The luxury brands with the deepest pockets are wowing Chinese luxury consumers. However, the problem is that many luxury brands are not able to keep up because of the expensive demands of China’s ultra rich. The target is on those who spend more than around $158,000k on luxury goods and services.

So what fancies the Chinese luxury consumer these days? One recent night, the ballroom at Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt hotel was transformed into an elegant Parisian salon. Several dozen very wealthy families from all over China were flown in for a weekend of cruises, property tours and a gala auction. Chow Tai Fook (CTF), a Hong Kong firm that is the world’s largest  jeweller, paid the bill.

The America’s Cup Club Lounges at the BAUERs

to offer best spectator viewing of the

America’s Cup World Series

Venice, May 15-20, 2012

History and technology, tradition and innovation, progress and sustainability: Today’s Venice is a story of the old and the new, the ancient and modern. Just like the America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sport, that has a new, exciting, modern look. Embracing the ‘new’ America’s Cup is the evidence of this duality in Venice, with the world’s most prestigious sailing competition coming to the world’s most extraordinary city.

The lagoon city of the third millennium is a dynamic and multifaceted place. Welcoming millions of tourists each year, it offers an unmatched cultural progamme promoted by the city along with its numerous foundations and cultural institutes. The Civic Museums, including the Doge’s Palace, the Correr and the Ca ‘Pesaro, along with the modern exhibitions of the Guggenheim and the Biennale, or the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana are just a few attractions that will amaze visitors.

Venice in 2012 is also a ‘laboratory’ of pioneering hydraulic engineering works to safeguard its shores and protect the city’s history and its lagoon from high waters. ‘Mose’ (Experimental Electromechanical Module), is the largest project of this kind ever implemented in Italy, which, during the days of the America’s Cup World Series will enter its final phase with the placement of the caissons on which the protective  floodgates will rest. They will be located at the Lido inlet, just around the corner from where the high-tech AC45s will race in front of the fans, very close to the shores.

The arrival of the America’s Cup World Series is an opportunity to revive the seafaring tradition of the city and to reaffirm the Venetian’s love for sailing. Racing takes place from May 15 to 20, 2012, and is part of a festival of sailing over nine days from May 12 to 20.

Venice Regatta Schedule

“Hosting the America’s Cup is a source of enormous satisfaction for the city”, explained the Mayor Giorgio Orsoni. “Here the event will find a setting that no other locations in the world can offer. The regattas before Palazzo Ducale in the presence of the famous bell tower of San Marco, the races in front of the Lido with its art nouveau heritage, and the Arsenal, which will be the base for the teams and a venue for the village, are unique places that are at once a source of fascination and an index of enormous developmental prospects. This historic city, Mestre and the mainland together comprise a single territorial unit that makes this area the heart of one the nation’s most vital parts.”

This May 15-20, 2012 lovers of sailing can experience one race of the America’s Cup World Series in Venice, Italy, and the best, most unique viewing sites will be at the Settimo Cielo, the rooftop lounge of The BAUERs Il Palazzo Hotel, the highest vantage point in the City, and at the Grand Canal Terrace.

The waterside terraces of the BAUERs, exclusively appointed America’s Cup VIP Lounge, will be the best places to entertain friends and corporate guests in occasion of the America’s Cup World Series. These unique positions face the Grand Canal and are located over the St. Mark’s harbor, offering a wonderful view of the Venice’s skyline and water views. The VIP Lounges offer a first class atmosphere and sophisticated look, allowing the guests to enjoy to the fullest the city’s biggest social and sports event of the season.

 BAUERs Settimo Cielo’s terrace

The America’s Cup World Series is a circuit of regattas, which brings Cup racing to top venues around the world. It enables the participants to train for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series and the America’s Cup Finals. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people have the opportunity to experience these competitions up close and in person, thanks to the many locations around the world that host these races.

For this special weekend, visitors who have purchased tickets (€ 150,00 per person) will have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to view The America’s Cup World Series regatta from Il Plazzo’s magnificent Settimo Cielo terrace while enjoying a flute of italian Champagne Ferrari and savoring the sumptuous gourmet platters prepared by the Executive chief, Giovanni Ciresa. The Grand Canal Terrace, bordering the Grand Canal, will offer to the guests an oasis of relax and sophistication away from the chaos of the city for a price of € 65,00 per person. Here they will not only admire the race, but also enjoy italian champagne and a light lunch on the canapes in an outdoor setting designed by Ferrari.

Francesca Bortolotto Possati, owner and CEO of the BAUERs, and native Venetian, states: “It is an honor and a privilege for me to have the opportunity to share The America’s Cup with my city and hotel guests, from the BAUER’s Settimo Cielo ‘s terrace one can see everything. It is in fact Seventh Heaven, just as the name suggests. This is a proud moment for our city and for me.”

Join the America’s Cup Club Lounges at the BAUERs and Ferrari

for the America’s Cup World Series in Venice, May 15 to 20, 2012

For further information and/or to purchase tickets for this event, visit the BAUERs website www.bauervenezia.com

Editorial by Andrea Janke @AndreaJanke

The best way to turn up brand awareness is to hold an event. However, the problem that most companies experience is that after the event or even leading up to the event they receive very little publicity exposure. In fact, many companies report spending more on the event than the return received for the investment. Making the event a flop for marketing and promotions.

Now, some companies are all for buying the event. By that I mean sponsoring events for brand name recognition. This can be costly and hard to measure a positive return on the investment as well. So just how can you score some big publicity with events? You can still get some massive publicity by sponsoring, attending, or having an event. However, the rules have changed.

1. Every Event Must Have A Purpose

This is why most companies who elect to hold an event or even sponsor an event often fail. The event must be centered around the purpose for the event. I need to repeat that, the event must be centered around the purpose for the event. So many companies announce an event and then forget all about the purpose.

2. Provide Educational Resources

Equally as important as centering the event around the purpose will be to provide educational resources. Educate those attending the event on features and benefits related to the purpose of the event. What is it that your company does and why the purpose for the event is important in the company’s mission.

This concept increases brand awareness and influences recognition of the company’s support for the purpose.

3. Launch Specialized Social Media Promotions For The Event

Increase the sustainability to grow into a yearly planned event. Launch specialized social media promotions just for the event on Facebook, Twitter, so on. Engage friends and followers with updated information leading up to the event.

4. Launch A Luxury PR Campaign Promoting The Event

The fastest way to get publicity for an event is to launch an press release about the event. How well planned out the press release is can make or break the publicity exposure the event receives. There should be a series of press releases leading up to the event. Make sure to not use fluff but make the press releases informative centered around the purpose for the event.

Many companies wait too late to start generating media attention for events. Ideally, the luxury PR campaign should start six months before the event.

5. Build Marketing Relationships For The Event

Focus on building relationships with other companies to gain exposure highlighting the purpose for the event. Seek local online resources to build relationships with to support the purpose for the event such as luxury blogs, luxury portals, luxury websites, luxury brands, etc. This is the ultimate secret to getting massive publicity for events! Building relationships with local online sources who already have an audience will help to create massive exposure for the event.

6. Pitch The Event To Local Media

Pitching local media can provide tons of free publicity exposure for events. Contact local magazines, radio, television, newspaper, etc.

If you would like help with promoting an upcoming event or increasing awareness for sponsorship promotions for an event we can help. MosnarCommunications.com is a leader in luxury PR and luxury brand PR consulting please contact Ann Lane at ann@mosnarcommunications.com . 

Most of us might not think of Costco as a luxury brand. However, with their ability to influence consumers to purchase high end luxury goods for less they rule this niche market. Hats off to Costco many attempted to venture into the luxury for less niche but did not strike gold.

What makes Costco so appealing in this specific luxury market of offering luxury goods at a discount rate may be their marketing approach. It could be that a warehouse club membership is privileged and not a coupon reward. Luxury consumers like V.I.P savings a difference from coupon offers. The luxury consumer is more concerned about quality over the cost of luxury goods.

Costco manages to offer the both of best worlds. A membership club which allows the luxury consumer to feel privileged. Generally, such membership comes with exclusive offerings. Costco offers membership to the masses while only a select few will be able to take advantage of purchasing high end luxury goods for less.

So what does Costco offer when it comes to luxury for less? Costco, the subject of a CNBC documentary “The Costco Craze,” sometimes employs this strategy. That has led some companies to sue the retailer, but most have been unsuccessful. For example, Coach, Chanel, and Burberry handbags, Herman Miller chairs, and Waterford crystal have been known to grace Costco’s shelves over the years.

In some cases, the warehouse clubs partner with high-end brands to offer its members exclusive products at discounted prices. However, some retailers may also obtain items through gray-market buying — a controversial practice in which retailers circumvent manufacturers and buy products through third-party distributors.

Costco’s founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal has no qualms procuring goods through the gray market.

“If the supplier is refusing to sell to us, there’s only one reason why they’re refusing to sell to us. And that’s because the price that we bring the goods to market,” he told CNBC.

The real problem, he said, is “when people try to manipulate the market so that they can control prices and keep prices artificially high. That’s wrong.”

The selection of luxury goods in warehouse stores varies from region to region and store to store. Sometimes finding them is all about luck.

No matter. Just toss them all into a doublewide shopping cart and head to the checkout line.

Thinking about buying a Mercedes-Benz SL550 Roadster?

Costco price: $105,245

Through partnerships with local authorized dealers, Costco members receive a reduced price on cars that’s meant to be haggle free.
Costco’s website lists the makes and models in its inventory, from a Toyota Prius to a Porsche Roadster. It then connects members to a local dealer, who offers a pre-negotiated Costco quote.

For a new 2012 Mercedes-Benz SL550 Roadster, with additional accessories such as a black leather interior and a panorama roof with sun shade, as well as added costs such as a gas guzzler tax, we were quoted 5.8 percent off the MSRP price of $111,725. Costco members are also eligible for additional manufacturer rebates and special financing.

Might be interesting to know Costco offers luxury for less on Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac, Betsey Johnson Frames, Wedding Dresses by Kirstie Kelly, and a full list of luxury items sold for less.

Incoming search terms:

• brands refuse to sell to costco
• costco third party products suppliers

Sofitel Bora Bora

Interesting Sofitel as a luxury brand hotel may be a name identity that you don’t know much about. However, it is the concept of developing Sofitel hotels as a luxury brand that will make them the biggest brand among luxury hotels. Every thing about Sofitel is different and not traditional when it comes to luxury brand strategy.

For instance Sofitel was acquired by Accor, another French hotel group, in the late Nineties. Accor is very large, and owns or manages somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,500 hotels under more than a dozen brand names (Mercure, Ibis, Novotel, etc.) from budget to luxury in over 90 countries around the globe. At first, under Accor, the Sofitel brand got even cloudier, a catch all for hotels, many in France, operating under a common name but often lacking any common characteristics.

Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara

Nearly 50 years ago the first Sofitel hotel opened in Strasbourg France, and in the ensuing half century, the company went global. Amassing over 200 hotels worldwide, from Asia to the States, South America to Australia, more than Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton combined, Sofitel became a big hotel group, chain, or company, yet it never managed to become a brand, at least not in the U.S. where few travelers knew it and fewer knew much about it.

Hiring the right talent in the luxury hotel business matters. In 2007 Accor brought in longtime hotel industry veteran COO Robert-Gaymer Jones to revitalize and reposition the brand, and he was subsequently promoted to CEO last year.  Jones quickly de-flagged nearly half of the Sofitel properties, cherry picking the best of the bunch and dropping the tally to just 120 hotels and resorts, while setting out to improve these even more. Jones is returning to the company’s roots and emphasizing its “Frenchness.”

Like Hyatt, Starwood, Marriott and Hilton, Sofitel has also stratified itself into three tiers with two new brands, the highest being Sofitel Legends, their flagship palace properties, such as the Metropolitan Hanoi, Grand Amsterdam and the recently opened Old Cataract in Aswan, Egypt. SO is their hip or boutique brand, with an urban and fashion flavor marketed at an affluent younger clientele, with properties in destinations like Mauritius and Bangkok. The new Bangkok SO property is built in a series of 4-story blocks, each designed differently and themed (wood, glass, metal, etc.) and upon booking, guests are encouraged to reserve a room in the block that suits their taste and personality.

In order for luxury brands to survive sustainability is key. So no matter what economic recession or depression occurs the luxury brand is built to last. Mega luxury brand PPR is mastering luxury PR by communicating with their public audience. No secrets PPR is announcing how they plan to sustain over five years.

Luxury brands should take notes. After all PPR is doing something right, they own luxury brands ranging from Yves Saint Laurent to Stella McCartney. Should PPR be worried about giving away their secret sauce for sustainability? Of course not more luxury brands can learn a lot from the value of brand awareness and true luxury public relations. How a luxury brand communicates with its audience is the strategic approach for planning to gain brand recognition. In the meantime luxury brands can also gain sustainability through trust by turning up luxury PR. All the elements that make an amazing luxury brand appeal sustainable.

Which is what PPR is doing, through on its commitment to putting a value on eco-system services by announcing a series of environmental targets to reduce its footprint.

The five year plan, which covers all the company’s brands, ranging from Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen to Balenciaga and Stella McCartney, includes reductions of CO2, waste and water, the sourcing of raw materials and hazardous chemicals and materials.

PPR’s sports division Puma last year became the first company to publish an economic valuation of the environmental impacts caused by greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and water consumption along its entire supply chain. The group has committed to implementing an Environmental Profit & Loss Account (E P&L) by 2015 across all its businesses.

At the time, PPR made it clear that current accounting systems are responsible for degrading the planet’s eco-systems and irresponsibly depleting natural resources and needed to go through fundamental change.

The group says it wants to use the E P&L to “ultimately implement efficient and innovative initiatives to reduce the environmental impacts from the sourcing of raw materials, processing, manufacturing, and distribution of the Group’s products.”

In the meantime, the company has made several commitments, including ensuring that all its gold and diamonds will be sourced from operations that do not have a harmful impact on local communities, wildlife or the ecosystems which support them.

PPR controversially uses precious skins and fur but has committed to ensure they come from verified captive breeding operations or from wild, sustainably managed populations.

The company says that for crocodiles there are already norms in place as well as EU standards for furs. But the market in snakes is unregulated and PPR believes there needs to be more transparency and traceability in sourcing.

Most appealing is that PPR is also offsetting its global emissions from its direct operations via carbon credits purchased from Wildlife Works’ REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) offsetting project in Kenya and is buying a 5% stake in the business.

We can all learn from this five year sustainability plan of action. Luxury brands must take on a global social responsibility as well as producing exceptional luxury goods and experiences. In terms of luxury PR this same approach must also be incorporated in online engagement.

Job well done!

These are the most powerful luxury brands in China. Why? Because they are the top 50 most searched for luxury brands in China. Consumer search remains the most significant source of brand recognition and credibility. Online digital identity is the foremost important branding approach for any luxury brand.

The need for exclusivity is no longer the best approach. The focus to capture target audiences and build brand reputation is where it is at. Congrats to these luxury brands who understand the power of target location consumer search.

Incredible Train Journeys

This train takes guests through the heart of California wine country, following tracks originally laid in the 1860s from the town of Napa north to the quaint village of St. Helena. Choose from three-hour lunch or dinner rides, each featuring multicourse meals of sustainable, seasonal fare and, of course, wine.

Take in vistas of sweeping glens, mirror-calm lochs, and rolling hills aboard this luxury train, which brings passengers through the heart of the Scottish Highlands. Trips range from two to seven nights—we like the four-day “Classic Journey” (from $7,370 per person), which includes visits to Ballindalloch and Glamis Castles, whiskey tasting at Glen Ord Distillery, and optional activities like golf, fishing, and clay pigeon shooting.

Named for the explorer who discovered the lost city of the Incas, this train operated by PeruRail makes day trips between Cusco and Machu Picchu in style. Passengers dine on brunch fare and take in the incredible views from the comfort of the train’s plush carriages and open-air observation car as they travel 3 1/2 hours through the Andes.

Eight luxury must do travel trends for summer 2012

1. Multi-Generational Family Travel

2. Active Vacations

3. Bespoke Itineraries With a Sense of Place

4. Seeking Out What’s Next & New

5. Increase In Brazil & China Travelers to United States

6. Domestic Getaways

7. Value-Added Offers

8. Cooking & Culinary Programs

Incoming search terms:

• hiram bingham train

If you are still not considering targeting Africa’s luxury market you may be leaving money on the table. No question Asia and India are the top two luxury consumer markets to capture. However, Africa is an untapped goldmine and smart luxury brands who venture first can increase profit earning.

This is not news to Ermenegildo Zegna who is scoring major success targeting Africa’s luxury market. The Italian brand has turned its focus towards Africa as it looks to open stores in Morocco and Nigeria this year.

In its latest profit update, Ermenegildo Zegna reported a 90 per cent surge in profits for 2011. Net profits came in at €115.1 million ($146.9m), while company revenue rose 17 per cent at €1.127 billion.

China continued to hold on to its main-market placing in terms of the group’s retail sales (up 28 per cent), while the US market remained strong with a 16 per cent rise. Sales were also up in Germany, France and Italy.

At the close of 2011, Ermenegildo Zegna had 311 fully owned stores in an expanding portfolio. The company said it would open another 50 stores this year, including a third outlet in China amid further expansion in Europe and the US.

Singapore Marriott Hotel unveils a new luxury SGD35 million makeover. Adding a new guest experience and concept to a well respected luxury brand. The city of Singapore adores this lovely hotel, best known for its iconic green pagoda roof at the corner of Scotts Road.

As the most extensive project of its kind in the hotel’s 17-year history, all guest rooms have been overhauled to offer guests more efficient use of space with newly installed bathrooms and ergonomically optimized furniture.  Most notably two new room categories have been introduced for the discerning business and leisure traveller: Premier Deluxe Rooms and Studio Rooms.

The once traditional hotel lobby has been converted into a warm and welcoming open plan zone while Marriott Cafe boasts a sophisticated new ambience, extended seating and open kitchen block.  A brand new F&B concept, Java+ completes the refurbishment.

Rooms have been fitted with state-of-the-art furnishings including two signature 1956 leather Eames Desk Chairs.  Bathrooms now come with large walk-in rain showers as well as extended vanity areas and technology upgrades include a 46-inch Samsung Full-HD Smart TV in every room.  At Marriott Cafe, 10 chefs take centre stage at one of Singapore’s largest open kitchen blocks to serve up a highly curated menu of quality dishes from the East and West, buffet style, while Crossroads Cafe has taken on a new colour palate with well stocked wine fridge and ambient lighting to create a relaxed yet chic atmosphere, with daily blackboard specials.

The Hotel’s newest F&B addition, Java+, is where one enjoys life at its finest. The premium retail deli outlet sells imported products from around the world including high quality cured meats, cheeses and fine wines.  Java+ is the ideal spot to unwind over a glass of wine and authentic Spanish tapas, or take away a wide range of sandwiches and coffees, as well as freshly-baked pastries and heavenly cakes for all occasions.

Incoming search terms:

• marriott hotel singapore