Title: Is luxury sufficient to create brand desirability? A cross-cultural analysis of the relationship between luxury and dreams

Authors: Jean-Noël Kapferer; Pierre Valette-Florence

Addresses: INSEEC, 14 Rue de Prony, 75017, Paris ' IAE Grenoble, 525 Avenue Centrale, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

Abstract: A key feature of the luxury industry is its ability to sell dreams, such that consumers often refer to luxury products as desirable dream objects. This study aims to assess the empirical validity of this proposition. Does luxury actually fuel dreams? Because brands are manifestations of these dreams, this study examines if the dream value of an expansive set of brands relates directly to perceptions of them as luxury brands. More than 3,200 real luxury buyers, from six countries, participated in interviews about 60 luxury brands. The results reveal a strong correlation between luxury perceptions and the dream value of brands, across all countries. Yet, despite being categorised as luxury representatives though, many brands are not endowed with as much dream value as might be expected. Being perceived as a luxury product is not sufficient to evoke dreams and boost brand desirability. This is important for luxury brand management.

Keywords: luxury brands; dreams; brand desirability; cross-cultural study; luxury perceptions; consumer perceptions; dream value; brand management; USA; United States; Japan; Germany; France; China; Brazil.

DOI: 10.1504/LRJ.2016.078129

Luxury Research Journal, 2016 Vol.1 No.2, pp.110 - 127

Received: 16 Dec 2015
Accepted: 11 Mar 2016
Published online: 03 Aug 2016 *

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