Isolate Luxury Brands From Everyday Folks

Mainstream customers weaken the exclusivity of a luxury brand.

A giant hand pushing away a large collage of people further away from an expensive watch

Overview

Customers buy luxury brands to become the social elite. If anybody can acquire these products, this ubiquity tarnishes the brand.

Push Models Further Away

An ad for jewelry that places the model farther away

Luxury ads perform better when the model is located further away from the product (Chu, Chang, & Lee, 2021).

Perhaps it’s also helpful to orient the model’s gaze away:

Ad for luxury watch in which the model is spaced apart looking away

Your product should be so exclusive that people aren’t worthy enough to look at it.

Use Headless Mannequins

Two headless mannequins wearing expensive clothes

Mannequins aren’t the social elite. Use headless mannequins for a product display, rather than a symbolic customer.

Restrict the Number of Visible Customers

Two different Facebook pages for a luxury watch. One that shows customers, and one that shows watches. The Facebook page that shows watches performs better

Unlike typical products, luxury brands are less appealing if more people own them.

Therefore, be careful with social proof. In one study, a luxury watch seemed less appealing after it encouraged customers to tag their photos on Facebook (Park, Im, & Kim, 2020).

Partner With Celebrities

Mainstream customers weaken luxury brands, but celebrities and influencers strengthen them (Pangarkar & Rathee, 2022).

Product placements are effective, too (Rossi, Pantoja, Yoon, & Kim, 2023).

Chu, X. Y., Chang, C. T., & Lee, A. Y. (2021). Values created from far and near: Influence of spatial distance on brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 162-175.
O’Guinn, T. C., Tanner, R. J., & Maeng, A. (2015). Turning to space: Social density, social class, and the value of things in stores. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(2), 196-213.
Pangarkar, A., & Rathee, S. (2022). The role of conspicuity: impact of social influencers on purchase decisions of luxury consumers. International Journal of Advertising, 1-28.
Park, M., Im, H., & Kim, H. Y. (2020). “You are too friendly!” The negative effects of social media marketing on value perceptions of luxury fashion brands. Journal of Business Research, 117, 529-542.
Rossi, P., Pantoja, F., Yoon, S., & Kim, K. (2023). The mind of the beholder: congruence effects in luxury product placements. International Journal of Advertising, 42(3), 562-588.