Marketing Strategy for Luxury Brands

Although bargain shoppers are always hunting for a good deal, luxury consumers have stepped up their game too.

A look at indexed average order value growth in 2022 indicates that luxury goods, jewelry and accessories were one of the top-performing categories, powered by wealthy consumers who are spending more per transaction than the average consumer.

If your team has been tasked with creating a marketing strategy for luxury brands and you’re looking for inspiration from the best luxury marketing campaigns, check out these luxury brand marketing examples.

Identify your target customer

One of the first things a luxury brand strategist might ask a client is, “Who are your target personas?”

Beyond just understanding that luxury brands generally cater to people with a higher-than-average disposable income, the question serves to flesh out details to determine content, marketing channels, segmenting audiences, language, and drivers for consumer spending.

Does your typical buyer travel extensively? Play golf? Have kids or grandkids? Are they retired or starting a business? Do they own a second home or rent a two-bedroom condo near the subway to ride to work?

Be cautious about making assumptions instead relying on customer data to get accurate consumer profiles. Your target customer may not necessarily fall under the stereotypes of previous luxury buyers, who tended to be older and rich. Although big-ticket luxury items might be out of reach for some cash-strapped consumers, The Lipstick Effect tells us that they may still spend money on small indulgences, even during an economic downturn.

A 2022 poll of chocolate fans found that 56% said eating premium bars “was a good way to boost your mood.” Those results seem to be reflected in sales by ethical chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely, whose $6 candy bars are marketed to a more youthful, progressive audience that cares about issues like climate change, child labor, and fair trade.

Focus on visual content

High-quality imagery and video play a huge role in luxury brand advertising campaigns. Beyond just commercials, print ads, and billboards, marketing channels for luxury brands now include a variety of social networks.

The Louis Vuitton Instagram page, for example, offers a mix of stunning visuals you’d associate with the signature handbag and luggage giant, such as Gisele Bundchen en route to her tropical escape—bags in tow, or this seaside new collection launch, highlighting a bag inspired by the colors of Italy’s Borromeo Palazzo.

Highlight brand heritage

Every luxury brand, no matter how old and established, has a story behind it. As a marketer, your job is to tell that story in a way that showcases the company’s history, values, and products.

Champagne icon Dom Perignon leans heavily into the brand’s legacy, highlighting the birthplace of champagne on the homepage of its website and various marketing channels. The brand’s published manifesto (also on the homepage), declares not only that Dom Perignon is “vintage only” but also that its “unyielding commitment to bear witness to the harvest of a single year … even going as far as NOT declaring a vintage.”

Tell stories that evoke emotion

Whether a brand is focused on the joy of passing down heirloom jewelry to a loved one or the tranquility of sipping scotch around a ski resort’s fireplace, marketing luxury begins and ends with eliciting emotions from consumers.

Can you transport them back in time to childhood or the best trip they had to Greece? Does your brand confirm their feelings of high status by telling stories that speak to exclusivity?

Luxury carmaker Bentley was sure to capture this moment from King Charles III’s coronation as he was driven away in one of two Bentley State Limousines designed by and for the Queen many years earlier. The video was shared on the brand’s social media channels and conjured feelings of status and exclusivity.

Educate and inspire

Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world’s oldest watch manufacturer, relying on generations of master artisans to create timepieces with “unique technical and aesthetic signatures.” But the brand doesn’t rely on consumers to know what makes the watchmaker’s pieces exceptional.

Without spoken words, the company’s luxury brand strategist created a collection of exquisitely produced videos that tell engaging tales about the company, its history, and the unique expertise that goes into each piece.

Ready for an example? Check out this video from the brand’s YouTube channel, educating—and no doubt inspiring—consumers on “The Most Complicated Watch Ever Made.”

Other educational and inspirational ideas could be marketed in the form of tutorials, in-store tours, experiential guides, like food-wine pairings, or FAQs, like “How to spot a fake designer purse.

Reaching high-income consumers (or others who are willing to splurge on luxury goods and experiences) requires a completely different approach than it did even 25 years ago. Customers can no longer be lumped into one demographic, and they’re much more averse to “salesy” lingo and slick advertising campaigns.

Focus on who your target audience is, what they care about, and how you want them to perceive your brand. Then create campaigns that entertain, educate, and evoke emotion in ways that shine a spotlight on your unique offering while remaining authentic to your brand’s history and values.