How to create higher perceived value of your product by leveraging prestige.
Businesses in various industries now offer a wide variety of new luxury products and services. This is because middle-market consumers are currently trading up their goods due to higher levels of quality and taste. These goods evoke and engage consumers’ emotions while feeding their aspirations for a better life. We call these new luxury goods.
People are searching for individual gratification in little daily pleasures that are expensive but yet not inaccessible.
The Need: the search to consume a good or service that is more sophisticated than one of the mass market but yet not as expensive nor unreachable to most people as one of the luxury products.
The Result: the room is created for “premiumization” of product categories, which were once considered undifferentiated, i.e., a way for mass-market companies to escape the commodity trap. To move the competition away from price and therefore cost, to something that gives the customer an emotional value.
What is Masstige?
Wikipedia defines it as a marketing term that involves a downward brand extension. As you could’ve guessed, the word “masstige” was formed from the combination of “mass” and “prestige.” It is described as prestige for the masses. It refers to retail categories that include brands and products that have high-end, prestigious characteristics (in the brand communication and customer experience) but with prices and a diffusion that is better spread in terms of distribution (locations), making them accessible to a mass-market audience.
The goods in this category occupy a sweet spot between mass and class. While commanding a premium over conventional products, they are priced well below superpremium or old-luxury goods.
In fashion, it refers to the concept of mixing and matching. It is a fashion statement that blends both mass-produced and prestigious clothes.
In “Trading Up: The New American Luxury” by Micheal Silverstein and Neil Fiske (2003), they spoke about a new market segment that occupies a range between the mass markets and premium ones. For the personal care industry in the U.S, masstige represents between 20% and 40% of all sold goods. It is also said to be growing at a rate twice of the other brand segments in the industry.
For example, when you enter a store selling Godiva chocolate, your attention is caught by their stunning visuals, as well as the colour, the ribbon on the package, the selling ceremony that reminds you of a luxury store. Magnum ice cream is being sold in limited editions, referring to the five senses and the seven seas. They have appeal in their adverts to all the five senses, for example, the sound when you bite into the ice cream. They’ve also made references to the glam of fashion, for example, by using models in their communication. Therefore, there is a massive opportunity for producing a new market segment that allows companies of consumer goods to learn and apply the luxury and fashion treatment to their products.
This new offer is only possible because the customer has changed. Today the customer is much more sophisticated and open-minded. They are willing to browse from the top to the mass. Therefore, as a new customer consumes, a process is popularly known either as rocketing or selective extravagance takes place.
Rocketing or Selective Extravagance
In the past, the shopping list of an individual would have been a bit predictable. Some customers would have bought brands from all over the product categories, while others for different reasons (mostly financial) would have chosen based on the promotions, the product labels, e.t.c. Today, every customer is putting together products that are different. Maybe we are passionate; we are fond of French fragrances? We will search for the most high quality, regardless of the price. But in the meantime, maybe we will go for the product label on shampoo. This phenomenon is called Rocketing. It means that the same customer will overspend in some product categories while he will make savings on others. For most people, this is a consequence of budget constraints, i.e., we buy the Teflar bag, then maybe we make savings on our underwear. This is also true for high-net-worth individuals because somehow it diminishes the sense of guilt, so they could overspend on something they really believe is essential. They buy in factory outlets or private sales to compensate for this shopping behaviour. The idea is that more and more customers are extravagant in their selection. Because of that, they are also more inclined and open to accept that brands that used to belong to different market segments now occupy the masstige territory.
How can you move your brand and business into the masstige market and create exclusivity?
The importance of feeding the press with the right story angle: You want your brand positioned in a space in the magazine, on the news, blog, or in the media, where it can catch your target audience’s attention, to create the wow factor. Why not create costly products, maybe nobody will buy them. But they are very good at creating this reason to speak about the brand — a buzz. A good example is the fantasy bra of Victoria’s Secret (a famous example of masstige). They are selling the right products that are good quality but are not cutting edge in terms of craftsmanship. Yet, they have been able to create a robust emotional engagement with their customers. They do this by hosting a yearly fashion show. Every year, they organize a runway show where they have the best top models from all around the world in attendance, calling them Victoria’s angels, thereby creating a marketing appeal. Then they invite celebrities like Justin Bieber and Rihanna. During this show, very few products are shown. Amongst them, the most crucial role is taken by the so-called fantasy bra. A limited edition that is conceived to create buzz. For context, Victoria’s Secret fantasy bra was valued at $10 million. Then you ask, who is going to buy this? No one. So far, it is reported that only one, and not even the most expensive, was sold at $2.5 million. No one knows the lucky owner. The point is, thanks to this bra, Victoria’s Secret has been able to upgrade its perceived position. So on entering the store, you’re not going to spend millions of dollars, you will pay only a little, but you will feel like a princess like the Victoria Angels that you have watched on the fashion show.
Communication: This is the most crucial driver of bringing mass-market to prestige. Fashion companies can imitate luxury fashion codes in their brand communication. Fashion communication is visual; it is about using top models, creating an aspirational lifestyle. It is prevalent to see significant models that are the testimonials of luxury have also given their availability to work for mass-market brands. If we can afford it, we should use top models in our marketing campaigns.
Exploring the concept of limited editions: Luxury is, by definition, limited because of the scarcity of the raw materials, because of the hours that are needed to transform these raw materials into a finished product and because of years of expertise that are required to know how to make the product. Today, we are surrounded by limited editions everywhere. For example, H & M, launched a limited edition design by Karl Lagerfeld, the designer of Chanel. The limited edition was at very affordable prices, and it was distributed in only half of the stores of H & M. So, they bridged the search for some kind of exclusivity into the accessibility. It was a huge success. In Milan, it was sold out in a few hours, and in the afternoon, the same items were available on auction sites for two, three, and even four times the original price. This partnership helped to enhance the perceived perception of H & M. It added the design statement to the corner that otherwise will have been regarded as a copy cat. Karl also made a statement that spoke to the fact that it is not about the money you spend; it is about the taste and discernment you have.
"What a depressing world. It's all about taste. If you're cheap nothing helps" - Karl Lagerfeld.
In Conclusion
Masstige, as mentioned above, is not secluded to only fashion and luxury brands but can be leveraged by brands from various other industries. It will also require proper brand positioning, understanding your customer sincerely, and a fantastic brand strategy that will put all your understanding to work. You can take a look at my article on why you need to develop a brand strategy for your fashion business.
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