You’ve likely heard of the Dior brand. In case you haven’t, Dior is a French luxury fashion house currently under the direction of businessman Bernard Arnault. Arnault also heads LVMH, one of the world’s biggest luxury groups.
Some people know Dior for their breakthroughs in fashion. But even people outside of the luxury market and fashion industries can recognize the Dior brand. How did Dior become this recognizable and successful? And what can you learn from their marketing tactics?
For starters, we need to understand that luxury brands don't market themselves the same way that other brands do. Luxury brands need to differentiate themselves and focus on different appeals.
These are some of the most important elements of a luxury brand’s marketing:
Luxury products aren't going to be accessible to everyone. The high price point means large swaths of consumers simply aren't going to be able to afford these types of products. Additionally, people who make significant money have specific tastes – meaning not all luxury consumers are going to be interested in your specific fashion. To address this, luxury brand marketing campaigns need to feature niche targeting.
Luxury brands often succeed by cultivating an air of exclusivity. Customers aren't just buying a product; they're buying a lifestyle. People want to feel like they're buying into a culture that not everyone can afford or enjoy. Accordingly, these vibes need to be front and center in an effective marketing campaign.
Luxury brands also need to prioritize the perceived value of what they are creating. If a luxury brand appears to fall behind a competitor, or if the quality of their work drops, the entire brand could crumble.
So what are the specific marketing strategies that Dior has used to become so successful?
For starters, Dior has an impressive brand identity and remarkable consistency in presenting that identity throughout all its marketing campaigns. The Dior team has taken great care to make sure every product distributed by the company falls in line with the overarching vision for the brand – and all forms of communication and messaging from Dior seem to be in alignment with that vision as well.
Dior succeeds by adopting a multimedia and Omni channel approach. The brand recognizes that each channel has strengths and weaknesses, and it plays to those strengths and weaknesses effectively. You can find Dior on almost every social media platform, in print magazine ads, and even in virtual reality (VR) exhibitions and fashion shows: the brand is everywhere.
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There are many different audiences interested in Dior, and the brand utilizes segmentation strategies to appeal to each of these demographics independently. As a simple example, Dior has multiple social media accounts. On Instagram, there’s the core Dior official account, which caters to its primary consumers, but there’s also Dior Homme, which targets male consumers specifically. This allows them to greatly increase the relevance of their messaging, appealing to one audience at a time.
Dior has tapped into the power of many celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Rihanna, Natalie Portman, and more. You've likely seen some of these celebrities in ads for specific products. This is an expensive, but incredibly powerful technique. When you have a household name and a pretty face attached to your product, people immediately begin associating it with luxury and status. It's an effective way to bring in the distribution of your messaging, since through the influencer, you can reach millions of people. But it's also a way to build the reputation and image of the products you're creating
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One of the most impressive elements of Dior’s marketing strategy has been its amazing exhibits. For example, in Esprit Dior, Dior shows off some of its most interesting and captivating pieces, celebrating themes that include: Paris, Dior and his artist friends, Dior Garden, Dior Allure, Dior Atelier, Dior’s Stars, Versailles: Trianon, Miss Dior, From Pink to Red, and J’adore. These interactive and innovative establishments help brand enthusiasts fully immerse themselves in the style of the brand while presenting new appeals to unfamiliar audiences.
Dior has more than 4,000 stores in 35 countries around the world. Rather than applying the same strategies to every location or every audience throughout the world, Dior subtly adjusts its marketing to appeal to specific people. For example, to cater to Chinese audiences, Dior sold Lady Dior bags on WeChat amidst Qixi Festival holiday celebrations; originally planned as a 4-day event, the timing was quickly truncated after the bags sold out in a single day.
What are the most important marketing lessons you can learn from Dior?
Even if you're not a luxury brand, you can benefit from the following:
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