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The Luxury Strategy

sparechange

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If the Rolls was 30k no one would care about it. Pricing is almost the biggest part of the brand. Its a fake premium
 
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ChrisV

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Ahahaha stupid billionaires.. they’re such suckers

They make a 550K purchase that doesn’t even affect their bank accounts

i would hate to be them haha!

Idiots
 

ChrisV

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If the Rolls was 30k no one would care about it. Pricing is almost the biggest part of the brand. Its a fake premium
Okay.. so go start a car company. Go trying to sell a 30K quality car for 500K.. i bet you 100,000 you don’t even sell one

people know the difference
 

sparechange

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Currently I'm in negotiation with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to create the first flying electric car actually.

Little do you know.........
 
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sparechange

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@MJ DeMarco

Curious as to hear your thoughts on the matter, I assume you've splurged on luxury cars and such (afaik you have some old crappy Tacoma)
 

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@sparechange Pricing things highly doesn’t make them ‘luxury’... it just makes them overpriced garbage.

Luxury is not a placebo effect.

It’s craftsmanship. It’s quality. It’s comfort. It’s pleasure. It’s beauty. It sounds nice. It feels nice. It smells nice. It’s comfortable. It’s subtle. Every detail is honed to perfection.

I posted a prime example a few posts above about Fillipo Loretti of what happens when you try to pass off regular mass marketed crapola as ‘luxury.'

Explaining why a Rolls Royce is different from a Chrysler 300 is like explaining why Filet Mignon is different from Burger King.


I posted the video above and I’m sure you didn’t watch it... so the truth is you don’t even want to learn about the topics you’re arguing against. You asked the difference. I posted the video.Meaning you weren’t genuinely curious as to the differences, you just wanted to argue without knowledge. I mean if you want to just argue without knowing what a Rolls Royce is or why people pay that much for it, and the (drastic) differences between that and a freaking Chrysler 300.. then I’m not going to even explain it. You’re making claims when you don’t even know what a Rolls Royce is made of and you’re just going off your own incorrect assumptions. That video will show you why extremely intelligent people (some of the most intelligent people/leaders in the world) CHOOSE to buy Rolls Royces. Rolls Royces has been the top choice of Presidents, Queens, CEOs, scholars, and World Leaders for over a century. Still you want to imply that these people are just idiots who succumb to marketing gimmicks? The people who purchase these are among the most intelligent in the world, but yet a janitor who buys a 30K Chrysler 300 is smarter because he’s ’not a sucker for marketing’ (even though Rolls Royce barely even advertises.) So if you’re not going to watch that video I’m not going to continue further. But that’s the answer to your question and if you’d like to watch it I’d be happy to continue this conversation.
 

sparechange

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Articulate points of why a 700k purchase is superior to some 5 digit dinky Japanese car. (No I haven't watched a video from a paid affiliate marketer)

I have been in Ferraris, Lambos & seen Rolls, its not some amazing car atleast to me. Looks nothing special and is totally overpriced. Star roof? Furry carpet? Doors that open the other way!? OMG! Boo hooo.
 
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sparechange

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Regardless of what anyone says, its a metal box with wheels that takes you from point A to point B with some leather and legroom.

You are **** crazy if you think otherwise.

Back to discussing luxury strategy...
 

ChrisV

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Articulate points of why a 700k purchase is superior to some 5 digit dinky Japanese car. (No I haven't watched a video from a paid affiliate marketer)

Paid Affiliate Marketer? Dude, that’s Doug Demuro who’s one of the most knowledgable and reputable car reviewers in the industry. He has a very popular columns on Autotrader and has for years and his videos are extremely popular.

You think that Rolls Royce (the brand of car that the Queen of England is chauffeured in) uses paid affiliate marketing???????????? Okay on that note, I’m done.

I’m not articulating anything because you don’t actually want to understand, you just want points to argue against.

And your points illustrate a fundamental misunderstanding of marketing. You can’t use ‘marketing’ to turn a shit product into a good one. For example if I was marketing a weight loss supplement. I can say ‘it’s the best thing ever’ use every marketing trick in the book..b ut if it doesn’t work, people are going to say ‘F*ck this.’

Like MJ talks about.. a productocracy. For someone to last long-term in business, they have to actually have a great product. If you make a shit product but claim it’s awesome, you can trick a few people into buying it, but that product will quickly gain a reputation as ‘shit’ and people will stop purchasing it. Again, you can have short term success.. but brands that last a long time, have to put out great products. Rolls Royce makes, what many people consider to be, including the top leaders in the world, CEOs, etc etc a great product.
 

ChrisV

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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.
 
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sparechange

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Oh wow the Queen.

Since you are unable to make points as to justify the 700k tag.

One day young grasshopper you will realize when you drive the car its nothing special & just a metal box with wheels.

efmqx.jpg
 

ChrisV

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I used to repossess cars so I’ve literally driven hundreds and hundreds of different cars. The difference is night and day in most cases.

And I’ve owned products on both sides of the spectrum. I owned a Scion at the same time I had my BMW. I didn’t realize it until I parked the scion and got in the BMW how unbelievably shitty the ride in the scion was. It vibrated, there was tons of road noice, it didn’t handle well, the shift pattern was clumsy... it was just cheap. The BMW on the other hand was solid, tight, handled like it was on rails, was exhilarating to drive, was beautiful, the clutch felt nice, the shift pattern was well engineered. To put it simply: Driving the BMW felt good, driving the Scion felt bad. Beauty was only one aspect.

My thread about Uber is a great analogy: The single most important entrepreneurial lesson: People buy emotions.

Low end products are more like Taxis while High end products are more like Uber.

Luxury products are pleasurable to all your senses while normal products are uncomfortable. Sure they both get from Point A to Point B, but in the cheap one you have road noise, a stiff ride, etc etc etc. Something like an Audi BMW or Mercedes is simply a more refined experience. Toyota or Honda are vulgar and rough around the edges.

Your emotional state is much better in high end products in comparison to low end products.
 

blueoceanblues

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You tend to see this a lot from the luxury / premium sector (more-so luxury) -- people tend to buy a "better version of themselves", and their "investment" into the underlying product is essentially an investment into their own psyche etc.

Just wanted to highlight this.

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT.

You should charge money for your posts.

That realization shifted my whole focus; forgive my clumsy meandering here; but I look at it like: First we seek to satisfy basic needs, then we seek to enhance the utility value of what we have (4gigs of ram to 32 gigs of ram) etc, then the game becomes -- how do I translate/imbued the very essence of my soul into this space, this home, this car, this dish, this item of clothing, this social experience -- such that when someone takes one look at what I've left behind (and how I've arranged it), they'll say, "David was here"

David's my name btw. LOL in case anyone is confused.
 
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CareCPA

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This is a weird thread.

It started with a discussion of luxury strategies, and there are amazing posts randomly in the middle, but the majority is "my taste in cars/watches/purses is better than yours, so that makes my brand luxury." Then it turned into "why would I pay that much for something, where's the utility?" I doubt utility is the main driver for a luxury purchase.

I'd like to see more objective analysis of what makes luxury. If a Rolls Royce is luxury and a Hyundai isn't - why? What if you find the Hyundai seats more comfortable, the car more responsive, and the handling to your liking - is it now a luxury? Or does it need a V12 in to be considered luxury? If it needs the V12, would a V8 be ok? Where's the line?
Does it need hand-sewn seats to be luxury? If so, why? You can get better precision with machinery than with humans.
Does it need a hand-made grille to be luxury? Why?
We've spent decades creating machines to do a better job than we can do as humans. Why, all of a sudden now, do we value things created by hand more than those by machine?

That one isn’t worth it, imo. The exterior/interior colors are ugly.
This is a subjective opinion. Is all luxury subjective? If you don't like something, does that mean it's automatically not luxury?

The first criteria I look for in a drivers’ car is: “Is it available in Stick Shift”
The lowest model of any car is often a stick-shift, since it's the cheapest transmission option to put in a car. Why are some stick shifts luxury while others aren't? Where do you draw the line?

It seems as though this thread started as a luxury discussion, and then devolved into a thread on individual's tastes. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't a luxury product. Conversely, just because you think something is the best, doesn't make it luxury.
 

Merging Left

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Back to discussing luxury strategy...
I think you may have completely missed it in here. We're not going to be able to justify the $700k price tag because that's the whole point of luxury. The utility of the good does NOT justify the price. Further, I think it's safe to say that you're not Rolls Royce's target consumer. You, personally, don't value that brand, which is fine.

Why do people pay so much for a Rolls Royce?
1) The quality is superior to a Chrysler 300. You can't rationally argue against that. If you put the two next to each other and ask which one is nicer, the Rolls wins 100% of the time.
2) The brand is more valuable. People notice a Rolls Royce. They say "wow, that's a Rolls Royce." Nobody says "woah, look at that Chrysler 300. You never see those!"
3) For some, the high price tag is a positive. The fact that only the elite can afford it is part of what makes it valuable. It's a luxury good in the economic sense of the word. If RR offered the Phantom for $35k, the same people who would have paid $600k for it won't even consider it at $35k.

Why do people pay thousands or even tens of thousands for a Hermes dress? Because it's a very high quality dress, and because it's Hermes.

Like @rpeck90 has mentioned (many times) in this thread, when someone buys a Rolls Royce, they're not buying a car. It's much more than that. You need to let go of the association between $700k and the functionality of the car, because they're not paying for the functionality of the car. If it was purely about function, everyone would be driving Kia's.

The brand has value. Does a Rolls Royce feel considerably nicer than a S-class Mercedes, purely from a comfort perspective? Probably not. So why do people pay so much more for a Rolls? Because it's a Rolls.

This thread is about discussing what enabled those brands to command such high price tags, and what strategies do they use that we might consider in our own business endeavors?
 

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This is a weird thread.

It started with a discussion of luxury strategies, and there are amazing posts randomly in the middle, but the majority is "my taste in cars/watches/purses is better than yours, so that makes my brand luxury." Then it turned into "why would I pay that much for something, where's the utility?" I doubt utility is the main driver for a luxury purchase.

I'd like to see more objective analysis of what makes luxury. If a Rolls Royce is luxury and a Hyundai isn't - why? What if you find the Hyundai seats more comfortable, the car more responsive, and the handling to your liking - is it now a luxury? Or does it need a V12 in to be considered luxury? If it needs the V12, would a V8 be ok? Where's the line?
Does it need hand-sewn seats to be luxury? If so, why? You can get better precision with machinery than with humans.
Does it need a hand-made grille to be luxury? Why?
We've spent decades creating machines to do a better job than we can do as humans. Why, all of a sudden now, do we value things created by hand more than those by machine?

This is a subjective opinion. Is all luxury subjective? If you don't like something, does that mean it's automatically not luxury?


The lowest model of any car is often a stick-shift, since it's the cheapest transmission option to put in a car. Why are some stick shifts luxury while others aren't? Where do you draw the line?

It seems as though this thread started as a luxury discussion, and then devolved into a thread on individual's tastes. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't a luxury product. Conversely, just because you think something is the best, doesn't make it luxury.
Very well said. To piggyback, there's been a lot of arguments in favor of luxury brands that are focusing on what features make it better than the "economy version" so to speak. But it was established very early on that more features and more utility do not define luxury. That's what defines "Premium."

To truly be luxury, a product/brand has to be worth more than the utility it offers.
 
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Merging Left

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It terms of timeline and history, do luxury brands come before more affordable products? Do luxury versions inspire cheap copycats, or do normal products inspire designers to create luxury versions? I think the latter, in which case, there is more predictability as to what the next luxury markets may be.
 
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MTEE1985

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It terms of timeline and history, do luxury brands come before more affordable products? Do luxury versions inspire cheap copycats, or do normal products inspire designers to create luxury versions? I think the latter, in which case, there is more predictability as to what the next luxury markets may be.

I find the timeline to be fluid. By that I mean, Mercedes for example started out making a car, period. They weren’t better or worse than any other vehicle because they were first. They later developed and positioned themselves as a luxury manufacturer.

If I’m not mistaken and @rpeck90 could expand on this if he wants (by that I mean, please please please do) but LVMH has been around for only 30 years but can trace the lineage of some subsidiaries back as far as the late 1500’s. Back then it wasn’t about the marketing, the price, the IG likes. It was about the quality of the product so it was luxurious by being the best if not the only option available.


The real question is, what is a luxury that doesn't exist yet but will?

Cars, watches, bags, jewelry, now high-end smart phones. What's the next big one?

I’m going with luxury service. The one thing you can’t market your way out of is giving bad service to your customers. It’s a cliche by now but yet so few companies actual do it...give great service. Actually answer the phone, return phone calls, give a sh*t and you are providing a luxury in the area of service.
 

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ChrisV

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For some, the high price tag is a positive. The fact that only the elite can afford it is part of what makes it valuable. It's a luxury good in the economic sense of the word. If RR offered the Phantom for $35k, the same people who would have paid $600k for it won't even consider it at $35k.
Ahhhhhhh, but what happens when you make a high quality luxury product affordable to all

Does it detract from it’s appeal?

How about the most popular affordable luxury product of all time...

Link
 
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ChrisV

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It terms of timeline and history, do luxury brands come before more affordable products? Do luxury versions inspire cheap copycats, or do normal products inspire designers to create luxury versions? I think the latter, in which case, there is more predictability as to what the next luxury markets may be.
I would say yes. I find that the originator tends to make a luxury product.

Evidence:

First car? Mercedes Benz. Ford made an affordable version.
First Home Computer? Apple 2/Mac. Microsoft made an affordable version.

I think it’s just how it works. The something is new, it’s expensive and only the wealthy can afford it, then the technology trickles down to the working class. Flat screen TVs. DVD Players. Home Computers. Radio. Blu-Ray players.
 

CareCPA

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ChrisV

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I understand that. I'm curious if opinion should play a role in whether or not something is luxury, or is there an objective way.
I think that’s a hard question. I do think there are objective elements. Like you know the way that people say that “Beauty is subjective?” Well that’s only partly true. Like for example men find a Waste-to-Hip ratio of 0.7 to be most attractive as it denotes fertility. Men find fertile women most attractive.

@ApparentHorizon and I were having a very interesting discussion about why certain cars are considered “exotic” and “high end” and I argue that it’s their aggressive and dominant stance. It says “Don’t F*ck with me.”

Jalopnik - Science Shows People Prefer Angry Aggressive Cars

There was a study that found that when car experts look at cars, the part of the brain responsible for facial recognition lights up.

From Smithsonian: For Experts, Cars Really Do Have Faces | Smart News | Smithsonian

Livescience: People Love Angry-Faced Cars

People seem to love a car with an aggressive stance. He blew my mind when he found this Cheetah pic after I posted the Ferrari:

upload_2018-8-26_16-43-3.png

upload_2018-8-26_20-1-50.png

My theory is that men feel lit makes them intimidating.

But what do women like?

2018-vw-beetle-ogi.jpg

2000-mazda-mx-5-miata-1456434-7282663.jpg

Funny how the Beetle and Miata have always been considered ‘chick cars'

How your car could be giving away clues about your personality

What do you think @MTEE1985
 
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Just wanted to highlight this.

BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT.

You should charge money for your posts.

That realization shifted my whole focus; forgive my clumsy meandering here; but I look at it like: First we seek to satisfy basic needs, then we seek to enhance the utility value of what we have (4gigs of ram to 32 gigs of ram) etc, then the game becomes -- how do I translate/imbued the very essence of my soul into this space, this home, this car, this dish, this item of clothing, this social experience -- such that when someone takes one look at what I've left behind (and how I've arranged it), they'll say, "David was here"

David's my name btw. LOL in case anyone is confused.

Thanks for the kind words & rep --

Yep, that's a great way to put it. If not familiar, you've described the hierarchy of human needs.

The big point I wanted to emphasize was that whilst it's relatively simple to observe how it all works, designing, manufacturing & marketing a product/service/solution which fits the premium/luxury criteria is difficult; not just from the exacting standards demanded - but from the fact that it's an "inclusive" process (as I mentioned before) -- "luxury" isn't about products, it's about process & people.

A good example would be a fat personal trainer, or I guess a broke college professor trying to teach you about business - why would you listen to someone who doesn't follow their own advice? Maybe their advice isn't worth listening to... but NOT useless.

This is the mistake most people make. They're simply the messenger. They have no achievements of their own. They don't push you very far up the social totem pole because they haven't gone there themselves.

It's the same with premium/luxury - you can't charge a high price for something which is either lacking in quality, insight, innovation, social precedent or inspiration. Its value has to come from somewhere (even if that value is subjective).

In the case of luxury, the value is much deeper than "it's a better product", or "it's got history/pedigree". It needs resonance (step 4) - the idea that your highest creative ideal matches a community's.

And what's REALLY interesting is that the greatest brands went against the grain. They did things so "proudly different" ;-) that they started to attract people by virtue of the quality of what they were doing. This quality acted as their differentiator - hence the modern trend of identifying "luxury" towards uncompromising quality (which is true but IMO only a symptom of a deeper ideal).

The simple truth, though, is that luxury doesn't need opulence... it's more about reverence. Think of the Shroud of Turin. If that thing did in fact grace the mortal remains of Christ... would you not argue that owning it would certainly be a "luxury" experience? The cloth itself is neither clean nor high quality. In fact - if it's real - it had a dead person in it. It's got blood stains on it. So what makes it worth so much?

The best example I can think of with this is Alexander's breastplate - stolen from his tomb by the emperor Caligula. Lost to history, the breastplate itself would have never made "little boots" the new Alexander... but the implication was that it would at "empower" him to perform feats as ambitious as the great man. What's interesting is Alexander - who wanted to be the "new Achilles" - ALSO followed this process - stealing Achilles' shield (or some say his spear) from Troy shortly after his crossing of the Hellespont.

The breastplate is the quintessential luxury item. It means very little on its own (negligible functional value)... but because it was used by Alexander himself (who was near deified in the centuries between his death and the onset of Christianity), it held special reverence in the hearts of most of the Roman emperors.

Indeed, Julius Caesar himself was said to have broken down & wept at the feet of a statue of Alexander during his Quaestorship in further Hispania, inspiring him to pursue the path he did. In Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Caesar is compared (favorably) to Alexander. Who does that? Why?? What's the reason for that to happen?

The same can be said about many of the greats of antiquity. Mont Blanc have diamond-encrusted Hannibal pens, there's an Alexander the Great watch for sale for $700k+ and tons of other stuff. Buying those products does NOTHING for you on a material level (apart from raising a few eyebrows) -- the key is that it gives YOU the sense of purpose, mission and belief that you can achieve what you truly want.

The point many miss is that when you say "luxury", they think of "reclining seats", "the best leather", "hand crafted" and all the trappings of material wealth. That's all good, but can be attributed to premium, too (such is the case with Filippo Loreti mentioned prior). "Hand-crafted" (in my opinion) - whilst a great way to differentiate in the modern age - is typically an homage to the processes of old... where the women of Lesbos worked feverishly with their purple dye (for example).

There's something sitting at the "core" of "luxury" which I don't think anyone has covered. This is why I wrote those other posts... if you can make a book $30,000 - what sits behind that?

The higher up the social hierarchy you go - as you pointed out - the goal / purpose changes. People identify their mortality. They want to make a mark on the world, and want to use products, ideas, inspiration and tools to do it.

This is where many of the world's "luxury" brands started out - over time, as their core "utility" was adopted by more & more people, they developed manufacturing processes etc and elevated their brand higher - typically - through the use of social partnerships (Louis Vuitton started out as the royal luggage manufacturer for Empress Eugénie de Montijo (wife of Napoleon III); Christian Louboutin had his break designing for the Moulin rouge -- could be wrong on that one but 99.9% sure he had something to do with it).

--

Telling - the stuff I posted about women / femininity before ...
  • How many women would want a Hannibal pen?
  • How many would want Alexander's breastplate?
They don't care... they want to indulge in social intrigues and all that other crap. Women are in NO way as materialistic as men - at least in the same way. They treat materialism (whilst obviously they'll buy shoes etc) as a means to enhance their SOCIAL experiences. Men buy things (primarily) to enhance their reputation etc. Whereas you just whisper the name "Hannibal", "Caesar" or "Alexander" to many of the world's CEO's - you'll get an instant reaction of reverence, most women simply wouldn't care. I often tear up when thinking about Milteades' feat at the battle of Marathon.

Thus, you have to ask yourself...

If it's the case that women would not want a diamond-encrusted Hannibal pen, is it luxury? Does it really stand at that pinnacle of desire that most people would associate with the term?

Likewise with a Birkin bag from Hermes.

It can be hand crafted out of the skin of the aliens that landed at Roswell - would I give a damn? Nope. Thus, could you really consider it a "luxury" item (to me)? Premium, certainly... but luxury?

This raises the biggest point of all.

Maybe luxury has nothing to do with the "thing" itself. As @ChrisV mentioned - it's about how it makes someone feel. But... maybe it goes deeper.... perhaps luxury is about what it pushes someone to do... to behave... to BE.

At the core of ALL reverence lies something that was achieved beyond the capacities of other men. This is why the likes of Elon Musk holds so much reverence in the business world. If he wasn't there, would Tesla be a viable proposition? Nope. Likewise with Jobs, Gates and the swathe of other "luminaries" of the modern world.

Rather than looking outward at what constitutes a luxury "product", why not look inward at where the "idea" of luxury comes from. Why not consider the weight of what products, tools and ideas bring forward? The Holy Grail wouldn't have diamonds and jewels on it. It's the "cup of a carpenter"... yet it's been one of the most sought-after relics in history. It's definitely a "luxury" product... yet would not have ANYWHERE near the level of craftsmanship that the latest Swarovski crystals may have.

Luxury isn't helping people "lose weight" or "get from A to B"... it's about giving them the keys to a better life. A beautiful life. A life full of youthful energy, eloquence, sophistication, intellectualism and inspiration.

How
YOU deliver that determines your luxury. The price people are willing to pay (remember, people want to pay luxury prices because they believe the products are going to elevate their lives THAT much more than the other stuff) - is determined by how much weight / reverence / gravitas your solutions brings to the market. This can't be faked.
 

Merging Left

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Alright business idea:

Luxury urns or coffins, but especially urns. Instead of thinking about a luxury good as giving the owner a particular feeling/emotion, it could be a method for them to leave behind a certain message/belief.

Whaddya think?
 
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ChrisV

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I think that’s what they try to do anyway. that’s why they try to sell you crazy fancy coffins. Unless you were being sarcastic.
 

MTEE1985

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Thanks for the kind words & rep --

Yep, that's a great way to put it. If not familiar, you've described the hierarchy of human needs.

The big point I wanted to emphasize was that whilst it's relatively simple to observe how it all works, designing, manufacturing & marketing a product/service/solution which fits the premium/luxury criteria is difficult; not just from the exacting standards demanded - but from the fact that it's an "inclusive" process (as I mentioned before) -- "luxury" isn't about products, it's about process & people.

A good example would be a fat personal trainer, or I guess a broke college professor trying to teach you about business - why would you listen to someone who doesn't follow their own advice? Maybe their advice isn't worth listening to... but NOT useless.

This is the mistake most people make. They're simply the messenger. They have no achievements of their own. They don't push you very far up the social totem pole because they haven't gone there themselves.

It's the same with premium/luxury - you can't charge a high price for something which is either lacking in quality, insight, innovation, social precedent or inspiration. Its value has to come from somewhere (even if that value is subjective).

In the case of luxury, the value is much deeper than "it's a better product", or "it's got history/pedigree". It needs resonance (step 4) - the idea that your highest creative ideal matches a community's.

And what's REALLY interesting is that the greatest brands went against the grain. They did things so "proudly different" ;-) that they started to attract people by virtue of the quality of what they were doing. This quality acted as their differentiator - hence the modern trend of identifying "luxury" towards uncompromising quality (which is true but IMO only a symptom of a deeper ideal).

The simple truth, though, is that luxury doesn't need opulence... it's more about reverence. Think of the Shroud of Turin. If that thing did in fact grace the mortal remains of Christ... would you not argue that owning it would certainly be a "luxury" experience? The cloth itself is neither clean nor high quality. In fact - if it's real - it had a dead person in it. It's got blood stains on it. So what makes it worth so much?

The best example I can think of with this is Alexander's breastplate - stolen from his tomb by the emperor Caligula. Lost to history, the breastplate itself would have never made "little boots" the new Alexander... but the implication was that it would at "empower" him to perform feats as ambitious as the great man. What's interesting is Alexander - who wanted to be the "new Achilles" - ALSO followed this process - stealing Achilles' shield (or some say his spear) from Troy shortly after his crossing of the Hellespont.

The breastplate is the quintessential luxury item. It means very little on its own (negligible functional value)... but because it was used by Alexander himself (who was near deified in the centuries between his death and the onset of Christianity), it held special reverence in the hearts of most of the Roman emperors.

Indeed, Julius Caesar himself was said to have broken down & wept at the feet of a statue of Alexander during his Quaestorship in further Hispania, inspiring him to pursue the path he did. In Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Caesar is compared (favorably) to Alexander. Who does that? Why?? What's the reason for that to happen?

The same can be said about many of the greats of antiquity. Mont Blanc have diamond-encrusted Hannibal pens, there's an Alexander the Great watch for sale for $700k+ and tons of other stuff. Buying those products does NOTHING for you on a material level (apart from raising a few eyebrows) -- the key is that it gives YOU the sense of purpose, mission and belief that you can achieve what you truly want.

The point many miss is that when you say "luxury", they think of "reclining seats", "the best leather", "hand crafted" and all the trappings of material wealth. That's all good, but can be attributed to premium, too (such is the case with Filippo Loreti mentioned prior). "Hand-crafted" (in my opinion) - whilst a great way to differentiate in the modern age - is typically an homage to the processes of old... where the women of Lesbos worked feverishly with their purple dye (for example).

There's something sitting at the "core" of "luxury" which I don't think anyone has covered. This is why I wrote those other posts... if you can make a book $30,000 - what sits behind that?

The higher up the social hierarchy you go - as you pointed out - the goal / purpose changes. People identify their mortality. They want to make a mark on the world, and want to use products, ideas, inspiration and tools to do it.

This is where many of the world's "luxury" brands started out - over time, as their core "utility" was adopted by more & more people, they developed manufacturing processes etc and elevated their brand higher - typically - through the use of social partnerships (Louis Vuitton started out as the royal luggage manufacturer for Empress Eugénie de Montijo (wife of Napoleon III); Christian Louboutin had his break designing for the Moulin rouge -- could be wrong on that one but 99.9% sure he had something to do with it).

--

Telling - the stuff I posted about women / femininity before ...
  • How many women would want a Hannibal pen?
  • How many would want Alexander's breastplate?
They don't care... they want to indulge in social intrigues and all that other crap. Women are in NO way as materialistic as men - at least in the same way. They treat materialism (whilst obviously they'll buy shoes etc) as a means to enhance their SOCIAL experiences. Men buy things (primarily) to enhance their reputation etc. Whereas you just whisper the name "Hannibal", "Caesar" or "Alexander" to many of the world's CEO's - you'll get an instant reaction of reverence, most women simply wouldn't care. I often tear up when thinking about Milteades' feat at the battle of Marathon.

Thus, you have to ask yourself...

If it's the case that women would not want a diamond-encrusted Hannibal pen, is it luxury? Does it really stand at that pinnacle of desire that most people would associate with the term?

Likewise with a Birkin bag from Hermes.

It can be hand crafted out of the skin of the aliens that landed at Roswell - would I give a damn? Nope. Thus, could you really consider it a "luxury" item (to me)? Premium, certainly... but luxury?

This raises the biggest point of all.

Maybe luxury has nothing to do with the "thing" itself. As @ChrisV mentioned - it's about how it makes someone feel. But... maybe it goes deeper.... perhaps luxury is about what it pushes someone to do... to behave... to BE.

At the core of ALL reverence lies something that was achieved beyond the capacities of other men. This is why the likes of Elon Musk holds so much reverence in the business world. If he wasn't there, would Tesla be a viable proposition? Nope. Likewise with Jobs, Gates and the swathe of other "luminaries" of the modern world.

Rather than looking outward at what constitutes a luxury "product", why not look inward at where the "idea" of luxury comes from. Why not consider the weight of what products, tools and ideas bring forward? The Holy Grail wouldn't have diamonds and jewels on it. It's the "cup of a carpenter"... yet it's been one of the most sought-after relics in history. It's definitely a "luxury" product... yet would not have ANYWHERE near the level of craftsmanship that the latest Swarovski crystals may have.

Luxury isn't helping people "lose weight" or "get from A to B"... it's about giving them the keys to a better life. A beautiful life. A life full of youthful energy, eloquence, sophistication, intellectualism and inspiration.

How
YOU deliver that determines your luxury. The price people are willing to pay (remember, people want to pay luxury prices because they believe the products are going to elevate their lives THAT much more than the other stuff) - is determined by how much weight / reverence / gravitas your solutions brings to the market. This can't be faked.


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?
 

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