Speaking of luxury brands, some brands might pop up in your mind. And many people differentiate luxury brands by price, but is it correct? What makes luxury brands like Essentials FOG so special and irreplaceable? Are there any rules for being luxury brand? What is the philosophy behind Fear of God Essentials Clothing? This question requires a critical analysis that we’ll do ahead.
What are the Special Rules of Essentials Brand?
According to the question, are there any special rules for being a luxury brand? Yes, there is. There are some laws of marketing in luxury. It is called anti-laws of marketing. For example, Essentials Fear Of God, the brand is playing on the edge of the laws for either style or collaboration with streetwear brands. What can we say? Maybe they are also redefining the meaning of luxury. Let’s figure that out!
The differentiated Luxury and Premium Strategy
Essentials brand is a dream builder. Speaking of these luxury brands, We need to forget about ‘positioning’ because they are not comparative. In comparison to premium brands FOG is also in a higher-level positioning. They tend to leak information about some functions in their marketing strategy. Premium strategy is about:
- Pay more, get more.
- Quality and Reliability
- Marketing and Celebrity
- Signature products (Essentials hoodie)
They Created Their Own Benchmark
Functionality is key because it enables consumers to benchmark and compare with different functionalities and brands. For us, the best example of a premium brand is Essentials. Its strategy is divided into 2 sub-brands namely Essentials and Fear of God while Essentials is more mature and premium. We have to say plenty of brands set their brand strategy in between luxury and premium strategy. Sometimes it is not easy to differentiate.
Essentials Focused on Brand Image and Value
People buy FOG because of its craftsmanship. Speaking of advertising, the role of advertising in the luxury context is not to sell. Namely, they usually provide or demonstrate a pure visual. Instead of emphasizing some functionalities of some products, they take the Cartier ad for instance. You can see there’s only one panther in the middle with a red classic Cartier box. This is obvious that they are not trying to sell any products. Because there is no product in the ad. Rather they showcase just an image representing the Cartier spirit.
Strive For Brand Awareness and Perception
Luxury customers are normally educated customers. They are ready to pay more…but getting much more. Luxury sets the price, price does not set luxury. This is also the reason why people misunderstand expensive products are luxury goods. It depends on the brand’s positioning and strategy. In luxury when an imagined price is higher than the actual price, it creates value. Normally if we don’t have an idea of the price range for luxury brands. We might guess it at a higher price level than its actual price. And this is exactly the endeavor that the Essentials brand is doing to make us feel the products are valuable and that makes the essentials brand so expensive.
Race to Brand Integrity and Exclusivity
If you have the experience of buying luxury goods. You might notice that the price will be raised by a certain percentage every year. By doing so, luxury brands are also creating even more value for their products. Luxury strategy is mainly about value creation, namely building up dreams. Dreams have a dimension of non-accessibility yet remain at a close distance. Hence, it is important to create an approachable dream. Now you might notice that FOG is independent from the market. They are walking in their own way. “Don’t follow anyone” is exactly the motto of the luxury brand. The brand itself is everything.
They Change Traditional Marketing Norms
There are lots of don’ts. They do not look for consensus. They do not look after group synergies. Though, some interesting don’ts are really against how the market works. They believe in not spoiling their customers’ wishes. Rather they reply to rising demand. Essentials leads the market and consumers, not the other way around. Because luxury brands put themselves in the center, Chances are high that celebrities might outshine the brand in the ad. This is what FOG wants to prevent at all costs. They keep stars out of advertising.
Follow-up of Cultural Integrity
When we think about certain luxury brands for example Prada, Tods, Bottega Veneta. They are from Italy. It might be easy for us to connect the country of origin of the brands. So now you understand why the Essentials brand is not leaving its origin. Because it is really important for them. Now let’s talk a little bit about art. Normally the connection between art and luxury is close. As we know luxury brands don’t like to follow anyone. and prefer to be the curator of taste. They seek to be creative, bold, and different. That’s all the philosophy behind Fear of God Essentials Clothing about is. Hence, its decision to stay away from popular art. Instead, it gravitates towards art that suggests timelessness such as classical art.