Welcome to another episode of our serious S.L.G. meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the luxury market. My name is Avaro, and today we'll be having with us a very special guest. His name is Patrice Menon, he is the CEO and founder of the Arsenal, the ultimate Creme de la Creme mobility showroom.
Patrice will be giving us insights on his incredible background coming from France to the US to pursue his dream of building a successful business and disrupting brand. He also talks about his futuristic projects on the development of flying cars, great conversation with powerful details on all mobility luxury items, trends and how to grow your business in the middle of a pandemic through passion and top collaborations. I hope you enjoy it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another S.L.G.
meetup. Today we are at a very special place. We are at the Arsenal store here in Miami, and we have with us Patrice, a marketer, entrepreneur, publisher and the creative mind of the future. Welcome.
That's a good introduction. Thank you very much. Welcome guys in the Arsenal. So we are here with Patrice who is going to be talking about what the Arsenal is about, which just to give a quick summary of it.
I believe it's like the perfect combination of all the future luxury items that we have in mind. So right behind us, what is this exactly? It's looked like a yellow submarine. It's a yellow submarine.
It's a yellow submarine. So imagine, you have a yellow submarine in your store and we'll give a little tour after, but this is very incredible because we wanted to discuss a little bit about the story behind Patrice, how he came from France with this incredible idea of taking the Arsenal to the next level. So tell us a little bit about your story and what the Arsenal is about. Yeah, so I'm 44 years old.
I'm coming from France, Paris. I came in the US two years ago. It was one of my dream when I was a kid. When you're French, it's a Spanish.
It's always a dream to achieve something in the US because it's the next market. I have spent all my life working about the subject of mobility. So mobility is cars, planes, COs, jets, skateboarding. It's a really passionate universe because it's first it's things made by humans.
So it's fantastic to work with such great engineers, designers, people who I always said that, but wake up a day and say I'm going to make a submarine brand. So I was always passionate about that. So I started my career in France 25 years ago by being a publisher of a magazine. I was making quite famous magazine called Intersection.
I found it in an engine seat because when you do a magazine, you know that you are in contact with a lot of persons and you also have a lot of insight, a lot of culture, a lot of things to say about that industry. You are really an insider. So you can provide a lot of content, a lot of advice, a lot of services and production to run. So I started to work with NISTAD and then Rondo and then Toyota.
And I have worked with all the car companies in the market in Europe. I succeed to be successful. And daily walk, seven days a week. That's the following year.
That's the formula, right? Every day and it was quite a long journey, but I was happy by doing what I was doing. So I think it's really a key in life, doing what you like and being happy for that and trying to make the best of what you can do. And four years ago I decided to make a little bit change in my plan because when you are an agency or a magazine, you deliver a service.
So you are the guy who say, oh, you should buy this product. Look at that. It's cool, but you are not the operator, you are not the seller. So I was missing a point in the global picture.
So I decided to rebuild my project under a bigger name, a bigger project, a bigger umbrella brand. And the Arsenal comes from Vinizia, Italy. It was the first chip you founded my Macapolo in the 16th century. So it was a beautiful, strong name.
And the project behind the Arsenal was to create the first federation of the independent builders. So the idea was to really create that ecosystem and develop that big idea under a lot of different ways and funnels. You mentioned something very good. You come from the background of marketing, publisher and the creative thinking mind.
I think that our world is evolving so quickly. That to see all the things that I had for us are so exciting. And one of the things are the flying cars. You were making a quick point on the flying cars.
And right now there are a few companies that are putting all the efforts into that. And I look at you as the brand that could represent all these future items that we are getting. With that being said, what are some of the exciting projects that you guys have gone on? Because you mentioned a few cool ones.
Yeah, no, it's a long question. There is some really interesting point. In that first I would like to talk about the power of the brand. Because now the brand is everything.
For a person it's his name, but we can also talk about personal branding. You can do all your efforts to achieve that. There is also something a little bit about the magic touch around that. And I think we succeed that with the arsenal.
Because the name was strong, because the other direction was really strict. Because the subject and the way we were doing the things was always really on purpose. And with a lot of reflection and strategy. And we always keep the same phone, same type of logo, same graphic appliance.
So there is a lot of job behind the brand. And we succeed to become what we call a love brand. And a love brand is really a key success. That's great.
I mean, it seems like you're doing phenomenal. It's a lot of potential. And concerning the second part of the equation, what are the most amazing projects that have been involved. It's a tough question because all of the projects I'm touching are quite crazy.
So that's really one of my trademarks. So I've been shooting and working on the design of concept cars. And I've met all the most crazy people in my life. I could expect Elon Musk, Lewis Emitter, and all these crazy people.
So I've achieved a lot of stuff. But one of my main subjects right now is about the flying cars. What we call VTOL for vertical ascending objects. The next five years we're going to evolve more than the last 20 years.
That's the first thing. The second thing is it's a new market with new players. Imagine that there is actually 52 players in the market. And no one in the mass market, no one of these brands.
Boeing is part of it as a major player. But you have 52 brands, 52 guys who are trying to work on that. And the last point is also the big urban congestion. There is no sense to drive anymore.
It's a guy who is passionate about that. We're telling you that. There is no sense to buy a car, to transport two tons of metals on 20 miles, taking risk, getting fined, getting in trouble. It's a mess.
And also it's creating not just the CO2 things by the exhaust, but it's also creating a lot of stress in the series. So the idea is how we can use an overall level of roads. And I have created a concept which is the third road. The first road is the one on the floor.
The second road is the one used by the planes. And the third road is really the road behind that. The level behind the road. So basically the skyscrapers, both the skyscrapers and the level of the planes.
And when you consider that new road opening, you have a lot of things also coming on the market. A lot of possibility, for example, the toll. How are you going to pay to use that air? Who are the players able to deliver the products?
Actually, you have more than 100 brands of cars in the market. Why not 100 brands of flying cars? From different typologies, the one used by the one used to go to the restaurant with your girlfriend. The sports one, the economical one.
And also the way we're going to interact, because we're going to reduce the time of transportation by 10. I mean, great. It seems like an excellent game plan to move forward. And that's the future.
I think that's where we're heading. And you said something super interesting, which is how in five years we're going to be evolving more than what we've evolved through. And it comes to luxury, right? Because obviously you are surrounding yourself and you're working directly with some of the most creative minds.
And with some of the products that a lot of people will consider, you know, unattainable, because it's such incredible products. So what we're facing right now, and the products that we have in mind, what is really luxury to you? The definition of luxury is something that you can write again and again, days after days. And also it's really linked to who is talking about luxury.
Because luxury is a subconscious idea. Luxury can be different from every kind of person. For the mass market, luxury is luxury brands, like having a Gucci bag and stuff like that. For me, it's not at all that.
I don't care about having, I could have any watch I want, I don't wear any watch. If I want to have the time, I look at my iPhone. My luxury is time and wellness and the future. So I put all my money into feeling my brain.
So you see the difference about that notion of luxury. What is really luxury now? And the luxury concept is really evolving. But the standard of luxury is being able to afford the life you want.
So finally, the luxury is, if you consider that notion of accessing to your dream, it's also based on what are your skills? What is your goal in life? And are you able to fit your goals with your skills and your energy? And the real luxury is when you get access to your skills, to your goals with your skills.
So it's really, I would say, more of a psychological vision than a materialistic vision. Totally, and it's a good way of putting it. I love that question because everybody has a different concept of what luxury is about. And I love the concept of time and the evolution and evolving towards something even better.
So that's our good point that you made over there. Now, with what we've been facing, because it's been a really interesting year for lots of us. So for you and the business, what are some of the areas that you've emphasized the most to really evolve? Because not your surviving, you're actually evolving.
Yeah, we have a multiplayer where we come by four. So it's crazy because first of all, I think it's a crazy or shit show. So we thought that was. But I have my point of view on that thing.
And it's not really funny because we are, I think it's a way to control the mass simply. So it's not that fun. People consider it as a disease, but it's much more than a political statement. And when I was really considering that new world, because it's going to be a new world, there is two ways to react.
The first is being super sad, disappointed, and say, okay, the world will not be the same. It's difficult, we can't ship, we have no client, etc. The other way is to say, okay, life is a game, and the change of the game are constantly changing. And the new rules are tough.
The new rules, it's more local markets, but it's also international market in an other way. We're not going to travel, we're going to be more responsible, more ecological. And when I started, when that phase started, I decided to accelerate. Because I thought it was the right moment to work four times more than before.
And I was working a lot, but I really decided to pass the second gear, accelerate more and work more, because everyone was being quite calm and releasing the speed. So I think it's interesting because the success can be found during that time in the world, where the world is decreasing. And it's where you can get some opportunities. That's great.
I definitely will say that I agree with you on what we're facing and the mentality and how to look into things moving forward. I'm sure a lot of potential successful entrepreneurs and those that made it already, I'm listening and watching this. What would be some of the takeaways that you can give? Like, if there could be one thing, what would it be?
I think vision is the key and execution. Because you can get the vision, you can get the ideas, but the execution is one of the main problems for us. There is a lot of ideas, but executing well is tough, because with the right cash flow, the right project, the right of your money, the right product, so the execution is quite difficult. But I think it's important nowadays to be extremely degenerate and to bring something new on the table.
Because if you do the same business, if you don't put any innovation on the table, first it's boring, and you have no chance, look at the big success, the big success like Amazon, Tesla. This guy are fucking disrupters. Tesla is one of the biggest disrupters in the payment system in PayPal. So getting an idea which is completely out of the box, which is completely crazy and go full further than it with the right execution.
But if it's not disrupter, it's not going to go anywhere. I love it, especially in such a competitive market. I think that's the only way to go. You come from a really interesting background as a marketer, creative thinker, publisher.
So combining that mindset with the tools that we have nowadays, because we have technology, I mean, it's not so easy, but it's such accessible to just get your run launched with the idea that you have in mind. You can reach masses right away. So I love what you said. I'm really grateful to be able to have some time here with you.
We're going to take a quick look at the store. We'll make some content to share with the audience. But anything else that you would like to share? No, I think it was a great talk and I think it's also the future of sharing content, cultural thinking, exchange, discussion.
This is also a great part of our time because we cannot be travelled, so we are more in that ecosystem of critical discussion, intimate discussion. We can share more and give more insight to the people around us in these conditions. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for being here.
We're looking forward to doing some things together. Thank you. Bye-bye. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today.
We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.