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title: What makes a luxury brand luxury?

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# What makes a luxury brand luxury?

## Notes from research
- luxury isn't a product or a price point, it's a mindset
- there's a difference between a strong brand image, and luxury
- Haute Couture & RTW & Luxury
    - Luxury fashion brands vary in their degree of exclusivity, where Haute Couture involves the highest level of scarcity with very few pieces for select few customers and RTW have a broader market with standardized products.
    - high-end custom fitted luxury fashion built from hand start to finish
- [It’s not the rich that fuel the luxury sector](https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/global-markets/the-rich-dont-drive-the-luxury-sector), it is actually people who aspire to belong to this segment.
	- Luxury is hard to define; it's expensive but not overpriced. It's high-quality and long-lasting, but futuristic. It's aesthetically pleasing but unique. It's not only rare but also difficult to access. It's service-minded but elitist. Luxury is a belief that relies upon elucidation.
	- luxury market has changed and changed dramatically, from the go-go years prior to 2007
		- bitcoin was made in 2009
		- are these corelated?
	- The ten luxury brand values as defined by Danziger are superior performance, craftsmanship, exclusivity, innovation, sense of place & time, sophistication & design aesthetic, creative expression, relevance, heritage, and responsibility.
	- breakdown
		- price
			- high price, high value - simple
			- Remember that people are far-readier to dismiss a brand as an overpriced version of what they'd buy otherwise. That doesn't equate to luxury in their minds. You have to offer more.
		- quality
			- Now we're getting somewhere. Luxury products will tend to do more, be made of higher-grade materials, and last longer than their competition. The touch of authentic craftsmanship is second to none for luxury brands. Customers desire products and services done by top professionals with the highest quality. This can often be immediately recognizable, which sets luxury brands apart. If any of these is disproved in the minds of your target customers, the perception of your brand can slip from “luxury” to “scam” overnight.
			- provenance would speak louder if combined with luxury because only the people who are sold on the idea of luxury would be sold on the idea of provenance
		- aesthetic
			- Luxury is a statement of identity. It's rarer, so being seen with a luxury brand identifies you in a way that's separate from more common items. The look of a luxury item should communicate its stature and uniqueness. Customers long to identify with brands that celebrate their own sophistication with excellent design and aesthetics. The aesthetic a luxury brand presents should communicate the quality underlying it.
			- I want to be noticed not only because I want people to notice the thing, I want people to notice what ***I** saw* in that thing -- notice the "I" is very important here. At some level I think it's the same part of the brain that lights up with people put up lyrics as their status update or an audioclip as their story -- at some level they want people to listen to the song - it might just be that in some cases, but if it's a specific part of the song as the status, not just they like the song + they def want people to notice what *they* noticed
		- meaning
			- Luxury has to be built on reality. Increased ability, better materials, and durability are all real. The price reflects the increased expense of incorporating these elements into a luxury product. The look is created to set these qualities apart in a distinctive way. These things are real. Yet luxury is also a belief. Many luxury brands don't succeed because they don't get enough of their target market to believe in that brand's meaning. What gives your luxury brand meaning that's more enjoyable to a customer than the next luxury brand? They have to access some meaning through your brand that they can't find elsewhere.
			- hmm a bit confused about this one.. not sure how exactly do we need to attach meaning. -- maybe this is equivalent to a "story" in NFT marketing
		- Rarity -- ⭐⭐⭐
			- Many beautiful, capable, and well-made products are viewed as very common because their brands make their profit through accessibility. They aren't viewed as luxury items because they're common and easy to own. The final component of a luxury product is its rarity. If it's difficult to access or own, it's luxurious. Some intricately designed products with decades of engineering aren't luxury items because they're numerous. And some rocks that come from the ground and do nothing but sit there are valuable because they're rare.
			- making something unique - difficult to produce - that's a given - doesnt need proving
			- eg, NFTs being rare because of their code - not truly convincing to the level of glyphs (or handmade stuff)
		- Service, loyalty
			- connecting with your customer. Customer would always put way more trust in the brand after paying for the thing. As a "Luxury" brand you ***have*** to live up to the trust
			- Finally, no [luxury brand identity](https://blog.thatagency.com/how-to-build-a-luxury-brand) can neglect the service element that backs its product. Few things will devalue your brand in the mind of a customer faster than having to talk to an automated system instead of a real person or waiting two weeks for a response to a complaint. The expense spent on luxury means that an element of high-quality service is expected.
			- This also creates a relationship between a customer and a brand. Brand loyalty comes from repeated positive experiences. Communication shouldn't just occur when there's something wrong. It should occur when everything's right, to reinforce that everything's right and there are more opportunities available for that to be reinforced.
				- I kinda disagree here. I actually think communication isn't necessary at all. Best of the best things are invisible, they don't shout about their existence - for the customer. 1:M is great! as mentioned in the next point...
			- Luxury customers spare no opportunity to lavish, and demand that the brands they support do the same—just in a different way. Social and economic ethics are crucial to luxury customers and connecting with brands who feel the same. When a luxury brand owns its social responsibility, helps improve its communities, and does good in its industry, the customer can comfortably support the brand
				- social media presence is almost like the customer's social media presence. they not only associate themselves with the brand they want people to look at the brand's social media and associate some part of their personality with it. it's a two-way relationship. They are you, you are them
		- exclusivity
			- Luxury brands connect with customers by making them feel special and unique through the presentation of a special, unique experience. [Exclusivity today is less about excluding people from enjoying the brand or limiting access; rather, it is about making customers and brand loyalists feel a member of an exclusive community linked by shared values and ideals](https://brandingstrategyinsider.com/building-luxury-brands-with-abundant-rarity/).
		- innovation - vision
			- present consumers a new vision to *consume*. more than the thing, they are ready to consume a new idea. what can they associate with? (steve jobs' apple marketing, adolfo's sustainability, hermes birkin?)
		- sense of place and time
			- Luxury brands connect by being both timely, grounded in the here and now, and timeless, transcending time from the past to the future.
		- sophistication and design aesthetic
			- **Sophistication And Design Aesthetic** – Luxury brands connect with an appreciation of the customers’ sophistication celebrated through the brand’s unique design aesthetic.
		- ⭐⭐ Desire
			- “Luxury is a love affair that starts long before you buy the thing you’ve been dreaming of – you fall in love with the fascinating stories brands tell, and the magic and enchantment weaves around you,” explains Brocklebank. “In the UK, Manolo Blahnik has done this brilliantly by finding clever and compelling ways to bring to life Mr Blahnik’s artistry and creativity. In the wider luxury world, Chanel creates desire like no one else. You fall in love with the magic of Coco herself. Every single product, whether a lipstick or a 2.55 handbag or an iconic tweed jacket, comes back to her story.”
	- The main factor that makes a luxury brand is how **exclusive** it can be.
	- Of course it’s a given that luxury brands will be of high quality, but that can also be achieved by premium brands, which provide high quality and seek to sell to everyone who can afford it.
	- Luxury brands, on the other side, do not seek to serve the masses, nor do they want their products to be readily available, [even at high prices](https://www.whowhatwear.com/how-to-buy-an-hermes-bag/slide2). Scarcity is key when it comes to luxury marketing, and this is what makes it aspirational in the first place.
	- case studies
		- hermes birkin bag
			- Absolutely, an Hermès bag is an investment. The minute you drive your new Birkin off the Hermès lot (or walk out the front doors of an Hermès boutique with your new bag in hand), it goes up in value by thousands, depending on the specs of the bag. It’s important to remember that some investments are better than others. When buying and selling houses or Hermès bags, you can make or lose money. Success depends on timing, the scarcity of the style, the condition, the age of the bag, and your purchase price.
				- QUES: how can we do this with code? how can we create value once it's bought? up only!
			- There are quite a few smaller Hermès handbags readily available on its website, like the Aline mini for $1875. A standard Birkin 30 runs over $10,000 or significantly more, depending on the type of leather or material. The same bag in crocodile or alligator retails at three to four times that. The problem isn’t only that Hermès makes it very difficult to get your hands on a Birkin, but it also limits the number of Birkins you can buy per year. This hyper-limited supply and pent-up demand have created a robust resale market.
			- Obviously, you can buy most Hermès bags straight from Hermès. It may take you a while, but you can buy a Birkin straight from the boutique. You just can’t walk into an Hermès boutique and buy a Birkin immediately. It must be ordered, and there is a waiting list. You also can’t buy the Birkin, Kelly, or most of Hermès’s more iconic styles online. So if you want a Birkin or Constance, for example, and you live in Biloxi, Mississippi, you will need to drive to Atlanta, Georgia, or Houston, Texas, to buy your bag from Hermès. But when you buy from Fashionphile, there are no waiting lists, and everything is available online.
			- **THE VALUE -- that it increases - has NOTHING to do with quality or the thing, it has everything to do with the immediacy with which you get the product.** 
		- burberry trench coat
		- bentley motor
		- crypto punks
		- crypto coven
	- retail and conglomerates
		- Luxury [retail](https://www.retaildogma.com/what-is-retail/) groups usually produce a number of luxury brands under their umbrella across various retail segments. These include fashion, beauty, accessories and beverages. The majority of the luxury segment in retail is consolidated under a few conglomerates.
		- For example, [LVMH](https://www.lvmh.com/) is a conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, and owns some of the most popular luxury brands, such as **Louis Vuitton**, **Fendi**, **Christian Dior**, **Givenchy** & **Marc Jacobs**.
		- **See a List of: [Luxury Fashion Brands](https://www.retaildogma.com/luxury-fashion-brands/)** and the conglomerates they belong to
		- Another player is the [Richemont](https://www.richemont.com/en/home/) group, which owns brands such as **Cartier**, **Van Cleef & Arpels** & **Mont Blanc**.
		- ![[Pasted image 20230403003841.png]]
	- open question - How does this connect with the emerging digital fashion trend
	- Who is buying these?
		- Despite popular belief, demand for personal luxury goods is driven primarily by upwardly mobile 'new money' — not by the 'old money' rich, argues Luca Solca.
	- Luxury market and the future 
		- In a survey conducted with over 600 luxury retailers and marketers by Unity Marketing and _Luxury Daily_, industry insiders identified that the very definition of luxury changing is the No. 1 threat to disrupting the business of luxury. Increasingly, luxury is becoming irrelevant with the result, as this insider said, “Luxury retailers and brands have lost their way.”
		- The luxury industry has an identity crisis. "The idea that luxury matters less and less to young people is a concern as they will define what luxury means versus brands defining it via marketing efforts"
- Luxury Marketing
	- When it comes to luxury marketing however, brands don’t chase the customer; the customer chases the brand. 
	- Instead of following these general marketing principles, marketing luxury products requires a unique method of crafting an elevated story and telling that story in exclusive ways.
	- Essentially, luxury marketing differs from everyday products in this fundamental way: **their objective is not just to sell, but to create a lifestyle.**
	- **Luxury brands don’t sell products, they sell dreams**
- yet to read
	- https://brandingstrategyinsider.com/building-luxury-brands-with-abundant-rarity/
	- https://brandingstrategyinsider.com/10558/
	- https://brandingstrategyinsider.com/the-difference-between-prestige-and-luxury-brands/
 	- case study: https://www.erewhonmarket.com/ -- food, strong brand image


personal? 
