Latest / Brand Storytelling with Fexingo: Narrative, Mission, and Stories That Sell / How a 100-Year-Old Pen Company Survived the Digital Age
Transcript
- Lucas: You know what's one of the most durable status symbols of the past century that almost nobody under thirty would guess? The fountain pen. Luna: Really? I mean, I get the nostalgia factor, but surely the iPad killed that market years ago. Lucas: That's exactly what everyone thought. By the early 2010s, the global pen market was shrinking at about three percent a year. Emails, Slack, texts — who needs ink? But Montblanc, the German company famous for the white star logo on its caps, managed to grow its writing instrument revenue by over forty percent between 2015 and 2025. Luna: Forty percent growth in a declining category? That's not a turnaround, that's a magic trick. How did they do it? Lucas: They stopped competing on function. A Montblanc fountain pen costs anywhere from five hundred to over a thousand dollars. You cannot sell that on 'it writes well.' No one's paying that for a tool. They had to sell an experience, an identity — a story. Luna: So they pivoted from utility to luxury. That's classic brand repositioning, but lots of brands try that and fail. What made it stick? Lucas: Specificity. Montblanc didn't just say 'our pens are luxurious.' They tied every product to a narrative. Take their Writers Edition series — launched in 1992, but they really leaned into it over the past decade. Each pen honors a literary figure: Ernest Hemingway, Marcel Proust, Agatha Christie. The pen itself is designed with details from that writer's life. The Hemingway edition, for example, has a clip shaped like a fountain in Paris where he used to drink. Luna: So the pen becomes a conversation piece. It's not just a writing instrument; it's a piece of literary history you carry in your pocket. Lucas: Exactly. And they extended that logic beyond literature. They have a Great Characters series — pens inspired by historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Napoleon. Each edition is limited, numbered, and comes with a story booklet. The scarcity plus the narrative creates desirability. Luna: But limited editions alone don't sustain a business. You need a core product that sells year after year. Lucas: Right. Their backbone is the Meisterstück — the Masterpiece — a classic black resin fountain pen with gold nib. It's been around since 1924. But even that they've refreshed. They now offer customization: you can engrave the barrel, choose the nib width, even select a personal ink color. They launched a made-to-order service in their boutiques where you can spend an hour with a specialist choosing every detail. Luna: That's brilliant. It turns a one-time purchase into an experience, a ritual. And it builds loyalty because that pen becomes uniquely yours. Lucas: And that experience is part of the story they tell about themselves. Montblanc calls its retail spaces 'Houses of Writing.' They're not just stores; they're galleries where you can try inks, attend calligraphy workshops, see historical pens from the company archive. There's one on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris that has a writing lounge with a fireplace. Luna: So the retail environment itself reinforces the brand narrative. You're not buying a pen; you're buying entry into a world of craftsmanship and culture. Lucas: Exactly. And that's how they justify the price. The production cost of a Montblanc fountain pen is maybe fifty to a hundred dollars — high for a pen, but a fraction of the retail price. The rest is the story. The brand's gross margin is estimated around eighty percent, which is luxury territory, right up there with Hermès. Luna: That's a huge margin. But it only works if the story is consistent across every touchpoint. One slip — a cheap plastic pen with the logo slapped on — and the whole narrative collapses. Lucas: And they've avoided that. Montblanc does make lower-priced items like leather wallets and watches, but they keep the writing instruments as the flagship. Even their entry-level fountain pens cost around three hundred dollars. They refuse to dilute. Luna: So how much of this growth is new customers, versus existing customers buying more? Lucas: That's the fascinating part. When I looked at the numbers, Montblanc's customer base has actually gotten younger. The average age of a Montblanc buyer dropped from about fifty in 2010 to thirty-eight in 2025. That's driven by a surge in interest among millennials and Gen Z — people who grew up typing, not writing. Luna: Wait, Gen Z is buying fountain pens? What's the appeal for someone who's never had to use one? Lucas: It's countercultural. In a world of disposable ballpoints and digital everything, a fountain pen is a deliberate, slow, permanent act. It's a rebellion against convenience. Plus, it's highly Instagrammable. There's a whole community on social media — 'pen porn' they call it — where people post videos of ink flowing across paper. Montblanc hasn't officially sponsored that, but they nurture it by releasing limited-edition inks in colors like 'Petrol Blue' and 'Mystery Black' that collectors chase. Luna: So they're leaning into the aesthetic and the ritual, not just the functionality. It's almost like they're selling a hobby. Lucas: Exactly. Writing by hand has become a niche, and Montblanc owns that niche. They've partnered with artists and designers to create special editions — like the Montblanc x Kaws collaboration in 2024, which sold out within hours. The pen had a skeletal, cartoonish design that appealed to streetwear collectors. Luna: A streetwear fountain pen. That's wild. So they're bridging high culture and pop culture. Lucas: And it works financially. Montblanc's parent company, Richemont, reported that the writing instrument division contributed about six hundred million euros in revenue in 2025, which is roughly twelve percent of Richemont's total, but it's the highest-margin division. More profitable than their jewelry brands. Luna: That's impressive for what many people consider a dying product. But is the growth sustainable? At some point, you run out of literary figures to honor. Lucas: They've shown they can expand the storytelling into other categories. Montblanc now sells high-end smartwatches and headphones, but they always connect back to writing. The smartwatch has a feature that converts handwriting to text. The headphones come with a leather notebook. Everything links to the core narrative of 'the art of writing.' Luna: So the story is bigger than the pen. It's about self-expression, intentionality, and permanence. Lucas: Right. And that's the lesson for any brand in a declining category. Don't fight the decline by pretending your product is still the best tool for the job. Instead, redefine what job it does. Montblanc's pens don't just write; they signal that the owner values craft, history, and slowness in a fast world. Luna: And they make that signal visible. When you see someone using a Montblanc in a meeting, you notice. It's a statement. Lucas: Exactly. And if these conversations about brand storytelling have sparked something you've actually used — maybe a tactic for a campaign or a new way of thinking — that's exactly why we do this show ad-free. Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps the episodes coming without sponsors. Luna: Yeah, it's a small gesture that means we can keep diving deep into stories like this, without worrying about selling ad space. Lucas: So back to Montblanc — one thing I find especially smart is how they handle the secondary market. Limited editions often appreciate in value. The Hemingway edition that retailed for eight hundred dollars now sells for over two thousand on the resale market. Luna: That creates a halo effect. Even if you buy a regular Meisterstück, you feel like it might hold its value. Lucas: Yes. And Montblanc reinforces that by offering a restoration service. You can send in any pen, even one from the 1950s, and they'll replace the nib, polish the resin, make it like new. That builds generational loyalty. Your grandfather's pen can become yours. Luna: So the story becomes personal. It's not just a brand story; it's your family story. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the deepest level of brand narrative — when the customer's own history gets intertwined with the product. Montblanc has managed to make an object that's both timeless and deeply individual. Luna: It makes me wonder: what other so-called dying products could be revived with this approach? Typewriters? Film cameras? Lucas: We've actually seen that with film cameras — Leica, Fujifilm's Instax — and with vinyl records. The template is the same: amplify the ritual, celebrate the imperfection, and build a community around the experience, not the function. Luna: So the key question for any brand in decline is: can we turn our product's obsolescence into its identity? Lucas: That's the million-dollar question. And Montblanc proves that if you can answer yes, there's a path to growth even in the most unlikely categories.