Louis Vuitton.
A name that conjures all manner of images in the mind.
Luxury. Sophistication. Worldliness.Travel. Wealth.
OK, so in China, it’s also known as the ‘mistresses brand’, because in the old days of China, the only people who could get their hands on the stuff were the lovers of Government officials or international businessmen who bought it when on one of their numerous overseas trips.
Now while ‘perception may be reality’, there’s some perception you don’t want and LV have spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars on changing this.
Given their success in China, you could argue it has worked – however there are two things that I think are potentially going to undermine them.
One: In their quest to keep the cash rolling in, they’re opening more stores in ‘lower tier’ markets. While this is helping wealthy people in those cities buy their products more easily, it’s putting off their core audience because frankly, they don’t want to be associated with individuals from places they regard as ‘being underneath them’.
Two: This …
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
OK … OK … I admit I haven’t seen this first hand [a friend sent it to me] so there is a big chance it’s either a pisstake or associated with an upcoming movie but if not, why-oh-why would they do such a thing?
While some may find a cliche-looking gangster cool, I’m not sure it fits in with the image the average LV customer wants for themselves. And what do you think is in those suitcases?
A pair of pants and some inflatable arm bands?
Probably not … and yet they have the cheek to add ‘the spirit of travel’ to the bottom of the ad.
Where are they travelling too? Jail?
And what are those ‘weapon looking things’ in the arms of the cliched ‘hired help’?
If they’re not fancy umbrellas, someone is going to be getting into a lot of trouble.
Look, I get the luxury inflation rate has pushed brands to basically make ads showing people bathing in a pool of money while burning poor people in their big, open fire but I’m not sure going to this extreme is a good idea.
If the goal was to make LV owners look so successful they don’t give a shit what others think [“Fuck you money”, as I wrote here] then I would have suggested they follow the lead of the brilliant ‘spoof’ Bentley ad below, as opposed to associating with people who might kill you if you even look at them funny.
