Are the "Sex And The City" Girls Part of the Coming Luxury Drought?"

Excerpted from Luxury Market Expert and Trend Watcher Pamela Danziger's Luxury Business Newsletter:

Luxury Marketers Need New Approaches to Entice a Resistant Affluent Consumer

"In the movie {"Sex And The City"} many of Carrie's choices are driven by meaning and emotion, rather than indulgence and self-gratification. Pamela Danziger explains, Carrie finds that luxury purchases are only worthwhile when they have a deep personal meaning. Carrie buys a Louis Vuitton handbag not for herself, but for her personal assistant who taught her to never give up on love, and she finds that a penthouse apartment or a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Mexico are only as memorable as the people she is with.

Even Carrie's wedding to Mr. Big, surely an excuse to go all-out in a celebration of the right couture in the right venue, was all wrong when it was a tribute to labels wrapped up in a Vivienne Westwood gown, but wonderful when it was a tribute to love in a vintage suit punctuated by Carrie's signature Manolos. Carrie still loves style, but she learns that it isn't as important to her as the people around her.

When Sex And The City first appeared on television, it set off a tidal wave of luxury awareness, with consumers from Manhattan to Minot copying Carrie's choice of shoe, handbag, and beverage. If the movie has the same effect, Carrie's new-found emphasis on love over label will resonate with the luxury consumer, and marketers will need to work harder to communicate why their products offer both style and substance."

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Kathryn and I had the amazing opportunity to hear Pamela Danziger speak here in Celebration when she presented Luxury market insights, behaviors and trends to a very small group of marketers working with the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism last fall. She is the author of a number of luxury marketing books, including "Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing to the Masses and the Classes." Her weekly newsletter is a must read for us as we continually strive to gain insights and learnings in marketing and selling to the luxury wedding consumer on behalf of our clients. Check out her website for her latest research findings, free articles and information on her webinars and books.