Lladró & Marca España (Spain Brand)

September 12, 2023

I had the chance to visit the Lladró Museum and Showroom this week, on a holiday. Visiting it led me to think that Lladró is a perfect example of a company that should be part of making up Marca España, a focal point in projecting Spain to the world. It represents elegance and artistry, tradition and innovation, storytelling and attention to detail, technological advances and creativity. Of course, Lladró would be just one of many, each bringing different features and characteristics.

Lladró was actually my first exposure to Valencia, though I didn’t know it then. My Grandma Kathleen Enzler had an assortment of Lladró figures on her mantel. She died 30 years ago, but as a kid, I remember those being special and also not for kids to touch (breakable!).

When I came to study in Spain in Toledo at 19, I learned that Lladró was a Spanish brand, from Valencia, where I now live. I knew there was fine craftsmanship, with some pieces far more elaborate than others. There was representation of Spanish culture as well as innovation. Visiting the place where Lladró is made was a revelation, though. Every single bit is done by hand. Everything is shaped by hand, painted, stenciled. They have 4,000 colors in their palette. Even the tiny flowers that cover some figures, each is individually made by hand. (Now I understand the pricing!). I asked a woman how long she had worked there, and she said 49 years, and she and the woman across began talking, that oh, they started within months of each other, 49 years ago! Lladró was founded in 1953, but has expanded and evolved over the years. It now has revenue above $100 million per year, with just 700 corporate employees (per tour). Lladró has collaborated with top artists such as Jaime Hayon & Paul Smith, with brands like Disney. How many customers realize everything is made by hand, though? Or connect it with Spain? The most elaborate design, Carnival in Venice, took a collective 22,000 hours of research, testing and design to make - there are 100, and they sell for €243.000 apiece!

Lladró is a member of the “Foro de Marcas Renombradas Españolas”, which also includes Spanish brands such as BBVA, Cuatrecasas, FC Barcelona & Real Madrid, Inditex, Iberdrola, Telefónica, Paradores, Grupo Ybarra & more. Certainly some of these are widely recognized as Spanish brands and companies around the world. And I am well aware that there have been organized efforts for more than a decade to cultivate and promote “Marca España.” Yet I think there are opportunities for more storytelling, better marketing. Spain has some of the best artists - from authors to actors to architects to film directors - in the world. They could be better used to tell the stories of Marca España.

Most people know Spain is a wonderful tourist destination. They think of it in conjunction with beaches and parties, bullfights and football (soccer to Americans), paella and sangría. Those all exist in Spain, yes. But there is so much more. As Spain embarks on a tourist campaign to attract high-end visitors, there are opportunities to promote stellar museums throughout the country for art, history and science; build out custom architecture tours just as Chicago is known for (one of my favorite classes in college explored the art and architecture of Toledo), to bring visitors who want to experience top gastronomy or even learn to cook it, who want to do a religious pilgrimage whether the Camino de Santiago or beyond, who yes return with beach memories but also with knowledge of Spain and unique experiences.

This also means selling Spain better overseas. How is it that so much Spanish olive oil isn’t even sold as Spanish, but rather Italian, particularly in the U.S.? Why don’t more people realize Spain is a top contributor in science and medicine - from Dr Valentin Fuster, born in Barcelona and now the President of Mount Sinai Heart in NYC to agriculture technology to cancer research. Or that there are a slew of top product and tech and businesspeople from Spain working at companies from Google to Meta to Samsung to Bloomberg - how much is done to include them in promoting España por el mundo? But also startups such as Tinybird, Carto, RevenueCat, Red Points, HumanITCare and more. Whether speaking to students or meeting with investors or being a bridge or puente between cities? Attracting more investment to Spain can help keep more talent local - sure, many people will want to live abroad, but if salaries were higher and the job market weren’t as grim for young adults, more would stay.

Along those lines, while moves have been made with the digital nomad visa, it is still much harder to move to Spain from ex-EU than it is to countries such as Portugal or Estonia or Ireland. That goes together with attracting investment - if it’s very challenging to get a visa to legally move to Spain, it is harder to get people to invest or to launch companies in Spain or to expand their companies here. I can speak to this directly - I studied in Spain during both college and my MBA, have a very high level of Spanish, have an MBA from Wharton, interned at Real Madrid, had job experience at ESPN and Samsung and more, and had a job offer to join a startup in Barcelona yet my visa was denied when I applied 4 1/2 years ago because the salary wasn’t high enough. I’m persistent, so I got here eventually, but much more could be done to attract talent and investment. Even encouraging entrepreneurship could be made easier by reducing or eliminating fees/taxes for autonomos (freelancers) until they hit a certain income threshold and/or time period.

There are so many people who are deeply involved in and care greatly about shaping and improving Spain, including the Marca España. With collaboration and creativity that includes all from successful businesspeople who have built businesses abroad to investors to well-known figures in sports and fashion and entertainment to young creatives to scientists. To tell the story of the Paradores to tourists, to attract expats to work and live (whether remotely or not), to capitalize on the fame and positive image of people like José Andrés.

Lladró is one example that I think could be better utilized to promote the Marca España abroad. Pero hay mil. But there are many. Vamos a por ello.

Article list this week

Listen

  • The Decision Education podcast. This is a terrific one, hosted by Annie Duke, with a slew of great guests.

  • 10 claves para emprender con éxito - Seedrocket con Jesús Monleon 

Watch

  • Las Ocho Montañas - an incredibly poignant movie on two young Italian boys, later men, who become good friends, then are separated for many years, and struggle to varying extents to find life outside the mountain/mountain village https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-290592/

Book

  • Tú No Matarás/You Shall Not Kill - by Julia Navarro. This is a powerful Spanish novel on three young friends who flee Spain for diverse reasons in the years following the Spanish Civil War, and follows their lives for decades. An interview with the author here.