Touch: The Game Changer In Luxury Digital Marketing

It’s no secret that luxury and premium brands have been slow to adopt digital channels to build closer relationships with their customers. Traditionally, the environment of the glossy magazine has been well established as a safe space where brands felt in control. For the first decade of the internet, many brands felt digital was not a great brand building tool and so shied away from it, in fact many did not even understand it.

How things have changed since then. The growth of the internet, social networks, broadband, smart phones, ecommerce and all kinds of digital innovations have forced the luxury sector to take digital seriously. However it was the launch of the ipad that was the true game changer in the sector. Luxury marketing has always been about building a strong, powerful image reinforced through great experiences. People like to see, smell, touch luxury and premium goods before they buy and marketers have always understood this. The introduction of the ipad introduced a new “sensory” level to digital consumer experience. On top of that, the ability to create more premium status products such as GoldGenie’s range has only enhanced the relationship between the hardware in your hands and the software you interact with.

The ipad has been a game changer in many other ways and begun a post-PC/laptop period in computing. It has created the opportunity for computers to be seen not simply as computers but rather as gadgets to make life experiences more instant and fruitful. On top of which they’re seen as must-have accessories. And this is where the luxury market can capitalise – much like a handbag, its not the contents but the case that defines you. Here we see the big players capitalising, but there are also highly original start-ups looking to offer a richer experience for the consumer. Take the brilliant Aukward as an example. They use the old book as a cover for the latest technology.

In the luxury sector, where quality is of paramount importance, adding value to a touch screen device is found in the apps that luxury brands deliver and the quality content that they share but it’s also in the way that the device itself is packaged.