As 2023 is just three months away, brands are on a hunt to concoct the luxury marketing strategy that will bring them the desired results. For centuries, the meaning of luxury remained the same. People perceive them as a symbol of status, both in terms of capability and affordability. They were mostly adorned by the high-end audience for their premium designs, high-quality materials, and meticulous handcrafting. But at the turn of the 21st century, the meaning of luxury began to change in light of the digital trend.
Changes in the Luxury Realm
The major changes occurred when the digital transformation changed the access to luxury. The internet revolution made luxury brands reevaluate their core nature of exclusivity and reach. In the initial days of the boom, the grandeur labels kept their silence. They neither conformed to the new changes nor showed a strong inclination to remain the same. But as younger, tech-savvy consumers like GenZ grew older, the luxury industry slowly accepted the technological revolution.
Then came the second change from nature, the recent pandemic of Covid-19. While the internet modified the luxury domain, the health crisis redid the entire world in a novel way. Stores closed away and customers lost their right to feel and touch the product before making purchases. Online mediums became the only way to stay connected to the brands. Consumer preferences began to shift, which cannot be completely deemed for a short time.
Amid this chaos, new technological and digital assets development further fuelled the brand’s confusion. Known for their century-old legacies, brands are now scrambling to make up the luxury marketing strategy that answers the three major questions, listed below.
- Will this garner the attention of affluent customers?
- If yes, what will be the conversion rate, for building a loyal base?
- What changes to the strategy will keep the buyers glued to the brand?
The transition to the new internet
Many people wonder if the rise of the metaverse and immersive technologies transforms the buying cycle in luxury marketing forever. While it is hard to answer the last two questions, tackling the first one can be possible with the right information at your disposal. Consumers make the trends. Trends are followed by customers. They are agile and slight modification will flow well with any set of customers. Most consumers look for an emotional connection with a brand rather than just a simple product.
Therefore, we’ve put together some of the major trends in luxury brand marketing that not only ruled 2022 but will take over the new year as well. It’s time to make preparations.
The direction of luxury marketing is rapidly changing with the emergence of new technology and consumer marketing trends in 2023.
The direction of luxury marketing is rapidly changing with the emergence of new technology and consumer trends.
The Metaverse, Web3, and Digital Media as a Customer Touchpoint
An Emerging Marketing Trend
Web3 and the Metaverse is THE topic of the century. As major companies and brands still build the new era of the internet, you can discover that luxury brands already apply AR, VR, and WebGL experiences to their strategy shaping new digital marketing trends. Experience associated with the offerings is one of the biggest trends in luxury brand marketing because they inspire a global audience with aspirational content layered on top of our real-world experiences. They further speak to a specific consumer segment, which soon will be the next generation of buying luxury goods.
Among the technologies related to web3 are augmented and virtual reality. They creatively shape a consumer experience with the alternation of sensations. Putting together these new luxury brand marketing strategies, the customer’s buying confidence is always skyrocketing due to increased interaction with your brand. This leads to sales due to increased time of interaction with your brand.
The Role of 3D Technologies
What many don’t know, 3D technologies and art are the basis to bring these experiences to life. The basis of all VR experiences is 3D Virtual Spaces. Virtual Spaces are made with 3D software, designed to enhance the user experience of the entire online buying cycle on a brand website. AR on the other hand allows an immersive display of your products within your own real space or the display of your digital, luxury fashion piece.
Brand experiences in imaginative virtual spaces are at the center of luxury marketing trends.
Marketing Campaigns using AR
Augmented Reality allows to display of various luxury products such as Fantasy Garments, Luxury Fashion, Jewellery, or Luxury Furniture layered over reality. Many Luxury Brands such as Burberry and Gucci used AR a few years ago to display their products over your lifelike location via the smartphone. But this can be taken a step further:
Instead of only using AR as a digital showcase to view your product 360, and play around with it, you can now harness AR to tell unique stories. AR uses rich media, crafted by 3D artists, or digital fashion designers. They match the AR production and the final formatting to your goals.
Creating your Story with AR
Before creating your story for your unique AR experience, think of who your audience is, and where you wish to place the experience as a touchpoint for your customers. Answer the following questions:
- Where will you showcase your AR experience?
- What’s the initiative to create this AR Experience? A new product launch, an offline event, or a promotional event?
- What’s your end goal with the use of AR?
- How can you connect this to a real-life scenario?
For instance, you might want to create a fun challenge for your audience, where they can discover items in their real-life environment, and submit their result to your brand. Such as a treasure hunt at an offline location, which could be your store. The story can be created around your key brand elements, allowing your customer to interact with the product, but deeply understand your brand identity. It’s an amazing way to build brand awareness.
VR Experiences
VR experiences are 360 Image-based immersive environments on the web. They allow a customer to walk through space via ports. This means that for the first time, 2D product-focused media transforms into 3D Virtual Spaces on the web. These 3D Virtual spaces spark far more emotions, leaving customers to increase time spend with your brand in the digital space. When creating your own VR experience, answer these questions to establish your brief:
- How many spaces do you want to create for the customer to walk through?
- What’s the purpose of each space?
- How many products do you wish to showcase?
- Do you want to display information about your products, or brand?
- Will you connect this experience to your e-commerce site?
- How do you define your brand visually? Describe it in keywords.
- What’s your content marketing strategy to drive traffic?
A new world in which there is no limit to creativity, usability, and practicality is about to greet the customers. Highly likely to be a part of customers’ lives in the future, it is worth investing for brands to establish and promote themselves in virtual spaces.
Gamified Digital Luxury Experience on the Web
Digital, gamified experiences bring a new level of interaction to your customer journey. These breathtaking experiences immerse a customer on your website with functions such as third-person walkthroughs, and gamified features to interact with your product. To build your interactive and gamified world you want to evaluate two different options for the technology. When it comes to gaming experiences for the web you have two options of technology, such as Gaming technology using software called Unreal Engine or Unity, or WebGL, a way of coding. Once you identified these, you can begin to craft your creative brief.
Building your Luxury brand experience
Understanding the customer journey as if they would walk through your real-world luxury experience. Gamified experiences are all about artistically re-creating a heightened digital experience moving the internet from 2D to 3D. Similar to creating the VR experience, you want to think of it in three layers:
- What’s the customer journey?
- How can I connect this to the blueprint of the entire space?
- What features should we include?
- What does the Avatar I choose look like?
- Do I want a fantasy or a lifelike space?
Building a gamified experience needs several experts coming together from design to coding.
Most consumers look for an emotional connection with a brand rather than just a simple product.
Pick and Design your Strategy with VSLB
The world reached a point where creativity and artistry in combination with emerging technologies inspire the world. As a pioneer in emerging trends, VSLB is here to help you to align your brand along the latest grooves. Now it’s time for you to step into the next realm of storytelling. Are you ready to revolutionise your brand initiatives with the virtual space?
With success stories from our clients like Ralph & Russo, LG, and The History of Whoo, we’re known for our expertise that bridges the gap between your brand and the audience. Contact us today to kick off your next luxury brand marketing strategy.
