Chanel, being a powerhouse in luxury fashion over the years mainly adopts ‘change’ as their top

strategy. They were the pioneers in a lot of women’s fashion and have almost ‘freed’ women in a lot
of aspects. An example of this is their sling bags where women didn’t need to hold bags anymore or
popularizing black as a daily color.

Target Audience

Chanel’s target audience is primarily women who wish to resonate with what the brand stands for:
elegance, modern, simplicity and class. Their products are targeted to younger consumers (between
age group 18-39) but still retain the “classic” market.

Marketing

Chanel places a special emphasis on the unique personality it has created over the decades, and
have successfully maintained the influence of the brand.

Their promotions are spread across a diverse set of channels, that primarily focusses on Film and TV
advertising, newspaper/magazine advertising, online publicity, and outdoor advertising. They
selectively choose their locations, their boutiques are opened in main streets, and high-end shopping
areas in large cities.

Popular for their fragrances, they used scarcity marketing to get ahead of the game. First, by
reducing the distribution channel to 2/3rds of the stores earlier decided and later, by introducing
fragrances only once a decade. This gave customers a feeling of exclusivity which is of utmost
importance while using a luxury product.

When you compare these instances to those of conventional brands, you might notice that the same
feeling of exclusivity is missing. Moreover, there is barely any customization which is what the
premium is paid for. A feeling of belongingness, and putting people using your product in a separate
circle is what luxury brands aspire to do. Human beings love community, and they would love to be
part of a community that represents something they believe in, which everyday brands don’t bother
about as they focus on mass selling of products and making profits on smaller margins.

Another aspect of luxury marketing includes getting more attention to detail. As mentioned earlier,
customization plays an important part. In a country like India, luxury brands could only be accessible
to 1% or lesser of the population and thus, the logo, which is instantly recognizable (a classic C
crossing each other) along with people from the pop culture such as Pharrell Williams marketing it,
makes a world of a difference for the exclusivity aspect of it.

Content marketing plays a very important role in this. Brands have a story and a unique way to
immerse customers into their story. This story can be incorporated by those able to afford it, in
every aspect of their life. A fan of Chanel’s work will most probably use their products to decorate
their house, wear their fragrance and use their bags, etc. (Meaning they will associate their identity
with the brands identity). This can create a greater effect on other people through what they see
because the theatrics and aesthetics of it are at a top level.

Luxury brands sponsor popular shows, like the Paris fashion week. Chanel, being a French brand,
launching its exclusive ideas in the fashion capital of the world makes a world of difference to its
brand identity. Conventional brands on the other hand have mass distribution channels in
developing countries, such as their most popular ecommerce websites.