Luxury Brand Management.

Luxury… Everybody wants it.., Don’t they?.. Don’t you?. I know I do and I know you do too. That’s exactly why you and me are working our arse’s off in a B-school or where ever that is you are to make our future “Luxurious”. But ever stopped and pondered…what the definition of “Luxury” is?...... Drawing a blank ,aren’t you?. Exactly…The concept itself is subjective. what is luxury for some is just ordinary for others .

What was meant only for gods a couple of years ago have become easily attainable to the average Joe. A couple of decades ago, you had to be on the queen's dinner invitee’s list to buy a Rolls and today…… Your neighborhood billionaire has two. Adding to this, the economic crisis, it has become ethically more dubious ‘to like luxury’ or ‘to pursue luxury’. Given this situation , how do you manage luxury brand?

The answer is Aspiration and Association.

Every marketer worth his salt knows what is aspiration and what it can do to their brand. Luxury brands tend to enjoy a certain aspirational value. This is what puts them on a different level altogether. The trick here is to balance the aspiration and attainability. Like CEO of Lamborghini, Stephan winkleman said “ The key to staying ahead in Luxury market is to always produce less than demand”. That pretty much explains the limited production runs of most luxury car brands and their exorbitant prices.

The second most important thing for any luxury brand is association. Luxury comes from ‘lux’ which means light in Latin. This is a typical character of luxury . It should shine and shimmer. It has to be seen by the customer and more importantly the people he is trying to impress. That is why luxury brands flaunt their brand signature. These are made to perfection and standout in a mélange of other brands and products.

Luxury brands should and must represent a certain lifestyle. A life of leisure, free of all working, money, time or space obligations. These brands tend to associate themselves with Sports, events or celebrities that complement these characteristics. Like Rolex’s association with Golf or chanel’s association with Milan Fashion Week and Aston Martin’s association with James bond. Each of these associations is not a random marketing exercise but a carefully chosen image booster.

Association is not just limited to tangible entities. Some luxury brands have carved themselves a niche by associating themselves to certain virtues and emotions. Swiss watches embody precision engineering, Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s stand for boundless passion, and any fashionista would swear by their French perfume.

The sum of all things is that people who buy luxury brands and products don’t just look for things like practicality or affordability and other things us lesser mortals worry about. What they want is character, individualism , personalization and snob value. It is not to say that they ignore the basics of any product such as quality etc. etc. Beyond all that, it has to play a classifying role which creates a restricted group that bond together and distinguishes itself from rest of the society.

Silence after the Storm..

Schumi is back in the driver’s seat, The dog in the Vodafone commercial is back, People have started drinking scotch instead of Rum. A sense of optimism has taken over the feeling of doom and despair we all were experiencing for while now. Things are definitely looking up.

Companies are slowly but surely wooing the b-school brigade again and with good reason. Most of the companies have posted profits this year. Mahindra &Mahindra posted a 152% increase in their profits. The Blue eyed boy of Indian economy (IT Industry) who was hit by the global epidemic and was bedridden for quite some time now is showing signs of recovery and progress.

So, why am I telling you things that you already know?

Everything looks hunky dory on the top but dig a little deeper and you will see the real story. Yes, The Company has posted a triple digit increase in profit percentage but how much of that actually translates to real money.

Let me make it simple. One of us has a CGPA of 1.6 till the last term. This term he gets a 3.0. It is a 100% increase in his Grades. But what will be his real CGPA at the end of this term?
I hope you get the point.

Naironomics says: Read between the lines, not just through them.