Luxury Brand Management
Brands have been around since the 1800s when ‘branding’ itself, used by livestock owners, was evolving from being a mark of ownership to one of quality. Luxury brand management has only recently been labeled a profession in its own right, but has been around since brand management itself. Most brands employ a marketing team to promote their products, but it is the luxury brand which typically has the money to employ state-of-the-art strategies and professionals to promote its high-end merchandise like designer clothes and apparel, jewellery, travel and automobiles. If you have ever come across a luxury store that seemed to be touting its brand a little too unabashedly, know that you’re seeing the dream of a luxury brand manager realised. In short, this is a fascinating field where professionals can create a niche and develop value for brands, making them bigger than the commodities themselves. Courses in this particular field of brand management can be undertaken at well-established institutes such as the Pearl Academy in Delhi as well as a new, specialised institutions such as Luxury Connect Business School in Gurgaon. These courses, which range from one to two years, cover the most holistic aspects of understanding luxury brands such as visual influences, luxury and culture, and also e-luxury and digital media. The degrees provided my most of these institutes are validated by well-known design schools abroad. For instance, the Luxury Connect Business school is connected to Milan’s Domus Academy, and the Pearl Academy to Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Most of these institutes are also well-connected and offer students placements and opportunities to go abroad. India is slowly becoming a leading destination for luxury markets and high-end brands. At present, there’s a 33 per cent per annum growth in this sector and India’s luxury market is expected to make its mark in 2016.