To create aspiration, we often hear “luxury” associated with many products and brands. Luxury cars. Luxury vacations. Luxury shoes. Marketers seemingly hope that this elevation into “luxury” maintains recession-proof sales. But what exactly does it mean to be a luxury brand? How do we create luxury? And what must it include (or not include) for the consumer?

“Success in luxury rarely comes without a story, and ideally a myth,” according to Paul McGowan of Added Value. This is how brands justify celebrity cachet, selective distribution and a solid marketing strategy to push iconic identity. “If a luxury brand exhibits these attributes, by and large the cool police, the luxury consumers and the analysts are happy,” McGowan said at Added Value.

A fantastic example of a luxury brand pushing its iconic identity was in “L’Odyssée de Cartier” video. The panther, shown as the ever-present aesthetic icon of Cartier, goes on a whimsical journey between dream and reality highlighting the many facets of the brand’s history.

Pierre Adenot composed the original score of this three and a half minute short film. This film took 60 on-set crew members in addition to 50 special effect technicians working six months on the post-production. The stunning visuals shown in the video above were aimed to elevate the brand to existing luxury consumers and entice new markets. Continue Reading

Brands are shifting from company centric experiences to customer centric experiences. The conduit – their digital initiatives. As Julie Bornstein, SVP Digital at Sephora recently noted in her Mashable interview with Brian Solis, brand experiences need to facilitate emotions and conversations that drive consumers to take action. Most brands are struggling to figure out just how to accomplish this.

In my latest article for Mashable, I explored four luxury brands creating connected digital consumer experiences. In writing the article, as a I was left thinking, “As a customer, how can I connect with you, fall in love with you and be a part of your [brand’s] world when everything I touch that you’ve created is hollow?”

This week, I’m breaking down each of the four brands in the story I wrote about individually. First up, Marc Jacobs.

In February 2012, Marc Jacobs Intl partnered with Bumebox (a social event technology) to add interactive social media overlays to the live-stream of their shows. Marc Jacobs Intl began livestreaming their shows in February 2010, inviting fans to RSVP to watch with a chance to win airfare, hotel, and two tickets to their Collection show & after-party. Continue Reading