Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The brand's
website
The luxury
consumer
The
mainstream
media
Luxury brands
The luxury
consumer
The e-zines
The social
media
participants
The luxury
consumer
Figure 5.8
The current online communications model requires luxury brands to
reach the client through several channels and intermediaries. This presents a real
opportunity for developing intimate relations with clients but is also beset with
challenges
how the products or services or advertising campaigns should be designed.
Communicating through the social web should be on the level of the over-
all brand experience. It should be about enabling the cyber-residents on the
social web to feel an intimate link with the brand. The key is to reproduce
the same feeling in them as the social web. They have to feel that they are
recognized, that they are respected, that their opinion is important and that
they count for the brand. For example, organizing a competition where peo-
ple can submit ideas generated for a specific project for a luxury brand could
be a first step. Also, providing access to brand discovery events through the
social media could be another means as well as using the social web for
product previews and teaser campaigns. This is the first step to inclusion and
participation and will generate buzz around the brand. People on the social
web are there to talk and they will talk irrespective of whether a luxury brand
is communicating with them or not. It is better for the brand to give them
something good to talk about.
Luxury brands can also use the social web to inform and educate the pub-
lic on key issues that affect the brands and the industry in general, as well
as the steps that the brands are taking to address these. For example, several
brands like Ermenegildo Zegna and Louis Vuitton (Figure 5.9) have been
at the forefront of promoting sustainable practices and environmental pro-
tection causes in the luxury sector and the social web could be a means to
reinforce these initiatives through raising the level of awareness among the
