Since 1931, the family-owned Cipriani brand, which got its start in Venice, has been known for its quietly elegant and luxurious bars, restaurants and clubs.

Five of Cipriani locations are in New York City, with eight others scattered around the world (London, Hong Kong, Porto Cervo, Venice, Abu Dhabi, and Istanbul). The firm's New York properties also includes the Cipriani Club Residences at 55 Wall Street and two event venues in Manhattan.

Now, Cipriani is leveraging its reputation in another area — hotels — with the launch of Mr. C, a new brand that kicks off with Mr. C Beverly Hills, which opened June 1st.Continue reading...

How to use social media is still a mystery for some brands, especially luxury brands. As one recent study reveals, one in five luxury brands on Facebook still don’t allow their fans to comment on their Wall.

That’s all scheduled to change this August when Facebook says it will require branded FB pages to allow comments, a move the site has already promoted to pharma brands — a change that could help the social network better engage users, especially as its growth rate has slowed for the second straight month.

L2 recently studied 100 luxury brands on Facebook in such categories as beauty, auto, fashion, spirits and Champagne, and jewelry. Companies that asked for fans to comment ranked higher on an engagement scale than the ones that didn’t encourage such behavior, the study found.Continue reading...

When Porsche started selling its cars in Korea back in 2003, it sold 80 of them in the first year. Last year, the company sold 708 and it is on pace to sell more than 1,000 in 2011, according to the Korea Herald. 

The “well-to-do” of Korea are falling in love with foreign luxury cars, the site reports. Bentley sold vehicles there last year, while Maserati and Ferrari each sold about 50.

It’s not as if Korea is known for its open roads, while Seoul is known to have some of the worst traffic in the world. The allure?Continue reading...

Happy World Anti-Counterfeiting Day!

Celebrated each June 8th, this year's 13th annual event sees the launch of a global portal that aims to help consumers avoid knock-offs and "find safe and genuine online stockists of popular designer goods." That new website (launching with brands including adidas and UGG Australia): Brand-i.org, which enables consumers to distinguish between genuine sellers of big brands and rogue traders of counterfeit goods. 

Naturally, luxury brands are alarmed at the rise of counterfeits on a global scale, vigorously defending their brands by taking legal action. While customs and law enforcement officials around the world attempt to squash purveyors of fake name brand luxury goods, academic research on counterfeits increasingly supports a counterintuitive position: these phony goods may actually be good for business.Continue reading...

Luxury brands that don't allow fans to post comments on their Facebook walls score lower for engagement (and "Facebook success") than those that do.

That's just one of the findings from a new report that rates the Facebook savvy of 100 luxury brands across Auto, Beauty, Fashion, Watches and Jewelry, and Spirits and Champagnes.

The L2 "Prestige 100" Facebook report, produced in partnership with Buddy Media, gives top marks to  the top three brands on Facebook are BMW, Clinique, and Audi, #1-3 respectively. Each brand was scored against more than 200 qualitative and quantitative data points and ranked across four criteria: Size & Growth, Engagement, Programming and Integration.

Automotive and Beauty brands nabbed the top seven spots in the ranking, with the Watch & Jewelry industry earning the lowest average Facebook IQ. 

The Top 10 luxury brands on Facebook, according to the new report:Continue reading...

Chrysler was clearly onto something when it launched its breakthrough "Imported from Detroit" campaign. Sales spiked, leading the company to launch phase 2. Explaining the positioning, Chrysler CMO Olivier Francois told brandchannel, “American coolness is essential to our strategy, because that’s exactly what imports do not have, and some other American [luxury] brands don’t have as well.” 

Chrysler isn't the only one latching on to the rising "Made in USA" star. In March, we reported on the website, MadeInUSAForever.com which was bootstrapped by Todd Lipscomb. He told CNN, "I saw this terrible need in our nation for a real alternative to buy American made products. ... It's a virtuous circle of economic activity that's caused by buying American made." Lipscomb has seen his website business grow at over 40% per year.

Many other brands are following suit, according to Bloomberg. Joseph Abboud, the maker of menswear, proudly displays a "Made in USA" moniker on its website. Brooks Brothers waves a "Made in America" banner and boasts of its factories in the US. Mark Kate and Ashley Olsen's fashion brand, The Row, promotes its American-made line.Continue reading...

As UK mobile payment startups join forces in $87 million merger, Google is expected to announce mobile wallet with Macy's, Subway and American Eagle Outfitters as charter retail partners.

Fiat chairman and James Murdoch vie for control of F1 racing brand.

Google harnesses ocean water to cool Finnish data center.

L'Oreal and other luxury brand execs project strong 2011, more M&A.

Orbitz targeted for advertising on Fox News.

Rick Santorum is expected to throw his hat in the GOP race for the White House.Continue reading...

The AWD Hyundai Genesis may be a scarce commodity in the US, but in Korea, luxury fans can now buy a Genesis model to match their Prada outfits. 

The 2012 Hyundai Genesis Prada is now available in South Korea, marking the first time the automaker has partnered with a luxury brand. The special edition model, available by special order and limited to 1,200 vehicles in Korea, later exporting to a limited number of Middle Eastern and Asian countries, including China.

According to the press release, Hyundai and Prada "worked together for over two years to perfect the model, after unveiling a special edition at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show." As for what makes it Prada-worthy?Continue reading...