From Indulgent to Ultimate: Luxury Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

Sophie Maxwell, Insight Director at Pearlfisher, sees luxury pushing the boundaries of imagination, possibilities and affordability to new extremes.

The idea of luxury is evolving. Going beyond a thing as straightforward as a latest model car, designer handbag, a Michelin star dinner for two, or the bliss of a luxury destination. Luxury today challenges the traditional concepts of craftsmanship, exclusivity and provenance and is altogether more ostentatious, extreme and extravagant.

Flying in the face of the new, underplayed, no-logo luxury movement, it is fuelled by the desire to push the luxury experience to its limit – money no object. It exemplifies status. Quintessentially founder, Ben Elliot agrees.

“We have […] noticed a massive increase globally in requests from members interested in mind-blowing, money-can’t-buy experiences. Now it seems you have to really get creative to do something your neighbour hasn’t,’ he said.

8 Key Trends Impacting the Wealthy in 2012

James Lawson, director of Ledbury Research, shares the key trends for those seeking to engage with the wealthy in 2012

Inflation in both developed and developing economies led the wealthy to re-assess their asset allocations over 2011. Historically low risk investments, such as cash and fixed income products, lost some of their appeal as returns were eroded; meanwhile alternative investments, which are considered to be ‘safe havens’, attracted increasing interest. Passion investments including fine art, wine and classic cars all increased in value.

Prime property has also benefitted considerably from this trend, with prices in key markets such as London doing particularly well. The most apparent surge in prices has been in commodities, with gold being a case in point. Over the course of the year, the gold price has broken all previous records.

The Art Collaboration: Old Masters to New Blood

Sophie Maxwell, Insight Director at Pearlfisher, investigates the longstanding collaborative relationship between luxury brands and the arts

Today, brands are finding new relevance, value and spirit via inventive, far-reaching and increasingly ambitious art collaborations. Creating a mutually beneficial relationship that opens out to new audiences and injects fresh talent into luxury’s timeless craftsmanship.

Back in March, the artist Sam Taylor-Wood posed for the first instalment of Double Exposure, a new campaign by Louis Vuitton. She was photographed using a 19th Century mercurial colloidon process and filmed with her most personal belongings, dressed, as you would expect, in Vuitton. The result was shown at a private view in London, at the Louis Vuitton Maison on Bond Street. The fashion house had chosen the artist to be muse, a part usually played by an A list actress or a top model to create a highly stylised and branded, and arguably more transient, image.

Anatomy of a 21st Century CEO

Kate Benson, managing director of Martens & Heads!, explains why the archetype of a CEO is no longer necessarily a man occupying the corner office, with decades of experience under his belt

The image of the model CEO has changed greatly over the first decade of the twenty-first century. No longer is there an exact formula to describe the anatomy of perfection in a leader.

The archetype of a CEO isn’t necessarily a man occupying the corner office, with decades of experience under his belt. Look at Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, David Karp of Tumblr, or Twitter’s Jack Dorsey – three CEOs and founders all under age 35 (if that isn’t enough to make you blink, Zuckerberg is under 30, Karp, a mere 25 years-old).

Luxury's Mixed Messages in a Contradictory Climate

Susan Kime, luxury columnist for JustLuxe.com, looks to some unconventional sources in evaluating the current health of the luxury economy.

Taking a meta-view, we don’t need to be told again that the economic mood of the country does not look hopeful right now. Below are some statistics from some unusual sources not generally associated with the luxury segment, but could be benchmarks for future concern.

MedHelp, the world’s largest health social network and leading provider of consumer health applications, today (September 26, 2011) announced that the average mood across the United States is the worst it has been in the last year. Using data points from MedHelp’s online and mobile health applications, MedHelp recently saw a significant drop in the average mood across the country, from average to bad.

Raising Customer Loyalty in the Midst of an Uncertain World

Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, details the redesign of the luxury business model, which he believes will result in a true customer-centric industry

The luxury industry enters the last quarter of 2011 with some degree of uncertainty as it prepares for 2012. Many senior luxury executives, coming off a year of banner sales and profits, for some even above 2007, are asking the same question: Will it last? The fundamentals for rapid growth both locally and globally, including in China, are waning a bit and brands now must find a way to gain market share.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives have begun to measurably pay off for luxury brands. Data collection efforts have improved but after-sales service and the critical relationship-building function of clienteling continue to be a major challenge. Most luxury brands lose eighty to ninety percent of customers in any given year, and are deficient in retaining even half of their top customers.