Isolate Luxury Brands From Everyday Folks

Customers buy luxury brands to boost their status.

Luxury brands seem less appealing if anybody can acquire them.

How to Apply

• Push Models Further Away. Ads convert better when the model is located further away (Chu et al., 2021)

• Orient Gazes Away. Your brand should be so exclusive that regular folks aren’t worthy to look at it.

• Avoid Mannequins In Stores. Mannequins aren’t the social elite, so they shouldn't be touching your brand.
• Display Fewer Customers. Be careful with social proof: A luxury watch seemed less appealing after it encouraged customers to tag their photos on Facebook (Park et al., 2020).

• Partner With Celebrities. Mainstream customers weaken luxury brands, but celebrities and influencers strengthen them (Pangarkar & Rathee, 2022). Product placements work, too (Rossi et al., 2023).
• Enclose Luxury Brands in Glass. Products seem inferior when other people have touched them (Argo et al., 2006).

• Chu, X. Y., Chang, C. T., & Lee, A. Y. (2021). Values created from far and near: Influence of spatial distance on brand evaluation. Journal of Marketing, 85(6), 162-175.
• O’Guinn, T. C., Tanner, R. J., & Maeng, A. (2015). Turning to space: Social density, social class, and the value of things in stores. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(2), 196-213.
• Pangarkar, A., & Rathee, S. (2022). The role of conspicuity: impact of social influencers on purchase decisions of luxury consumers. International Journal of Advertising, 1-28.
• Park, M., Im, H., & Kim, H. Y. (2020). “You are too friendly!” The negative effects of social media marketing on value perceptions of luxury fashion brands. Journal of Business Research, 117, 529-542.
• Rossi, P., Pantoja, F., Yoon, S., & Kim, K. (2023). The mind of the beholder: congruence effects in luxury product placements. International Journal of Advertising, 42(3), 562-588.