Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
This may sound like the end of the media sector but it need not be so. What
is currently taking place in different societies on different levels is that consum-
ers have simply changed and have moved on from an old behavioral pattern to a
new mode of functioning that serves their self-interests and satisfies them better.
The media world is therefore required to fine-tune its approaches to better suit the
current environment, particularly in the context of luxury communications, which
has a strong factor of emotional connection and a high level of expectations.
In the luxury domain, the mode of communications is quite peculiar and
its struggle with the transition from the old system of talking “to” the public
to the new way of talking “with” clients is apparent. Prior to the Internet,
magazines and newspapers dominated luxury communications with televi-
sion not so far behind. Luxury brands basically had one approach to media
communications - disseminate information in a one-way form; and two
choices of channels - print media and television. It was a question of the
brands with the biggest budgets getting their ads on the most visible maga-
zine pages and the best TV spots. The smaller brands with lesser budgets
were left wallowing in the land of the unknown, swallowed by the giants
while depending on word-of-mouth and the occasional luck of some editorial
feature in a magazine that happened to have some free space. But the Internet
has come along and changed everything, literally. The Internet is not TV and
it doesn't function in the same way as print media either. It has brought with
it a new set of rules that emphasize developing relationships directly with
clients through one-to-one dialogue that doesn't depend on magazines and
other one-way communications channels. It is about targeted relationship
marketing, in other words talking to the right people in the right way with
the relevant message that will capture and retain their attention. And their
attention and interest is retained through dialogue and exchanges.
The web is a conversation and luxury clients are already involved in dia-
logues on different topics among themselves through blogs and the vari-
ous user communities. They are also increasingly adopting these means as
their source of indirect media communications. It's about time that luxury
brands became a part of this world of exchanges. The Internet has provided
a tremendous opportunity to reach wealthy clients in niche segments directly
with targeted messages that cost a fraction of what big-budget advertising
costs. Instead of buying a 30-second TV spot for a luxury fragrance advert
that is run at prime time between the adverts of Head & Shoulders dandruff
shampoo and cat food, why not address the hundreds of thousands of fragrance
enthusiasts that are cyber-residents of online communities like the Blog Beauty
Addict or the social networks, A Small World and Diamond Lounge? The web
has shaped consumers' mind-sets in such a way that they view communi-
cations messages which they have not chosen as irrelevant “interruption”,
therefore they are likely to skip that fragrance advert to go to the rest-room
or grab a coffee or something - and there goes your $100,000! Luxury com-
munications used to be all about capturing attention. Unfortunately, those
