Monthly Archives: July 2010

Passion Immersion Drives Niche Luxury

A recent study of luxury handbags, featured in Psychology Today, suggests once the price exceeds $300, the logo decreases in size. But why pay more for a brand without the recognition? Sterling Lanier, President of the market research consultancy… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 30th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Personal Renewal with Purpose

All luxury fulfills an emotional need. Often times, that need is social relevancy and status among peers. Think about what a Louis Vuitton bag says about a person: affluence and they should be recognized for it. There is a rising trend in luxury that stretches… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 30th, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Luxury: For What It’s Worth

What makes a pair of Jimmy Choo heel sandals worth $1,150? Or a $17,500 price tag for a night at the Dunton Hot Springs? In essence, what is luxury worth? Everyone perceives products and service value differently. You’ve likely been in Gucci or Hermes and said, really? A shoe-shaped Gucci key ring is $170. Really? For some, it’s worth it. “We see consumers as the ultimate… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Thursday, July 29th, 2010 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Facebook Launches Questions: A New Q&A Feature

Facebook unveiled the beta version of its new Q&A feature, Questions, on Wednesday. Questions appears as “Ask Questions” on the website, though it is not available to all users at this point. The new Facebook product feature taps into the collective knowledge of its half a billion users to create a more social version of Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia and is a great example of… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Thursday, July 29th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Facebook and Amazon Partner for Web Shopping 3.0

Facebook and Amazon announced today a new partnership that integrates Facebook Connect into Amazon shopping. Facebook users will be able to purchase products for their friends on Amazon and the e-commerce site will be able to show product… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Recession-Proof Luxury: Timelessness & Enduring Quality

If you had a choice between buying one uber trendy dress this season and another trendy dress next or buying a timeless dress this season and a timeless cardigan next, which would you choose? At year two, you could either have one dress or one dress and one cardigan. Investing in timeless luxury items is a way to maximize spending dollars in recessionary times while maintaining… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ask New Biz Strategy: Re-Focusing on Q & A

Ask Jeeves, the mid-nineties butler search sensation, is re-launching its site to focus less on keywords and more on answering user questions. The new business strategy will likely work in favor of the search engine, as it differentiates it from keyword-driven power-engines like Google and Yahoo… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Luxury of Once-In-A-Lifetime Experiences

You are assigned a mission in which you will train with former M16 agents. Your journey will take you around the world where you must complete challenging tasks that require both brains and brawn. Do you wish to accept? Many high net worth… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Zynga’s Success Inspiring for Entrepreneurs

It wasn’t so long ago that Sergey Brin and Larry Page were scrapping together servers from spare parts to build what would become the most successful search engine in the world. Nor, was it so long that Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to… Continue reading →

Posted in Featured by Ethan Lyon | Monday, July 26th, 2010 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Luxury’s Love Affair with High-Tech

Robot housemaids, electric cars, personal commuter airplanes and all the insanely impossible kitchen gadgetry imaginable. For nearly a century, the World’s Fair has illustrated American’s strong association between luxury and technology. Tech enhances our ability to connect with the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, July 26th, 2010 | Leave a comment

Amazon Mobile Sales Eclipse $1 Billion

Amazon customers spent more than $1 billion via mobile devices in the past 12 months, including sales by Kindle and other mobile devices. The deeper story here is how Amazon was able to engage and monetize users to amass $1 billion in sales and how you, in… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Golden Wall of China

China’s nouveau riche are experiencing a Rumspringa of their own, but careful to not swing too far. The Chinese market is trying to find its prestigious identity among established luxury brands in Europe and America. In fact, many affluent Chinese reject… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The State of Luxury Today

In 2009, the Great Recession brought great panic to the luxury industry. Lower-rung affluents tightened their budgets, slowed luxury spending, causing many prestige brands to consider the sinful thought of: discounting. Coach and Nordstroms bit the… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 | Leave a comment

Microsoft Rallies Team With 90,000+ Free Windows Phone 7

Microsoft recently announced its attempts to turn employees into evangelists by giving away 90,000+ of its latest mobile device, Windows Phone 7. Microsoft’s brand advocacy strategy might not help generate revenues in the short-term (90,000+ phones… Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Marketing by Ethan Lyon | Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 | Leave a comment

Apple iPhone 4 vs. Motorola Droid X: The Aftermath

I’ll save you 10 minutes of your life: after playing around with the phones, the reviewers state the winner comes down to personal preferences. The technical specs and pricing comparisons of the iPhone 4 and Droid X are simply too close to call. However, now that both phones are in the hands of consumers, has a clear winner appeared? Continue reading →

Posted in Startups & Innovation by Henry Wang | Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

2010 Luxury Trend Report

Indiana Jones-inspired, five-figure vacations, the Chinese economic boom, social network-themed martini lounges, the perceived value of discounted prestige brands. The 2010 luxury market is all over the map after a year of budget-tightening and nervous… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Playboy’s Internet Strategy: The Smoking Jacket

Playboy’s unveiled its Internet strategy in the form of TheSmokingJacket last week. The headlines read: “Playboy launches nudity-free website aimed at bored office workers seeking laughs.” What is the goal, and will this internet property succeed?

Playboy, an iconic brand that peaked many years ago, faces many of the same “challenges as its peers in the media industry: increased competition for consumer attention in the face of shrinking overall spending in the television and print businesses, the migration of advertisers to other platforms, higher manufacturing costs and the uncertainty created by the current state of the global economy…
Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Marketing by David Capece | Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 | 3 Comments

Marketing Analysis Builds Market Intelligence

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest,” writes Benjamin Franklin. For marketers, marketing research and analysis is an investment that pays off. Build your market intelligence from the basics (market scan and brand audit), to more advanced research (customer and product analysis). Once you’ve implemented a marketing campaign it, too, requires analysis to… Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Marketing by Ethan Lyon | Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Interactive Brand Marketing Strategies

Brand marketers are often asked, what is the difference between a company and a brand? An overly simple answer is: companies do while brands feel. Companies are tactical and functional with a goal of profits while brands are aspirational and make an… Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Marketing by Ethan Lyon | Monday, July 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Internet Marketing Trends

Internet marketing and online branding continues their rapid growth as evidenced by the recent announcement by Unilever that they are doubling internet advertising spend in 2010… Continue reading →

Posted in Market Trends by Ethan Lyon | Monday, July 19th, 2010 | Tagged , | 1 Comment