Manipulating minds, controlling wallets

When you look at a luxury brand what is the first thing that comes to your mind? What is the image that the brand conjures? Is it a positive sentiment or a negative one? Is it inspiring or is it shameful? Does it make you long for it, make you yearn? Or it brings back a memory of a crime or scandal? For example, when you look at diamonds, do they bring thoughts of blood diamonds? So do you take an extra initiative to make sure the diamonds you are using are not bloody? This is where brand identity comes in. 

When you come to know that the diamond is from De Beers or a Tiffany's, do you still have a doubt on its credibility? No, because these brands over the years have been able to establish their identity with clean diamonds. What the customer associates a brand's identity with makes all the difference. That perception alone can make or break a brand and it becomes an integral part of the brand identity. Not only you are confident that these brands do not use blood diamonds but you are also okay with paying a hefty premium for them. But do you have a mechanism by which you can be certain? No. However, it never matters as the perception war is already won.

Brand positioning is the key element when it comes to building perception in luxury. “The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what's already in the mind, to retie the connections that already exist,” said Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book 'Positioning: The battle for your mind'. Thus, it is all about how you are perceived in the eyes of the consumers and the art of manipulating that.

The idea of luxe is to dazzle and that dazzle essentially is perception. To me, a Rolls Royce Phantom exudes royalty and class. As I wrote in 'Dark Luxe' on Phantom: “There is a saying that I run on reputation. I am the Phantom of reputation. I am the Rolls Royce Phantom. I am the mark of class, snobbery ? the ultimate in luxury. When I drive down the road, people bow with respect and awe.” However, to the Maharaja in that story, the same Rolls Royce Phantom was a mere collector of garbage. His perception is very different from mine. The news that he has sent out a Phantom to collect garbage had spread like wildfire and had resulted in a steep fall in its sales in India. Just to put things in perspective, India market accounted for 25% global sales of Phantom in the 1920s. Perception made all the difference. 

Let me give you another example. You see a socialite stepping out of a Jaguar carrying an LV clutch. You probably won't think that the clutch is a counterfeit. On the other hand, when another lady steps out of a hired radio taxi and is carrying the same clutch, a part in your screams that it must be a fake. This is perception. The brand identity here is that if you are stepping out of a Jaguar, you are rich and affluent and so can afford an expensive clutch. So for Louis Vuitton, the brand identity is that it is expensive, so people who can afford expensive cars can easily afford expensive bags, but that can't be said of people who are travelling in a taxi. 

The irony is that it is quite possible that in the first case the clutch could be a fake and in the second, a genuine one. The rich and the affluent often take resort to expensive first copies as they have to visit many parties every day and they can't afford to repeat their dress or stilettoes or clutch. Thus, first copies come to rescue. And as they are aware of the popular perception, they know no one will doubt whether their clutch or stilettoes are genuine as long as they are stepping out of a Jaguar. 

It is all a matter of creating the right identity by manipulating the perception. 

Let your quest for luxe continue. 

The writer is a luxury communicator and author of 'Dark Luxe' and 'Decoding Luxe'