Luxury. The word itself conjures images of a special world, a place a lot of people strive for but very few can actually attain. When implementing digital marketing campaigns high-end brands need to keep this in mind. A huge part of their lure is that their products are what average people desire or covet but can’t quite attain.
You may be asking yourself, is there a place in today’s digital space for luxury brands and if so, where? The answer is: absolutely. In fact, some of the most innovative digital marketers include brands such as Jimmy Choo, Mercedes Benz and Barneys New York. Jimmy Choo not only has a drool-worthy website for any shoe-loving female (which let’s be honest, is almost all of us), they also started their own social network for real life style-makers to post and share pictures of themselves wearing their Jimmy Choo’s http://www.choo247.com/. Jimmy Choo has an innovate website but are way behind companies like Mercedes and Barneys in the mobile marketplace. The mobile site http://m.mbusa.com has been so successful, in one year Mercedes Benz has seen a 170% increase in their mobile traffic, as reported by their mobile agency. Barneys just launched an optimized site that makes shopping for that $1000 sweater you’ve had your eye on easy (scary easy). These are perfect examples of high end luxury companies using digital to compliment their business, drive sales and give their customers that little something extra, that they have come to expect from these brands.
What makes these luxury brands different is that they recognize the key to selling luxury is about telling a compelling story, regardless whether the customer is online or off. A story that takes the viewers on a journey, enticing them, appealing to their emotion side and making them not only able to picture themselves living this fabulous lifestyle, but thinking they need to have this shoe, handbag, car, watch, vacation or whatever the specific brand is trying to sell. When it comes down to it, the only thing they really have to sell is “desire”.
The nuts and bolts of the technology itself must be unique and cutting edge. Luxury brands need to engage people while giving them something they have never seen before. It should feel special, elite, beautiful and elegant; complimenting their products and keeping people interested and coming back. In today’s world there are so many digital possibilities. It could be a microsite following a designer around the world for inspiration, or using virtual reality so the customer can see how magnificent they would look in an outfit, an app that the client can use in-store to get more information on the product, or even something as simple as equipping sales people with an ipad so they have tools to provide the very best customer service imaginable. The idea is to make every single person that comes to their website, mobile site, app and the physical store feel amazing and allow them to dare to dream that they can someday be strutting down the streets knowing they have made it.
The best digital strategy for luxury brands is one that makes people feel special and makes them believe that they are worth it and that the product itself is so unique, so elusive that they just have to have it! At Inflexion, we leverage the web and state-of-the-art technologies to help luxury brands tell these compelling stories to the right people at the right time.
Inflexion has been a frequent contributor to Luxury Daily, the news leader in luxury marketing. Check out some of our recent articles on brands and retailers such as: Gucci, Rolls-Royce, Lexus, Louis-Vuitton, BMW, Harrods, Christian Dior and many more!
