House & Garden Magazine Teams with Unity Marketing to Study the Luxury Market

Furniture World Magazine

Everyone agrees: The luxury market has changed in our post 9-11 world. But nobody today knows how those changes are going to play out in the market for luxury goods in the years ahead. That is why Conde Nast's House & Garden magazine, which reaches affluent readers who have the means and desire to incorporate quality products into all aspects of their lives, and Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new book Why People Buy Things They Don't Need, (Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing, 2002), have teamed together to provide future vision on the luxury consumer market, where they have come from and, more importantly, where they are going. Brenda Saget, vice president and publisher, House & Garden, says, "Our magazine is a showcase for premium brands that tap into this powerful consumer segment. This research will be an invaluable tool for our clients to understand the changing dynamics of today's luxury marketplace." The new luxury market research will be previewed at Unity Marketing's annual conference November 15-16 at the Newark Airport Marriott in Newark, NJ. The conference, entitled Luxury Home: Targeting the Luxury Market for Home Products, will feature Pam along other nationally recognized speakers who will share new insights and information about the luxury market, demographics and trends. Explaining the challenge for luxury marketers today, Danziger says, "After the go-go years of the 90's when luxury marketers were growing 10-to-20% annually, today's luxury market has changed due to the new availability of luxury brands. It used to be you had to go to Paris, New York's Fifth Avenue or Hollywood's Rodeo Drive to buy the latest luxury products. But now the top luxury brands are in stores and malls all across America. Even more significantly, the escalating quality of the typical American's lifestyle has made luxury products more affordable than ever," she explained. "Perhaps the most important change in the luxury market is taking place in the psyche of American consumers. Our personal values are predisposed toward luxury. We give ourselves permission to buy luxury as a 'necessity' to maintain our standard of living." With luxury affordable and readily available to so many consumers, what makes it special? Danziger explains, "Luxury living has taken on a new dimension. Luxury marketers need to understand that luxury today isn't exclusively about the brand, the quality, materials, or craftsmanship of the product. For the consumer, luxury is a feeling, an experience that means different things to different consumers at different times in their lives. At its most fundamental level, luxury is the power to pursue one's passion. That power may be money or wealth to buy expensive things, but it also can equate with free time, knowledge, special expertise, or the power that comes from your social network. Luxury is all about consumers feeling special, privileged, unique, able to do the things they want to do, free from worry, with time freedom and the feeling that all things are possible." Explaining the new focus on the luxury market, Danziger said, "The research on consumer discretionary spending for my last book led me inevitably to luxury. My next book will examine the new dimensions of luxury in a wide range of product and service categories, including art and antiques, automobiles, fabric, wall and window coverings, electronics, fashion, fragrance, furniture and floor coverings, garden, jewelry, kitchen appliances, kitchenware and housewares, linens and bedding, tabletop, watches, luxury travel, luxury beauty services, housekeeping, landscaping, home decorating services and home contractors." For more information, contact Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing, 717-336-1600; 717-336-1601 FAX. For more information about House & Garden magazine or to request an interview with Brenda Saget, contact Robin Phillips, Conde Nast, 212-286-2770. Why People Buy Things They Don't Need is published by Paramount Market Publishing Inc., specializing in practical books for smart marketers. Available in July 2002 (hardcover, 250 pages, $34.95). To order, call toll free 888-787-8100 or fax 607-275-8101. The book can be purchased on the firm's website: http://www.paramountbooks.com or through your favorite bookseller. For more information visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com or http://www.whypeoplebuy.com