The Beauty of Business

Hosted by Alexander Johannessen

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Aug 2026

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About the show

The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury. Host Alexander Johannessen, founder of DEUS Marketing, sits down with the founders, operators, and strategists behind luxury and premium brands to unpack how they build desire, price with confidence, and grow without cheapening what makes them valuable. Sharp conversations on positioning, craft, and why people buy, plus Alexander's own take on what's moving in the luxury industry. New episodes weekly. Produced by DEUS Marketing. deusmarketing.io

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33 recent

September 8, 202654 min

Why Only 10 of 350 Watch Brands Really Matter | Maria Bashutkina

Maria Bashutkina has spent 15 years inside Swiss watchmaking marketing. She's president of the JIMH, a GPHG Academy member, and she supervised 500 mystery shopping evaluations in luxury boutiques worldwide. Her new book, The Right to Exist, asks why some brands command authority while others with beautiful products and bigger budgets never earn it. Maria and Alexander get into the answer: legitimacy, and why it beats visibility every time. They cover the 350 watch brands of which maybe ten truly matter, her verdict on the AP x Swatch collab, why 70 percent of luxury boutique visits fall below expectations, the salesperson as experience architect, and how a founder with no heritage can still earn the right to exist. Connect with Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariabashutkina/ Her book: https://trueluxury.business/product/the-right-to-exist/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

September 1, 20261 hr 29 min

Why Rolex Wants to Lose You at 45 | Dr Frank Müller

Dr Frank Müller was part of the young team behind the legendary relaunch of A. Lange & Söhne, spent seven years as CEO of Glashütte Original, sat on the Swatch Group's extended board in the Hayek years, and has advised luxury brands for 17 years through The Bridge To Luxury. He also teaches luxury management at St. Gallen and judges at the GPHG. Frank and Alexander get into the analysis most of the industry won't say out loud: why Rolex deliberately lets its most sophisticated customers graduate to other brands, how Patek Philippe escaped its own collectors with one campaign, why there is no such thing as the Veblen effect, why celebrity collabs are a sign of weakness, and why luxury's four great growth engines of the last 30 years are gone for good. Plus stories from the Blümlein years that only a handful of people alive can tell. Connect with Frank on LinkedIn, or at https://www.thebridgetoluxury.com The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

August 25, 202652 min

How Fake Watches Got This Good | YS Ng | The Beauty of Business

Five years ago, YS Ng was running events in Singapore. Then covid hit, he applied to what he thought was a retail job, and discovered he had a gift: telling real luxury from fake. He won first place in an authentication contest in Japan in his first year, and today dealers and collectors across three continents send him watches to answer one question. In this episode, YS and Alexander go deep on the counterfeit world most of the industry won't discuss on record: how good the superfakes have become, the Frankenwatch problem where fakes are built from genuine parts, and why the counterfeiters once asked YS to join them. What's covered: From events to award-winning authenticator in one year, by accident How good are the fakes now? Genuine dials, mixed movements, and bezel swaps that add $2,000 The brands nobody warns you about: Panerai, Cartier, Omega, Breitling Collectors who wear superclones while the real watch sits in the safe, and why YS refuses Will AI replace authenticators? Where it works, where it fails Full sets versus condition: why the dial matters more than the box His Rolex service bill, published line by line, and why nobody else shares numbers What's undervalued right now: four-digit vintage, gold watches, and the Cartier play T he Triumph Spitfire he almost traded a Day-Date for, and how the story ended Wrist check: a 16700 Pepsi with a faded bezel and a dial that cost more than the watch Connect with YS: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngys/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io Connect with Alexander: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-joh/ Subscribe and leave a rating. It matters more than you

August 18, 20261 hr 2 min

The Marketing Behind a 200-year old brand | Rodolphe Corpataux

Rodolphe Corpataux runs marketing at BOVET 1822, the independent Swiss maison producing around 1,000 watches a year, a third of them bespoke, with more demand than it can meet. His path there started at hotel school in Lausanne and changed when he met Mr. Raffy, the owner of BOVET. Rodolphe and Alexander get into what marketing means when you can't fulfill demand, why keeping a collector beats acquiring one, and where the watch industry's old playbook is falling apart. They revisit the AP x Swatch collaboration one year later and still don't fully agree, debate whether most watch marketing budgets are strategy or ego, break down why Rolex's consistency built the crown, and name the best marketing in watchmaking right now. Connect with Rodolphe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolphe-corpataux-70b1aa188/ Discover BOVET: https://www.bovet.com The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

August 11, 202653 min

The Sound That Makes Customers Pay 7x More | Julian Steenbergen | The Beauty of Business ep. 29

Julian Steenbergen was a full-time producer and DJ with millions of streams. Then a client in Saudi Arabia pulled him into a different world: composing sonic identities for cities, developments, and Al Hilal, the biggest football club in Asia. Now he runs Human Sound Studio, giving brands the one identity asset almost none of them have: a sound. In this episode, Julian and Alexander get into why sound reaches people faster than anything visual, what a sonic identity actually contains, and why luxury, the industry that perfects every visual detail, keeps handing its soundtrack to a staff playlist. What's covered: How a Dutch DJ ended up composing for Saudi football's biggest rebrand What's inside a sonic identity: audio logos, campaign music, and the ecosystem around them The study behind the number: customers are 7x more willing to pay premium prices when sonic branding is done right, plus a 96 percent lift in brand recall The World Cup's hidden sonic universe: every stadium had its own sound Why luxury hotel lobbies and watch boutiques are silent, and what that silence costs T he Circle in Zurich: hidden speakers, one long loop, and why a €10 sandwich felt fair Does Rolex have a sound? quick-fire round AI music, Suno, and why a deliverable is not a strategy Visit Julian: https://www.humansoundstudio.com Connect with Julian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-steenbergen/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io Subscribe and leave a rating. It matters more than you think.

August 4, 202657 min

How the Ultra-Rich Actually Buy | Jasmine Chau | The Beauty of Business ep. 28

Jasmine Chau spent 15 years in finance managing high-net-worth clients, then crossed into luxury and never left. Today she's CMO of Italian Atelier Asia-Pacific, opened six offices across Asia, works on branded hotel and residence concepts with The One Atelier, and runs an agency whose entire marketing strategy is having no marketing strategy: curated rooms, studied guest lists, and dinners where contracts get signed at the table. In this episode, Jasmine and Alexander get into how you actually sell to people who can buy anything, why standard marketing converts near zero with the ultra-rich, and what European luxury brands keep getting wrong about Asia. What's covered: The dinner playbook: how three contracts got signed at one sponsored table The award ceremony her team hosted inside a UNESCO cave, and why boardroom events are dead New rich versus real rich: two tiers of wealthy clients and the different strategy for each The luxury executive who asked her if Asia is China, and why she walked away from the project Japan: two years of investment, learning the language, and 15 projects in the pipeline The thing ultra-high-net-worth clients complain about most (it will surprise you) Why her answer to "who does branded residences best" is nobody Connect with Jasmine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminechau87/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io Subscribe and leave a rating. It matters more than you think.

July 28, 202651 min

Why Every Personal Brand Looks the Same | Simeon Stanford | The Beauty of Business ep. 27

Simeon Stanford spent a decade in sales, then a decade running two companies with clients like 3M, Tefal, and EA Sports. Last summer he closed both. Not because the work was bad, but because the vision was no longer shared, and because a decade of what he calls unsexy products left him wanting the opposite: the cool economy. Now he's rebuilt himself as a brand of one. Registered as a company, designed from scratch, down to a logo drawn on paper and a name with two meanings. In this episode, Simeon and Alexander get into what it costs to walk away from a decade of work, why most personal brands are template copies of each other, and what luxury brands keep getting wrong about the next generation of buyers. What's covered: Why he closed both companies, and what happens when partners stop sharing a vision The £99-a-month website builder that corporations loved and tradesmen couldn't hear him sell "That's not a personal brand, that's borrowed ideas": building an identity nobody can copy Which luxury brand does exclusivity best right now, and why Breitling wins on humbleness The AP x Swatch collab, off-the-cuff partnerships, and a Chanel x McDonald's thought experiment Why 65-year-olds shouldn't be deciding how luxury speaks to 25-year-olds If you're for everyone, you're for no one Connect with Simeon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simeonstanford/ Email him: simeon@distinktt.io Two episodes ago, Tommaso Pierini named his brand the one word fashion refuses to say: basic. Simeon named his after the same idea: 101. Watch the Tommaso episode next: https://youtu.be/72ZMdNXjlFQ T he Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

July 21, 202648 min

He Built Bestsellers for Gucci. Then He Named His Brand "Basic" | Tommaso Pierini | Beauty of Business ep. 26

Tommaso Pierini spent twenty years building menswear collections inside Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Caruso. Then he left, because no brand represented him anymore, and named his own label the one word fashion marketing refuses to use: basic. In this episode, Tommaso opens up the parts of luxury the industry prefers to keep quiet: what a designer jacket actually costs to make, why the giants tripled their revenue and lost their customers, and why the quiet houses like Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli are winning while the loud ones discount. Then he explains the opposite path he's betting BASICO MILANO on: five perfect pieces, four Italian mills, no logos, no ads, sold by appointment in Milan, and discovered rather than advertised. What's covered: The real markup inside luxury fashion, and why a 70 percent sale still turns a profit Why Gucci went from 4 to 12 billion and got lost, while consistent brands keep growing The "cringe phase" every new brand goes through before people fall for it Why truly basic design can't hide mistakes, told through the Loden coat Inside the Italian fabric supply chain: Biella vs Como, and why small brands wait four months behind LVMH Building a brand with your wife, a newborn, and a job title of "anxiety manager" The Saks Fifth Avenue deal, and why he'd rather build a 10 million euro brand than a 100 million dollar one Visit BASICO MILANO: https://basicomilano.com Connect with Tommaso: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tpierini/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/basico_milano/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

July 14, 20261 hr 5 min

He Sold $1M of Wine Without a Winery | Bruno Golombek | The Beauty of Business ep. 25

Bruno Golombek spent ten years running growth in mobile gaming. Then he walked into the most tradition-bound category in commerce and sold over a million dollars of wine in his first year. No distributor. No tasting room. No retail. The winemakers behind his bottles are under NDA, so his name goes on every bottle instead. In this episode, Bruno and Alexander get into what happens when performance marketing collides with an industry built on provenance, and what every premium brand can learn from it. What's covered: The négociant model: selling wine from winemakers who can't reveal their names Why discounting hasn't killed his brand, and where the luxury doctrine actually applies The growth mechanics he ported from mobile gaming into wine "Wine isn't dying, it's coping": why the critic, the culture, and the shelf stopped doing wine's branding Building a brand on one person's accountability, and whether it can scale past him Visit Bruno: https://bruno.wine Connect with Bruno: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunogolombek/ The Beauty of Business is a podcast about the business of luxury, produced by DEUS Marketing. Work with us: https://www.deusmarketing.io

November 6, 20251 hr 4 min

Make Video People Trust ⎹ The Beauty of Business ep. 24 ⎹ Will George

This episode is a practical blueprint for brand video that people actually believe. We break down where AI helps—storyboards, pre-viz, faster approvals—and where humans win: credibility, emotion, and on-camera proof. You’ll learn how smaller, multi-skill crews speed up production without losing quality; why real customer testimonials beat templated spots; and the revision guardrails that keep momentum (lock music early, limit rounds, stick to a clear decision maker). We also cover cadence and repurposing: plan one thoughtful shoot, then slice it into dozens of assets that feed your channels for weeks. If you want video that ships faster, performs better, and still feels human, start here. A DEUS Marketing podcast. Visit us here; https://www.deusmarketing.io/ Visit Rolling Wave Media here: https://www.rollingwavemedia.com/ Connect with Will here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-george-%F0%9F%8C%8A-b8b490174/