Exclusivity has always been the currency of luxury. Scarcity, discretion, and control are what transform an object into a symbol of status. From the earliest maisons to today’s most ambitious startups, prestige has been built on what is withheld as much as what is revealed. Social media, by contrast, is built for ubiquity. It rewards scale, repetition, and immediacy. Brands that publish more are pushed forward; those that hesitate risk fading from view. This creates...| How Luxury Brands Can Maintain Exclusivity
Early in my marketing career, I kept running into the same paradox: the marketing campaigns that actually moved the needle led with emotion, yet most clients insisted on leading with facts—bullet points, technical specs, rational arguments. That’s when I began looking for a better way to explain what I’d seen in the real world: people don’t act based on logic—they act based on instinct and feeling. I needed a model that was fast, sticky, and...| How Luxury Brands Can Maintain Exclusivity
From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly yet often overlooked. So, this year, I’m sharing some for your consideration. I hope they’re helpful. This week’s thought: It’s all about targeting, not segmentation. Segmentation has become controversial again. While most marketers view segmentation as the foundation of effective marketing, a growing number believe it needs to be reined in. ...| How Luxury Brands Can Maintain Exclusivity
There is some reporting that Beyond Meat, the meat-alternative parent of Beyond Burgers and more, is headed for Chapter 11. Apparently, the brand’s last quarter was an even bigger disappointment than previous quarters. Founder and CEO, Ethan Brown, opened the latest earnings call with these statements, “We are disappointed with our second quarter results, which reflect ongoing softness in the plant-based meat category, particularly in the U.S. retail channel and certain international food...| How Luxury Brands Can Maintain Exclusivity
A recent study by McKinsey & Company documents the continuing decline in the influence of the marketing function and the growing frustration of CEOs with the contribution of marketing. Much of this frustration stems from marketers’ inability to clearly explain how marketing activities contribute to the firm’s financial performance and the continued use of metrics like brand awareness and brand equity as evidence of performance. There is, of course, nothing wrong with measures of brand he...| How Luxury Brands Can Maintain Exclusivity