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 fell, so did marketing budgets – and that often meant that media was dramatically cut. More than once, a CMO told me that they were facing a sort of “either/or”  […]

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High-End Home Brands Still Command the Lion’s Share of Category Profits

Marketers who understand the 20/40/60 Rule are more likely to raise their returns.   Michael Silverstein’s seminal book, Trading Up, made a significant impact on my marketing worldview by documenting how companies create high-end brands that appeal to affluent and mass-market consumers. The book was – and remains – a great business case for the […]

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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 are as diverse a group as the general population. Researcher Bob Shullman has written, “There are significant differences on many issues depending on their household income, wealth, age, and gender. […]

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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 been working behind the scenes to help launch an innovative new of line cookware – Hestan NanoBond. One of the most exciting facets of this launch was collaborating with both our client […]

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Cooking from scratch: Upward Home interviews Eric Deng, Hestan

Editor’s Note: We are excited to launch a new series of interviews with some of the leading voices in the high-end home industry. Today we visit with Eric Deng, Co-Founder and President of Hestan Commercial Corporation, who is shaking up the culinary world with the launch of Hestan Commercial, Hestan Outdoor, and Hestan Indoor. Chris […]

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A Surprisingly Effective Targeting Strategy for High-End Home Brands

  Tenure of affluence can be more important than net worth.   Many home brand marketers have found success targeting affluent consumers who own a second home. The reasoning is that if your brand is an expensive consumer durable with a 10-15 year lifespan, then regardless of how loyal your customer is, it may be […]

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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 items are, of course, price and purchase cycle. When a consumer is considering renovating a kitchen with $150,000 in new appliances, cabinetry, flooring and countertops, she is going to be […]

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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 your customer prospect, despite the fact that you have reams of data from previous focus groups and surveys?  Or that when you finally acquire some actionable insight, nobody else in […]

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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 marketing? If you’re like many of the home brand marketers I know, I’d imagine that you and your team think about it a lot. You may remember the race – […]

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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 an opportunity and a threat for high-end home brands. If marketers can more clearly understand the different ways that consumers perceive and absorb messages, they will be much better suited […]

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