Luxury Travel, Lifestyle and Marketing Trends

Brand extensions have worked for some of the world’s most respected luxury brands. Ferrari sells cars, and that’s what everyone knows them for. But they’ve also very good at selling a variety of other products under the Ferrari logo. This has not jeopardized the brand because consumers can differentiate between these categories but it only works because Ferrari is not compromising on the status and luxury level of their cars or their brand extensions – and this is the reason why diversification works very well for Ferrari.

Picture this: insurance salesmen visiting a Ritz-Carlton hotel to immerse themselves in a luxury experience, followed by a presentation by the HR department on “How to Treat Ladies and Gentlemen”. That’s what Mike Weinberg of Gateway Insurance did with his sales teams to help instill a service ethic that’s critical in dealing with the ever more demanding affluent customer.

For a long time, the marketing focus has been on women’s purchasing power and their importance in making household purchasing decisions. While this still remains true, men are changing and are coming into their own. Male consumers, Gen Y and Boomers in particular, are now spending $246 billion a year on luxury clothes and accessories. They’re embracing design, fashion, pampering and making more vanity purchases than ever before.

Eye opening facts for affluent brands: Generation Y (born 1977-1994) is the biggest generation in U.S. history and represents the largest consumer group in U.S. history – an estimated 83 million strong or roughly 25% of the U.S. population.

99% vs. 1% was the rallying cry behind the Occupy movement. Despite this, the richest elite haven’t been shamed into downsizing their purchases. From mega real estate and new luxury magazines targeting wealthy men, to haute bijouterie and one-of-a-kind travel experiences, unapologetically expensive purchases are back in fashion. There’s one caveat: buy what you want but don’t flaunt it.

Latina Mom Bloggers have grown into powerful niche and are a social media force to be reckoned with, which is why marketers should care about their reach, influence and spending power.

Every few years a hotel or hotel company comes up with women only floors which sometimes command a higher price and never seem to do well in the long term. Why? Often they focus on amenities like magnifying mirrors in the rooms, special hangers and bathrobes. In sum, things that men might like as well.

How to make a historic monument sizzle (figuratively and literally)? As described in The New Yorker, Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces (UK), which runs Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, the Tower of London and others, has come up with a crowd pleasing idea: recreating 230 years of royal cooking and entertainment for visitors with food and drink.

Nobody’s perfect. Not even brands. But in today’s world, brands aren’t expected to be perfect. Challenging times (the economy) see people craving care, empathy, sympathy and generosity. It has them longing to see the human side of brands and institutions that care. This coupled with a young, online culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in vast numbers…. look for an emergence of businesses that are more socially, ethically and environmentally responsible. Businesses that present transparency, personality and celebrate their flaws will win.

It comes as no surprise that with the explosion of content marketing (the “now” frontier in marketing) comes an entirely new set of challenges and opportunities for marketers and pr firms. Brand journalism is a variation of content marketing that we think is best described as an “an editorial approach to brand building.” Companies are going into the news business by publishing content, reporting their own news without using the traditional push approach. It’s being driven by a desire to add creditability and add value to a brand by telling stories that makes readers want to know more.