Beyond Heritage: What Scaling Brands Can Learn from Louis Vuitton’s "Core Values"

Everyone loves to talk about Louis Vuitton. In our industry, they are the gold standard. When I look at our own search data, I see hundreds of people landing on our site looking for "Louis Vuitton Core Values."

It makes sense. We study them because we want to replicate them.

But there is a dangerous trap here for modern founders. We look at a brand like Louis Vuitton, with its 170 years of history, and we assume their success comes from their time in the market. We tell ourselves, "Well, of course they can charge $3,000 for a canvas bag. They have the heritage. I’ll be able to do that in 100 years."

This is the wrong lesson to take.

Louis Vuitton isn't valuable just because it’s old. Plenty of old brands are dead. Louis Vuitton is valuable because they treat their brand like a rigid, non-negotiable code.

If you are running a brand doing $10M or $20M a year, you don't have 100 years to wait. You need to build that kind of equity now. And the good news is, you can. You don't need a time machine. You need a better system.

The "Code" vs. The "Vibe"

Most young luxury brands operate on "vibes." They hire a creative director, do a cool photoshoot, and post it on Instagram. It looks great for a season. But then the creative director leaves, or the algorithm changes, and suddenly the brand feels different. It drifts.

Heritage brands like LV operate on a "Code."

They have a set of distinct brand assets—the monogram, the color palette, the specific tone of voice, the way they treat materials—that do not change. Ever. They might remix them, they might collaborate with Supreme or Yayoi Kusama, but the Code remains the absolute law.

This isn't just about design. It's about economic efficiency.

When you have a Code, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you launch a campaign. You are simply compounding the value of the assets you already own. Every dollar Louis Vuitton spends on marketing today makes the dollars they spent ten years ago more valuable.

How to Fabricate "Heritage" in 2025

So, how do you do this if you started your company in 2020?

You have to stop acting like a startup and start acting like a legacy house.

1. Define Your "Non-Negotiables" What are the three things that will never change about your brand? Is it a specific material? A specific way you handle customer service? A specific typeface? Write them down. These are not "guidelines." They are laws. If a marketing agency pitches you an idea that violates these laws, you fire the agency.

2. Consistency is a Financial Strategy I see so many founders get bored with their own branding. They want to "refresh" it every two years. This is burning money. The moment you are bored with your branding is usually the exact moment your customer is just starting to recognize it.

3. Digital Clienteling is the New "White Glove" Louis Vuitton built its reputation on in-store service. You can build yours on digital intimacy. We talk a lot about this at Deus Marketing. It’s about using data not to spam people, but to know them. If a VIP client visits your site three times in a week, does your system alert a human to reach out? It should.

The Bottom Line

You don't need to be French, and you don't need to be 100 years old. You just need the discipline to define your value and the infrastructure to protect it.

At Deus Marketing, we call this Luxury Digital Branding. We help founders take the "Code" of a heritage house and deploy it with the speed of a modern growth company.

Don't wait for history to happen to you. Build it.

Want help building your brand code? 
Reach out to us, and get started.