Luxury Brand Advertising in Two Waters

Managing and marketing a luxury brand must be done in an altogether different manner to budget or medium-range businesses.

Competition in this sector is high, and difficult, with reputation and word-of-mouth taking centre stage in a way that doesn’t happen for lower value brands.

Advertising, marketing and talking to both potential and existing customers must be managed in a specialised, targeted way so that brand advertising reflects the quality and aspiration of the product at all times. At PromoMedia we work with luxury brands and high-end retailers, putting together bespoke campaigns using a variety of different media channels.

Contact our experienced teams to talk about how we can help create and maintain positive perceptions about your products across the UK market. 

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What is Luxury Marketing?

Put simply it is the promotion and marketing of luxury brands and products, these typically include high-end fashion items including: 

• Clothes

• Watches

• Shoes

• Bags

• Perfumes and cosmetics

• Sports cars

Advertising in the sector is specialised and often encompasses mass market approaches with stunning campaigns - more often than not with striking visual artwork. No expense is spared and often these brands are recognised the world over.   

Advertising a Luxury Brand

Luxury brands target a very specific audience and must speak to the audience in a way that is respectful and never patronising. Indeed, high-net-worth audiences often do not like being advertised to; for example, how often do you see Ferrari marketed in mass media?

High-end brands must rely on a solid and respectable reputation alongside a differentiated and strong brand look, feel and message.

In so many cases, these brands should nurture beliefs rather than just values and must always have exemplary and consistent branding. A well-structured marketing strategy should be put together. To achieve all of this is no mean feat and specialist attention is needed. PromoMedia can help you build and manage a brand from scratch or from an existing market position to ensure the success of your company and product.

With luxury brand marketing you need to be instantly recognisable, desirable and aspirational, but trusted: and we can implement this unique mix to achieve success. 

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Marketing Which Effectively Appeals to a Luxury Brand Audience

To negate the fact that a high-end audience doesn’t need luxury brands message dictated and ‘fed’ to them, in the traditional sense of marketing, your communications should instead invoke a sense of quality and lifestyle. This is completely different from the standard “this is our new product, look how great it is” marketing messages you see daily from more everyday brands.

For example, Chanel will never promote an individual new coat but think about them and you’ll instead conjure up images of pearls, No5 perfume and quilted bags. This invocation is luxurious and sleek and synonymous with high quality, expense and opulence. It’s aspirational already, and yet the brand hasn’t given you any direct information on any product or service!

Luxury Branding Marketing Options

Speaking to a high-net-worth audience should be experiential and never just ‘another ad’.

Traditional channels and the conventional marketing mix should be carefully considered and present a brand picture that’s aspirational and expensive is important: it’s unlikely a snap decision purchase will be made and so your company needs to be seen in prime locations to reinforce quality and build recognisability and longstanding appeal. Out of Home options are therefore favoured: 

• Premium billboard sites are often favoured in key and iconic locations, read more on billboard advertising.  

• London Underground Advertising - is a favourite, seen by millions of people living in the capital and global visitors, this form of advertising send a positive and bold message, read more on London Underground advertising.  

• Advertising in airports - which have international travellers and many high-end, luxury outlets, often travellers have time to spare as well. Read more on airport advertising options here.  

• Digital marketing - suitable for any campaign, digital options can be targeted based on locations and demographics. Read more on digital options here. 

Point of Purchase Marketing

The point of purchase must be made extra special and experiential for the customer, acting as a ‘temple’ for discerning consumers and the relationship elevated to much more than just a standard transaction. Examples of this include Nespresso, who have tasting bars within their stores and Prada, whose shops are considered ‘epicentres’ for experimental shopping.

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Luxury Good Events

Events (and particularly exclusive events) can be held for both potential and existing customers to reinforce to them the brand’s message without being considered a direct sale. These should be focused on an indulgence or extravagance and should deliver an experience that is seamless, flawless and memorable: creating a positive image in the mind of the consumer so that when they do come to make a buying decision, they think of you.

Flash Sales

For a more clear-cut sales event without the pressure, exclusive ‘flash sales’ or ‘special sales events’ can extend an invitation to purchase without coming across too sales-y. These messages must be extremely carefully managed, however, and the media planning teams at PromoMedia will be able to help advise you and manage this process.

Retail Press Ads

There are numerous publications aimed at high-net-worth individuals, but for the most part, these are extremely segmented and vigorously targeted; so, care must be taken when selecting them! Adverts in luxury print publications should be image-based: consider the 10-15 pages of adverts at the front of Vogue magazine.

None contain specific product or service information, but all a fancy image, sleek logo and subtle messaging. Such ads should be carefully crafted both graphic and messaging-wise. PromoMedia are able to not just advise, but design and place these for you for maximum success.

Experimental Marketing

True luxury need not be directly communicated but instead experienced.

Consumers in Two Waters like to feel both wanted and included, and nurturing this relationship can be beneficial not just to sales and sales value, but also a customer’s lifetime value. A great example of this is Rolls Royce, who don’t advertise their quality but instead invite selected customers into their manufacturing plant and let them see for themselves the care and effort taken.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. "How do luxury brands advertise?" Advertising tends to be big, bold and confident - typically iconic outdoor advertising sites and heavyweight television advertising is used, to convey scale and aspiration. 

2. "How do you make a luxury brand?" It must be approached differently from more mass-market options and anything that is considered cheap or mainstream should be discounted, think confident - TV, outdoor and radio - they all send the correct messages to all concerned. 

3. "How do I create a premium brand?" - Time, energy, quality and look. It's not something that can be achieved quickly or overnight. If you focus on quality from the start, that is the best chance you have. Think of the cliche, "build it and they will come". 

Summary

Several market sectors within the market are becoming crowded, and only the strongest luxury brands survive. Differentiation is key; after all, there’s only so many cashmere sweaters one can own, but there are hundreds of clothing brands on the market, and they’re all being bought from!

Realistically, very few people hit high-net-worth levels during their lifetime, and for many, it’s a temporary situation. Therefore, despite luxury brands launching every day, the market for them to sell into isn’t growing at the same rate.

There are many external factors contributing to this and the current economic uncertainty isn’t helping things. Of course, there will always be a small percentage of individuals for whom wealth is a certainty and they will always spend, but this is a limited market and not one to be depended upon unless you are already extremely well established with an existing loyal customer base.

To best establish your distinct luxury brands voice, imagery and messaging, it’s imperative to enlist experts who know the space and the customers within it. 

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If you are looking to promote your high-end product or service across the UK contact us today and one of our experienced and friendly team members will call you to discuss the various options available to you, putting together a bespoke campaign to see both your sales and public awareness grow. 

We look forward to working with you. 

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