Research_On going
July 2022
We live in a time when visibility, competition, and growth in the luxury industry are forcing brands to constantly devise new ways to develop creative brand awareness. Adapting to the digital reality has meant that luxury brands have had to adjust to digital media platforms to drive innovation in the way things are handled online. But it is difficult to remain exclusive and at the same time have a web presence. In fact, the more people who have access to luxury products, the less exclusive brands and their offerings become, in a sense.
LDF Studio believes that the key for luxury brands in the digital age is to leverage digital tools and drive innovation in the space through creativity and emphasis on creating luxury experiences for their customers.
For luxury brands to continue to thrive and maintain that element of mystery, they need to make sure their processes and systems are perfectly flawless. Because if people pay huge sums for luxurious objects of desire, they deserve an experience that ordinary brands cannot offer.
We think that it is critical for luxury brands to devise exclusivity services using appropriate communication tools and leveraging technology to ensure the most discerning customers get the most out of them. Integrating seamless payment systems such as blockchain is one way to achieve this.
The recent global luxury industry has transformed from a constellation of small and medium-sized companies to a few large luxury conglomerates. This new structure, along with the growth of foreign markets such as Asia, has caused an increase in sales volumes, resulting in more industrial than artisanal production. These changes reduce the exclusivity of luxury brands and can lead to their commodification in the eyes of consumers. To mitigate this commodification, many luxury brands strive to communicate exclusivity and prestige through artification, namely strategic art sponsorships, philanthropic activities, and limited collections in collaboration with artists. Used in the sociology of art, the term describes the process of treating non-art objects as art, and in management studies it applies to the effort luxury companies make to link their brands and products to the art world.
Through qualitative analysis, we identify how these art-based strategies use different touchpoints with the art world, from sponsorships to advertising to product design, in order to communicate an image of superior exclusivity and prestige.
LDF Studio believes that artification is necessary to ensure the perception of exclusivity among consumers and stimulate sales, and for this reason it has become a key strategy that we use in the field of communication for luxury brands facing commoditization issue