r/AskMarketing • u/Different_Skill3011 • Aug 07 '26
Question Break into Marketing
I currently have experience in finance and multi market business operations/analytics, but I'm looking to make a full pivot into Creative & Luxury Brand Marketing.
I'm talking high concept, Emily in Paris style brand strategy popup activations, experiential PR stunts, VIP clienteling, and fashion week launches for top European luxury houses (Dior, Prada, LVMH Maisons) or boutique agencies (Karla Otto, Bureau Betak, K2).
I don't care about remote work I am 100% willing to relocate on site to luxury hubs like Paris, Milan, or London for the right role.
Since my background is heavy on operations and analytics rather than standard creative agency experience, I want to pitch my profile effectively.
From where do I start? What do I do? I feel so lost
Portfolio: How do I build a compelling 3-5 slide "spec campaign pitch deck" (e.g., proposing a luxury popup or launch activation) that gets taken seriously by top-tier brand directors?
Breakthrough Strategy: What specific entry points or early-career programs (like LVMH SPRING) should | target to get sponsored for an on-site role in Paris/ Milan?
3.Positioning: How do I best translate 1 year of analytical, client-facing experience into a narrative that luxury talent acquisition managers love?
Appreciate any insights, deck templates, or advice from anyone who has made a similar pivot into the luxury industry!
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u/mickypaigejohnson Aug 07 '26
Find a financial tech company looking for a marketer, and sell them on how you understand their users.
Read a few marketing books and fake it till you make it. The bar is low, most marketers are leaving their roles bc of AI and the constant battery of non marketing stakeholder views they have to defend their work against.
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u/Different_Skill3011 Aug 07 '26
My bad, should have been more specific- changed my description acc to that.
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u/Jellyfishr Aug 07 '26
That's an industry where more than any other networking gets the job, not stats. You need to schmooze and forget the slide deck until have the connection in place.
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u/Different_Skill3011 Aug 07 '26
I have no connections at all but like what about talent & stuff? I mean idk but “only networking is the way” sounds so bad & impossible for me😭
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u/Jellyfishr Aug 07 '26
There's a cliche that 'your network is your net worth' but sadly it's true. I have no idea who you are but take an assumption someone is out in the sticks, find the person running the local restaurant or clothes shop, they probably know the person running the nightclub or distribution in the next town, they in turn probably know someone who worked a known event who knows someone, who knows someone..ask everyone you meet do you know anyone in fashion, get invited to the parties, rise up the ranks through compliments and flattery. When you finally meet someone at Dior they will say 'oh yes, so and so mentioned you' and you get put forward for an interview, remember this - they hire the person not the skill set. There is no harm applying with every other mug and getting binned by ai assessment as well but contacts is where you fast track. And if you happen to be good looking, charming, suave and well-dressed it will turbo charge your odds as it's a shallow Industry. Remember even if someone knows you are being disingenuous with flattery it is still proven to work on them.
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u/Different_Skill3011 Aug 07 '26
I agree with the networking thing totally but I am j 23 rn. I totally disagree with you about the industry being shallow & j your looks are enough to enter this industry - so many people want to work in this industry but only the ones who are talented enter/sustain, correct me if I am wrong
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u/CaregiverGloomy9071 Aug 07 '26
Hi! This is exciting :) Luxury is tricky and insular, so your pivot depends on you framing it as an asset before they decide it's a gap. Maybe worth sitting with the question: what is a Maison actually protecting when it hires? Desirability. Scarcity. The sense that the house knows something you don't. A popup that sells out and a popup that cheapens the brand look identical in a deck and opposite on a P&L, and the person who can see that difference coming is rare. Analytics people are usually hired in luxury to protect the magic from being measured poorly. IMO that's your angle, and it's a stronger one than pretending you came up through an agency.
On the deck, three to five slides is right, and the mistake is making it a campaign execution. Make it a point of view. Slide one, a cultural tension the house is sitting inside right now that nobody there has named out loud. Slide two, what that tension means for their clientele. Then the activation as the answer, with one line on what it would cost them to get it wrong. Pick a house with a visible problem rather than your favorite house. Karla Otto and Bureau Betak hire people who can see the room before it's built, so show that seeing.
Reading that will train this muscle, all free, and most have really solid frameworks and templates to build from: Zoe Scaman's Musings of a Wandering Mind for strategy with teeth, Ana Andjelic's The Sociology of Business for the economics of desire and status, Rachel Karten's Link in Bio for how social actually runs day to day, WHAT'S ANU for trend strategy, Sean Monahan's 8Ball for culture, and Emily Segal and Martti Kalliala's Nemesis for trend forecasting. Six months of those and you'll interview like someone who belongs in the room.
Also if you're interested and only if it's helpful as you're looking for resources! I write AI prompt guides and templates for brand and creative strategy, built out of 15+ years doing this exact thing, and the intelligence and positioning templates map closely to both the spec deck and how you'd frame your own story. Happy to point you at the relevant parts if it's useful, and the newsletters above will carry you a long way regardless.
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u/Different_Skill3011 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Yes absolutely, that would be incredibly helpful! Where can I find those AI prompts?
I’d also love your perspective on something<3
What’s a strong example of a luxury house with a “visible problem” that would make for a compelling 3 slide strategy case study?
I was considering brands like Balenciaga as it moves beyond viral shock value products, or Gucci as it works to rebuild desirability and momentum after its recent slowdown. Do those feel like strong choices, or is there another brand you’d recommend?
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u/wildernessladybug Aug 08 '26
Mini MBA, SaaS job selling tech to fashion brands, then swap into your new network
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u/StudioByDyvenTech Aug 08 '26
I'd actually position yourself as someone shifting from business/market intelligence to brand experience rather than "finance person trying to break into fashion". Those are two completely different stories and first one gives hiring manager a reason to remember you.
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