How Luxury Brands Get You to Buy Into Their Hype

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All content directed, written and edited by John Mauriello. John Mauriello has been working professionally as an industrial designer since 2010. He is an Adjunct Professor of industrial design at California College of the Arts.

Are luxury designer goods ever worth the hype, or are they just a scam?

Main Works Cited:
"The Luxury Strategy" by Jean-Noël Kapferer and Vincent Bastien
"Luxury: A Rich History" by Peter McNeil and Giorgio Riello
"Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster" by Dana Thomas

Other works were cited but in a smaller capacity. When referenced, they are displayed in the bottom left corner of the video.

Time stamps
0:00 Intro
2:40 Elevation
3:55 Jumping Through Hoops
8:47 Convenience
9:40 Legends and Luxury
11:30 Time
14:23 Asus Sponsor
16:10 Legacy
17:28 Patina
18:14 Time and Craft
19:36 Enduring Design
21:35 Elitism through Appreciation
24:10 Space
31:10 Is Luxury Losing Its Identity?
35:18 Beauty is a human need

[niedrigundbreit]

bro made a full banger vid just to write off a gift for his girl. legend

[hdysicjegk]

The Asus ad that cynically hit all the manipulative methods luxury brands use cracked me up, good one

[MalBuch-vkjw]

All this reminds me of a stupid joke:

The boss drives up in his crazy new Ferrari.
Me: "Wow, nice car!"
Boss: "If you work hard, keep going for your goals and give it your all, then maybe next year I'll be able to afford a second one!"

[piccalillipit]

*IM A TAILOR OF BESPOKE* mens historical suits 1890 - 1940. I make a tiny number a year and I do everything, I stitch every one of the 10, 000+ hand stitches that goes into one

Hermes makes ASTONISHING quality goods - but I would NEVER buy from a company that makes you buy endless low end products to justify having the item you want. I dont make people buy 10 pairs of €250 socks before I will make them a suit. I just say yes or no based on my workload and [sadly] health. I think this practice is DEEPLY reprehensible.

[CestLePanda]

As an uncultured outcast, I watch these kinds of videos to both make sense of our shallow consumer mentality as well as make sure I'm not crazy for seeing how insane and pretentious all of this hype is.

[reyson]

Should we not instead celebrate artisanal work instead of just artisanal work by luxury brands? There are expert craftsmen who do not sell their products at inflated prices.

[Rufinelle]

It is no big secret that Italy has a lot of asian sweatshops. This has been going on for many decades and other big brands have been cought using them in the past.

[cryingsilk]

Hermes does the same thing Ferrari does! You have to build rapport with your sales associate before they even consider offering you a Birkin or a Kelly bag. There's tips on dress code, location, the better season to "help" you get in and then after all that you don't get a say in anything related to the bag. The associate chooses color, size, material, etc.. you essentially show up, beg, and then pay for what they give you. It's wild.

[realistic_delinquent]

Luxury is when you KNOW the maker. Almost without exception, a good made with care by a mutual beneficiary has more a more luxurious quality than the most expensive mass-manufactured alternative.

[gonzalezfreak]

I once had a dream of owning a Camry..

[azaph_yt]

If you want a racing experience that's uncomfortable, noisy, raw, physically demanding and makes you smell like gasoline, just get into Karting. You can experience Ferrari-level g-forces for a fraction of the price. The perception of speed is also intense, even tho the actual velocity of course is relatively low.

[granienasniadanie]

34:55 NO, functional art still exists and is made by passionate people as a side hustle, because a 500k dolar bag feels like it was made with care and love, but so does a cowshaped mug for 20$ at a farmers market.

[Tensai]

So.... what I understand is...
Luxury brands remind or teach rich people how it feels to be a normal person.

You know... wanting something that's (for them) out of reach. Like wanting a nice car but you know it will take you 5 years of savings.
Appreciating and taking care of something you already own because you can't get another one as easily just like you'd keep your old cracked phone because you can't buy a new one.
Taking time effort and money to learn about your belongings like learning basic mechanic work just so you can keep your old car running and saving on mechanics by fixing it yourself.


The Ferrari thing makes a ton of sense. Taking all of that into account: Rich people can usually get whatever they want with money. While getting into the ferrari market will indeed take money from them, for rich ppl money means nothing. It takes from them something they are not used to give out; their time and effort. They see theirselves as above anyone cuz an hour of their time is worth thousands of dollars so going to an event or a factory tour will take time from them. They do have all the time and money but by making them use it they make the brand seem more valuable cuz it's measured in something nobody can quantify.

Luxury brands have figured out how to make rich people feel a "reward" for their effort. We are used to puting a ton of effort into things cuz we have to do it. Rich people can get most things with litle to no effort. They are making rich people "work" for their own luxury.

It's pretty genious.

[brickandmorty]

I live in manhattan, the thing about the birkin bag is definitely made up, walking around you tend to see one or two a day. It’s like oh cool thats a birkin, and then you move on with your life.

[daryx.langdale]

"BE GONE, LOWLY PEASANT" broke me. Funniest use of stock video footage I've seen in a minute.

[kkrypto]

After writing a thesis on sociology of art and esthetics, I am amazed how much new stuff I learned from this vid.

[lolcat]

As a watchmaker who works almost exclusively with $200k + watches, the "ultra" luxury watch market is ... weird. The whole "our artisans need to be trained for 4 years before they're allowed to work on [this or that product]" is in large large part marketing speak. Yes, a real good angleur (those that do the chamfering on, for example the wheels like you talked about) are super rare and only get good after many years of honing their skills - but only good angleurs and watchmakers actually see the difference, so its easy to cheat the customers. This whole ultra luxury world is both super exciting (because it allows me to really do my best to do a great product), but also super disappointing because so many cheat and get away with it (like your glasses example, but even more subtle).

[AKKI]

Literally was watching the documentary: "The Century of the Self" for this video to play next, ironic...

[teenagestacker]

This is why I look for lesser known luxury products, where craftsmanship is first and you know those products will last a long time. I would much rather support a much smaller business with or without history and takes pride in the materials that they use and their craftsmanship, then Hermes or other big "luxury" companies. The way I see luxury is that, if it's made to last over a decade or multiple generations worth of use, them it's worth investing that extra money into it for a product that is better more ethically made and that multiple generations will enjoy, like bed frames and other wooden furniture, or nice clothes with good local materials, or nice plates and mugs etc.

[benwaardenburg]

I bought a leather band for my Apple Watch and I specifically bought because it was hand made. When I got the shipping notification I saw that it was coming out of a small town in the same province I live in and it immediately made it feel more special and unique. A small group of artisans crafted my leather band and it creates something special because of it. I had a fake leather band off Amazon and it broke after a few months. I am slowly wanting more personal, hand crafted things more than what I can just get quickly. It’s more expensive but it feels like it has more value.