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The Luxury Strategy

sparechange

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04189C06-ED91-4C74-8C1E-3793904E98BA.jpeg Stumbled upon this at the mall, $71,000 for a plantnium Rolex. I think pricing factors into what is luxury quite a lot. Sure the Rolex can be of higher quality than timex, but is it really worth $71,000? On the other hand if you charge $20 for the Rolex is it a luxury brand? All price points . I think I’ll start a luxury underwear brand , anyone wanna invest $5m for startup?
 

MTEE1985

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but is it really worth $71,000?

Good question....that’s the whole point right? What exactly is anything “worth?” There are very few items in this world with a (relatively) universally agreed upon worth. Gold, Silver, copper etc for their melt value maybe? Even that’s a stretch. And in that case then that watch is obviously worth much less in platinum and mechanics than $71,000.

Luxury items are a hyper-reality based on how they make the owner feel. Imagine if you lined up 100 people and asked them what that watch was worth...my guess is you’d get responses ranging from $100-$100,000+ because, as has been beaten to death, the worth of it is all relative.

That’s why the true luxury items are the ones where the price point isn’t a consideration. It’s beauty, elegance, timelessness or as @ChrisV added with the image, the opposite of vulgarity. The dollar value of said item could be as little as $100, or could be millions.

The idea here is to think about what are some good premium items in the marketplace that don’t have a luxury niche, or conversely, what is a luxury item that doesn’t have a more mainstream premium option available to more people?

You’re a snowboarder right? How much is a standard snowboard, boots etc? How much is a premium one? How much is top of the line? What’s the difference between the three considering they’ll all get you down the mountain and are roughly the same size, shape and weight?
 

Kak

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I would say that actually it’s the opposite. Anyone who’s a billionaire who buys a 30K Chrysler 300 rather than buying a much much nicer 600K car is the stupid one.

So you die with $1,634,926,034 in the bank rather than $1,634,456,034 (whoopyty do) because you cheaped out and bought some uncomfortable 30K peasant-mobile, rather than a beautiful, comfortable, luxurious chauffeured pleasure box.

You want to hold on to a bunch of ‘fun coupons’ (money) that’s just a number and are worthlesss on their own rather than actually purchasing something that will bring you enjoyment.

But these are the people who are stupid suckers.

I read some interesting statistics once actually... The average billionaire gives far less of crap than the 2-5 million dollar guy wanting to let everyone know how successful he is. The average net worth of a newer S class driver was more than the average Rolls driver (Rolls was only like 3 million AVERAGE).

I know a lot of multi-millionaires and a few billionaires... The richer of them daily drive things like S classes, Lexus LS/LX and Range Rovers. Hell, one in particular, easily worth 50m, daily drives a Nissan Armada. Another, a Honda Pilot. GMC Denali. Lincolns. Escalades. They don't need or want the attention a rolls gives off.

I think buying an S class when any of these folks could easily have a Rolls is more a decision of quickly deminishing marginal returns as they spend more and more... No one bats an eye at an S class. Rolls is rap star, hollywood, drama city. The same reason they buy Embrarer light jets instead of Gulfstream. Paying more for drama? Not an upper class thing to do. Maybe their kids would.
 
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Kak

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rpeck90

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So would it be fair to say that a new luxury product cannot be produced? A premium product can be produced and the market determines if it reaches luxury status?

Interesting - partly true I believe... but I think that luxury can be manufactured, just not like how many people see it. And remember, all of this is my own opinion. I don't work in the luxury sector; the majority of this knowledge comes from the work I did on a branding product from several years back.

I see luxury not as a "thing" you pursue, but a method you embrace. My interpretation is that premium can be tied to functionality and luxury cannot. The Hannibal pen and Alexander watch are certainly functional... but the $700k price tag (not sure how much the Hannibal pen costs) cannot be tied to any sort of functionality... the pen doesn't write better than anything else, and the watch doesn't tell the time better than other watches. Likewise with Faberge's proclaimed work. Eggs? You can't even wear them.

That doesn't mean they don't have value. The idea of a "luxury urn" is not luxury because that's not what luxury is for (luxury's value is really tied to your own character / persona). It's not the urn that's important - but the monument to your memory. In that case, yes, you can have luxury...

860_main_GreatPyramid_0.gif


The "luxury" element comes from the subjective nature of each piece. As mentioned with Taschen's Ferrari book - I don't have any sort of desire for that product, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have value to the right buyer. Whether the book was hand-made etc doesn't matter at all to me - but to someone like Ralph Lauren who is a Ferrari collector... yes, it would add to the value of the product.

A great example of this is when Kevin - Mr Wonderful - O'Leary claimed his underwear was hand-stitched by Italian virgins. Does it really matter who made the underwear? Or whether the creators were virgins or not? Nope... what he was saying was "I'm better than you". That's pretty much what "luxury" is about - but not in the sense of being vulgar. It's an internal pursuit. Bad example; if it was "true" luxury, he would never have to mention that Italian virgins made the underwear - he'd just wear them and be content that they cost $900 a pair (or whatever the price was).

--

To wrap it around the perspective of what *you* can do in your own world, think about what "luxury" means to you. Do you REALLY care about which car you drive? Do you REALLY give a damn that it has some carbon fiber on the steering wheel? Does it REALLY matter? When you're on your death bed (in what I hope is a very long time away), are you going to be so pleased that you owned a Rolls Royce?

Not me - there are FAR better things to concern yourself with. Obviously, if you're a "car guy" that's a different ballgame. But I'm not. And that's the point... with "luxury", you're buying tools / experiences that you feel are going to bring highlight to your life.
  • Perhaps you could argue that a "luxury" hotel isn't so much about the 5* nature of the resort... but the quality of women who regularly stay there. The implication - of course - is that you get to "play with the models".

    This wouldn't be stated publicly... but that's pretty-much what people (men) would be buying. Do you think they'd want to pay a large amount for that experience? A price beyond the functionality of the resort? I think so. Would you not consider that luxury? What about all the Don Perignon and other ridiculously highly-priced drinks they'll buy to accentuate the experience?

  • If you're a tailor, whilst the clothes are deliriously good - what would inspire more people to buy a top-end tux? They're buying it to wear for certain occasions (prom? Opera? wedding?)... why not MAKE said occasions yourself? Why not host a cocktail evening every single month, where you bring in the creme of your crop to showcase exactly what they're working on (millionaire networking)? Why not have excursions to Paris, Roma or Milano?

    Again, the kicker with the majority of these things will be the quality of the company (both male and female). You get pretty hostesses, many of your clients will just turn up. You get several big hitters in the room and you'll have a legit luxury offering that is both rare and special.
Real luxury is never stated because that's not what it's for. Real luxury is about giving yourself an identity... a purpose... a reason for being. Rather than being hedonistic, consider the underlying implication of it all -- what does owning a massive fountain pen do for you? Do you not see the resemblance to the likes of scepters, orbs and crowns that royalty adorn themselves with? Does this not suggest there's a deeper play going on?

Remember, people are paying to get laid or paid. Your place on the value scale is determined by how directly & potently you deliver either of those two ideals. Premium delivers it in a functional way (faster/more intricately); Luxury bypasses functionality and enters the stratosphere of artistic desire.

This - to me - means that you should be able to imbue what you're doing with a touch of luxury. Just as Kramer deigned it "fairy dust", there's a hidden (magical) element which you can weave into any "premium" offering to make it luxury. This magical element is why the likes of historic relics are so sought after. Their original owners demonstrated their use of the element to the highest degree possible.

As such, what about your own business? Forget Rolls Royce... what about you. You're selling products on the Internet - what can you do to bring the "luxury" element to your clients?

The secret of life is to create. We - as a race - are successful because we used our hands, and latterly brains, to build new tools. We created new ways of doing things, to communicate, travel and indulge in life. With each generation, a talented few have risen to the fore and pushed us up to the next rung.

If you're a software developer - what about creating a "physical" package with your product, limiting the number of physical copies & having a pre-release evening? That would make it premium... but luxury? That comes from the quality of the evening, and what it ends up doing for the buyers. In the example of the "Digital Commonplace" I mentioned several posts back, I wanted to have a demi-fashion show with burlesque dancers and models (Crazy Horse).

The show itself isn't functional. It has no purpose beyond giving the attendees a glimpse into the "world" of what we'd created. The implication is to say "follow the system we've built and you'll get pussy beyond your wildest dreams"... but it's not stated, is it? If I stood there and said that shit, it would diminish the value of the product inexorably. The luxury element comes from the "promise" of achieving the God-like status few will ever elevate to. All the "products" you see in the luxury space are really just attempts to crystallize that in the material world... as explained, the way it works is subjective.

--

Ultimately, the idea of creating a "luxury" product is not the way to go about it. Luxury is born - organically cultivated over a long period of time. You cannot strategize, plan or "invent" luxury (as you would premium) - it has to be the result of the way in which you do things.

The key thing I've found (and could be wrong) is that "real luxury" comes from significant moments. I tried to explain this with the other posts - Elon Musk's reputation is built off his success with PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla. Bill Gates' reputation is based on his Microsoft fortune. Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon. This is what men "buy" when they buy luxury; they want to capture a small piece of what these men "great".

As explained previously, the process is different for women. Women want to flaunt their "value" without being judged. They want to be the center of attention, with all the world ogling the delicacy & elegance they exude from each perfectly-preened pore. As a man, that doesn't matter. I want to be revered, admired and honoured. Women want to be appreciated. How well a product delivers either determines whether it's considered a "luxury" by the community. The price then comes from the perceived sanctity & scarcity of said product.
 

biophase

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So I just caught up on this thread. It sounds like a car forum with 2 kids arguing about which car is better.

So imagine a 25 year old with a Ferrari. This person probably enjoys showing it off. The car is for personal pleasure and also for social status. To him the car is impractical and hard to drive but he will deal with it.

Now compare to a 60 year old with a ferrari that likes to track the car and a vette or lambo just doesn’t feel the same. It’s not because his friends will think he’s awesome. They all know that he’s rich. It’s because he actually needs it’s performance capabilities.

It’s the exact same car, but bought for different reasons. You could argue one is luxury and overpriced and one is for value/premium and worth every penny.
 
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MTEE1985

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I read some interesting statistics once actually... The average billionaire gives far less of crap than the 2-5 million dollar guy wanting to let everyone know how successful he is. The average net worth of a newer S class driver was more than the average Rolls driver (Rolls was only like 3 million AVERAGE).

I know a lot of multi-millionaires and a few billionaires... The richer of them daily drive things like S classes, Lexus LS/LX and Range Rovers. Hell, one in particular, easily worth 50m, daily drives a Nissan Armada. Another, a Honda Pilot. GMC Denali. Lincolns. Escalades. They don't need or want the attention a rolls gives off.

I think buying an S class when any of these folks could easily have a Rolls is more a decision of quickly deminishing marginal returns as they spend more and more... No one bats an eye at an S class. Rolls is rap star, hollywood, drama city. The same reason they buy Embrarer light jets instead of Gulfstream. Paying more for drama? Not an upper class thing to do. Maybe their kids would.

Well said, I’d add (knowing that @Kak was headed this direction) that the average deca millionaires and billionaires care WAY more about building legacy and multi generational wealth where the new or younger money mindset is often YOLO and “Can’t take it with you” so they buy the most expensive of everything they can afford.
We had a guy worth $100m who bought his 5’2” wife a Phantom and she looked absurd driving it with how big it was, conversely one of the top 5 wealthiest guys in the world rode around in a 5 year old ML350 so nobody would even look twice at who was getting in and out of it.

Psychology is a funny thing and what image people try to project on the world about their success. I was at a local high end shopping center a few months ago and there was a Ferrari California valet parked in front that people were oohing and ahhing over. First thing I noticed about it? Dealer tag on the back, so probably a sales manager or GM who wanted to be the center of attention for the night or an overnight test drive.
 

ChrisV

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@rpeck90 have you ever considered writing a blog? People seem to go crazy over your insights. Post a blog, sell an ebook and boom.if you get reactions like you seem to get in this forum I think it would add a lot of value and be really lucrative.
 

sparechange

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You’re a snowboarder right? How much is a standard snowboard, boots etc? How much is a premium one? How much is top of the line? What’s the difference between the three considering they’ll all get you down the mountain and are roughly the same size, shape and weight?

A decent snowboard will run you into the 2-400 range, boots go from 1-200,

Now premium like Burton could range from 400+ ?high end I've seen at $700 I think, with the difference being a better flex/camber in the board and bindings not breaking after a few uses. Funny to think its just a piece of wood if you look at it but not exactly true.

Same thing with skateboards, a good one like Santa Cruz can go for $300+ and at Walmart you could get some knockoff for 20 or 30 bucks. Tried one of these and they were so horrible, cheap low quality Chinese crap.

Awesome job of branding, although with the boards its more of a producatory where several people will attest to the quality from experience trying several different brands.

An interesting thing that goes on in sports is celebrity endorsements, if you see professional X using brand Y, its generally accepted that the brand is of premium quality. Just like Nike Jordan's, when you put those shoes on you'll be shooting 3 pointers all day.

I'd even say Nike would not be the brand it is today if it wasn't for endorsements and mass marketing strategies.
 
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ChrisV

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View attachment 21195 Stumbled upon this at the mall, $71,000 for a plantnium Rolex. I think pricing factors into what is luxury quite a lot. Sure the Rolex can be of higher quality than timex, but is it really worth $71,000? On the other hand if you charge $20 for the Rolex is it a luxury brand? All price points . I think I’ll start a luxury underwear brand , anyone wanna invest $5m for startup?
I hate rolex. I think that they’re low-medium end ka-ka

That being said, they are of way higher quality than your average Timex or Quartz watch

So if you got the quality that Rolex offered for $20? That would be amazing. That’s kind of what Apple does and what Eichler Homes did in the 70s.

joseph_eichler_home_remodel_klopf_silicon_valley_6.0.jpg

Both of those brands made a complete killing and offered amazing products for reasonable prices.
 

ChrisV

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Now compare to a 60 year old with a ferrari that likes to track the car and a vette or lambo just doesn’t feel the same. It’s not because his friends will think he’s awesome. They all know that he’s rich. It’s because he actually needs it’s performance capabilities.
That’s why I would buy a Ferrari. Nothing... I repeat nothing.... drives like a freaking Ferrari. And Corvettes handle like like Golf carts. Lambos I don’t know, but I don’t see them as Driver’s cars.
 

MTEE1985

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Funny to think its just a piece of wood if you look at it but not exactly true.

Ahhh...exactly. Or it’s a box with 4 wheels and an engine, or a shirt, or a $30,000 coffee table book BUT not exactly true. A $1,000 snowboard might be worth it to many, to me it’s worth $0. I live in Arizona, I don’t snowboard.

As @rpeck90 points out, to create a luxury item is to illicit an emotional response and value far beyond the items functional value. What that value is, is up to the individual. Having said that, now I want some coffee table books.
 

ChrisV

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I read some interesting statistics once actually... The average billionaire gives far less of crap than the 2-5 million dollar guy wanting to let everyone know how successful he is. The average net worth of a newer S class driver was more than the average Rolls driver (Rolls was only like 3 million AVERAGE).

I know a lot of multi-millionaires and a few billionaires... The richer of them daily drive things like S classes, Lexus LS/LX and Range Rovers. Hell, one in particular, easily worth 50m, daily drives a Nissan Armada. Another, a Honda Pilot. GMC Denali. Lincolns. Escalades.

Well yea because when you’re a billionaire everyone knows it already.

But I feel like a lot of people get stuck on “people but luxury products to show others they are rich” and I don’t know if that’s fully the case. I have a lot of really nice things that no one will ever see.

Like a Rolls vs a S-Class? Don’t get me wrong, an S-Class is a beautiful car. But if you look one after the other and compare a Phantom to a Maybach S, I honestly think the S/Maybach S looks tacky. Example: the S class has accent/mood lighting. You can set it in any color you want. Pink, purple, orange. The Phantom also has mood lighting. You can set it in any color you want. As long as those colors are either White or Frost White LOL. Makes the notion of Orange mood lighting seem tacky.

Just my personal opinion.

But that being said, I would only own a Rolls if it were in a VERY wealthy neighborhood where there are more than one. I’m not gonna be driving around with everyone staring at me.

It was bad enough when I had my BMW and BMWs are pretty common. Mine just looked reallly nice so ALL day people would be like “omg that’s such a nice car” “what do you do for work that you can afford that.” The irony being I didn’t even buy it because it looked nice, I bought it because the Driving experience was like having an orgasm.

They don't need or want the attention a rolls gives off.

I think buying an S class when any of these folks could easily have a Rolls is more a decision of quickly deminishing marginal returns as they spend more and more... No one bats an eye at an S class. Rolls is rap star, hollywood, drama city. The same reason they buy Embrarer light jets instead of Gulfstream. Paying more for drama? Not an upper class thing to do. Maybe their kids would.

Ah, I just read the rest of your post where you covered that. I was replying as I got through the post. Yea I agree. An RR would be WAY too much attention. Damn shame though.

It’s like when car enthusiast/Autotrader columnist Doug Demuro owned a Ferrari for a year. He said as a car lover, the attention was unbearable.

They're coming for it next week. The shipping company, that is. They're picking up the Ferrari, taking the keys, putting it inside a trailer, and transporting it far away to a new owner, thus bringing to an end my childhood dream of owning a Ferrari. I should be downtrodden; dismayed; depressed. I should take time to gaze at it longingly during the last few days before its departure. I should take it on one final drive with tears welling up in my eyes. I should be browsing AutoTrader for a new one.

But I'm not.

I'm happy to see it go.

The simple truth is that owning a Ferrari for the last year just wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

Let's start with the thing that annoyed me most: the attention. As far as I can tell, most Ferrari buyers fall precisely into two camps: those who buy the car for the attention, and those who buy the car for the driving experience. Admittedly, there's some crossover – but you can usually distinguish the "Let's go on a mountain drive" people from the "Let's wrap it in neon gold and cruise up and down busy streets" crowd.

As for me, I prefer the driving experience: few things in life sound more appealing than an uninterrupted hour in the car, going through the gears, hearing the sounds, negotiating curves, and staring at the engine through the rearview mirror. But when you're driving a bright red Ferrari, "uninterrupted" isn't really possible.

At every light, the guy next to you will ask what it cost. At every gas station, a guy in a Chevy pickup will come over and ask if you "wanna trade?" People will want to take pictures of it, next to it, and in it. Kids want you to rev so they can put a video on YouTube. And no matter where you drive it, everyone goes a little faster when they're near you, eager to prove that they can keep up – whether they're driving a Subaru or a Porsche.

And over the last year, I've indulged every single person with a big smile. The guy who wants to know what it costs gets to sit inside. The guy who asks if I want to trade gets to see the engine up close. Kids get rides, parent permitting. And if anyone wants to take a picture with it, I grab their camera and invite them to sit behind the wheel. But it gets tiresome. And every so often, when I'm thinking about taking out the Ferrari for an hour or so, I'll pause for a moment and remember the attention. And I'll fire up Forza and drive a Ferrari there, instead.

Now, I shouldn't say that I don't like attention on the road. In fact, I loved it when people would approach me at gas stations, restaurants, or stoplights when I was driving my E63 AMG wagon or my CTS-V wagon. But that's because those were car people, eager to discuss one of the most unusual — and most subtle — cars on the road. In the Ferrari, it's everyone, coming at you from all sides, asking personal questions about how I can afford it, and what it cost, and what I do for a living. After a while, it simply gets old.

https://jalopnik.com/owning-a-ferrari-for-a-year-was-a-disappointment-1668355120

This video is hilarious. He compares the attention he got with his Ferrari to the attention he got with his Aston Martin.

Although I wonder how much it had to do with the color. I think getting a muted gunmetal grey F430 might solve that for the most part.

5967001861_f2f60d1608_b.jpg
 

Kak

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Well yea because when you’re a billionaire everyone knows it already.

But I feel like a lot of people get stuck on “people but luxury products to show others they are rich” and I don’t know if that’s fully the case. I have a lot of really nice things that no one will ever see.

Like a Rolls vs a S-Class? Don’t get me wrong, an S-Class is a beautiful car. But if you look one after the other and compare a Phantom to a Maybach S, I honestly think the S/Maybach S looks tacky. Example: the S class has accent/mood lighting. You can set it in any color you want. Pink, purple, orange. The Phantom also has mood lighting. You can set it in any color you want. As long as those colors are either White or Frost White LOL. Makes the notion of Orange mood lighting seem tacky.

Just my personal opinion.

But that being said, I would only own a Rolls if it were in a VERY wealthy neighborhood where there are more than one. I’m not gonna be driving around with everyone staring at me.

It was bad enough when I had my BMW and BMWs are pretty common. Mine just looked reallly nice so ALL day people would be like “omg that’s such a nice car” “what do you do for work that you can afford that.” The irony being I didn’t even buy it because it looked nice, I bought it because the Driving experience was like having an orgasm.



Ah, I just read the rest of your post where you covered that. I was replying as I got through the post. Yea I agree. An RR would be WAY too much attention. Damn shame though.

It’s like when car enthusiast/Autotrader columnist Doug Demuro owned a Ferrari for a year. He said as a car lover, the attention was unbearable.

They're coming for it next week. The shipping company, that is. They're picking up the Ferrari, taking the keys, putting it inside a trailer, and transporting it far away to a new owner, thus bringing to an end my childhood dream of owning a Ferrari. I should be downtrodden; dismayed; depressed. I should take time to gaze at it longingly during the last few days before its departure. I should take it on one final drive with tears welling up in my eyes. I should be browsing AutoTrader for a new one.

But I'm not.

I'm happy to see it go.

The simple truth is that owning a Ferrari for the last year just wasn't all it's cracked up to be.

Let's start with the thing that annoyed me most: the attention. As far as I can tell, most Ferrari buyers fall precisely into two camps: those who buy the car for the attention, and those who buy the car for the driving experience. Admittedly, there's some crossover – but you can usually distinguish the "Let's go on a mountain drive" people from the "Let's wrap it in neon gold and cruise up and down busy streets" crowd.

As for me, I prefer the driving experience: few things in life sound more appealing than an uninterrupted hour in the car, going through the gears, hearing the sounds, negotiating curves, and staring at the engine through the rearview mirror. But when you're driving a bright red Ferrari, "uninterrupted" isn't really possible.

At every light, the guy next to you will ask what it cost. At every gas station, a guy in a Chevy pickup will come over and ask if you "wanna trade?" People will want to take pictures of it, next to it, and in it. Kids want you to rev so they can put a video on YouTube. And no matter where you drive it, everyone goes a little faster when they're near you, eager to prove that they can keep up – whether they're driving a Subaru or a Porsche.

And over the last year, I've indulged every single person with a big smile. The guy who wants to know what it costs gets to sit inside. The guy who asks if I want to trade gets to see the engine up close. Kids get rides, parent permitting. And if anyone wants to take a picture with it, I grab their camera and invite them to sit behind the wheel. But it gets tiresome. And every so often, when I'm thinking about taking out the Ferrari for an hour or so, I'll pause for a moment and remember the attention. And I'll fire up Forza and drive a Ferrari there, instead.

Now, I shouldn't say that I don't like attention on the road. In fact, I loved it when people would approach me at gas stations, restaurants, or stoplights when I was driving my E63 AMG wagon or my CTS-V wagon. But that's because those were car people, eager to discuss one of the most unusual — and most subtle — cars on the road. In the Ferrari, it's everyone, coming at you from all sides, asking personal questions about how I can afford it, and what it cost, and what I do for a living. After a while, it simply gets old.

https://jalopnik.com/owning-a-ferrari-for-a-year-was-a-disappointment-1668355120

This video is hilarious. He compares the attention he got with his Ferrari to the attention he got with his Aston Martin.

Although I wonder how much it had to do with the color. I think getting a muted gunmetal grey F430 might solve that for the most part.

View attachment 21202

Good post. Agreed about the mood lighting. Terrible. I'd flip it to white and leave it there.

I liked Doug. He's pretty funny.
 
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sparechange

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Ahhh...exactly. Or it’s a box with 4 wheels and an engine, or a shirt, or a $30,000 coffee table book BUT not exactly true. A $1,000 snowboard might be worth it to many, to me it’s worth $0. I live in Arizona, I don’t snowboard.

As @rpeck90 points out, to create a luxury item is to illicit an emotional response and value far beyond the items functional value. What that value is, is up to the individual. Having said that, now I want some coffee table books.


Luxury dog shoes it is... (my new niche) :D

I was kidding, but out of curiosity after a google search.. it does exist!

Luxury Petique

With some good copyright and marketing + a proper website someone could pull this off, this website looks totally broken

Gucci Dog shoes anyone?
 
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MTEE1985

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Luxury dog shoes it is... (my new niche) :D

I was kidding, but out of curiosity after a google search.. it does exist!

Luxury Petique

With some good copyright and marketing + a proper website someone could pull this off, this website looks totally broken

Gucci Dog shoes anyone?


What cracks me up most about this site...what’s one word that most true luxury brands NEVER use?

Luxury.

This site can’t use it enough, I’d be interested to know if they’re trying to convince their customers or themselves.
 
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Xeon

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Luxury dog shoes it is... (my new niche)...
With some good copyright and marketing + a proper website someone could pull this off

What are you waiting for? For pigs to fly into the sky? :cool:
 

ChrisR

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That’s why I would buy a Ferrari. Nothing... I repeat nothing.... drives like a freaking Ferrari. And Corvettes handle like like Golf carts. Lambos I don’t know, but I don’t see them as Driver’s cars.

And yet that great handling Ferrari uses Corvette suspension...

Ferrari to use Corvette-derived suspension on 599 GTB Fiorano

Your Corvette statement shows how little you know about cars.

Also, you're insane if you think a Ferrari is anymore a "driver's car" than a Lamborghini. Neither are real driver's cars.
 
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ChrisV

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For those still not convinced of the quality of many luxury products.

I kinda hope people are starting to get this. Sometimes in a debate you’ll end up mentally conceding to the other party (because they make good points) but still want to save face, so you just continue to stand your ground regardless.

I really hope those are one of those cases. I mean to really think that that Rolls royce was the same thing as a Crysler.
 
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ChrisV

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And yet that great handling Ferrari uses Corvette suspension...

Ferrari to use Corvette-derived suspension on 599 GTB Fiorano

Your Corvette statement shows how little you know about cars.

Also, you're insane if you think a Ferrari is anymore a "driver's car" than a Lamborghini. Neither are real driver's cars.
The fact that you think that a cars suspension is the only thing that determines it’s Handling Abilities

They say that the difference in lap time between a top Ferrari driver and someone who’s a complete butterfingers is ~1 second.

So buddy.. you tell me. What would be your ‘driver’s car'
 

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Been busy lately so haven't posted here for a while. However, I spent the past few days reading all the replies and I'm glad to see that (some) of you guys are either starting to, or have already grasped the concept of luxury and what constitutes a true luxury product.

-

With all the confusion that has arisen here on what is luxury and what is a luxury product, it's important to note that it is the brands themselves that make people think of their products as luxury, not the other way around. For example, although LV handbags that are part of the Monogram & Epi lines are indeed luxury products (although it can be argued that counterfeiting has resulted in the vulgarization of the Monogram bags) LV also sells a myriad of other products which are not luxury; mainly accessories, perfume and even some clothing.

Does this mean that LV is not a true luxury brand? On the contrary, LV is valued higher than any luxury brand out there ($33.6 billion as of May 2018) and has been included in Forbe's most valuable brands list. The reasons for this 'diversification,' despite it not contributing significantly to the brand's profits under its diamond selling model (where the majority of profits come from 'mid-range' luxury products, e.g. $1,000 handbags and not from the ultra expensive custom-made trunks OR the cheaper accessories/clothes) lie on LV's attempt to partially imitate fashion and engage in what is known as brand stretching. This practice, which has been attempted several times in the past by multiple brands, is usually catastrophic for the image of a luxury brand BUT, since this is the world's biggest luxury brand we're talking about and especially one which has established several timeless iconic products, these should not harm the brand much - if at all - as long as they are not promoted much and are still primarily sold in the brand's own stores. Let me make it clear though that this is an EXCEPTION to the so-called rules of luxury and not the norm!

On the other hand, there are 'access products' which ARE luxury, but sold at lower prices and therefore posses lower margins, which are used to extend a brand's reach to less affluent individuals who still value the brand & what it stands for and thus wish to have it enrich their lives in some kind of way. The eventual goal of course, is for these clients to make their way up to pricier pieces as they further immerse themselves in the brand's world and ideals.

This is why a brand like Mercedes (which btw temporarily abandoned its luxury strategy in the 90s for 'growth reasons' and went for a more premium strategy instead - which resulted in a significant decrease in profits) makes cars like the E-class for example, despite being perfectly capable of making more expensive, hedonistic, and overall better performing cars.

-

Having said that, it is clear that focusing on more functional products (especially cars) has been nothing but hurtful to this thread as people tend to get too easily emotionally attached with some set of ideas (either utilitarianist or otherwise) and try to publicly impose those on others. Thus, I would appreciate it if @sparechange would stop posting on topics which he obviously does not understand nor value and allow the rest of us to engage in growth-inducing intellectual discourse. If he wishes to join us, then that is fine. But hijacking a thread for the sole purpose of pushing your own opinions, as well as questioning the beliefs and values of others is not only annoying, but I am pretty sure is also NOT in line with the purpose of this forum.

Wanna argue on cars like a frustrated teenager? There are plenty of forums out there who will allow you to do so.

-

I will write several other posts the following days/weeks covering some of the misconceptions surrounding luxury products, as well as steer the conversation away from the products themselves to outline some of the strategic management decisions that a luxury brand MUST engage in if it wishes to be perceived as such, especially in relation to how it promotes itself.
 

MTEE1985

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I will write several other posts the following days/weeks covering some of the misconceptions surrounding luxury products, as well as steer the conversation away from the products themselves to outline some of the strategic management decisions that a luxury brand MUST engage in if it wishes to be perceived as such, especially in relation to how it promotes itself.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and insights. What fascinates me most about luxury brands is not so much their product as anybody with enough money could start producing ultra-expensive items and call it “luxury”, but the story behind how the true luxury brands became known as such in their respective categories.
 
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ChrisR

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They say that the difference in lap time between a top Ferrari driver and someone who’s a complete butterfingers is ~1 second.

I don't care what "they" say. If you actually believe that statement, I was right when I said you know little about cars.

Furthermore, if you think a car that practically drives itself is a drivers car, you should probably just stop commenting on the subject. You CLEARLY have no clue what you're talking about.
 

LittleWolfie

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Good question....that’s the whole point right? What exactly is anything “worth?” There are very few items in this world with a (relatively) universally agreed upon worth. Gold, Silver, copper etc for their melt value maybe?

Silver has more industrial uses than gold and a higher conductivity.

If they were equally abundant with no history as money, silver would probably be more valuable than gold.
 

smark

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If they were equally abundant with no history as money, silver would probably be more valuable than gold.

That's a big IF though, don't you think? One on hand you have a metal that is more functional yet (more) abundant and on the other, one that is not only more scarce (scarcity aka rarity is a big part of ANY luxury product/brand) but also looks awesome!

Just from its appearance it becomes evident as to why ancient Egyptian kings would use it to adorn themselves and thus differentiate themselves through such ostentatious displays. Funny enough, this is actually in the first chapter of the book, which covers the background history of “luxury” and how it came to be.
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the story behind how the true luxury brands became known as such in their respective categories.
I'm going to admit @MTEE1985 this is a tough one and the part of luxury brand "construction" that I've had the most trouble with so far.

As @rpeck90 was kind enough to point out in an earlier post on this thread, pedigree/heritage are KEY if one wants to properly promote and sell a luxury good/service. For example, if I were to steer the conversation away from goods/services and talk about something more abstract such as culinary culture, why is it that Southern European countries which have a long history of contribution in both the arts and sciences such as Italy, France and Greece come to mind? Not that the food(s) associated with each one of these cultures is necessarily better than any other, but I think we can all agree that having brunch in a small cafe in Milan or the Swiss Alps for example, carries a certain degree of sophistication and respect not present when referring to other culinary cultures; especially those countries with minimal contributions to the modern world. The same applies to (luxury) brands.

For example, Cartier, a model luxury brand IMO can boast of making the first leather strap wrist watch (if I'm not mistaken). A sports car manufacturer like Porsche, can boast of its race-track achievements. And Audemars Piguet, one of the most respected Swiss watch makers contributed heavily on the evolution of mechanical watches; similarly to how Mercedes did with cars, on top of actually inventing the damn thing!

Notice a trend here though? All of the above 'creations' relate to primarily functional (yet still, beautiful and hedonistic) products. Why? Because technology wasn't the same back then as it is now, and so most of the big luxury brands started with function first and then moved on to 'beauty.' And so the question is: How does a contemporary luxury brand, especially one whose products do NOT rely on a specific function, can distinguish and promote itself through some kind of history or heritage?
 

Merging Left

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How does a contemporary luxury brand, especially one whose products do NOT rely on a specific function, can distinguish and promote itself through some kind of history or heritage?
Maybe it just needs time to develop an actual history and heritage. Decades of consistently high quality, low quantity products will lend itself to the type of legacy that other luxury brands have. It's not coincidence that the majority of luxury brands are decades (or even centuries) old.

Briefly reading the history of Cartier, per Wikipedia, the company began in 1847, but it wasn't until the founder's grandsons took over the business did the brand become recognized worldwide. It looks like the company really began to gain some traction in the early 1900s. That's over 50 years after the company was started. By that time, you have 50 years and three generations of family running this business. You now have heritage.

Perhaps that's just one example. Chanel did not take 50 years to grow huge, but it certainly started small, with Chanel making hats for wealthy socialites.

It takes time to gain the recognition necessary to qualify as a luxury brand. It takes years of consistently excellent quality, and it requires independent recognition by qualified critics (i.e. fashion critic reviews).

What are some newer luxury companies started in the last few decades? Screaming Eagle Winery is who comes to mind for me. Their success came from a combination of hiring a world-class winemaker and getting a top score by a world renowned wine critic (who happens to be close friends with said world-class winemaker).
 

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