Wealthy Shoppers Enjoy Brand Partnerships, but Brand Dilution Is a Risk

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Aug 20, 2013) -  The Luxury Institute surveyed consumers with a household income of $150,000 or more about the appeal and impact of brand partnerships. These wealthy consumers also shared brands that they would be excited to see partner in the future.

Half of all affluent shoppers surveyed agree that the biggest risk for a luxury firm partnering with another brand -- luxury or mainstream -- is damage to the brand's image or reputation. Joint advertising, products, events and sponsorships are the most effective types of collaboration.

Among the industries where partnerships are seen as most fruitful are hotels and resorts, travel, fashion and airlines. Women are far more likely than men to applaud fashion partnerships, as well as those involving jewelry and beauty. Men, on the other hand, are most enthusiastic about partnerships involving automobile companies. Affluent shoppers older than 50 are exceptionally interested in airline and cruise collaborations.

Luxury brand collaborations wealthy shoppers would like to see include Michael Kors and Apple, Chanel and Air France, and Lexus and The Ritz-Carlton. Missoni offering its fashions at Target and Vera Wang selling at Kohl's are two high-profile examples of luxury brands partnering with a non-luxury outfit. Affluent shoppers would like to see additional partnerships of this ilk, including Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Bed Bath & Beyond, Gucci and Coca Cola, among others.

"Brands should partner with companies with similar values and service standards to avoid potential risks of collaboration," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza. "This maintains credibility and helps to ensure a consistently positive customer experience."

About Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)

The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.