of Brands (Kravet Inc.) is a fifth-generation family led industry leader in home furnishings and is the parent company of five distinguished and iconic luxury brands: Kravet, Lee Jofa, Brunschwig & Fils, Donghia and GP&J Baker. 

Each of these heritage brands is dedicated to delivering exceptional style, quality, and design and each have unique identities that we highlight in our marketing.

The cohesion of the message exists in the showroom and website experience where all brands are featured together to enable our interior design customers to have an easy shopping experience.  

DNN: Tell me about your data-driven approach to marketing: How do you balance this with the need for compelling storytelling in the luxury sector?

Cohen: For compelling storytelling, it is important to have beautiful visuals, romantic product descriptions and video content. However, my team knows that as strong as we think our content may be, the true measure is our customers’ response. 

We measure everything across all of our channels and optimize based on performance. I feel fortunate to have a very talented team and our marketing is really hitting the mark with our customers. 

While traditional measurement is our focus, the buzz that we are hearing about our campaigns is not only important, but incredibly rewarding. We love knowing that the design community is loving our approach!    

DNN:  The recent ‘La Menagerie’ campaign for Brunschwig & Fils represents a shift towards more human-centric, voyeuristic storytelling.

What inspired this new direction? The campaign features Nick Mele and his family in their actual home, embracing a more “imperfect” and lived-in aesthetic. How does this approach align with Kravet’s luxury positioning?

Cohen: I actually see the home as an illustration of how important beautiful design is for today’s consumer and although Nick has a young family and pets, they chose to decorate their home in a manner in which they loved and are comfortable to live in without worry. 

The whimsical images capture the beautifully layered room settings and the fun-loving personalities of the Mele family. The Brunschwig & Fils brand is a luxury brand that is all about living life exuberantly and this really comes across in this marketing campaign.

DNN:  What metrics are you using to measure the success of campaigns like ‘La Menagerie’, beyond impressions and web traffic? 

Cohen: We are measuring the success of the campaign through engagement across all marketing channels – video views, shares/saves/comments on Instagram, website views/clicks, etc. Also, buzz in the community and press coverage are important measures of success. 

DNN:  How do you decide what to focus on in a rapidly shifting digital landscape, taking into account things like Google Zero, or accounting for different countries beginning to regulate web and social traffic in new ways? Which social media platforms do you have your eye on?

Cohen:  It’s becoming more challenging to reach consumers with the privacy regulations in place, however, for our business, it’s all about being transparent with how we plan to use data to reach our customers.  

From a social media perspective, we continue to grow our Instagram audiences, and are about to celebrate a milestone with our Brunschwig & Fils followers – and we’d be thrilled if you ask your audience to help us get there faster by following along.  

TikTok is a channel that I love to explore personally, and who knows, it could be our next platform as more designers are spending time on this channel. Finally, we know we live in a video world, which tracks with how our YouTube channel audience is growing. 

DNN: The ‘La Menagerie’ campaign has a strong focus on digital and video content. How do you see the role of these mediums evolving in Kravet’s marketing strategy?

Cohen: The investment in video is increasingly more important than ever as consumers are watching more content on their personal devices. People are looking for content that entertains and inspires them. 

We are continuing to develop our YouTube channel given the importance in investing in video content. It provides more opportunity to tell a story and create a lasting impression on the viewer. 

DNN:  A competitor has recently pulled out of multi-line showrooms and has opted to instead focus more on DTC sales, opening up their own boutiques here and abroad. Does Kravet have any plans to follow suit? 

Cohen:  We want to continue to honor the trade and provide an omni-channel experience for designers to shop our brands and product lines. We reach our customers through our sales force, our own Kravet showrooms in North America and Europe, and very important agent showrooms that are located throughout North America. Kravet has always been focused on knowing our customers and our structure enables us to deliver.  

The brand will truly come to life throughout the event, especially at the spectacular gala that will be surrounded by the beauty of the gardens and our Lee Jofa Garden Walk fabrics!