Publicité Pour Objets de luxe En Chine (Docuement en anglais).

Advertising for

Luxury in China

Josephine Ringdahl

Hiba Khatbane

Alex delhoume

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Since China has become the second largest consumer

of luxury goods (after Japan), the entire

world’s luxury brands are turning their attention to

this booming luxury market to gain their share.

With an estimated 18 000 billionaires, 440 000

multimillionaires, and a fast rising middle class

eager to buy luxury goods to demonstrate their

social standing1, the luxury brands who succeed to

gain a share of the Chinese affluent consumers will

build a strong competitive advantage over others

both in terms of image and in numbers.

The most obvious luxury items sold like

butter by the enriched Chinese consumer is of

course luxurious items from the west such as the

traditional French labels, expensive watches and

imported cars.

But to succeed in convincing the affluent

Chinese consumers, the western luxury brands

need to communicate the right message. For this,

they need to understand and respond to the Chinese

consumers’ dreams and aspirations which is

everything but carved in stone. According to a

recent research study (Degan.R, 2009) The

“Young Emperor Generation” (born after 1978) is

China’s most savvy and avid consumers today.

They are the most spoiled young consumers due

to the ”one-child” policy that was put in place by

the Chinese government in 1979. More importantly,

they are the most educated, confident and ambitious

among all the generations in China and as a

consequence we should not be surprised to see a

rise in Chinese luxury brands claiming their share

of the market any time soon.

In the following section we will take a look

at the Chinese Consumers’ aspirations for luxury

goods and following we will have a look at the

example of French luxury brands to find out their

golden techniques in luxury advertising and branding

in China with the case of the French wine industry.

1 Degan. R. Opportunity for Luxury Brands in China.

(2009). Working paper N°31. Glob Advantage : Portugal.

Advertising for Luxury in China

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The Chinese Consumers’ aspirations

for luxury goods

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The affluent Chinese consumer is influenced by what we call Confucian

values such as collectiveness and family, respect and superiority, and

glory and awareness of shame (Xiao Lu, 2008).

Firstly, for luxury brands, when we talk about the meaning of collectiveness

and family the Chinese consumer give more value to the

brand than to the product itself and the more famous the brand is and

the more expensive the brand’s products are, the greater the recognition

and value of the brand. And this is part of why the French luxury

brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior have had that great

success in China (Degan R. 2009).

Secondly, respect and superiority is a vital notion too amongst

the newly enriched Chinese consumers and the young emperor generation

who wishes to show off and demonstrate their social status with

luxury goods.

Therefore the key is to rely heavily on the communication of the

brands in order to spread the word through the public. Because as the

public becomes more aware of the value and image of the luxury goods

it follows that they will recognize the brand and it’s products when they

see them and moreover reinforce the status to the consumers wearing

or using them.

The third important notion mentioned earlier is the glory and

awareness of shame for the Chinese consumers. Which basically means

that the Chinese consumers have a pressure to succeed in the society

and that as a consequence they persistently strive to bring glory and

respect to the family as a proof of their success. Here the luxury goods

come handy to do just that. By wearing or using luxury goods the consumer

can furthermore be admired and perhaps even accepted into the

Chinese elite by their surroundings. For luxury brand marketers these

added values are obviously fundamental to press on.

”... the consumption of these more excellent goods is an evidence

...