Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and LogisticsLuxury branding: the industry, trends, and future conceptualisationsYuri Seo Margo Buchanan-Oliver

Article information:To cite this document:Yuri Seo Margo Buchanan-Oliver , (2015),"Luxury branding: the industry, trends, and futureconceptualisations", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 27 Iss 1 pp. 82 - 98Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/APJML-10-2014-0148

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Luxury branding: the industry,trends, and futureconceptualisations

Yuri SeoSchool of Marketing and International Business,

Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, andMargo Buchanan-Oliver

Department of Marketing, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

AbstractPurpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of a global luxury brand industryand discusses previous conceptualisations of luxury brands. In this endeavour, the study illustrates theunique context of luxury consumption, to highlight several developments in extant literature, and toadvocate for the advancement of the consumer-centric paradigm of luxury branding.Design/methodology/approach The study reviews the emergence of a global luxury brand industry,discusses macro-environmental trends that have influenced luxury brand consumption, criticallyevaluates the existing literature on luxury brands, and offers directions for future research.Findings The study highlights that luxury brands have emerged as a special form of branding thatconveys the unique sociocultural and individual meanings to their adherents. Moreover, it was foundthat these meanings have been shaped by a number of important cultural, social, and external trends,which call researchers and practitioners to consider the consumer-centric paradigm of luxurybranding.Originality/value The study calls for a shift in the focus from the characteristics of luxury brandsper se, and towards phenomenological experiences and socio-cultural influences, in the pursuits tounderstand what brand luxury conveys in the broader context of post-modern consumer culture.The study offers two distinct areas for future research to address these developments.Keywords Theory development, Brands, Cultural trends, Luxury, Meaning constructionPaper type Conceptual paper

IntroductionLuxury is as old as humanity. Early essays on the meaning and social functions ofluxury had already been written in ancient Greece (Berry, 1994). However, the ideaof luxury brands, as a special form of branding and a cultural force behind fashionand an affluent consumption lifestyle, is a relatively new concept (Chevalier andMazzalovo, 2008). It was not until the late 1990s that the market for luxury offeringswas transformed from a constellation of small, artisan family-owned businesses thatemphasised premium quality and the aesthetic value of their goods into a consolidatedeconomic sector led by powerful brand-driven luxury corporations ( Jackson, 2002). Thesecorporations (e.g. LVMH, the Gucci Group, etc.) made substantial investments in strategicmanagement, product design, marketing, and retail capabilities in order to build andmaintain the luxurious appeal of their brands (Okonkwo, 2009).

This study examines the emergence of a global luxury brand industry and discussesprevious conceptualisations of luxury brands. It does so to illustrate the unique contextof luxury consumption, to highlight several developments in extant literature, and toadvocate for the advancement of the consumer-centric paradigm of luxury branding.In this endeavour, we will start with a discussion of the evolutionary growth of the

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketingand LogisticsVol. 27 No. 1, 2015pp. 82-98EmeraldGroup Publishing Limited1355-5855DOI 10.1108/APJML-10-2014-0148

Received 14 October 2014Revised 22 October 2014Accepted 23 October 2014

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:www.emeraldinsight.com/1355-5855.htm

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luxury brand industry and market. We will then examine important cultural, social,and external trends that have influenced the post-modern consumption of luxurybrands. Finally, we will revisit previous conceptualisations of luxury brands and will offernovel contributions to the current discussions on how to increase our understanding ofthis unique phenomenon in the broader context of consumer culture.

The luxury brand industryUnder the Standard Industrial Classification system and according to the five forcesindustrial analysis framework (Porter, 1980), luxury brands cannot be formallydefined as an independent industry, as goods and services produced by such brands varyfrom automobiles to wristwatches. Indeed, it is very hard to imagine that Rolls Royce carscompete with Louis Vuitton bags and Tiffany jewellery. However, although luxuryofferings vary in terms of their functional uses, they provide consumers with comparablesymbolic and experiential benefits such as prestige and social status that mostly comefrom the intangible attributes of their brands (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009).It is this commonality in brand positioning, combined with a shared customer base forluxury offerings, which has resulted in scholars and practitioners referring to luxurybrands as a consolidated industry segment (Okonkwo, 2009).

Therefore, when we talk about the luxury brand industry, we refer to an exclusivegroup of brands across different product segments that are distinguished from therest by their ability to convey certain elements of consumer-perceived characteristics ofluxuriousness (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004), and thereby connote luxury in theirrespective product categories (Okonkwo, 2009). In 2008, Interbrand provided a genericdefinition of a luxury brand. In order to qualify for this definition, a brand must: sitwithin a tier of a product category that seemingly demonstrates price insensitivity;show that being expensive is of neutral or even positive impact to its image;demonstrate that perceived price plays a minor role amongst drivers of purchase(Interbrand, 2008).

Historically, the market for luxury offerings was comprised of small artisanfamily-owned businesses that were valued for the high quality and craftsmanship oftheir products ( Jackson, 2002). However, with the emergence of large multinationalconglomerates, such as LVMH and Richemont in the late 1990s and the Gucci Group inthe early 2000s, the luxury market underwent some major changes (Okonkwo, 2009).In particular, while some conglomerates continued to emphasise their heritage andsuperiority of products to please the most affluent circles of consumers (Kapferer, 2006),others combined a perceived high prestige with reasonable prices to attract middle-classconsumers (Truong et al., 2009). Still others diversified into new international markets toincrease their customer base (Chadha and Husband, 2006). As a result, the luxury sectorhas significantly increased in its market size, product range, and, most importantly,customer diversity ( Jackson, 2002; Okonkwo, 2009).

Although luxury conglomerates varied in terms of their approaches to expandingmarket share and generating more revenue, a common theme that characterised allluxury companies was their commitment to brand building. The managers of luxurybrands noted that firms that invested substantially in brand building were shown tohave a stronger competitive positioning than those whose core values were linked moreto products and services than to branding (Okonkwo, 2009, p. 288). This is particularlyimportant for the luxury industry, because in purchasing decisions their consumers aredriven by social and psychological needs, such as the enhancement of self- or socialesteem (Nia and Zaichkowsky, 2000). Accordingly, for a product to be called luxury it

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is not enough for it to possess superior quality and distinctive design; it should alsoconvey a particular symbolic meaning; a story behind the product that can be linked tothe consumers perception of luxury. Branding can add this value to the companysproducts (Levy, 1959; Holt et al., 2004). Substantial investment in brand image was,therefore, an obvious choice for luxury corporations.

Thus, the luxury brand market went through a dramatic transformation in terms ofits identity and focus. A market segment that was formerly linked purely to design andcreativity in production evolved into a consolidated brand-driven economic sector ledby the vision of powerful luxury conglomerates. In the late 1990s, this transformationcaused business and academic circles to take note of the emergence of the luxury brandindustry (Okonkwo, 2009). Strong brand image and identity have become the keydeterminants of success in this industry (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009; Keller, 2009).As a result, luxury brands have now become some of the most remarkable and valuedbrands in the world (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).

Trends influencing luxury brand consumptionThe consumption of luxury brands has been influenced by a number ofmacro-environmental trends, such as globalisation and cultural convergence (Chadhaand Husband, 2006); the emergence of new market segments (Okonkwo, 2009);a constant rise in the number of wealthy consumers; the increasing attention thatluxury brands receive from the media (Mandel et al., 2006); the growing popularity ofinternet shopping; and increased international travel (Nueno and Quelch, 1998).Not only do these trends contribute to a rapid growth of the luxury brand industry, butthey also cause important changes in the composition of brands and, in particular,within the customer base for luxury brands. These trends can be loosely divided intothree main categories cultural, social, and external to the industry trends and theyare explained in more detail below in relation to luxury brand consumption.

Cultural trendsGlobalisation, an elusive phenomenon that has been receiving a vast amount ofattention in the last two decades, can be defined as an ongoing process by whichregional economies, societies, and cultures are becoming more integrated througheconomic, social, technological, political, cultural, and other exchanges (Robertson,1992). For the luxury brand industry, the major consequence of globalisation andmulticultural influences (Seo and Gao, 2014) has been a growing appreciation of globalluxury brands (e.g. Louis Vuitton and Gucci) by consumers in Asia, BRIC, CIVETS andother developing countries (Kapferer, 2012). As a result of this trend, the customer base forluxury products is becoming more culturally diversified, bringing new opportunities andchallenges for the managers of luxury brands.

The growing popularity of luxury brands in emerging markets seems to makeconsumer tastes for these brands increasingly similar around the world (Catry, 2003).Some common characteristics that consumers seek in luxury brands today include highperceived prestige, aesthetic value, and their association with fashion and an affluentlifestyle (Okonkwo, 2007). Brands that successfully convey these characteristics ofluxury to their consumers (e.g. Louis Vuitton and Gucci in fashion, Rolls Royce in theautomobile industry) tend to become leaders in the canon for luxury brands aroundthe world (Chadha and Husband, 2006). On the other hand, however, it has been notedthat new emerging markets are displaying luxury consumption styles different from

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those of more established markets (Shukla, 2012). For instance, Chadha and Husband(2006) observe that in Asian countries, consumer motivations for purchasing luxuryitems are deeply rooted within the cultural traditions of these countries (e.g. Confucianismin South Korea). It follows that, while consumers may purchase the same brands globally,the meanings that they ascribe to these brands could be different.

Several researchers have previously attempted to explore luxury brandconsumption in the context of different international markets. For instance,Okonkwo (2007) identifies six main regional markets for luxury brands Europe,North America, Japan, China, India, and Russia. According to Okonkwo (2007),although luxury consumers across the world generally exhibit similar expectations forluxury brands and their products (e.g. high quality, prestige, and exclusivity),consumer attitudes and consumption styles may vary from one market segment toanother, reflecting the economic, social, and cultural forces that influence these regions.For instance, luxury consumers in Europe tend to be much older and have a higherdisposable income than their counterparts in other regions. On the other hand,American luxury consumers are younger; they are willing to experiment with differentluxury brands, and do not stay locked into loyalty for one luxury brand for the rest oftheir lives (Okonkwo, 2007).

Consumers in Japan and other developed Asian countries (e.g. Hong Kong,South Korea, Taiwan) are reported to be very fashionable and label-conscious (Chadhaand Husband, 2006). According to Okonkwo (2007), about 94 per cent of Tokyo womenin their 20s own a Louis Vuitton product, and 92 per cent own a Gucci product. Consumersin emerging markets, such as China, India, and Russia, are also characterised bytheir unique luxury consumption styles. For instance, China poses challenges andcontradictions for luxury brands that managers have not previously encountered inother countries (Okonkwo, 2007). Although, due to its rapid economic growth and largepopulation, China has the potential to become the largest market for luxury brands inthe world, it is also reputed to be the largest supplier of counterfeit luxury goods.Thus, the potential problem that this contradiction creates for luxury brands is a clashof the genuine luxury consumers population and the counterfeit consumers who mightdilute the image of the luxury brands to an extent that could drive the genuine luxuryconsumers to seek alternatives (Okonkwo, 2007, p. 74).

Moreover, there could also be differences in the luxury consumption styles withinthe market segments themselves. Chadha and Husband (2006) have investigatedluxury consumption in Asia. They found that, while the countries of the regionshare some common elements of luxury brand consumption (e.g. status-orientatedconsumption, extreme label-consciousness), each country has its own endearingeccentricities that make it unique (Chadha and Husband, 2006, p. 56). In particular, themarkets of Asia varied in terms of their levels of luxury addiction, and consumerattitudes for luxury brands tended to reflect socio-cultural beliefs that permeate thesecountries (Chadha and Husband, 2006).

In another study, Dubois et al. (2005) conducted a cross-cultural study of luxuryacross 20 different countries, and concluded that consumer attitudes towardsluxury brands are different. Dubois et al. (2005) identified three types of attitudetowards luxury consumption elitist, democratic, and distant. Within this view, theelitist attitude proposes a traditional belief of luxury as appropriate for only a very few,the elite. In contrast, the democratic stance implies that luxury should not be reservedfor refined people; it should be widely accessible and can be mass-produced. Finally,the distant attitude towards luxury implies that consumers are not very attracted to it

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at all. According to Dubois et al. (2005), different countries and markets vary in terms ofthese three attitudes towards luxury. Some countries can display more of one attitudethan another, whereas others can have a mix of two or three attitudes.

Thus, cross-cultural studies investigating luxury brand consumption suggest thatcultural processes, such as historical context and cultural conventions, play importantroles in exploring consumer perceptions and attitudes towards luxury brands.While globalisation and the consequent global appreciation of European and the USbrands make consumer preferences for luxury brands similar, it is evident that theirconsumption is strongly influenced by regional and cultural differences. This alsosuggests that, if we accept that the world is moving towards a global culture whereconsumers are connected through the consumption of the same brands (Holt et al.,2004), emergent markets will necessarily bring new connotations to luxury brandingwithin and beyond those cultures.

Social trendsTraditionally, luxury items were consumed by the wealthiest circles of society todisplay wealth and social status (Grossman and Shapiro, 1988). However, the luxurybrand industry is experiencing a rapid expansion of its customer base to include moremodest social classes. This is influenced both by an increasing disposable incomeamong those less affluent consumers and by the appearance of new luxury brandswhich combine a perceived high prestige with reasonable prices to make luxuryproducts more affordable to a larger circle of consumers (Truong et al., 2009).This trend is known as the democratisation of luxury (Evrard and Roux, 2005).According to Silverstein and Fiske (2003), new consumers of luxury buy such productsfor different reasons than those of the traditional elite consumers; these includea desire to emulate the lifestyle of the richest or the social class immediately abovethem, the superior quality of the products, or on more hedonic grounds on the basis ofself-rewards (Truong et al., 2009, p. 376). Therefore, the consumption of luxury brandsis not only culturally diversified, but also ranges across different social segments.

Chadha and Husband (2006), consistent with other studies (e.g. Michman and Mazze,2006; Chevalier and Mazzalovo, 2008), identify three distinct social segments of luxuryconsumers: the luxury gourmands, the luxury regulars, and the luxury nibblers:

(1) At the top end are the luxury gourmands, who devour luxury in great big bites,donning designer labels from head to toe, 24/7. Needless to say these are highnet worth individuals (HNWI), with upwards of a million dollars in financialassets.

(2) Next you have the luxury regulars, who while not quite in the gourmand leagueare nevertheless on staple diet of luxury goods. These are affluent people withfinancial assets in excess of US$100,000.

(3) And finally, there are the luxury nibblers, who partake in a few small bites ofluxe every season, a bag here, a watch there, whatever they can afford.They are typically young people with next to no savings in the bank, but withan increasing income-generating capacity thanks to a decent education andwell-paying job (Chadha and Husband, 2006, p. 47).

While all three segments are part of the customer base for luxury brands, theirbehaviour and lifestyles are significantly different, suggesting that consumerperceptions, experiences, and motivations for purchasing luxury brands could also

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vary across these segments (Chadha and Husband, 2006; Okonkwo, 2009). For instance,some studies report that while the wealthiest consumers tend to perceive luxury moreas a social badge (Grossman and Shapiro, 1988), middle and lower classes were foundto think about luxury items more as a type of self-reward or a prize (Silverstein andFiske, 2003). These differences suggest that consumers in different social segmentslook for different things when they purchase a luxury brand and, perhaps, ascribedifferent meanings to what brand luxury means.

External trendsLuxury brand consumption is also influenced by a number of factors external to theindustry, such as the growing popularity of internet shopping (Okonkwo, 2007), theincreasing attention that luxury brands receive from mass media (Mandel et al., 2006),and increasing international travel (Nueno and Quelch, 1998). These trends makeluxury products more accessible, and stimulate the purchasing of luxury items.In addition, contrary to cultural differences and the democratisation of luxury, theseexternal trends also encourage communication and information sharing amongthe consumers of luxury brands, making consumer perceptions of luxury brandsincreasingly similar.

According to Lippmann (1922, 2006) the media defines consumers worlds bysketching images in their minds. Popular magazines, such as In Style and Vogue, depicthow successful people, such as celebrities, indulge in the consumption of luxurybrands, and so inspire the mass of other consumers to emulate their affluent lifestylesthrough clothing and other consumer purchases (Mandel et al., 2006). Luxury brandweb sites and internet shopping make it possible for consumers to interact with eachother via website communities and virtual clubs dedicated to a specific luxury brand;and increased international travel provides consumers with an opportunity toexperience luxury brands in different cultural contexts and, thereby, understand howconsumers from other cultures perceive luxury brands. These trends indicate that withsuch culturally and socially diversified customer bases for luxury brands, we are alsowitnessing movements towards a convergence of perceptions regarding luxury brandsacross segments and, perhaps, the emergence of a global luxury brand culture.

Therefore, this section highlights that contemporary luxury brand consumption isinfluenced by a number of micro-environmental trends, such as globalisation, culturalconvergence, and the democratisation of luxury. These factors are often contradictoryand have different impacts on consumers. On the one hand, consumers from differentcultural and social segments appear to exhibit different perceptions regarding luxurybrands. On the other hand, there are also trends that make consumer perceptions ofluxury brands increasingly similar across these segments.

Previous conceptualisations of luxury brandsThe growing importance of the luxury sector has stimulated research into themarketing and consumption of luxury brands. However, given the multidimensionalityof the brand concept and ambiguity about what constitutes luxury, researchers havestruggled to develop a comprehensive conceptualisation of luxury brands (Kapferer,2006). Below we discuss several key approaches that have been used to understandbrand luxury, and highlight important aspects of luxury brands that requirefurther attention due to changing socio-cultural consumption patterns in the luxurybrand industry.

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Luxury brands as conspicuous goodsIn early studies, consumer motivation for purchasing luxury brands was often attributedto conspicuous consumption (Veblen, 1899), which Eastman et al. (1999, p. 310) specifyas the motivational process by which individuals strive to improve their social standingthrough conspicuous consumption of consumer products that confer or symbolise statusfor both the individual and surrounding others. In making purchase decisions involvingluxury products, consumers were perceived to be driven primarily by their desire to gainstatus or social prestige from the acquisition and consumption of such goods (Grossmanand Shapiro, 1988; Nia and Zaichkowsky, 2000). It was assumed that consumers of luxuryproducts would mostly be status-seeking individuals, as the more a consumer seeksstatus, the more he/she will engage in behaviours, such as the consumption of statussymbols, that increases their status (Eastman et al., 1999, p. 3). Conspicuous consumptionsheds light on some important aspects of luxury branding, such as why leading luxurybrands have a global presence and how luxury brands can maintain price premiumswithout compromising their target market demand.

Brands create value for a consumer through the potential benefits of attainingthe recognition of others, achieving a sense of belonging to an affiliated group,and accomplishing self-expression through brand image consumption (e.g. Escalas andBettman, 2005). Luxury brands, in particular, have a higher perceived qualityand prestige ascribed to them (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004). Therefore, status-seekingconsumers use luxury brands as a means to achieve a desired impression on othersthrough brand symbolism (OCass and Frost, 2002). As a rule, the more conspicuous thebrand, the greater is the respect that can be obtained through its consumption. Globalbrands are recognised by larger circles of consumers than other more local brands,and facilitate interconnections between global consumers through the consumption ofthe same brands (Holt et al., 2004), which makes those brands more conspicuous thanthose without international presence. As a result, status-seeking consumers are moredrawn to global brands, and the leading luxury brands generally have a worldwidepresence (Interbrand, 2008).

Thus, luxury brands communicate the prestige, status, and role position of theirusers. Consequently, although luxury brands charge premium prices for their offerings,they do not compromise demand, because these premiums connote the exclusivity ofthe brand and, in fact, increase a products upmarket or snob appeal (Grewal et al.,1998). In other words, as consumers acquire exclusivity from the use of items withspecific attributes that give a brand a status appeal (OCass and Frost, 2002), pricepremium becomes an essential component of luxury branding that emphasises theexclusivity and rarity of both the brand and the user (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004).

Multidimensional constructs of brand luxuryWith the democratisation of luxury and the growing appreciation of global brands inemerging markets, luxury brands have acquired a range of new roles other than beingsimply social markers of prestige and status. As a result, consumer perceptionsof luxury brands have become more complex and diverse (Dubois et al., 2005).Some researchers have developed multidimensional constructs of brand luxuriousnessto address these trends. Nueno and Quelch (1998), for instance, took a firm-centricapproach and identified common characteristics shared by luxury brands acrossdifferent product segments. These characteristics included consistent delivery ofpremium quality across all products in the line, from the most to the least expensive;a heritage of craftsmanship; a recognisable style or design; a limited production to

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ensure exclusivity and possibly to generate a customer waiting list; a marketingposition that combines emotional appeal with product excellence; a global reputation;association with a country of origin that has a strong reputation in the relevant productcategory (e.g. French cosmetics; Swiss watches); an element of uniqueness to eachproduct; an ability to time design shifts when the category is fashion-intensive; and thepersonality and values of the brands creator. Many of these firm-centric characteristicsof brand luxuriousness have been confirmed by subsequent research (Phau andPrendergast, 2000; Keller, 2009). More recently, Keller (2009) has detailed tencharacteristics identifying luxury branding from a firm-centric perspective:

(1) maintaining a premium image for luxury brands is crucial; controlling thatimage is thus a priority;

(2) luxury branding typically involves the creation of many intangible brandassociations and an aspirational image;

(3) all aspects of the marketing programme for luxury brands must be alignedto ensure quality products and services and pleasurable purchase andconsumption experiences;

(4) brand elements besides brand names logos, symbols, packaging, signage,and so on can be important drivers of brand equity for luxury brands;

(5) secondary associations from linked personalities, events, countries and otherentities can be important drivers of brand equity for luxury brands;

(6) luxury brands must carefully control distribution via a selective channelstrategy;

(7) luxury brands must employ a premium pricing strategy with strong qualitycues and few discounts and mark downs;

(8) brand architecture for luxury brands must be managed very carefully;

(9) competition for luxury brands must be defined broadly as they often competewith other luxury brands from other categories for discretionary consumerdollars; and

(10) luxury brands must legally protect all trademarks and aggressively combatcounterfeits (Keller, 2009, p. 291).

In contrast to Nueno and Quelch (1998), Vigneron and Johnson (2004), made an attemptto detail the consumer-perceived value of luxury brands. They detail five dimensionsthat consumers may use to differentiate luxury and non-luxury brands: perceivedconspicuousness, uniqueness, quality, hedonism, and perceived extended-self. The firstthree dimensions (conspicuousness, uniqueness, and quality) reflect non-personal-orientated perceptions and the other two (hedonism and perceived extended-self) reflectpersonal-orientated perceptions. Perceived conspicuousness refers to the view thatconsumers purchase luxury items as a means of asserting prestige and status.This draws on early studies of luxury brands as conspicuous objects. Uniquenessincorporates the notion that a limited supply of a luxury brand enhances consumerpreference for that brand because it is perceived to be more exclusive and valued.Quality is the expectation that luxury brands offer superior quality and performanceover non-luxury brands, as it is unlikely that a luxury image can be sustained whenproduct quality is inferior. Hedonism refers to an ability of luxury items to evoke

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emotions such as pleasure and a sense of achievement (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004).Finally, perceived extended-self refers to the view that consumers often integrate thesymbolic meaning of luxury brands into their own identities. This dimension ofconsumer-perceived brand luxuriousness draws on Belks concept of extended-self,where he suggests that our possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of ouridentities (Belk, 1988, p. 139).

The dimensions of brand luxury identified by Vigneron and Johnson (2004) havealso been noted by many other researchers (e.g. Dubois et al., 2005; Keller, 2009).Christodoulides et al. (2009) have replicated the original study by Vigneron and Johnson(2004) and found that previously identified dimensions of brand luxury may need to beadjusted depending on the context of their application. In particular, they found thatthe original dimension of uniqueness identified by Vigneron and Johnson (2004),although an important characteristic of luxury brands for western consumers, is not asimportant for luxury seekers in Asia. Therefore, Christodoulides et al. (2009) concludedthat additional research is needed in the area to explore these cross-cultural differencesregarding consumer perceptions of brand luxury.

An alternative approach to conceptualising luxury brands is evident in anotherstream of research (e.g. Vickers and Renald, 2003; Berthon et al., 2009; Tynan et al.,2010). The models of brand luxury derived by these authors appear to fulfil calls toapply a more integrative perspective to brand definition (Tynan et al., 2010), and thiswas discussed more generally in the branding domain (Buchanan-Oliver et al., 2008).In particular, Vickers and Renald (2003) propose that luxury and non-luxury brands canbe differentiated according to the functional, experiential and symbolic interactionaldimensions of a product. They describe the functional dimension as a set of productfeatures that solve extrinsic consumption needs through physical and serviceattributes (e.g. product quality); experientialism as product features that stimulatesensory pleasure; and the symbolic interactional dimension as product componentsthat are related to status and affiliation with a desired group. These authors have foundthat there is a fundamental difference in the mix of these three components for luxuryand for non-luxury brands. For instance, consumers expect luxury items to be of betterquality than non-luxury products (functional dimension), to include design featuresthat will provide consumers with a sense of pleasure (experiential dimension), and topossess a prestigious name that is affiliated with a high level of social status (symbolicinteractional dimension); (Vickers and Renald, 2003). In contrast to Vickers and Renald(2003), Berthon et al. (2009) argue that there is no absolute differentiation between luxuryand non-luxury brands, but rather that they exist on a continuum. Moreover, they alsonote that functional, symbolic, and experiential dimensions of luxury are contextual andmay change over time depending on the individual and on socio-cultural beliefs. Similarly,Tynan et al. (2010) suggest that brand luxury is a consumer-centric concept and its valueis co-created between a luxury brand and their consumers.

Luxury brand experiencesIn some of the most recent approaches to conceptualising luxury brands, researchershave started to emphasise the importance of consumer experiences in luxury branding(e.g. Atwal and Williams, 2009). Tynan et al. (2010) note that luxury brand experiencesoffer an important way of enhancing the value derived from luxury brands. Gistri et al.(2009) argue that the hedonic nature of luxury brands provides consumers with anexperience of sensory gratification that is unobtainable from non-luxury brands.Fionda and Moore (2009, p. 351) also note that consumer experiences are crucial to

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a luxury brands marketing communication process, because the consumptionexperience provides an insight into a brand lifestyle by making it reality. However,with few exceptions (e.g. Tynan et al., 2010), these luxury experiences have not beenclearly defined and their role in forming consumer perceptions of luxury brands has notbeen addressed.

In another study, Atwal and Williams (2009, p. 5), using theoretical dimensions ofinvolvement and intensity, provide a typology of consumer experiences associated withluxury brands. They define involvement as the level of inter-activity between thesupplier and the customer, and intensity as the perception of the strength of feelingstowards the interaction. The authors identify four zones of luxury brand experiencesthat vary in terms of their levels of involvement and intensity: entertainment,educational, aesthetic and escapist. The entertainment zone includes experiences with lowlevels of intensity and involvement (e.g. fashion shows); educational experiences arecharacterised by a high level of involvement, but a low level of intensity (e.g. lectures oncruise ships); aesthetic experiences are those where consumers are less actively involved,but the level of intensity is high (e.g. admiring the interior of a designer boutique); finally,the escapist zone involves experiences where consumers are highly involved and the levelof intensity is also high (e.g. luxury tourism). Atwal and Williams (2009) argue that theseexperiential zones reinforce luxury brand image and will become important componentsof luxury marketing. While this study is insightful, it was not based on empirical findingsand leaves a range of questions for further research, such as what roles these experientialzones play in defining brand luxury and what importance luxury experiences carry forconsumers in their interactions with luxury brands.

Some gaps in the existing literatureDespite this growing interest in luxury branding, there are gaps in the existingliterature, particularly in the area of the conceptualisation of luxury brands (Kapferer,2006; Berthon et al., 2009). Various characteristics and promises that luxury brandsoffer for their consumers have been noted (e.g. Vickers and Renand, 2003; Vigneron andJohnson, 2004) but why these perceptions exist and how they are formed requires furtherattention. Similarly, although researchers note that the consumption of luxury brands ischaracterised by luxury-specific experiences (e.g. Atwal and Williams, 2009), theseexperiences and their roles in consumer-brand interactions remain largely unexplored.

Recent studies in branding theory note the importance of brand meanings in exploringand understanding consumer-brand relationships (e.g. Fournier, 1998; Berry, 2000). Berry(2000) defines brand meanings as stories that reflect the consumers dominant perceptionsof the brand that have emerged as a result of his or her experiences with brands.These stories are often complex, multidimensional, and polysemic in nature (Arvidsson,2006; Phillips and McQuarrie, 2010). According to Batey (2008, p. 258), all brands areultimately clusters of meanings that need to be considered more from the consumersperspective than from the marketers. How a company positions a brand is notnecessarily how the consumer perceives that brand. Brands allow marketers to addmeaning to products and services, but it is consumers who ultimately determine what abrand means.

Uncovering meanings that consumers, themselves, ascribe to brand luxury isparticularly important as the marketing of luxury brands is linked to craftinginvigorating brand narratives (Beverland, 2004; Kapferer, 2006) and sometimes describedas selling dreams (Dubois and Paternault, 1995). However, with the majority of studiesbeing driven by quantitative analysis (Gistri et al., 2009), the literature on luxury brands

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provides limited insights into how consumers emically construct meanings associatedwith luxury brands. Thus, one of the major shortcomings of the emerging theory is itspredominant focus on either corporate or consumer-based brand equity. However, brandsdo not exist simply as a firms value-adding assets which reflect consumer judgements ofthe companys product and services. They are also socio-cultural, ideological, and politicalobjects that infuse consumption with meaning (Holt et al., 2004; Schroeder, 2009).Therefore, to understand brands more fully, researchers require an understanding of theculture and ideologies that surround their consumption, in addition to branding concepts,such as strategy, equity, and value (Schroeder, 2009).

This is particularly important when exploring brands that have embracedwithin their meaning such a central socio-cultural symbol as luxury. According toBerry (1994, p. 6), luxury provides an illuminating entre into a basic political issue,namely, the nature of social order. As a result, throughout history the meaning ofluxury has been infused with many ideological agendas. In ancient civilisations,whether of Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, or Amerindians, luxury items wereused as symbols of leading groups and power (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). In the daysof Plato, the Romans and early Christianity, luxury was perceived in a pejorative formthat signified the corruption of a virtuous manly life; and with the works of AdamSmith, luxury has become a vindication of commercial society (Berry, 1994).

Today, the notion of luxury embraces all of these previous meanings and has alsoacquired some new ones, such as being a symbol of fashion and an affluent lifestyle(Michman and Mazze, 2006). In order to understand the consumption practices ofluxury brands fully, we require an understanding of how consumer interpretationof luxury brands is influenced by socio-cultural functions of luxury and phenomenologicalexperiences. Moreover, current cultural, social, and external trends suggest that consumerperceptions of luxury brands do not depend only on consumer-brand interactions, but arealso influenced by a number of other factors, such as globalisation, cultural differences,and social class. These factors are often contradictory and have different impactson consumers and, therefore, must be taken into account when exploring luxury brandconsumption.

Future directions for researchLuxury brands are a special form of branding that use the socio-cultural meaning ofmodern luxury to create an exclusive brand image and appeal. Over the past twodecades, the market for luxury brands has experienced rapid growth brought about bytwo major factors. First, the luxury market had been transformed from a constellationof small, family-owned artisan businesses in Europe into a global consolidatedbrand-driven economic sector led by the vision of luxury conglomerates. Second, thedemand for luxury was stimulated by a number of favourable macro-environmentaltrends. The outcome of these trends is a complex, sometimes paradoxical consumermarket for luxury brands. On the one hand, the market is culturally and sociallydiversified and consumers from different cultural and social segments appear to exhibitdifferent perceptions and motivations for purchasing luxury brands. On the otherhand, there are also forces that contribute to the emergence of a shared idea of whata contemporary luxury brand should be, making consumer perceptions increasinglysimilar (Catry, 2003; Chadha and Husband, 2006).

Therefore, we believe that this post-modern paradox of luxury brand consumptioncalls for investigation of the meanings which consumers emically ascribe to luxurybrands, and the process through which these meanings are emergent in the broader

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context of contemporary consumer culture. Specifically, while many scholars draw onmanagerial practice to discuss luxury brands as a phenomenon in its own right(e.g. Kapferer and Bastien, 2009), there is a need to develop an alternative focus byviewing luxury brands as first and foremost brands, and brands as the bundles ofconsumer co-authored meanings (McCracken, 2005; Schroeder, 2009).

This call for a consumer-centric approach is echoed in some of the more recentstudies on luxury brands. In particular, Roper et al. (2013) suggest an alternativeinterpretivist perspective, which repositions the focus of research from what luxuryvalues are towards understating how luxury value is constructed and internalised byconsumers. Similarly, Tynan et al. (2010) argue that consumers actively co-create thevalue of luxury brands, recognising the phenomenological nature of brand value that isdetermined by consumer experiences. We concur with this emerging consumer-centricparadigm, which shifts attention away from brands and towards consumers inexploring how consumers co-author luxury brand meanings. Moreover, below we offertwo additional future research directions in exploring brand luxury that take thesemeaning-making perspectives into account.

Luxury brand value-in-useThere is strong evidence to suggest that the multiple ways in which brands are usedcan help us to understand the roles played by these brands in consumer livesand, consequently, to understand the meanings that consumers ascribe to them(e.g. Fournier, 1998). In particular, the concept of value-in-use has emerged within themarketing literature, which posits that the value of an offering (e.g. a brand) isphenomenologically determined at the time of its use, rather than being embedded atthe time of exchange (e.g. purchase) (Ballantyne and Varey, 2006). Therefore, the focusof value-in-use is to understand how consumers enact value propositions (i.e. utilise anoffering), which often occurs during the post-purchase experiences, instead of beingfound in the preceding motivations for acquiring of an offering.

Examining the dimensions of luxury brand value-in-use may offer novel insights aboutthe purposive meanings that consumers construct about luxury brands, by exploringwhat consumers actually do with these brands rather than investigating the elementscomprising these brands per se. Although some previous studies endeavoured to identifythe motives for purchasing luxury brands (e.g. Tsai, 2005), they were largely driven byquantitative frameworks. Accordingly, researchers tended to impose predeterminedassumptions about luxury brands prior to producing their findings, rather than derivingtheir insights from the actual consumer interpretations of luxury brand experiences(Roper et al., 2013). This means that the relevance of luxury brand uses for consumerperceptions of these brands has not been explored from the consumer-centric perspective.However, such a perspective could be very useful in understanding how consumersindividualise their perceptions of brand luxury, and/or how the roles played by luxurybrands are changing in the daily life of contemporary consumers.

Luxury brand cultureThe luxury brand literature is underpinned largely by the traditional managerialistperspective, which suggests that the meaning ascribed to a brand should be understoodas effects of brand identity, representing the unique associations created by brandmanagers (Keller, 2001). Within this view, successful brand management becomesa matter of finding the brands true and timeless essence and carrying out brand-building

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activities that will translate the identity into a corresponding brand image (Bengtssonand Ostberg, 2006, p. 85). Contrary to this firm-centric view, the brand culture approach(Bengtsson and Ostberg, 2006; Schroeder, 2009) posits that the meanings that consumersascribe to brands are highly contextual and constructed by the joint activities ofmarketers, consumers, and cultural influences. In particular, Bengtsson et al. (2010,p. 523) recognise that brand meaning is polysemic in nature and not inherent in thebrand itself, but depends upon the larger socio-cultural context within which the brandis consumed.

The cultural branding perspective may offer important implications for understandingbrand luxury in a contemporary global marketplace. In particular, it suggeststhat rather than considering brand meaning as an internal construct that originatesunilaterally within the company, brand meaning formation should be considered as adynamic process to which brand managers and consumers [] contribute (da Silveiraet al., 2013, p. 33). This implies that, while some characteristics of brand luxury could bepreserved over time and constructed by firms, other dimensions are co-created withconsumers, and are influenced by the broader context of socio-cultural meanings (e.g.cultural mythology and beliefs). Exploring such dynamic processes underpinning theperceptions of brand luxury becomes particularly important today, in light of luxurybrands being influenced by the conflicting cultural trends (e.g. globalisation vslocalisation) that permeate the global luxury brand industry.

ConclusionLuxury brands convey unique sociocultural and individual meanings to theirconsumers. According to Kapferer (1997, p. 253), these meanings implicitly conveytheir own culture and way of life: hence Saint Laurent is not Chanel. They offer morethan mere objects: they provide reference of good taste. As a result, when consumerstalk about the affluent lifestyle, they often talk about particular brands that connoteluxury in their respective product categories. Some of the most prominent examples ofthis phenomenon would be Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton bags, and jewellery byTiffany. Over the years, we have witnessed a number of cultural, social, and externaltrends that have shaped luxury brand meanings, calling researchers and practitionersto consider the consumer-centric paradigm of luxury branding (Roper et al., 2013).Overall, this paradigm calls for a shift in the focus from the characteristics of luxurybrands per se, and towards phenomenological experiences and socio-culturalinfluences, in our pursuit understanding what brand luxury conveys in the broadercontext of post-modern consumer culture.

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About the authorsDr Yuri Seo is the Postgraduate Director and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Marketing andInternational Business at the Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests includeconsumer culture, cultural branding of luxury brands, and playful consumption in digital media.His recent research appeared in Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Marketing Management,Marketing Theory, and European Management Journal among others. Dr Yuri Seo is thecorresponding author and can be contacted at: yuri.seo@vuw.ac.nz

Margo Buchanan-Oliver is a Professor in the Department of Marketing and the Co-Directorof the Centre of Digital Enterprise [CODE] at the University of Auckland Business School.Her research concerns interdisciplinary consumption discourse and practice, particularly thatoccurring at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds.

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htmOr contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

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