This ranking is the first installment of the World Luxury Index, an international ranking and analysis of the most searched-for brands within the luxury industry.  Covering over 400 brands within six key segments (fashion, beauty, jewelry, cars, watches, and hospitality) in ten key luxury markets, the World Luxury Index provides insights on the unbiased search inputs coming from global luxury consumers in the world’s top search engines (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex).  The result is a one-of-a-kind benchmark of the luxury brands capturing the attention of luxury-minded consumers around the world.

As the first official ranking of the most sought after luxury brands in China, the unbiased information is derived from an impressive sample of more than 150 million+ consumer queries on the leading search engines in China: Baidu and Google. DLG research analysts, with the support of the Luxury Society team, uncovered a number of interesting findings:

1.       Luxury on the road

Eighteen out of the top fifty most-searched for luxury brands (36%) in China are automobile brands.  Audi is the most-searched, followed by BMW and Mercedes Benz.  Audi has long held a privileged spot in China, it’s the official car of the Chinese government.

2.       Local brand shines in jewelry

Chinese brand Chow Tai Fook is the most searched jewelry brand in China, far surpassing 2^nd and 3^rd ranked brands, Cartier and Swarovski.  With a distribution network of over 1,500 locations across 320 cities in China, Hong Kong, and Macau, it’s no surprise that they lead.  Cartier can be found in approximately 300 stores.

3.       Impact of language differences

Unlike other parts of the world, Western brands in China often find that the public calls the brand something other than the official name.  A look at Burberry shows that 76% of searches for the brand are done using the unofficial brand name (巴宝莉).

4.       Top fashion brands show different strengths

The top 3 most-searched fashion brands in the ranking, Louis Vuitton (#3), Chanel (#5), and Dior (#8) each lead through different segments.  Interest for Dior is specifically related to beauty (and more specifically fragrance) over 80% of the time.  For Chanel, beauty represents just fewer than 50%, and fashion and accessories at 40%, while it was noted 94% of searches are fashion/accessory-related for Louis Vuitton

5.       Surprises abound

The top ranking of brands unveiled some interesting results.  Borghese, a beauty brand not particularly well-known in the US and Europe is fascinatingly strong in China and ranked #43, thanks to the cult-like following of their face masks.  French outerwear brand, Moncler, ranks a surprisingly strong #42, surpassing long-established brands like Rolex and Ferragamo thanks to TV sponsorships.

More detailed data and analysis on a particular segment or brand is available upon request. Please contact  wli@digital-luxury.com

Photo source: gokatayama.org

China is set to become the biggest market in the luxury industry and the increasingly digitally savvy consumer base is a key audience for luxury brands to tap into.  In today’s Chinese internet and mobile businesses, there are more than 500 million web users, almost 1 billion mobile phone users, and more than 340 million mobile internet users. The sheer size alone points to an increasingly important opportunity for “Western” brands.

Highlights from the conference about Chinese consumers online covered an array of topics:

Sina Weibo

Everyone is talking about Sina Weibo, China’s popular micro-blogging site, which can be explained as something of a combination of Facebook and Twitter. It has gathered over 300 million registered users in less than 3 years since its launch in August 2009, and represents 60% of total internet users in China.

Some interesting facts about Sina Weibo:

• There are over 100 million daily posts and over 130,000 brand pages which attract 280 million fans in total.

• More than 80% of Chinese businesses choose Sina Weibo as their primary micro-blogging platform. To a large extent, Sina Weibo has become brands’  “official site.”

• The coming launch of Sina Weibo’s brand page 2.0 may entail an even greater opportunity for brands

Notes for luxury brands:

It has to be luxury

Providing ‘luxury content’ or the ‘luxury touch’ to the brand page is not the biggest challenge for most luxury brands. Instead, ensuring the quality of buzz and working to shape conversations has become the number one task, especially for brands like Apple (400k fans) and Louis Vuitton (180k fans), who naturally attract aspirational fans. Another criteria for measuring the quality of these accounts is to map the network of their fans, to see how influential or ‘high-value’ their fans are.

More bold approaches are being taken

Examples include Burberry giving away complimentary perfume samples through Weibo: in a month’s time, 123,879 free samples brought them a 130,000 increase in fans and 136,000+ mentions about the giveaway.

The Importance of Video

China has the highest online video penetration in the world: Chinese people spent 21 billion hours watching online video in 2011, double the amount spent in 2010 (10 billion hours).

• Youku is the largest online video company in China in terms of user reach, user time spent and video views, and currently boasts a 300 million strong user base.

• After the recent merge of Youku and rival video site Tudou, a 30% increase in ad price is expected, becoming the next battlefield for brands

• Chinese use vertical search: which means they search for products directly on ecommerce sites instead of searching through traditional search engines– internal SEO optimization and ads in e-commerce sites are essential for attracting traffic

Fashion.Youku.com

Fashion.youku.com  is a section of Youku that now includes brand channels such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Omega, Gucci, Burberry, Tag Heuer, and so on. The site hosts a variety of videos such as runway shows, backstage action and interviews, and allows customers a greater insight into brands activities especially during fashion weeks.

Louis Vuitton’s Youku Channel

E-Commerce is Big Business

122 billion USD is the total amount that Chinese people spent online in 2011, among which 28 billion are accounted for in the B2C sector. China’s B2C online market is evolving fast from capital-driven (tremendous inflow money started as of 2010) to value-drive in 2012, which is good news for brands.

• Tmall, China’s biggest online B2C platform hosted by Taobao (represents 51% of market share, and welcomes 10 million unique visits per day

• 83% of shoppers on Tmall are between the ages of 18-35, located across 4 tiers of cities (a very important target group for luxury brands)

• 70,000+ brands have a presence on Tmall so far, many with a dedicated brand pages: P&G, Adidas, Uniqlo, Gap, Nine West, Reebok, Ray-Ban, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Benefit Cosmetics, Maybelline, L’Oreal Paris, etc

Sales, marketing, branding

Apart from selling, brands are now creating a buzz on Tmall: Coach opened a pop-up store on Tmall in honor of their 70th anniversary and generated 3.5 million unique visitors in one month and 70% of buyers spent more than RMB 5,000 on average. Benefit Cosmetics tested an exclusive launch on Tmall in Oct 2011, and enjoyed a sales boom of 800,000 RMB over 15 days..

Benefit Cosmetics on Tmall

Consumer comments are relevant

In China, over 20% of consumers post comments after purchase. In addition, platforms like Tmall provide options of sharing these comments directly on the six most popular social networks. Dealing with these comments, especially complaints should not be disregarded by brands.

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These were just a few of the many highlights from China Connect 2012.  For the conference highlights recap, please e-mail china@digital-luxury.com with your contact information and we would be more than happy to share it.

The online Chinese market is dynamic and fast evolving; if you are interested to learn more about how Digital Luxury Group is helping luxury brands in China, please contact us.

Photo source: tmall.com

Baselworld App:  Definitely proving to be a most useful tool for navigating through the endless halls of the event was the Baselworld smart phone application. The app featured an interactive 3D portable map with easy to use navigation and orientation. Users were kept up to date with key information such as the event program with details of the numerous press conferences and cocktail events of the brands. Events could be marked as favorites or scheduled into the calendar of the user’s phone.

Baselworld Twitter action: In collaboration with Baselworld, WorldTempus created a platform that exclusively tracked all Baselworld related posts from Twitter. Followers could keep up with the latest news and view the trending topics from the event. By the end of the last day of the fair, almost 14,000 posts, 900 replies, and 8,000 re-tweets were registered, a testament to the enormous online buzz that was generated.

 The WorldTempus Baselworld Twitter platform

Hublot goes live: To kick off press day, Hublot aired their press conference  live on the brand’s blog hublotnation. Surprisingly, Andrea Perrone, Senior Vice President of legendary automotive brand, Ferrari, opened the conference with the exciting announcement of the new watch, Big Bang Ferrari. The Ferrari/Hublot collaboration was described as the ‘most prestigious partnership’ by the ever charismatic Hublot Chairman, Jean-Claude Biver.  The live conference was an effective way to build hype surrounding the partnership and transmit the energy of the news to the fans and media.

Rolex steps into social media: After much heightened anticipation, just prior to Baselworld, Rolex established their first non-website digital presence with a channel on YouTube.  Although it was never made public, Rolex was also rumored to launch its Twitter account at Baselworld. However, the account has already been registered and even though not activated yet, many fans are eagerly waiting what will be the first 140 character tweet from the renowned watch brand.

TAG Heuer’s big news:  TAG Heuer created an exclusive Baselworld page on their website which featured their biggest news of acquiring golden girl Cameron Diaz as brand ambassadress and muse for the Link Lady model. The dedicated web page also features their latest models, signature collections and news and events.

TAG Heuer’s Baselworld web-page

Longines daily recaps: Longines ran a series of daily video recaps from Baselworld, featuring Longines president Walter von Känel introducing a new watch every day of the fair. The last video released showed the new limited edition solid gold pocket watch, with only 180 pieces available, as part of the commemorations of the brand’s 180^th anniversary.

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As the event grows each year, digital is increasingly becoming an essential tool for brands to communicate and connect to their audience within and beyond the vast spaces of Baselworld.

Photo source: www.rolex.com

Reporting on key findings including; China surpassing the USA as the country with the highest demand for luxury watches, the lead held by Rolex quickly being challenged by Omega, consumers showing less interest for counterfeits.

For the 8^th consecutive year, Digital Luxury Group has released the WorldWatchReport™, the leading market research report in the luxury watch industry. After a preview release of the Haute Horlogerie section (15 brands) of the report in January, the complete 2012 edition (40 brands) is now available.

Amongst the key trends identified:

• China: The number one market for luxury watches

For the first time since the study launched in 2004, China surpassed the USA as the country exhibiting the highest demand for luxury watches, representing 23% of all watch-related searches.  Gaining the most attention in China is Omega (20.2% of searches there), followed by Longines (18.9%), and Rolex (10.5%).

• Growth of global demand fueled by the East

In addition to the growth witnessed in China (+7.8 percentage points), countries such as Japan (+3.5 pp), India (+0.6 pp), and Russia (+0.5 pp) saw significant increases over last year.  Most western markets remained stable or even saw market share drops, such as in the US (-9.2 pp), Germany (-1.7 pp), and Italy (-1 pp).

• A narrowing gap between Rolex and Omega

The demand for the two industry leaders shows that the gap Rolex held over Omega in the previous years is quickly closing in.  This year’s study revealed the difference in demand between the two brands is by 2.3 percentage points, against 8.4 in 2009 – mainly explained by Omega gaining market share in China while Rolex reinforced its positioning in the stagnant West.

• Seamaster, Submariner and Daytona as undisputed status symbols

Among the 1,300+ individual watch models tracked by the WorldWatchReport™, the top 3 models, Omega’s Seamaster, Rolex’s Submariner and Rolex’s Daytona, continue to hold their lead.  Iconic brands such as TAG Heuer and Cartier saw their highly popular collections Carrera (4^th) and Tank (9^th) featured in the top 10 ranking of most-searched models – placing these brands in the leagues of the heavy-hitters.

• Consumers less interested by counterfeits 

Global searches related to counterfeits and replicas experienced a decrease, representing 1.85% of total luxury watch searches compared to 4.5% last year.  Among the 40 brands analyzed, the demand for replica sport watches is the highest, with Rolex representing 51% of the total demand for counterfeits worldwide, followed by Breitling (9%) and TAG Heuer (5.3%).

About the WorldWatchReport™

The WorldWatchReport™ measures and benchmarks over fifty unique indicators to analyze the performance of 40 luxury watch brands across 2o international markets. The report identifies and analyzes over 1 billion watch-related search queries typed into major global search engines and translates them into the client preferences driving the industry. It has been published since 2004 by Digital Luxury Group in partnership with Europa Star and the gracious support of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. For more information about the WorldWatchReport™, please visit http://www.worldwatchreport.com

Baselworld also marks an important occasion for Digital Luxury Group: every year at the event, DLG releases the WorldWatchReport™, the leading market research in the luxury watch industry.  Since 2004, DLG has been publishing the baseline market study in partnership with EuropaStar and the precious support of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie.

The report provides the industry with exclusive insights into the performance of the most renowned watch brands. 2012 sees the launch of the biggest and most comprehensive edition of the WorldWatchReport™, tracking 40 brands in 20 markets across the globe. Key findings from the 2012 report will be revealed on Wednesday, the 7^th of March.

DLG is very excited to be taking part in all the action at Baselworld! You can find us with EuropaStar located in hall 1, stand A17, or get in touch to arrange an appointment. We hope to see you there!

Moving ahead

Even though the event was closed to the public, Vacheron Constantin’s online forum, The Hour Lounge, offered their members a chance to attend an exclusive get-together in Geneva which included a private dinner party, visit to the manufacture, and VIP access to the SIHH.

Jaeger-LeCoultre employed a very strategic search engine advertising campaign on Google.  For SIHH-related searches, the Jaeger-LeCoultre ad featured in the top position.

This marketing strategy ensured that the brand would receive exclusive online exposure in the lead up to and during the event. Furthermore, Jaeger-LeCoultre was the only brand we noticed to use Google AdWords to promote its presence at the SIHH.

Blogs provide fans with behind the scenes action

IWC paid significant attention to their digital communications; ensuring fans did not miss out on all the action from the watch fair. Their blog on Tumblr featured numerous posts about the exclusive collections, videos and recaps from the event.

A.Lange & Söhne also provided highlights from the event on their blog, with a collection of photo galleries and videos showcasing their cocktail event, interviews and the making of new timepieces.

These blogs serve as an interactive and engaging way to provide fans with recaps of events, allowing them behind-the-scenes access to bring them into the brand’s world.

A.Lange & Söhne’s dedictaed SIHH blog

Twitter: the weapon of choice

Favored by the strong wi-fi connection at the SIHH, Twitter was the preferred digital platform as it proved to be a very convenient and engaging way for brands to communicate the happenings directly from the event. DLG recorded the activity on Twitter during the time period of the SIHH (see table 1), and as expected, most of the brands experienced very positive results- with a notable increase in the number of followers.

In particular, Roger Dubuis and IWC fuelled the topics of conversation- this proactive approach allowed these brands to record a higher increase in the number of followers than the average of the exhibiting brands. Twitter regular, Jaeger-LeCoultre, was the most active brand sending out over 100 related tweets, gaining the greatest volume of brand mentions during the event.

Baume & Mercier also gained a significant number of mentions on Twitter during the event, anticipating the noise that would be created by aggregating all the tweets that were published in connection with the SIHH on to one platform. This initiative was a successful way for Baume & Mercier to increase their exposure.

Interesting fact – Although they don’t have an official account,Richard Mille caused a stir on Twitter, with over 470 mentions of the brand.  This was the highest number out of all the brands and likely due to hype surrounding the launch of their bold new timepieces. It will be interesting to see if this positive outcome pushes the brand to create a presence on Twitter in the near future.

These are just some of the many digital initiatives that brands implemented to increase their awareness at the SIHH. It will be interesting to see what is next in the cards for the brands presenting at Baselworld.

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Editor’s note: A similar version of this article appeared in EuropaStar’s Baselworld edition.

Photo credit: Vacheron Constantin

The ranking is based on more than 470 million intentions expressed by American consumers using Google and Bing to search for luxury products and services related to 500 luxury brands from 6 different segments (watches, jewelry, fashion, beauty, automotive, hospitality).

Whilst uncovering the most in demand luxury brands online, the following key trends were identified.

Interest is strong for luxury automobiles

Luxury automotive brands are clearly leading the pack, with BMW and Audi ranking in the 1^st and 2^nd spot across all brands. Out of the top ten most-searched for luxury brands, six were automotive brands.  Automobiles represent nearly half (48%) of the total searches for luxury brands in the US.

Continued demand for accessible luxury fashion

American mid-level luxury brand, Coach, ranks 3^rd overall, outperforming both Louis Vuitton and Chanel, which are all featured in the top ten brands.  Following closely behind are Gucci in 12^th position, Burberry in 16^th position and Prada in 20^th position. The strong consumer interest for luxury fashion and accessories brands makes is the second most in demand product segment.

Travelling Americans do their hotel research online

Hilton Hotels, ranks in 6^th position for the most-searched brands, surpassing Sheraton  in 15^th position and Wyndham Hotels in 17^th position. The strong online demand for hotels, places it as the 3^rd most searched for category.

Watches and jewelry category led by global players

Ranking 13^th overall, Rolex was the most-searched for brand within the watch category. Along with Tag Heuer  in 44^th position, these two brands were the only representatives amongst  luxury watches in the top 50 ranking. Cartier (22^nd overall) leads the way for jewelry brands. The only other Jewelry brands to feature in the top 50 are Swarovski  in 41^st position and Bulgari in 47^th position.

A focus on the Luxury Automobile Market

An insight into the most popular segment shows the breakdown of searches by car models. Audi dominates featuring 4 of its models in the top 15 ranking, with the Audi A4 claiming the number spot. The 4^th most popular automobile brand Acura, sees its TL model taking 2^nd position while the brand leader BMW has its 3 series ranking only in 7^th position.

More detailed data and analysis on a particular segment or brand is available upon request. Please contact  info@digital-luxury.com

Photo source: moderndesigninterior.com

From world-renowned names to more discreet new players, designers from all (cat)walks debut their Fall 2012 visions this month. Besides the highly anticipated designs and buzz surrounding celebrities, the plethora of digital innovations that were adopted at New York Fashion Week, have caught the attention of the industry. The majority of the main players live-streamed their shows and fashion brands big and small were highly active on the social media scene.  We take a look back at some of the digital highlights from New York Fashion Week, initiatives that will surely set the scene for the fashion weeks to follow.

A fashion platform for the real VIPs

Fashion PR giant KCD Worldwide, in collaboration with leading digital agency King and Partners, pioneered an invitation-only internet platform for the real VIPs (buyers and fashion editors) to view fashion shows. The first presentation featured Prabal Gurung’s flirtatious debut collection for ICB.

It’s a dream come true for press and buyers, not only having an undisrupted front row view,  but more importantly, access to high resolution images with product details, close ups, and videos, all immediately available from their computers and mobile devices.

Backstage with Diane Von Furstenberg

The iconic fashion house joined forces with iPhone video app Viddy (like Instagram for video) to provide snippets of behind the scenes footage of their activities at New York Fashion Week. The videos were posted to the brand’s dedicated DVF NYFW tab on Facebook shortly after being filmed and were also shared on Twitter. The videos featured model castings, snapshots of hair and makeup, backstage interviews, and frantic preparations before the runaway (including Diane’s special message to the models before the show). This allowed fans with backstage access to a real and in-depth experience of the show as it happened.

Oscar de la Renta calls on fans for digital inspiration board

Immediately following their fashion week show, Oscar de la Renta announced the launch of a branded platform ‘The Board’ which invites people to post images or videos on a virtual inspiration board. The platform is live for the next three months and the images posted will serve as inspiration for the upcoming resort collection. The site, best described as a mini Pinterest with a live feed, is a way for the brand to encourage participation with their fans.

Made’s app for fashion week a runway radar

Made, a platform for fashion, art, and media created by Milk Studios, teamed up with Sonic Notify to create a mobile app that recognizes inaudible sound waves which automatically sync to mobile devices in real-time. This allowed participants at the shows to view photos from the collections on their mobiles as they went down the runway. The images included details about the designers and merchandise which could be tagged to favorites, re-tweeted and posted to Facebook, making it easy to for users to share information and manage their reviews right after the shows.

Tommy Hilfiger’s Twitter model walk

During its menswear show earlier this month, Tommy Hilfiger shared images of the fall shoe collection via Twitter as they premiered on the runway. Fans had a chance to win a pair shoes by re-tweeting their favorite style, or by entering in the competition on Facebook, where the brand also live streamed their show. Tommy Hilfiger’s Twitter model walk may have gained inspiration from Burberry’s initiative when the British fashion house tweeted images from their Spring 2012 collection, moments before the runway.

As New York Fashion Week so prominently demonstrated, digital is increasingly changing the way fashion brands communicate. With Paris and Milan shows soon to follow, we will be closely monitoring the next interesting and exciting moves in digital.

Photo Sources: theboard.oscardelarenta.com, www.luckymag.com, thehighlow.com

According to online research company, Experian Hitwise, Pinterest’s astounding growth rate is similar to that of Facebook when it started in 2006. The rapid 4,000 percent increase fittingly earned Pinterest a coveted place in the top 10 social networking and forums of 2011.

So how does Pinterest work? The platform serves as a virtual mood-board where users (a.k.a pinners) post images to create and manage theme-based collections called boards. These boards are sorted into 32 different Pinterest categories (such as, My Style, Products I love, etc.) and are filled with different images (pins) organized in very attractive displays. Pinners tailor their tastes by following other users or specific boards they like. Based on these interests, they receive real-time updates in a simple and captivating pin board-type feed. Pinterest has also replicated ‘like’ or ‘retweet’ function by the ability to repin, comment and share images.

Within the last 12 weeks ending December 2011, it was recorded that the majority of Pinners (almost 60%) were female aged between 25 and 44. This trend is no doubt attributed women’s fascination with alluring images and tendency to quickly spread word-of-mouth- in the case about the ‘pinning’ phenomena. Not surprisingly, the most commonly posted images on Pinterest tend to feature home décor, weddings, crafts, fashion, and food.

Sure enough, Pinterest’s charming visual displays have already struck a chord with luxury brands. At the forefront are luxury retailers Nordstrom and Bergdorf Goodman with Nordstrom leading the way with a sizeable 6,000+ followers. Both brands have created a range of boards to showcase their offerings including product categories, current trends, specific brands, gift ideas and events. Fashionably forward brand, Kate Spade has also leveraged off Pinterest’s appealing aesthetics by displaying a range of vibrant inspiration boards to allow fans a glimpse into the Kate Spade world.

Photo source: http://pinterest.com/bergdorfs/

What’s especially convenient for these brands is that the images on Pinterest automatically link users to the URL source, allowing them to directly share images without having to laboriously spend time downloading and uploading each picture. Another key factor that is likely to lure in luxury brands is Pinterest’s discreet philosophy: unlike other social media sites, Pinterest does not encourage self-promotion, but rather nurtures community collaboration through image sharing and providing an insight into each brand’s universe.

The pressing question for luxury strategists is, “will Pinterest become a household name for luxury brands using social media?” Given the recent spotlight and impressive figures to show, this is just the tip of the iceberg for Pinterest. The niche appeal, strong growth and visual desirability of the platform are sure to resonate favorably with luxury brands. DLG will be following closely to see how Pinterest’s growth evolves.

Every year at the occasion of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), Digital Luxury Group unveils the results for the 15 brands in the Haute Horlogerie category of the WorldWatchReport™, the leading market research in the luxury watch industry. The full edition of the report, which covers 40 brands and 20 markets worldwide, will be available in March at Baselworld.

The WorldWatchReport™  is based on millions of intentions expressed independently and anonymously by consumers searching for luxury watch brands through the world’s leading search engines (Google, Bing, Yandex, and Baidu). The exclusive analysis provides a unique view on the preferences and topics of interest of luxury watch clientele around the world. There were seven main trends revealed for the Haute Horlogerie category:

1. China becomes the #1 market for Haute Horlogerie

For the first time since the launch of the WorldWatchReport™ in 2004, China overtakes the United States to become the market with the highest demand for Haute Horlogerie , with nearly 25% of the international search market share, vs. 21% for the US.

2. 1 out of 6 queries are made from a mobile device

Nearly 17% of the global searches for Haute Horlogerie are now performed through web-enabled mobile devices. The share of mobile searches are particularly high in Japan, where it represents almost 50%.

3. IWC, Patek Philippe and Zenith are the most searched-for Haute Horlogerie brands

IWC (23%), Patek Philippe (16%) and Zenith (11%) capture 50% of the demand expressed for Haute Horlogerie brands internationally via search engines.

4. Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak dethrones Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso

For the first time in three years, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso has lost first position as the most wanted Haute Horlogerie model. The watch now finds itself in the third place behind Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak and IWC‘s Portuguese.