Luxury brands spend advertising budgets on social media, says report

The rise of the digital economy simultaneously poses the biggest challenge
and growth opportunity to luxury businesses, according to the “State of
Luxury 2018: The Insider View” report from Luxury Daily and Unity Marketing
that surveyed 599 decision-making luxury industry insiders.

Among the findings, the 40-page report reveals that social media
advertising and promotion is where the largest number of luxury goods and
services brands will invest their advertising and marketing budgets in
2018, followed by website enhancements and online advertising such as
Google AdWords.

“The digital revolution continues to disrupt business as usual for luxury
brands,” says Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Luxury Daily, New York.
“This year, however, the survey shows more luxury companies have embraced
the potential that Internet marketing and ecommerce represent.”

Survey respondents included senior luxury brand, retail and agency
executives who subscribe to Luxury Daily, the world’s leading luxury
business publication, and subscribers to research from Unity Marketing, one
of the premier market researchers focused on luxury and retail.

The report found that 68 percent of luxury goods brands now sell goods over
the Internet, as compared to 62 percent in 2016. Further, the survey
results also reveal that traditional print advertising is losing relevance
to luxury brands as a means to reach the target customer. Only about half
as many brands report that they will allocate advertising budgets to print
this year versus social media.

“The search is on for the next generation of luxury consumers and,
increasingly, luxury brands realize that they must troll the Internet to
find them,” said Pamela Danziger, president of Stevens, PA-based Unity
Marketing and lead researcher in the study.

This year’s survey found 58 percent of luxury goods and services companies
will invest more on advertising and marketing in 2018, which is a marked
improvement over the previous year. “This is a bellwether of strength in
the luxury industry, as brands pick up the pace to attract new customers
and communicate their branding messages through media that is most relevant
to them,” Ms. Danziger said.

The full report can be downloaded for a fee from www.luxurydaily.com.

Photo credit: Petra Nemcova in Chopard jewellery, source Chopard