How to create a luxury brand
The 4 essential pillars of brand storytelling
Tags
Brand strategy
Luxury branding
Brand storytelling
Luxury market
Brand identity
Date
March 24, 2025
Author
Sophie J. Barnes
Behind every luxury brand is a story carefully curated to tease the imagination and excite the senses. When we fall in love with a brand, we fall in love with the story it tells (and sells).
We see ourselves reflected in this story—often identifying with the values, purpose or aesthetic conveyed. Whether we realise it or not, we’ve been swept away by the imagination of the brand’s creative team—those tasked with developing clever campaigns that tell and retell the brand narrative in new, exciting and captivating ways. But before a story can be told, it needs to be conjured up. And as the very basis from which all subsequent marketing fodder is formed, this step cannot be rushed. Typically, a luxury brand story leans heavily on one or more of the following four pillars: heritage and tradition, exceptional craftsmanship, exclusivity and scarcity, and aspiration and status.
Heritage & tradition
You’d be forgiven for assuming that new brands are excluded from tapping into heritage as a means of storytelling. Although it may be trickier—often requiring an extra inch of the imagination—establishing a new label that embodies heritage as a core brand ethos is well within the realm of possibility. Take the superfluous world of fragrance branding as an example: both The House of Creed and Parfums de Marly lean heavily on heritage branding to showcase industry expertise and olfactory knowledge. However, the average consumer mightn’t be privy to the fact that while one brand has existed for over 260 years, the other made its debut as recently as 2009.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the fragrance scene, Parfums de Marly has expertly woven heritage into its brand narrative—relying on inspiration and symbolism in place of brand longevity. In the words of Julien Sprecher himself: ‘I founded the Maison to express my own vision of modern Haute Parfumerie that disrupts the codes by taking inspiration freely from the spirit of 18th-century France.’ The fragrance house taps into heritage storytelling with a name that echoes the ‘Perfumed Court’ of ‘Marlys,’ which was frequented by guests of King Louis XV and said to have been a lavishly fragrant reprieve from the chaos of Versailles, complete with fountains embalmed and rooms richly scented. Parfums de Marly continues this narrative across all branding assets—from the name of its fragrances to the glasswork etched on its bottles.
And while it may be true that established brands have the upper hand when it comes to leveraging brand legacy, new and emerging labels have the enviable advantage of a clean slate—free from the constraint of expectations that often tie legacy brands to aesthetic conformity. Instead, emerging brands are at liberty to shape collections according to the ever-evolving whims and wishes of today’s luxury consumers—and the designer’s own imagination.
source: [A target='_blank' link='https://www.creedfragrance.com/']Creed Fragrance[/A]
Exceptional craftsmanship
Above all else, exceptional craftsmanship is central to the art of luxury branding. Marketing and branding assets must detail the creative and artisanal processes, from the hand selection of rare materials to the sedulous care intrinsic to product artistry. It is precisely this ode to quality and technique that underscores a brand’s status; ascertaining an image of prestige and differentiating luxury products from lower quality, lower priced alternatives. More often than not, artisanal craftsmanship plays a starring role in luxury brand narratives—inspiring campaigns and forming the basis from which elaborate themes emerge.
Prime examples include the likes of Christian Louboutin, whose iconic red-soled shoes are described as being subject to ‘deconstructive and gestural techniques – décortiqué, hacking and bianchetto,’ and Baccarat, whose crystal is described as ‘the fruit of a group of daring artisans who have transformed the four elements of nature – earth, air, fire and water – into crystal of unparalleled purity.’ Curated messaging works alongside design assets to tell a compelling story of exceptionalism—one that elevates a brand to luxury status. After all, what would remain of Christian Louboutin if its process was simply described as ‘painting shoe soles red,’ or of Baccarat if it merely stated ‘melting raw materials at high temperatures to make glass’? Mastering the art of storytelling through language and design is imperative to mastering luxury branding.
source: [A target='_blank' link='https://www.maisonmargiela.com/en-dk/martoubi-25-S39WL0167P7371HB017.html']Maison Margiela[/A]
Exclusivity & scarcity
No industry wields the power of exclusivity and scarcity marketing quite as skillfully as the luxury industry. From the highly coveted Hermès Birkin to the elusive Rolex Daytona, this powerful marketing tactic is easy to spot. And yet, the secret to leveraging exclusivity is perhaps no secret at all: it can be deduced to a simple formula—(1) limited production and (2) perpetually long waitlists. Luxury brands enforce strict policies of controlled production and distribution—keeping particularly close tabs on supply and demand—because they know that the key to exclusivity is ensuring that supply never exceeds demand. As a result, the illusion of scarcity is maintained, the value of bespoke products is preserved, and the appetite of consumer desire remains intact.
However, balancing demand with desire is a delicate dance that, if not executed with the utmost care, risks being thrown off kilter. We see this play out when exclusivity marketing is taken to such extremes that product purchase becomes nearly impossible. Typically, this practice is shrouded in the allure of discretion—whereby mystery and scarcity amplify a product’s perceived value. It is worth noting that luxury labels have landed in hot water for using such tactics. Public scrutiny has focused on a few key practices, particularly purchase prerequisites that require customers to spend an undisclosed amount and/or cultivate a personal relationship with the brand’s sales associate before being deemed eligible to buy the desired item.
Fortunately, less contentious forms of exclusivity marketing are at our disposal. Take limited edition collections as an example: like other forms of exclusivity marketing, limited edition collections use scarcity to stoke the flames of consumer desire while still managing to balance relative levels of accessibility. Their short-run nature often equates to heightened price points reflective of the collections’ temporality and rarity. These campaigns often adopt a unique angle, whether through collaborations with renowned artists (whose values and aesthetic align with the brand’s own) or archive-inspired ‘re-editions.’ Heritage labels are particularly adept at this—occasionally cracking open the closet of days gone by to offer limited edition archival pieces (much to the delight of new clientele and reminiscent brand devotees alike). From Louis Vuitton’s vibrant Y2K re-edition in collaboration with Takashi Murakami to Maison Margiela's SS24 Couture Collection—featuring 1930s-inspired silhouettes, corsetry and beadwork—the examples are endless.
source: [A target='_blank' link='https://www.hermes.com/us/en/content/106191-birkin/']Hermes[/A]
Aspiration & status
The subtle yet pervasive message at the heart of all luxury branding narratives is one of aspiration and status. Immersive campaign messaging must draw its audience into a world of endless inspiration, where social signalling, personal gratification, and cultural influence tug at the heartstrings of human desire. The industry’s true alchemy lies in its ability to balance aspiration with inaccessibility. While a brand must be desirable enough to captivate, it must also remain just out of reach—fuelling the innate human craving for what is rare and unattainable.
From Coco Chanel dressing members of 1920s Hollywood elite to Marlene Dietrich famously declaring, ‘No Dior, no Dietrich,’ before filming Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright in 1950, luxury brands have long understood the power of association and status. Even today, the allure of celebrity endorsements reigns supreme—now complemented by the modern influence of digital creators and social media marketing. From exclusive events to high-profile ambassadors and limited-access experiences, the goal is to cultivate an aura of belonging to an aspirational world—one where luxury serves as the ultimate passport.
