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Luxury Branding and Inconspicuous Consumption
Anneke Zwart, Student (University), Netherlands, Moderator
Since about a decade there is a rise of so-called 'inconspicuous consumption', referring to the affinity of elite consumers for discrete rather than traditionally branded luxury products. This change is driven by three factors:
- First of all, traditional logos and brands have spread to the middle class. As a result, they don’t signal wealth in the way they used to do.
- Secondly, the desire of the upper class to overt status symbols has decreased.
- And thirdly, niche brands are becoming increasingly popular, particularly through social media.
As such, organizations can now benefit from a more inconspicuous way of branding. However until now, the response to this trend has rather been slow. Wilson, Eckhardt and Belk have developed two best practices that can support organizations to respond to the trend:
- Redesign offerings to downsize logos and luxury: Elite brands have started to downsize their brands or even hide them...
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