In Timothy Cheong’s blog post about Apple’s persevering brand, “Come Rain or Shine” Timothy highlights not only how the company’s beautiful, pristine and minimalist marketing, but also the lifestyle that it consequently sells, is impetus enough for customers to spend all night in the cold squalor of New York City just to be the first to experience the luxury that is the glassy New York flagship store.
Brand power, especially that of luxury brands, is no stranger to the average consumer, and vice versa. Everything about the marketing of a luxury good, from product, price, place, and promotion, is never about selling just a laptop or a handbag – it is to sell a lifestyle. Looking at the first of these four Ps, product, it goes without saying that luxury goods are often of higher tangible quality than average goods. How often has your Macbook fallen victim to a virus? When have you ever needed to repair the lining of a Chanel 2.55 purse? And of course, the price often reflects that. A Macbook Pro retails for anywhere from $1500-2300, whereas functioning non-Apple laptops can be found for as little as $250. In fashion, a designer t shirt can often cost 20 times what a GAP shirt costs. Where a product is clearly vital to building and selling a lifestyle of luxury – you will seldom (legally) find an iPhone for sale in anywhere other than an authorized Apple retailer. Likewise, high end boutiques will buy real estate in the most expensive and affluent parts of town to situate itself in the midst of an equally affluent clientele, and everybody who aspire to be as such.
Lastly, there is promotion. With very few exceptions, fashion houses shoot ad campaigns that not only feature their latest and most fabulous offerings, but it will also be on the arm of a beautiful girl, swooning against an equally beautiful man, on a beautiful yacht in the middle of somewhere very expensive and… you guessed it, beautiful. Throw all these components together, and you’ve got a lot more than a product to sell. If this lifestyle is a cult, then LVMH and Gucci Group are its top recruiters… And we’re all dying to get in.
