China luxury a man’s world

Chinese men are buying more luxury goods than women, having racked up RMB 7 billion in high-end spend in 2010 compared to a mere RMB2.8 billion on the part of females, according to a report from Bain. And the consultancy reckons premium brand spending will rise significantly this year – 9% for men and 7% for women.


At college with LVMH

LVMH is partnering with Central St Martins to sponsor the London design college’s move to a new £200 million building near Kings Cross. That means cash for the building’s cool new lecture theatre, scholarships and an internship programme for the college’s students and graduates to get work experience with the company’s fashion brands.


Burberry Rosé

Burberry’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey has collaborated with UK band The Feeling to produce an acoustic version of the 2006 single Rosé. The song bowed as the track to the fashion brand’s spring/summer 2011 catwalk show at London Fashion Week, and is also the soundtrack to the TV spot for their Burberry Body fragrance.


Fabergé brands art for its iPad mag

By Maria Stadtmueller. Fabergé has launched Mir Fabergé, a branded art journal for the iPad. It features a set of stories based on Fabergé’s legacy and brings together photographers, filmmakers, actors, dancers, composers and more to delve into the world of Fabergé


Prestige brands battle for ‘likes’

L2By Steve Mullins. While many prestige brands wait for hard ROI to justify a shift in human, creative, and financial capital from traditional to emerging platforms, others have taken a leap of faith and are in an arms race to acquire Facebook ‘likes’.

However, winning on Facebook is more than a ‘like’ count. Although many high-end brands maintain monocular focus on the size of their Facebook community, they have failed to embrace the authentic two-way communication and marketing activation required to monetise the platform,” says L2 in its Prestige 100 Facebook IQ report.


Luxury lures the next gen

luxuryBy Steve Mullins. Louis Vuitton tops the luxury rankings in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2011 report from WPP/Millward Brown. LV has a brand value of $24.3 billion, a figure which puts it some ways ahead of second-placed Hermès on £11.9 billion, and third-ranked Gucci ($7.5 billion).


China halts outdoor luxury

By Maria Stadtmueller. The Chinese government last week banned outdoor luxury advertising. Starting 15 April, high-end brands are no longer able to promote extravagance, unless they wish to face a fine of more than $4,000.


Fashioning the iPad mag

Hugo Boss has launched an iPad eMag app to showcase its apparel. The launch issue features the likes of behind-the-scenes footage with models from the HB Spring/Summer Boss Orange collection, plus Hugo Boss TV with Jessica Alba and Ewan McGregor interviews.