Advertising luxury brands

Luxury brands provide a rich arena to investigate branding processes. An arena in which image and symbol drive brand value largely via advertising campaigns (Fich, 2009). Advertising remains the guardian of the luxury brand and is often the central messenger of the audience brand relationship. Advertising is often defined to be a way of reaching a mass market because it utilizes the mass media.

Role of advertisements in creating a luxury brand

Advertising has always been the most high profile way of making aware of a brand from the early days of daubed shop signs to banner advertising, internet and advertorials in TV, print media and on radio (Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2008). Branding became a publicly pervasive discipline with the advent of commercial television and advertising was the brand darling for many corporations. The reality is that although advertising luxury brands through TV and Magazines is viewed by a mass market the message within the advertisements are often targeted to a narrow group that is the luxury consumer market. Advertisements with good creative execution, an excellent idea and perfect timing often worked. If all else failed sheer repetition was always a tool that could be used to drive home the brand message.

Creating an advertisement for a luxury brand

Luxury brands are niche brands and their advertisements are tailored towards a specific consumer market. In addition to the advertisements of luxury brands are a means of communicating the brands story starting from their development and history to their image and personality, services and products (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). Advertisements are highly important in the luxury brand products as they enhance the luxury brand’s visibility. As a result luxury brands allocate a large percentage of their earnings to advertising.

The advertisements of luxury brands are mostly featured in business publications, fashion magazines, high end publications and in air line in-flight magazines. This is because these publications are the most widely read by the target audience.

References

• Fich N (2009), Brand Management of Luxury Goods: Understanding the Customer: Perception of Luxury, Spinger, Germany.
• Kapferer J N and Bastien V (2009), The luxury strategy: break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands, Kogan Page limited, London.
• Chevalier M and Mazzalovo G (2008), Luxury brand management: a world of privilege, John Wiley & Sons, Singapore.