Marketing

Keeping to Your Mission with Counterintuitive Marketing Approaches

30-day Challenge – Day 20

A while back, our business school, the Mason School of Business, was visited by Tetsuya O’ Hara, the Director of Advanced R&D. It was a momentous visit especially for students  who had never heard of this manufacturer of outdoor gear and apparel.

One thing Tetsuya told us about the company, was in regards to the new marketing campaign it was executing. Basically, Patagonia was asking its customers not to buy its products – for environmental reasons. As a professional in the luxury market, this certainly looks like a great way to market your product. However, there is some sincerity behind the company’s plea.

You should check out the ad here. Also look at the company’s blog post, explaining their rationale for the ad in more detail. Check out the comments as well.

The Pulse of Luxury

30-day Challenge – Day 19

As long as time continues, tastes will change, new desires will emerge, and premium goods and services will be valued above their regular substitutes. However, the definition of luxury will be a moving target depending on cyclical economic patterns and societal mores on the exhibition on wealth.

I have been reading a couple of books to help my thought on luxury and they all say the same things differently. Most of those books were published in times when special circumstances were affecting the luxury market (think 2001 dot-com bust or the 2007 housing bubble).The intention of this post is to bring attention to one of those varied views on luxury, but this one is important because, unlike the books I’ve been reading, this perspective has its relevance in the now, and it is supported by empirical data.

Ipsos Mendelsohn is an international market research company ranked high in the global playing field. For the past 35 years, the company has put out its annual Affluent Survey, a study of affluent households (incomes of $100,000 or more) in the US. The survey has been a key reference for many luxury brands because it is considered a reliable measure of the pulse of the US luxury consumer.

As a side note, I will say that the definition of affluent doesn’t seem to have changed in the last 7 years. Most, if not all of the books I have been reading use the same income definition. I wonder if we should think about changing that number especially because of the effect of inflation, or the fact that some luxury items are no longer accesible by just the wealthy – but I digress.

The results of the latest Affluent Survey warrant a view not just from those currently in the industry, but also from people looking to get hired in the space. These results may not tell you what the next best innovation will be, but if you are truly passionate about serving this specific segment of consumers, it might be useful to draw upon these insights in your interviews and casual conversations with luxe professionals.

I wouldn’t recommend anything I haven’t tried, so be rest assured your reading time will be well spent on these publications. You can get the gist of the survey in two different ways:

Let me know if you see something unique or worthy of comment.

Remember the 4Ps of marketing? Well here are the 4Es.

30-day Challenge – Day 16

The fact that I’m currently traveling in NY is no excuse to miss out on making my 15th post in the 30-day challenge. However, as I type this post on my mobile phone, from a cab going down E 57th, I must say that I will be rather brief today.

From time to time I get emails from friends, faculty, and strangers about interesting articles on luxury products and services. A good friend of mine, Eric sent me an article by Duke Greenhill, founder and CEO of Greenhill+Partners, an agency for bespoke luxury brand marketing.

We have all learned about the 4Ps of marketing. In fact, I think some marketing nerds might have it tattooed on their foreheads. In his post on Mashable.com, Duke discusses the 4Es. I read it and believe it is worth the time it takes you to click the links above . At the least, you can add another marketing acronym to your bag of buzz terms.

You can now congratulate me on my first mobile post from a yellow cab (now on W 57th). See you tomorrow.

Leaders in Luxury: A Series of Insights

30-day Challenge – Day 15

I am devoting today’s post to Leaders in Luxury, a series of insights from esteemed professionals leading global luxury brands. My thanks go out to FT.com for making these available. Enjoy…

Sung-Joo Kim, head of MCM Group, on her career and the business of luxury

Leonard Lauder, Chairman Emeritus of Estee Lauder on the next luxury consumers.

Differentiating Upscale Hospitality Series: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

30-day Challenge – Day 14

If you have been in touch with much of the happenings in hospitality, then you would have noticed a huge emphasis on rolling out more value-added services to complement the commoditized room revenue segment.  Over the past year, one of the hotel and travel components being actively pursued by hospitality groups, developers, and licensees alike, has been spa services.

I can’t remember where I heard or read it, but someone once said something very profound about luxury brands:

Luxury brands don’t discount, they add value.

Continue reading →

Differentiating Upscale Hospitality Series: Ritz-Carlton

30-day Challenge – Day 13

An image from the Ritz-Carlton "Let Us" video

Today, I am going to highlight an ingenious new brand platform put out by Ritz-Carlton. If you don’t want to read the post and just get to the core of an exciting and counterintuitive differentiation strategy, play the video below.

Continue reading →

Differentiating Upscale Hospitality Series: Orient Express

30-day Challenge – Day 12

Today, I am looking at emerging themes in luxury with a focus on the hospitality industry. With rooms becoming commoditized, hotels have but one option to capture the hearts of its customers – differentiate. How do you differentiate one luxury hotel brand from another? Well, for starters we are way past thread counts, serving sumptuous breakfasts, and delivering the morning newspaper. Upscale hotels are having to differente themselves on the experiences they can provide their guests. In the next posts, I’ll talk about how some hotel groups are doing just that. We’ll kick off the series with Orient Express.  Continue reading →

Sustainability – The New Dimension of Luxury

30-day Challenge – Day 11

Over the course of writing this blog, I have learned a lot by covering the evolving themes in the business landscape occupied by premium brands.

For any of my readers interested in working in the luxe space, these themes are what I believe will dictate and most possibly define their success. I have talked about luxe-related issues ranging from social media to responsible business. Today I want to talk about sustainability. If you have already got a dose of this in my earlier posts, then I am re-emphasizing it in light of recent news articles highlighting how some brands are introducing sustainability in their corporate strategies.

Who would have ever known that acclaimed jeweler, Tiffany, would build a dedicated web page to highlight its efforts in corporate social responsibility (CSR); or that the renowned Peninsula Hotels would make a bold (and maybe costly) decision to stop serving shark fin in its restaurants?

Well, its happening all around us today. Whether or not you believe in the sincerity of these varying corporate initiatives, sustainability is no longer a matter of lip-service. Brands are actually paying attention to many of the concerns of consumers. In his opinion piece on luxurysociety.com, Leslie Pascaud, Director of Added Value Paris, discusses why luxury brands should and will embrace sustainability in the near future. See the article here.

Focus, Focus, Focus – A Great Co-branding Strategy

30-day Challenge – Day 10



Yesterday, I wrote an entry about a questionable co-branding effort. Today, I want to write about what I believe is an absolutely ingenious co-branding initiative between Mercedez-Benz (MB) and American Express (AXP). Continue reading →

Questionable Co-branding

30-day Challenge – Day 9

One thing that I highly admire about companies in the luxury segment of any product or service category is the uncompromising passion with which they pursue their strategic goals. I have never been a fan of trying to be everything to every consumer because it is not always an efficient way to drive your business. However, I do believe in leveraging your brand in any way possible to reach your current and future customers. That brings us to today’s topic on co-branding. Continue reading →

The New Luxury – Custom/Bespoke

30-day Challenge – Day 8

The term “luxury” evokes a multitude of disparate meanings for different people. For some luxury is synonymous with “expensive”. For others it can be associated with “unique”, “exotic”, “rare”, “sophisticated”, or “exclusive”. However, I want to make you aware of two words that I feel are most synonymous with the definition of luxury today – “custom” and “bespoke”. Continue reading →

A Chat with Steve Sadove, CEO of Saks, Inc.

Edmund Amoye with Steve Sadove (right) at HBS - 04/2011

Since assuming the leadership role at the Luxury and Retail Club at the Mason School of Business, I have had the opportunity to network with executives from different segments of the luxury and retail industry. My most meaningful encounter occurred in April, 2011 when I met Steve Sadove, CEO at Saks, Inc. at the annual Retail and Luxury Conference at Harvard Business School. I kept in touch with him over the summer, and last month (Oct. 2011), Mr. Sadove (SS) spoke to me (EA) in his New York office about leadership, his company and industry, customer trends, career opportunities, and the job of CEO at a company with a market capitalization of about $1.7B (11/7/11). Below are excerpts from our conversation. Continue reading →

Fine Wines and Luxurious Accommodations in Virginia

Luxury and Retail Club members with Kristen Duffeler (5th from left)

Pictures

Last Friday (10/28/11) the Luxury and Retail Club (at The Mason School of Business) went on a company visit to The Williamsburg Winery and Wedmore Place located at 5800 Wessex Hundred, Williamsburg, VA. As a club, we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sample wines from the largest winery in the state of Virginia; and see the luxurious accommodations at a European style hotel. We also found out more about the hospitality, and the wine & spirits business segments. Our itinerary for the day included: a tour of Wedmore Place with Kristen Duffeler (GM of Wedmore Place and In-house Counsel for The Williamsburg Winery); a tour of The Williamsburg Winery with Courtney Darden (Assistant VP of Marketing, The Williamsburg Winery); and a Q&A session with the Patrick Duffeler I (family patriarch and founder of The Williamsburg Winery and Wedmore Place) and Patrick Duffeler II (current President & COO of The Williamsburg Winery).

Continue reading →

Resource – Digital Strategies for Luxury Brands

Here is an interesting slideshow I found about how you can leverage digitized strategies for luxury brands. Enjoy…