Costes Global Media Strategies, Paris, France, November 2010

by Paulina Afshani

Frederique Obin, head of PR for Costes, was sure to make one thing clear in her November 2010 interview regarding the luxury hotel and restaurant empire: “We don’t advertise or communicate anything, at all. That’s our policy.” Not bad, to say the least, considering they currently own three hotels (Hotel Costes, Costes K, and Bourg Tibourg) and ten restaurants throughout Paris. However, though Costes does not explicitly advertise, its success seems to lie in its consistent presentation of the brand, highly established reputation, and some more indirect marketing strategies. These strategies include using celebrity designers, pricing based on location, pricing in general, maintaining close ties to media, appealing to the culture industry, and using their website, logo, music, and magazine. Essentially, the company makes use of these marketing tactics to consistently communicate its goal image, that is, that Costes is the ultimate level in French luxury and quality, and simultaneously convey the impression that they do not need to communicate anything at all, to achieve an exclusive, caché image. The image they accomplish helps them attract a large, international, luxury-seeking audience. Luckily, because the brand already has high positioning, anything labeled “Costes” tends to sell itself to tourists in search of luxury in Paris to an extent, though its popularity among locals is increasingly less evident. I seek to uncover exactly how Costes communicates its brand to the public, without use of any direct advertising, and the subsequent image it portrays on both a local and international level.

Hotel Costes CD, Volume 14

Oct/Nov 2010 Palace Costes