Forbes: A Conversation with Jan-Patrick Schmitz

Former Montblanc CEO Jan-Patrick Schmitz on ways the purveyor of luxury writing instruments has expanded its product line while staying true to core brand essence.

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Montblanc has been a consistently present beacon in the luxury brand market for nearly a century. Having been celebrated for generations as the paramount creator of writing instruments, the brand has since branched out in order to offer you exquisite watches, leather pieces, jewelry, fragrance  and eye wear. It traces its roots back to the beginning of the 20th century when the company was established in Hamburg, Germany.

With operations in more than seventy countries, Montblanc tells its stories to a lively and varied audience. Selling its products exclusively through an international network of authorized retailers, jewelers and more than 360 boutiques, the brand Montblanc has become prominent in all corners of the globe.

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Interview by Jennifer Rooney, CMO Network Editor Forbes Magazine | New York | September 21, 2012

About Jennifer Rooney:    Ms. Rooney covered interactive advertising for Advertising Age during the dot-com boom and then marketing for Business 2.0, served as contributing editor at Chief Executive magazine, and was editor-in-chief of Sales & Marketing Management magazine before joining Ad Age again, where she most recently served as editor of CMO Strategy. Now at Forbes as CMO Network editor, Jennifer is thrilled to be overseeing content for that most dynamic, creative and arguably challenged executive in the C-suite, the CMO. Marketing’s humanity and psychology is what’s most alluring to her. In fact, she plans to devote much time and attention to the people and personalities behind the wins, the campaigns, the agencies, the partnerships, the stunts, the experiments, the screw-ups, the near-misses and the happy accidents that define marketing and advertising in the era of mobility, Facebook, DVRs, Empire Avenue and clouds.