Living the luxe brand legacy

The key to creating luxe is 'aspiration'. Brand custodians have one, an all-focused task at hand – to create aspiration. The craving of a consumer to be associated with a brand is the key to his wallet or her purse. And 'brand legacy' is a fail-safe mechanism for creating desire and dazzle.

Legacy typically means 'inheritance', something passed on from one generation to next. There is a sense of exclusivity to the whole notion of legacy. This exclusivity and a desire to belong to a certain legacy give the opportunity to a brand to create an 'aspirational quotient'.

Imagine yourself using a luggage brand that was once exclusively used by the Maharajas. Or imagine wearing a watch brand that was worn by legendary leaders such as JFK. You feel that a part of you is connected to that legacy that has a high 'aspirational quotient'. It is almost as if the earlier generation of Royalty or Legends have passed in on to your generation, to you. Such is the high of exclusivity. Thus establishing an instant connect of the brand with the consumer.

Talking of royalties, let me elaborate with an example of the palaces. Let's take the case of the beautiful and exquisite Lake Palace, which is now with Taj Lake Palace Udaipur. With its guest list including Queen Elizabeth, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Shah of Iran, Lord Kurzon and Vivian Leigh, small wonder they charge, on an average, $20,000 per night. Or take the example of The Raj Palace of Jaipur, which charges a tariff as high as $50,000. Royal Suite of Raj Palace is the second-most expensive suite in the world. Now, these are real palaces, which companies have converted into hotels.

The service in these 'palace hotels' are aligned to the service that Maharajas used to receive. Once you spend time in these palaces and drink from a golden glass, or eat from a golden plate or admire the real gold used in decorating a wall, the entire ambiance is created, may be overdone, in such a way to dazzle you and make you feel 'privileged' in the company of royalty. Soon you realize that you are really living a life of a Maharaja, and it does not require any bloodline anymore. It is like an inheritance, a legacy. These hotels thrive on the aspirational quotient and thus essentially on the legacy of the 'Brand Royalty'.

Now, will a seasoned hotel brand like Taj be able to charge the same premium by 'creating a palace'? The answer is no. The reason being a lack of history. The fact that these 'palaces' have a history and thus a legacy, already nudges the consumers to loosen their purse strings. What adds to the premium is the way royalty is showcased with the opulence so as to recreate the times of the Maharajas.

Watch brands like IWC also boast of Presidents wearing their watch and thus of legacy. However, Rolex takes the cake here. The former being more exclusive and Rolex being more inclusive, the appeal of the legacy of Rolex reaches far and wide. And so it can easily accommodate a Roger Federer in the 'Live for Greatness' campaign along with JFK and Martin Luther King Jr.

Thus a brand custodian needs to evaluate the brand and understand how a legacy needs to be marketed well so that it does not end up alienating people. So if a group of potential buyers are not encouraged to be a part of the legacy of JFK, they might fall for Federer.

Let your quest for luxe legacy continue.

The writer is a luxury commentator and author of 'The Luxe Trilogy'