Climbing Out of The Creativity Valley
Recently, I saw a rebrand for Burberry and it struck me as odd because not long before I had also seen a rebrand for Burberry. […]
New product Marketing: Brilliance Needs Relevance.
What’s the difference between a breakthrough and a hit? An audience. When it comes to introducing an innovative product or brand, sheer brilliance is not […]
Content Marketing: Be Careful What You Wish For.
Don’t hope for viral. Plan it. A home run in today’s content marketing game is the elusive viral status bringing exponential brand impressions and engagement. […]
Micro Influencers, Major Results.
Find the right social media influencer for your high-end home brand This post was written by The Upward Home Team Luxury brands have been […]
Reinforce Your Digital Reach in the Era of Ad Blocking
Overpower ad blockers with increased relevance and strong digital partnerships. A recent eMarketer article pointed out that in 2016, digital media spending topped $72 billion, […]
A Tale of Two Cities
High-End Brands Face the Best of Times, the Worst of Times It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it […]
Generational Marketing: Change Your Approach, Not Your Product
Why targeting your marketing to a specific generation produces results. I have always been fascinated by generational marketing and have written about Millenials […]
Launching Your Brand Upmarket
A picture is worth 1,000 words. But credibility is worth much more in sales. For the past several months my Ramey team and I have been […]
Launching Your Brand Upmarket
A picture is worth 1000 words. But credibility is worth much more in sales. For the past several months my Ramey team and I have […]
A High-End Brand Strategy is Not a Marketing Gimmick. It’s a Profit-Driver.
We often say that Ramey was built exclusively for high-end brands and high-performance organizations. In fact, if you check out our client list you’ll see […]
How to Humanize Your High-End Brand
Connecting with consumers is key to success For a luxury brand to succeed in the market, it used to be enough to just be… luxurious. True […]
Ramey Named Top 50 Best Places to Work
For the second consecutive year, The Ramey Agency was named to the Top 10 of Ad Age’s 2016 Best Places to Work. Companies were selected based on […]
How to Navigate the Slowdown for High-End Brands
A downturn can sometimes represent an opportunity “The world’s wealthy are shutting their wallets.” I am by nature a glass-half-full kind of person, […]
Boost Your App, Boost Your Brand
Mobile Apps have become an integral part of millions of people’s daily routine. Apps allow businesses to maintain direct contact with current and prospective customers […]
Digital Marketing: Beware the Bot
Digital advertising continues its steep growth curve with no end in sight. The rate of year-over-year revenue growth for 2015 was 20% — faster than […]
Are We (Finally) on the Edge of the Smart-Home Revolution?
High-end homeowners are adopting technologies that connect their smart devices with energy-conserving home devices. Is the tipping point near? Affluents, especially the young […]
Are Premium Brands Unlucky in This Election Year?
What this year’s election could mean for your high-end brand. Premium brands were forecast to face a difficult year in 2016, according to […]
Ramey Ranked on Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Companies
Today, The Ramey Agency was ranked 4,914 on Inc. magazine’s 35th annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. “It’s […]
Does your new product need to reach a new consumer?
Recently, we worked with a national packaged goods company who was expanding their product line with disappointing results. The product had tested great, but real […]
Why Predictive Analytics Will Rock Your World
Predictive Analytics are among the most powerful tools a company has for transforming data into profitable action. We have access to data from over 100 […]
Meet the Future: One-to-One Marketing
One-to-One Performance Marketing uses new technologies to transform traditional marketing and advertising into a precision communications tool. Unlike traditional mass marketing, today we can micro-target […]
Pokémon Go: Beyond the Game
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny it. Drones of kids (and adults) walking like zombies, glued to their phones, all in […]
Why You Should Ban the L-Word Now
The times are changing—and reaching new affluents requires creative marketing for high-end home brands “Do you like luxury?” Affluent and aspiring-affluent Millennials may […]
Hunter Douglas – Nantucket Sample Book
Client: Hunter Douglas Project: Nantucket Sample Book […]
How to Find Your Flow When the Market Doesn’t Grow
The ever-developing high-end goods market calls us back to our instincts Growth in high-end home sales may have slowed, bringing the premium goods […]
Brand Reputation: Capitalizing On The Conversation
That can be said of your own personal brand as well as your Client’s brand. In today’s digital world it is easier than ever to […]
Content Messaging: Engagement Beats Persuasion
Clorox Corporation believes that “it’s doing well by doing good.” To that end, the corporation includes Brita Water Filters in its portfolio, encouraging consumers to […]
Why high-end brands need middle-class values
Affluent consumers drive sales among high-end brands, so you’d better understand their humble, middle-class values. A few years ago, I spoke to a group of […]
Plan Ahead, Stay Ahead: 2016 Media Strategy
From the Summer Olympics to the Presidential Election, there’s a lot of excitement to look forward to in 2016. And, maybe a few things to […]
High-End Brands and Extra-Sensory Affluents
How smart marketers are using sensory experiences to win in the showroom You’ve invested time and money in creating a showroom experience that sets your […]
Your Favorite 2015 Upward Home Posts
We have identified the posts that you read the most in 2015. From digging deeper into the story behind C3 Design to learning that Ultra […]
Digitally Trending Seniors
Though I’m not quite a senior citizen yet, I do hope to become one someday. I vividly remember sitting in my office – must have […]
Year-End Fiscal Organization: Make a list. Check it twice.
With 2016 right around the corner, here are a few strategies from Ramey’s financial guru to help your business organize for Year-End and prepare for the next […]
Where Affluent Consumers are Spending Now
High-end brand marketers can use data to leverage their strategies A recent report from Bain & Co’s Claudia D’Arpizio provides a great perspective on where […]
Ramey named Top 50 Best Places to Work
Today, The Ramey Agency was named one of the 50 Best Places to Work in Advertising & Media by Advertising Age. Companies were selected based […]
Copy Debriefing
Translating brand strategy into brand language. A crucial component of brand building is developing brand language. The right words bring your client’s brand to life. […]
Digital Marketing: The Shift to the Small Screen
In case you missed it, 2014 was the year when everyone officially had to stop thinking about the digital world from a desktop perspective. For […]
Your Online Home: Rethink. Redesign. Rebrand.
Is your website or brand more ho-hum than hot stuff? Are your products and services stellar but your web brand, not so much? Is your […]
Millennials Down But Not Out For High-End Home Brands
Why you shouldn’t underestimate this important market segment I continue to be fascinated with the impact that Millennials are having on the economy, not only […]
The (Slow) Evolution of Macro-Trends in Marketing Planning
Our clients usually have reliable resources for tracking key indicators like sales reports, store traffic, leads, online analytics, surveys and research benchmarks. But a great […]
Three of a Kind: Millennials, Snapchat and You
Utilizing Snapchat just might be the catalyst your brand needs. New tools, different types of media and technological advancements keep the marketing and advertising world […]
Inside One of The Most Innovative High-End Home Retailers
Upward Home visits Pirch I have no quibble with “stack ‘em deep and sell ‘em cheap” retail stores. I think that they serve […]
A Picture Worth (Way More Than) A Thousand Words
How high-end brands can win on the “visual Web”. I am a visual person. I love most genres of photography. I rarely meet […]
180 Degrees from Thurston Howell III
A shortcut for how to think about affluent consumers. One of the most important jobs for a marketer of high-end brands is to understand […]
Understanding the Most Sought-After Segment of Affluent Americans
Business leaders are the heaviest spenders. Affluent consumers drive the U.S. economy. In an economy where consumer spending accounts for 70% of the country’s […]
Another Smart Way to Segment Affluent Consumers
High-end home brands can benefit greatly by better understanding consumers. One of the common themes at Upward Home is this: affluent consumers are not […]
Inspiration: Instagram Accounts To Follow
Illustration for @openingceremony . ‘OC’s Slip-on Platform Sneakers Cobalt.’ Also an interview with me on their blog! Visit: https://openingceremony.us A photo posted by Anny Wang […]
2015 Super Bowl Ads in Review
This year’s Super Bowl commercials seemed like a competition of who could produce the most tears. Problem is, I don’t like to cry when I’m […]
Inspiration: Turn Of The Century Mardi Gras Invitations
My latest inspiration is Mardi Gras invitations from the late 19th and turn of the 20th centuries. They are amazingly lithographed with complicated die […]
Visit Mississippi featured on Skift
This week Skift Travel IQ, a global travel and tourism online resource, featured our Client Visit Mississippi in its “Best Travel Ads This Week.” Check […]
Smart New Insights From The Smart Home
What high-end home brands can learn about the connected home. I continue to be fascinated with the concept of the smart home – or […]
The 2015 Checklist for High-End Home Brands
A few thought-provoking questions to help jump-start your year. Most of the marketers I know tend to attack a new year with gusto and […]
Is Consumer Sentiment Improving (Or Not) For High-End Home Brands?
Contrasting studies can be confusing, but your job is to remain focused. Sometimes, I am dazed and confused by the variety of reports that […]
Affluents Tell High-End Home Brands How to Engage Them
New research illustrates how consumers are engaged by medium. If affluent consumers told you exactly how to engage with them, would you find that […]
Shocking Surprises About Affluent Consumers
Research reveals fascinating opinions among millionaires. What group of Americans is concerned enough about wealth inequality that they actively provide financial support to poverty […]
The Dramatic Differences Between Younger and Older Affluents
Be wary of a “one size fits all” marketing approach. Too many marketers believe that affluent consumers behave alike – when in fact, they […]
What LVMH Can Teach High-End Home Brands
Going beyond logos and craftsmanship. When marketers of high-end home brands are seeking insights, trends, and inspiration, sometimes it makes sense to look out-of-category, […]
The Billionaire’s Club and High-End Home Brands
Cracking the code on a very small target group. One of my goals with Upward Home is to dispel myths about affluent consumers, so […]
The Missing Link for High-End Home Brand Social Media
New tool helps retailers drive sales via Instagram. Social media networks are by their very nature, well, social. They belong to people, not brands, and […]
Strengthen your message. Boil down your brand.
How a Cohesive Brand Brought Together an Organization Deep and Wide Looking back at a project whose lessons are still relevant today Financial service companies […]
Sharing the Spotlight: What Do Celebrity Endorsements Bring to a Brand?
Ramey client BankPlus partnered with Archie and Eli Manning for its Mississippi-based marketing efforts. We Americans love our celebrities – entertainment, sports, business – whatever […]
Shouting into the Wind: Talk to your customer. Not the crowd.
If you’re in an industry – such as the financial services industry – that offers countless products and services to the broadest imaginable group of […]
Green Drives Green for High-End Home Brands
The growing impact of eco-friendly homes. Not all affluent consumers are environmentally conscious and not all environmentally conscious consumers are affluent. But there is […]
Important Group of Consumers Returns in 24 Months
How Millennials will impact high-end home brands. What if I told you that a group that makes up 20% of the affluent consumer base […]
8 Encouraging Trends for High-End Home Brands
Recovery of the housing market brings opportunities. If you were to chart the collapse of the housing market a few years ago, the downward […]
What Happens When Affluents Retire?
The surprising answer and how it affects high-end brands. Most marketers I know would probably agree with Peter Drucker: the aim of marketing is […]
Meet the “Considered Consumer” of High-End Home Brands
5 questions to ask in order to meet the growing trend of planned purchasing. As more and more consumers carefully plan their major purchases, […]
The (Modular) High-End Home Brand is Here
Image via Rockwell Group A new luxury concept challenges conventional thinking. When Fred Carl founded Viking Range in the mid-1980s, he challenged the […]
At the Crossroads of Mobile and Social Among High-End Home Brands
It’s time for marketers to anticipate what’s next. Despite the misguided belief among some high-end marketers that digital strategies aren’t the most ideal way […]
The Impact of Millennials on High-End Home Brands
When they come off of the sidelines, they will be different. One of the biggest drivers of the sluggish U.S. housing recovery has been […]
Down But Not Out: How Affluents Shop for High-End Home Brands
You know the story, but do you know the lessons learned from it? Prior to the global financial crisis, affluent consumers spent above their […]
The World Has Gone Mobile. Is your bank there?
Are you showing enough love to your (mobile) customers? Do you know where your customers are? According to Pew Research, they are on their smart […]
The Elusive and Mysterious Ultra High Net Worth Consumer Among High-End Home Brands
Brendan Howard / Shutterstock.com Yes, they are different, but don’t assume that they don’t consume media like everyone else. The high-end marketplace often […]
How ‘Luxury’ is Evolving for High-End Brands
Affluent consumers think of luxury differently now. Stop for a moment and think about how much marketing has changed for high-end brands during the […]
7 Digital Best Practices for High-End Home Brands
A new report showcases the habits that successful digital enterprises share. The high-end home category was dramatically and fundamentally altered during the past several […]
Magic and Logic are Critical for High-End Home Brand CMOs
Finding balance between creative and analytics isn’t always easy. “My job today looks nothing like it did just a few years ago,” said a […]
Ramey tagged as lead creative agency for C Spire.
By taking this account from Young & Rubicam in New York, Ramey demonstrates that a small market agency can compete with anyone. Reuters recently covered […]
Love at First Sight with High-End Home Brands
Customers may fall in love with your brand, but only if you make a great first impression. Perhaps you’ve experienced from time to time an […]
4 Important Digital Trends Shaping High-End Home Brands
If you understand the opportunities, your brand has unlimited potential. Marketers of high-end brands often tell me about the one-two punch they faced during […]
Beyond the Purchase of High-End Home Brands
Buying decisions continue to be made after the actual purchase. Marketers of high-end brands understand Plato’s description of emotion and reason as two horses pulling […]
Seasoned vs. First-Time Buyers of High-End Home Brands
It pays to know the differences between each type of consumer. Two high-end home buyers are considering buying a million-dollar home. One is a […]
Drop the tagline and get real.
The American South is a unique destination for many domestic and international travelers. But for a state that’s part of this bubble, how can it […]
Owning vs. Experiencing a High-End Home Brand
Why you should consider an experiential luxury strategy for your brand. Several years ago, I was working on brand strategy with my clients at […]
4 Transformative Digital Shifts Play Pivotal Role for High-End Home Brands
Marketers must adapt with digital consumer behavior in order to succeed. The changing landscape of digital marketing continues to impact high-end home brands, and […]
The (Smart) High-End Home Brand is Here
Get ready for intelligent technology in the home. I remember the first time I came face-to-face with “smart home technology.” I was standing in […]
More Affluent Consumers Planning to Purchase High-End Home Brands
Nearly half of affluent consumers will redecorate, remodel or renovate. Half of the $1.9 trillion that affluent Americans spend annually will be concentrated in […]
Three Surprises about High-End Home Buyers
Affluent consumers drive sales among high-end home brands, so you’d better understand their humble, middle-class values. A few years ago, I spoke to a […]
Ramey CEO finds a home
We spoke to Ramey CEO Chris Ray recently about Upward Home, the online resource blog for marketers of high-end and high-performance brands. Ramey: You are […]
How to Delight High-End Home Brand Consumers Online
Make sure that you are delivering a smooth digital experience for consumers. Some of the smartest marketers of high-end home brands find ideas and […]
Consumers of High-End Home Brands Do Not Behave Alike
The smartest marketers stay on top of evolving consumer trends. Do you know which segment of your affluent consumer base is nearly 50 percent […]
Good, Better, Best for High-End Home Brands
A high-end home brand that provides options can dramatically impact a buyer’s perception of value. When brand marketers face the inevitable dilemma of expanding […]
The Good News and Bad News About High-End Home Brand Consumers
There are more affluent consumers, but they are harder than ever to find. I’ve noticed a fascinating contradiction occurring within the affluent consumer base. […]
Best Marketing Practices Among High-End Home Brands
Five things you can do to dramatically improve your marketing performance. A few years ago, one of my high-end home brand clients was asked […]
New Media Buckets for High-End Home Brands
Why evolving media forms matter to marketers. Marketers have an increasing number of media forms to deal with today – which represents both […]
A Content Guide for High-End Home Brands
If you’re not thinking strategically about content, you’re in trouble. How many times per day do you read or hear or talk about content […]
How Men and Women Approach High-End Home Brands
Crafting unique marketing messages to men and women is tempting, but you can’t always trust the stereotypes. Fair or not, marketers often talk to […]
Does Your High-End Home Brand Stand for Too Much?
Your brand may have huge aspirations, but your consumers will have the final say. Every brand wants to live large in a consumer’s mental landscape […]
High-End Home Brands Gain Insight in the Home and at the Factory
There’s much to be learned by visiting (and recreating) a consumer’s home. Have you ever felt that you don’t have a good handle on […]
High-End Home Brand Media Consumption: A “Both/And” Proposition
Affluent consumers enthusiastically consume traditional and digital media. Marketers of high-end home brands had to make difficult decisions during the economic recession. When revenues […]
How Emotions Evolve in the High-End Home Brand Purchase Process
Smart brands work to maximize joy post-purchase. Your consumer has finally decided that it’s time to update the kitchen, redecorate the living room, or […]
Twists and Turns Along the High-End Home Brand Path to Purchase
It’s critical to pay attention to your evolving purchase process. What sets high-end home brands apart from consumer packaged goods and other low-cost home-related […]
