Affinitive’s Social Media Playground

A recent article in the New York Observer discusses how luxury handbag brands have been sending MTV’s Jersey Shore reality TV star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi handbags of their competitors, hoping that her association with competitors’ products will create disloyalty and mockery among consumers who in no way want to be “associated” with Snooki or viewed as mimicking her style.  The practice isn’t new – over the past few years, luxury brands such as Champagne Louis Roederer’s brand Cristal have adopted the practice of “unbranding” their products from celebrities or community segments that represent a demographic with whom the brand would prefer not to be associated.

In the case of Snooki, a brand sending competitors’ merchandise to her in an effort to associate her with those brands is innocuous enough.  However, how far does this go?  What happens when Snooki goes from being a luxury “Poser” to an actual “X-fluent” – who can afford the brands she previously coveted?  Luxury brands would be wise to tread carefully on this subject, or risk backlash much like the racially tinged battle between Cristal and mega rapper/trend setter Jay-Z.

How do luxury brands, who pride themselves on exclusivity and refined culture, separate themselves from the luxury “posers” who gravitate towards their designer products because of the aspirational lifestyle that they represent?  This problem has been amplified of late in the luxury goods space thanks to the omnipresence of social media, particularity via Twitter and Facebook.  The open nature of the social web presents a problem to luxury brands, to whom brand image and perception are tantamount to their success.

Instead of the idea of entering the social landscape instilling fear among luxury brand managers, they should embrace this unique opportunity.

Luxury brands will never be able to stop “posers” from identifying with their brand.  In fact these consumers are already on social networks flaunting their love of a the luxury brand and creating conversation and rich media about it regardless of the brand’s presence on social media platforms. Maintaining an “official” social presence, with a targeted content and engagement strategy geared toward reinforcing the brand’s identity, allows a luxury brand to guide the conversation.  Instead of the consumers forming their own opinions without interaction from the brand, the luxury brand can create an authoritative, educational, engaging voice that enhances rather than cheapens the brand, thus countering any potential “Snooki effect”.

(Burberry’s Art of The Trench microsite is a wonderful example of this strategy.  Burberry capitalized on the trend of their consumers’ love of their iconic trench coats as well as the social media trend to post photos wearing designer goods and fashion as a means of self-expression.  The result is a sleek and interactive site that reflects the brand’s message in a young and fresh way, reflecting the changing landscape of how both “X-fluent” and aspirational consumers connect with a brand.)