The Australian luxury goods landscape has become increasingly crowded in recent years and the explosion of brands has been accompanied by an outpouring of luxury comms, much of which is indistinguishable.

“You end up with a lot of luxury brand wallpaper,” according to Naomi Parry, managing director of luxury public relations firm Black Communications. Her team puts it more bluntly: “Same shit, different logo.”

The “great wasteland” of luxury clutter, she told a recent Sydney conference, is Instagram. (For more, read WARC’s report: Beyond Instagram: marketing brands in Australia’s cluttered luxury market.)

With the rise of influencers in this space, the proliferation of luxury products on the platform shows no sign of abating.

“It depends on your category,” she acknowledged, “but the influencers who really connect with luxury are not a particularly large group and man, are they busy. They’re at a fashion show in Milan, they’re driving luxury cars, they’re going on luxury holidays.

“They’re telling lots of luxury stories, and not just yours. So, you better be working with them in unique ways to make sure you’re not lost in the wash.”

And Parry warned marketers not to think of influencers as being in the ‘earned media’ space – today they are on the same playing field as media partners such as magazine brands.

“If you’re not investing advertising dollars with them, they are starting to push back. They’re saying no,” she reported.

“We’re masters of the value exchange. But, increasingly, if you really want impact, if you really want those influencers to engage with you, you’re going to have to work with them in ways other than friendship,” she advised.

“Even great content requires investment behind it to magnify and amplify. So, the lines are blurring and as a consequence, you better be completely transparent about what you’re doing or things could get ugly.”

Sourced from WARC