Bentley and Vertu team up to create luxury smartphones
Bentley is teaming up with British smartphone brand Vertu in a five-year partnership that will see the two firms work together to create ‘distinctive’ luxury smartphones.
By Sarah Vizard
The first “Vertu for Bentley” phone is planned for launch in October and will include “authentic and iconic” Bentley design elements and luxury lifestyle services. It will also offer owners exclusive Bentley content via a dedicated app.
It will be followed by a further four phones over the next five years.
Bentley’s chairman Wolfgang Dürheimer says the deal will offer customers a new way to “experience the world of Bentley” by bringing together two brands defined by their “commitment to performance, luxury and customer experience”. He says he hopes the phones will appeal not only to Bentley brand enthusiasts, but drivers and travellers in general.
The first phone’s launch will be supported by a joint global marketing campaign. The two firms will also work together on events, CRM and customer insight activations to promote the devices to their customer bases.
Massimiliano Pogliani, Vertu’s chief executive, adds: “This partnership will allow Vertu to fully integrate with the Bentley brand; phones will be jointly designed by the Vertu and Bentley design teams, based on a relationship that goes far deeper than the utilisation of materials and cues on design. We’re confident that the Vertu for Bentley phones will appeal to our mutual customers’ desire for sophistication, craftsmanship and precision engineering.”
The deal is the latest move by Vertu to broaden its appeal. It has around 380,000 customers worldwide and while the price of its phones mean it is unlikely to ever be a brand that could appeal to the mass market, Pogliani has previously told Marketing Week that it is looking to extend its reach into different categories.
Its latest Android smartphone, the Signature Touch, costs £6,750.
