Delivering on the promise of luxury, beyond the narrative
In luxury and fashion, success stems from the ability to align strategy and execution. This is the central argument of Delivering the Dream (Bocconi University Press), edited by Erica Corbellini and Tomaso Galli. The authors argue that a brand’s competitive advantage is built on three inseparable pillars: cultural relevance, product desirability, and customer engagement. Marketing, however, cannot stop at creating a compelling narrative. It must turn that narrative into a consistent experience across every customer touchpoint and, above all, be grounded in a product that is genuinely high-quality, ethical, and sustainable.
Grazie all’estrazione diversificata dei due autori (una docente universitaria e un consulente), il libro unisce una prospettiva accademica sui modelli di business e sulla strategia a una conoscenza pratica del marketing e della gestione del marchio.
Drawing on the authors’ complementary backgrounds—one an academic, the other a consultant—the book brings together an academic perspective on business models and strategy with a hands-on understanding of marketing and brand management.
The volume is organized into three main sections. The first focuses on strategy, examining fashion and luxury business models, the role of creative direction, and the creation of the “dream factor.” The second moves to execution, presenting fashion shows, events, influencers, storytelling, media, and clienteling as components of a single integrated marketing system. The final section looks ahead to the industry's evolution, exploring topics such as the relationship between fashion and art, music, sports, and film, the Asian market, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and new forms of collaboration between brands. The text is enriched by contributions from leading figures in the industry, including Domenico De Sole’s Foreword, and precious Insights (short, signed contributions) by Donatella Versace, Alessandro Sartori, Anthony Vaccarello, and other prominent executives and creative leaders.
The book encourages readers to move beyond the rhetoric of luxury. According to Corbellini and Galli, desirability cannot be built on storytelling and celebrity endorsements if the product fails to deliver on its promises. On the contrary, the “dream” becomes a nightmare when marketing is used to conceal poor quality or questionable manufacturing practices. This explains the authors’ insistence on a vision of luxury rooted in quality, fairness toward suppliers and employees, and a culture of consumption centered on “buying better” rather than simply buying more. Artificial intelligence is approached with similar balance—not as either a threat or a cure-all, but as a tool whose value depends on the human ability to use it with critical judgment and creativity.
Although devoted to fashion and luxury, the book ultimately speaks to a much broader audience. Its reflections on brand value creation, strategy execution, the relationship between creativity and data, and innovation management will be valuable not only to marketing, communications, and sales managers, but also to entrepreneurs, consultants, and executives across a wide range of industries. The book’s greatest strength lies in showing how the strongest brands do more than sell products: they create cultural meaning and translate it into coherent organizational processes.
Publisher: Bocconi University Press
Publication date: 2026
Pages: 270
ISBN/EAN: 9791280623805
Format: Paperback, Digitabook, ePub.
ERICA CORBELLINI is a tenured professor at Bocconi University, where she teaches Fashion and Luxury Management in undergraduate and graduate degree programs, master's programs, executive education, and summer schools. She has been collaborating with Bocconi since 1999 and has since designed and taught a wide range of courses on the evolution of business models, branding and digital strategies, customer experience creation, and ingredient branding for the fashion, luxury, beauty, and lifestyle industries.
TOMASO GALLI founded JTG Consulting in 2010 to provide strategic consulting in fashion communications, marketing, brand image and management, corporate communications, and crisis and reputation management. Since then, he has worked with CEOs, Creative Directors, entrepreneurs, and Chief Marketing Officers from companies including Tom Ford, Saint Laurent, Thom Browne, Loro Piana, Zegna, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Trussardi, Chloé, Lancel, Agnona, Vertu, Azimut Yachts, and Vlisco.
