How to emphasize true markers of quality amidst a luxury slowdown

Talk about your brand's heritage

Brands with a strong heritage have many unique advantages. They can sell at higher price points, since consumers attach higher value to products with an interesting past. Their strong heritage also makes it easier for them to stand out in saturated markets. In a saturated market, a unique selling point is vital for success, and an exciting, storied past can precisely meet that aim. 

A brand’s strong heritage can also serve as a solid base for innovation. With their loyal customers fully familiar with their journey and committed to the brand, they have the freedom to experiment and innovate without facing too much risk.

Brands with long histories can tell stories of how they began, the challenges they overcame, and how they evolved over the years into the brands they are today. On the other hand, newer brands can talk about older, well-loved traditions that influence their products and ways of business. Ralph Lauren uses this strategy brilliantly by personifying the traditional American Dream of polo matches and Hampton getaways throughout its marketing.

Use brand storytelling

In times of economic crisis, it's easy to get caught up with short-term, day-to-day business concerns, but the importance of adopting a long-term focus for business longevity cannot be overstated. A long-term strategy focuses on building core systems to keep your business functional, even during market downturns. For instance, focusing on building brand loyalty won't necessarily produce immediate results, yet no business can survive without it.

Your brand story plays a key role in your long-term strategy. Good brand storytelling helps to build emotional connections with your customers and gets them excited to do business with you. When telling your brand story, focus on the qualities that are truly unique to your business.

Take Adidas Originals, for example. In an effort to separate this brand from its competitors, the team developed a unique campaign: We gave the world an original. You gave us a thousand back. The campaign traces the unique journeys of a few products (shoes), and how they evolved from sport to culture over time. Each journey starts way back by showcasing the first athlete to wear the shoes on the world stage, and continues throughout the years following other individuals and communities that used the shoes in various settings, giving them meaning.  

Their rich storytelling brings out the brand’s heritage with a healthy dose of nostalgia, and highlights the quality and versatility of the products as they’re adopted into modern markets.

In this current luxury slowdown, it's vital for brands to remind customers of the reason they chose luxury in the first place. By emphasizing product quality, rich heritage, and refining brand stories, luxury brands and retailers can successfully navigate this period of slower growth.