The dream must always be recreated and maintained, because reality kills the dream. Every time a flesh-and-blood person buys a luxury product, he destroys a little of the fairness, he increases the visibility of the product – and contributes to its popularization by putting it in the public eye. When marketing everyday goods, the opposite applies: there is an advantage for the market leader, for the dominant market share and therefore for maximum visibility – this becomes a reassuring purchase. Luxury goods makers are advised to tear up marketing rules and embrace their heritage, prestige and brand seal of approval if they want to overcome a second year in a row with sales drops, says www.diamonds.net. The traditional history of the luxury sector has always had a happy ending: a recession-proof industry for those not affected by financial downturns. But history has taken a turn. As banks fail and bonuses evaporate, even the international elite is feeling the crisis. Luxury spending worldwide will fall by 6 percent, or $300 billion, in 2009, according to Verdict Research. Jack Trout is President of Trout & Partners, a marketing firm with offices in 14 countries. As the author or co-author of numerous bestsellers, Jack Trout has been responsible for the freshest ideas in marketing over the past 20 years.

Its concept of “positioning” has become the world`s leading corporate strategy. However, he agrees with the view expressed in the 18 Anti-Laws that too many luxury companies, blinded by a quest for growth, have expanded into categories and segments in which they have little or no expertise. Pedraza notes that many of these products do not offer a competitive advantage in non-core categories. He points out that consumers are not stupid and can “distinguish between real and false luxury literacy.” As a general rule, the imaginary price should be higher than it actually is. In traditional marketing, the opposite is true. Renault announced its Logan model starting at $8500, but with all the options, that would jump to $11,000. Each salesperson tries to attract consumers with a low price, a so-called introductory price, and then tries to convince the consumer to go to college. EasyJet offers the prospect of round-trip tickets from London to Paris for around $45, but the number of seats available at this price sells out quickly. The luxury brand is something you need to earn.

The greater the inaccessibility – whether real or virtual – the greater the desire. As everyone knows, there is a time factor built into luxury: it is the time you spend searching, waiting, desiring. Far from the traditional marketing logic that does everything possible to provide quick access to the product through mass distribution, with its self-service stores, self-service checkout systems, Internet, call centers and launch offers. Luxury must know how to erect the obstacles necessary for the burden of desire and keep them in place. People can finally enjoy luxury after overcoming a number of obstacles – financial obstacles, needless to say, but above all cultural (they need to know how to appreciate the product, wear it, consume it), logistics (find the shops) and time obstacles (wait two years for a Ferrari or a Mikimoto pearl necklace). While Kapferer and Bastien`s 18 marketing anti-laws can help brands redefine their core identities at a time when they need to scale back their operations, Owens says future luxury challenges will require more flexibility, not less. He sums it up this way: “If customers want something, you have to accommodate them to some extent. I accept that you have to stick to your principles, but I think you also have to realize that the world has changed. To survive, luxury brands are asked to throw overboard their traditional and proven marketing principles such as “the customer is always right.” Professor Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien, authors of The Luxury Strategy, argue that the surest way to fail in the luxury sector is to use such standard marketing techniques. They propose 18 “anti-marketing laws” that they insist on high-end brands should follow rather than maintain the status quo. Another marketing principle is that to debauch customers of other brands, companies innovate with new products aimed at increasing market penetration. The authors say this is a mistake as it will dilute the value of the brand.

“Greater availability undermines the dream potential among the elite, among opinion leaders,” they warn. We said a few words earlier about BMW`s Internet campaign in the United States; A number of the most prominent directors have each made a short film about BMW after having their hands completely free – not commercial, but freedom of expression. These films were made available on the Internet and very quickly toured the United States. Commenting on the decision, bmw USA`s head of marketing said, “When it comes to luxury, the best way to reach the very rich is to let them come to you.” Branding for mass marketing, companies try to offer a unique selling point by positioning their brand against others: it is somehow better than others (it is the most popular, it is the fastest, it is produced locally, etc.). Messaging focuses on comparing with others. The main goal of traditional marketing is volume growth. It has set itself the goal of reaching the top of the market share in order to gain muscle in mass distribution, department stores and supermarkets, and presents itself as a force to be reckoned with in some of its lines. This ensures wide dissemination and visibility and justifies a national television advertising campaign. While luxury is largely indifferent to price, luxury loses prestige when it is affordable for the ordinary crowd and available in sufficient quantity to satisfy the full range of demand. In this way, a luxury brand that increases its prices loses the “bad customers” who diminish its reputation, thus making them more attractive to the “good customers” who want to increase.