The combination of luxury and lifestyle go hand in hand so it is no surprise to watch this trend emerge from the sector of luxury brands. Many luxury brands have already tried to gain appeal to a wider target market by offering perfumes and a lower cost range. Traditional luxury brands are attempting to build lifestyle brands, offering basic apparel, jewellery, perfumes, home products and watches.
According to interviews conducted by McKinsey a total of 14% of luxury brands, including Roberto Cavalli, trade in over six different product categories with the minority of luxury brands trading in under two product categories. Some firms are taking expansion into different sectors very seriously, such as the Armani firm that now owns several cafés, restaurants and hotels as well as a luxury fashion empire.
All in all luxury brands seem to be willing to somewhat take the focus off their precious products in marketing campaigns and advertising, letting the new lifestyle customer remain in the spotlight, showing functionality and the ability to adapt to a modern market instead of maintaining a traditional upper crust luxury image. A good example for this is the new Louis Vuitton television advertisement, that is the first attempt to connect with the masses in a brand awareness campaign, reaching out to a new target customer.
Together with the increase of marketing possibilities through social media and the internet, luxury brands must remain conscious of the fact that while advertising the lines´ new perfume on Facebook, the same advertising channel may not be appropriate for haute couture and other top of the line luxury products.
