What Emerging Brands Can Learn From AMAN’s Anti-Formula Approach to Luxury

I read an article this week about AMAN, and it encouraged me to look closer at how the brand has stayed committed to the same principles it began with in 1988. Not because a product brand should try to behave like a luxury resort, but because AMAN’s approach reveals strategic ideas that can inspire clearer thinking for early-stage founders.

The goal is not to compare the two categories directly. Hospitality and product operate with entirely different needs and realities. Instead, the goal is to look at the principles underneath AMAN’s decisions and explore how those principles might spark perspective shifts for brands navigating growth.

---

Starting With a Core (And Protecting It Over Time)

From its first property, AMAN defined its identity with a level of clarity that most brands do not fully articulate until much later. Their core began with:

• connection to place
• a simple and uncluttered experience
• an atmosphere shaped by the environment, not by category expectations

What stands out is not just that AMAN established these values, but that these values have guided the next 36 years of intentional growth.

A product brand cannot map this model directly. But the principle is transferable. When a brand defines its non-negotiables early and protects them consistently, those intentions shape future decisions in a way that feels more aligned and less reactive.

---

Letting the Setting Shape the Experience

One idea that stayed with me is how AMAN allows the setting to guide the experience. Natural sound, texture, light, and pace are not overwritten by a standard “luxury formula.” They are allowed to influence how a guest feels.

I am not suggesting product brands recreate this literally. Instead, the principle is this:

Your brand’s world can inform the experience just as powerfully as the category’s norms.

For founders, this becomes a helpful question:

How can your origin, materials, or environment shape the way customers experience your brand?

Rather than defaulting to the packaging, unboxing, or brand flow that most companies repeat, there is room to design something more grounded in your own world and the world you are creating around your brand.

Differentiation does not always come from inventing something new.
Sometimes it comes from elevating something that is already authentic to you.
And today, more than ever, it is the subtle nuances that set brands apart — the small details that communicate intention without needing to be loud.

---

Connection Cannot Come From a Formula

One point in the article really stood out to me. The author noted that “scripted service performs luxury rather than providing it.”

This idea does not directly translate into product. But the underlying principle does: formulas create predictability, not connection.

You can see formulas everywhere:

• the standard customer journey
• the expected unboxing moment
• the familiar purchase-to-email sequence
• the common tone brands use to signal “premium”

None of these are inherently wrong.
But when a brand relies on them entirely, the experience starts to feel borrowed instead of owned.

Real connection comes from intention, not repetition.

---

The Pricing Choice That Many Brands Miss

AMAN’s perspective on pricing is another area worth observing. They have never used price as a short-term tactic. No seasonal cycling. No training guests to wait for a sale.

A product brand cannot copy this literally. But the principle matters.

Discounting is not just a number. It shapes behavior.
When promotions become the primary driver of demand, the long-term cost is customer expectation.

Intentional brands consider what their pricing communicates and choose their patterns with clarity.

---

Takeaways for Emerging Founders

AMAN is a luxury hospitality brand with a completely different business model from product. But the principles behind its growth offer something valuable: a reminder that clarity, restraint, and consistency can create differentiation in any category.

As you think about your own brand, consider these questions:

• What parts of your brand’s core are truly non-negotiable?
• How can your origin or environment influence your customer experience in a way that feels distinct?
• Where are you relying on category formulas that no longer serve your brand?
• How does your pricing communicate your brand’s intention and long-term positioning?
• And most importantly, what does it look like to grow with clarity rather than pressure?

Intentionality is not the same as slowness.
It is the discipline to build from clarity rather than reaction.

And when your brand grows from clarity, growth becomes more aligned.

---

About the Author

Ava Ghiotti is a NYC-based Creative Brand Strategist working with emerging product brands across lifestyle, swim, beauty, and home. Her work centers on helping founders strengthen their brand core, refine their customer experience, and approach sales and pitching with clarity amid rapidly shifting consumer buying habits and the growing influence of social commerce.