Luxury brands in misplaced focus

Speaking at Mediaedge:cia's Thinking Space event last week, York argued that major luxury brands are in a 'dangerous place' because they have focused on the newly rich and relied too heavily on celebrity PR.

'Luxury brands think advertising agencies are crap and they don't understand their design principles,' he said. 'People talk of a luxury-goods lifestyle generated by celebrity. In fact we are seeing a proxy of wealth created by luxury-goods marketers. Many celebrities are broke.'

Trends analyst William Higham added that brands need to focus less on status and more on creating a consumer experience if they are to beat a recession.

This article was first published on Marketing