Veuve Clicquot’s new community platform, called (wistfully, enticingly) Wish You Were Here, is an invitation to share inspiring moments that celebrate the spirit and lifestyle of the brand through photos and videos — and virtually hobnob with the beautiful people and party-hopping jetsetters who embody the brand.

The Instagram-like social initiative is the latest in luxury house’s expanded effort to centralize and showcase its 100+ global programs, events and initiatives. And in further proof of its efficacy as a brand engagement tool, VC's Wish You Were Here video of a sponsored boat race last summer (below) has been recognized by the iPhone Film Festival in the best branded content category.Continue reading...

Most consumer retail brands may have been battered by an economy in which said consumers are increasingly stingy with their money, but luxury brands have continued to make headway. While luxury products are not completely immune to an economic downturn, they have certainly weathered the storm better than most. That's because these are the brands that appeal to the upper echelon consumer who recognizes quality and is willing to pay for it.

But even in the luxury category, there are winners and losers, relatively speaking, which is something the Luxury Institute, a global research and CRM consulting company, studies quite carefully. The Luxury Institute analyzed more than five years of data from its surveys on dozens of luxury goods and services categories in an effort to identify "best practitioners" that have consistently scored above their competitors.

In handbags, a leading luxury category, the Institute found that "one brand stood alone in owning several critical metrics for brand vibrancy five years in a row." That brand is Coach.Continue reading...

Cartier's new Winter Tale holiday campaign promotes the French jeweler this holiday season with an ethereal spot (and its iconic panther) that follows on a trio of short films (directed by Luca Guadagnino and co-scripted by Xan Cassavetes) that the luxury brand debuted last month, along with an original video and music by the French band AIR. Watch them below.Continue reading...

In order to maintain its sense of exclusivity and specialness, Ferrari makes less than 7,000 cars a year. But that limits the company’s income and consumers still want to be sure their car is different from all others.

After all, when folks are shelling out $410,000 for a car, they want something special. That's why the Italian car manufacturer started a “'tailor made' personalization program” (called Ferrari Atelier) that could “add 20 percent to 60 percent to the price of a car,” Bloomberg notes.

“Being different is important for Ferrari buyers as these cars are all about status,” commented Rebecca Lindland, a IHS analyst in Norwalk, Connecticut, to Bloomberg. “It’s like showing up to a gala in the same dress — funny at first, annoying if it keeps happening.”Continue reading...

No matter what you do or where you turn, there is no way to escape it: Gift-buying season will very soon be upon us and Neiman Marcus hopes you’ve saved some bucks and are ready to spend. 

Actually, forget that. If you need to save some bucks, you likely don’t have enough to afford what’s in the brand-spanking-new annual Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.

If you aren’t lucky enough to get the catalog at home or live close enough to one of the company’s 41 stores, you can enjoy all of its splendors on the 104-year-old company’s website, Facebook page, or iPad app. (There are also video teasers on the luxury retailer's YouTube channel.)

As ever, this year’s catalog — the 85th edition — features a number of over the top “fantasy” gifts.

For a mere $1 million, consumers can purchase His and Hers Dancing Fountains, by hydro designer WET, which created the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas as well as the world’s largest fountain in, you guessed it, Dubai.Continue reading...

What the heck is going on at Mercedes-Benz? The latest high-rotation US campaign from the elder statesman of auto luxury has opted for downright aggressive, almost violent, messaging and imagery.  

For a brand most associated with classic, tasteful luxury, it appears to have slammed too much Red Bull. Or maybe it got divorced, got its ear pierced and started wearing Ed Hardy t-shirts.Continue reading...

Gucci opens its first museum, located in Florence, Italy, celebrate the brand's 90th birthday. Admission is 6 Euros, half of which goes to a fund to help the City of Florence.

It's located in the Piazza della Signoria, with each floor representing a different part of the brand's heritage. As Gucci PR tweeted, it's better known as Palazzo Vecchi, "the seat of the Medici family, who ruled Florence with style, art and aplomb."Continue reading...

The 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 is the kind of luxury item the Pursuitist traffics in. Unveiled on the final episode of BBC’s Top Gear, the sports car starts at $387,000 — and inventory is already sold out.

Its perfect fare for Pursuitist, a luxury blog that's pitching itself as a digital country club devoted to the best high-end products for those who can afford them. Sixty-five per cent of Pursuitist readers have an annual income of $75k and up, and are eager to be seen as well-connected influencers with exacting taste.

The site calls itself “Luxury meets Digg meets Huffington Post.” Forbes, no stranger to appeal to the wealthy, calls it the “best luxury blog” it's run across recently. Pursuitist, however, wants to do better than that.Continue reading...