Luxury branding - The three Ps
There are a lot of Ps floating around when it comes to marketing. From Price and Product to People and Promotion. But in the specific area of luxury brand strategy there are three Ps that matter more than most…
Brand Purpose
Brand Promise
Brand Positioning
Let’s explain each in turn…
Brand Purpose
Your brand purpose is WHY you do what you do. Why you exist. It should be embedded into your brand, or at least something the brand has evolved to stand for over time. Simon Sinek (the WHY guy) puts it this way…
“Every organisation operates on three levels: what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. We all know what we do: the products we sell, the services we offer or the jobs we do. Some of us know how we do it: the things that we think make us different or stand out from the crowd. But very few of us can clearly articulate why we do what we do. The WHY is the purpose, cause, or belief that drives every organisation and every person's individual career. Why does your company exist? Why did you get out of bed this morning? And why should anyone care?”
A good brand purpose always puts your customer first and should appeal to your key demographic; it’s your brand purpose that makes you relevant to your chosen audience. And it should always follow the following format: TO contribution SO THAT impact. Here’s ours…
“Luxury Lloyd exists to help the luxury businesses of tomorrow become the best version of themselves today so that they can have an unfair advantage over their competitors.”
Brand Promise
A brand promise is a value or experience a company's customers can expect to receive every single time they interact with that brand. In other words: the tangible benefits your customer will gain by using your brand.
It’s all about serving the needs the brand’s customer and earning their confidence, loyalty and trust. Sometimes it can form part of a customer facing tagline (e.g. Nike: Just Do It) and sometimes it’s just an internal concept.
Brand Positioning
Brand Positioning is what the brand does to the mind of the prospect - not to the product. It’s about the unique space a brand occupies in the mind of its customers and is often the reason customers buy a specific brand that doesn’t necessarily differ from its competitors.
Positioning is not about creating something new and different. It’s about manipulating what’s already in the prospect’s mind and bridging the connections that already exist. Once a customer’s mind is made up, it’s almost impossible to change it. So you need to simplify your message so that it sticks. In the words of Brand Positioning expert Al Reis…
In essence brand positioning is all about creating a specific, simple, ownable position in the customer’s mind. Something they will remember you by.
So there we have it. The three Ps - according to Luxury Lloyd! If you want to find out more, please get in touch.