Luxury Brand Community Forums: a Look inside the Buyer’s Mind
August 3rd, 2008 | Author: Beth Harte
In the July/August issue of the AMA’s Marketing Management magazine there is an interesting article, “Wooing Luxury Customers,” by Suzanne Hader (Principal, 400twin). Suzanne covers a lot of great points such as what is luxury, what defines wealth, and what shapes luxury habits and how luxury brand customers look for a rich, emotional experience and great service rather than being ‘sold’ to.Not being a luxury brand marketer, I went on the hunt for other articles about luxury brand marketing and came across a few older items such as an article in Chief Marketer, a keynote on Luxury Branding Marketing and a scholarly article.
In reading all of these pieces, the one thing I consistently noticed is that the luxury brand marketing advice, for the most part, focuses on traditional marketing and branding—talking to the customer and creating an experience for the customer.
- The BMW Forum
(Members: 183,864, Threads: 978,328, Posts: 13,296,986)
- The Fashion Spot
(Members: 66,746, Threads: 45,987, Posts: 4,529,436)
- The Mercedes Forum
(Members: 33,931 , Posts: 105,042, Topics: 31,073)
- The Purse Forum
(Members: 128,573, Threads: 299,826, Posts: 7,153,120)
- The Rolex Forum
(Members: 14,970, Threads: 44,550, Posts: 685,615)
- international
- influential and persuasive
- passionate and loyal
- purchasers that range from extremely wealthy to average income
- brand experts that help to educate non-experts
- developing on-line friendships that lead to off-line meetings
- vocal about price, features and quality
- discussing off-line sales/service experiences and are relaying them on-line
If I were a luxury brand manager, the first thing I would do is tap into these forums and “listen” to what customers and potential customers are saying about my brand. The second thing I would do is determine who the loyal and influential brand experts are and engage them in meaningful conversation on- and off-line. The third thing I would do is implement their feedback. And finally, I would offer brand experts preliminary showings of all new product offerings and enlist them in word of mouth marketing via the forums or their blogs to create buzz prior to the products being released.
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Tags: 10 Responses to “Luxury Brand Community Forums: a Look inside the Buyer’s Mind”
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Excellent post, Beth, as usual. Luxury consumers are really just like everyone else, except they have a lot more money. They love their brands, like associating with people who have similar interests, and are wary of people they think might be trying to get into their pocketbook. I’ve done hundreds of focus groups with “rich” people, and what helps me get the most from them is to treat them just like everyone else. I treat the Mercedes groups just like the Chevy groups!
The “rich” get pitched a lot, and are suspicious of marketing and branding campaigns, yet those campaigns work in creating the mystique around a brand. It’s fun to listen to them aver that branding never works on them as they are sporting a Rolex “timepiece”!
Beth, I posted one year ago about luxury brands:
http://bizandbuzz.blogspot.com/2007/01/luxe-calme-et-volupt-part-1.html
http://bizandbuzz.blogspot.com/2007/02/luxe-calme-et-volupt-part-2.html
I do not share Frank point of view about luxury consumers being just like everyone else.
They have set higher life standard and do not want to be confused with the rest of us.
@gianandrea – sounds like Dale Earnhardt fans to me!
To clarify: irrespective of how they WANT to be viewed, I believe at their core, they are human and subject to the same fears, motivations and impulses as the rest of humanity. In my opinion, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs applies to them just as it does to everyone else, although they may be a little further up the pyramid than Joe Lunchbox.
The rich DO have a lot more people paying attention to them, for sure! Because we want some of what they have, and the return is better with them potentially that the same amount of effort applied to “Joe”.
This is why marketing is so much fun, right?
@FrankMartin, @Gianandrea, from what I have seen on these forums [and you'll have to trust me, unless you join them
] is that Frank is correct.
The people on these forums are EXTREMELY passionate about the brands they ’support’ (i.e. spend a lot of money on). Once again, social media (well, in this case a tool) is the great leveler. There are women who are beyond wealthy and they share their giddy excitement over a new purchase just like the ‘average Jane.’ And it’s global, not just folks in the US.
That was the point of my post. Luxury brand marketers need to rethink who their target audience is and how to target them. There are a lot of emotions in play. And I have seen ‘average’ folks buy a lot luxury items. It’s not just the uber-rich buying any more.
An excellent post – and one that clearly argues luxury consumers are affinity consumers, rather than simply status seekers. Clearly, influencers within each group are driven by internal passion, rather than solely by external marketing messaging.
I appreciate the insight and I look forward to using it with my clients going forward.
Happy new year to you –
——-
Leyla Farah
Cause+Effect PR
http://www.cause-pr.com/blog
Funny, as I was reading your post I couldn’t help but think of how these same concepts might impact the golf community, which has historically trended on the wealthier side.
This crowd is just as passionate. For many, buying new clubs or playing a new course (think Pebble Beach) is a visceral experience. Yet, I don’t see many of the larger players–Titleist, Addidas, Cobra–engaging their customers in online conversations about their brands. Maybe they’re just too entrenched in the face-to-face sell, but I would agree with your advice that if I were a brand manager for one of these companies I’d be out there listening to what my customers were saying about my brand–at the very least. That’s astute advice for a number of industries right now…
Arik Hanson’s last blog post..My New Year’s Resolutions: Five things I resolve not to do in 2009
Beth, great post on Luxury Brand Communities. I’ve previously studied them in the context of a new advertising initiative, and you’re spot on regarding the emotional aspect of decision making regarding luxury purchases. Affinities also tend to run deep, which is great when brand managers can capture the hearts of these consumers.
An Bui’s last blog post..Two Cents: Organizational Entropy & Information Abuse
Hi, Beth. It’s interesting to read about luxury when so much is being written about economizing, both consumer-oriented and business budget stretching.
I’ve studied consumer behavior (motivations, decision-making criteria, emotional connections) and concur with you and Frank as Maslow’s hierarchy applies to us all.
For me, the fascinating part of this topic could be the evaluation of our ‘needs’ filters and how we consumers rationalize purchases…after all, one man’s luxury is another man’s staple. In what categories is private label acceptable? Where would I absolutely never deign for imitation?
Furthermore, what about the area where luxury and indulgence converge or even overlap? One of my favorite resources (definitely an investment at the annual subscription price!) has been Iconoculture (http://iconoculture.com), which draws relationships between behaviors and trends and provides great insight into consumer interest and movement. In the past, some of their research has shown that indulgence is attainable by all due to its subjective and thus scalable nature–not to mention the psychological reasons we behave that way.
I’ve probably taken this a little into left field, but you guys got my mind going…thanks!
@LeylaFarah, @ArikHanson, @AnBui, and @HeatherRast…thank you so much for resurrecting this post and re-starting the conversation!
@ArikHanson, having worked in the private golf industry (marketing s/w to these folks), I can tell you that there is an interesting lag time for technology. Back in 2002 high-end golf courses didn’t even have email (most managers used their own AOL accounts). Without email, they couldn’t even communicate with members. Lots of snail mail and member bulletins. (And yes, I said 2002.) It would be interesting to see if things have changed over the last 6-7 years.
@HeatherRast, feel free to go off on your tangents, it’s okay… we always follow you anyway.
I think you are right about needs though…sometimes they are really wants generated by self-induced psychological pressures. I see that a lot in the forums…wanting to fit in, have a bag to show off, etc.
Bonjour
J’viens de m’souscrire sur le forum! Vous m’avez l’air d’un gang de passionnes de plein-air et de tourisme a quebec , je crois qu’on va reussir a s’entendre car je part en vacances cette ete au Saguenay!! Ça l’air magnifique
Tk, jvous re-ecris dans pas long..