Masstige Marketing Redefined and Mapped
Masstige Marketing Redefined and Mapped
Masstige Marketing Redefined and Mapped
Masstige marketing redefined and mapped: Introducing a pyramid model and MMS
measure
Justin Paul
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Abstract
Purpose – “Masstige marketing” is considered as a market penetration strategy for medium and
large enterprises, particularly in foreign markets. The author redefine “masstige marketing” strategy
in this paper and map the concept as a new model for brand building. Second, the author examine
the effectiveness of “masstige marketing” strategy with reference to marketing mix theory (Four
Ps ¼ product, price, place and promotion). The purpose of this paper is to introduce a theoretical
model to help the companies to implement “masstige marketing” strategy.
Design/methodology/approach – The author introduce a scale, called “Masstige Mean Score Scale”
to measure the mass prestige value of brands. Both secondary and primary data used in this study.
The author collected data from 590 young women consumers living in Japan and France to measure
the “masstige” value using the new scale developed. The marketing strategy of European luxury sector
multinational brand LV, has also been discussed as a method.
Findings – Masstige value is the best indicator of long-term brand value. In other words, higher the
masstige value (MMS) of a brand, the higher the likelihood to succeed. The author also found that a
brand can create mass prestige with “masstige marketing” strategy by appropriately mixing the four
Ps in marketing – Product, Price, Promotion and Place in a distinct and culturally different market.
Originality/value – The author develop a pyramid model and measurement scale for “masstige
marketing” as a theoretical framework to stimulate further research and as a tool for practitioners
for better decision making. Besides, the author posit that higher the Masstige Mean Score (MMS)
of a brand, higher the likelihood that potential customers recall that as a “top of mind” brand.
Lower MMS implies that the firm has to go long way in their efforts to build the brand.
Keywords Brand management, Marketing mix, Brand valuation, Masstige marketing,
Mass prestige, Pyramid model, Masstige Mean Score
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction
1.1 Masstige marketing
“Masstige marketing” is considered as a market penetration strategy for medium
and large enterprises. The term masstige, short for mass prestige, was defined by
Silverstein et al. (2008) in their book Trading up and in their Harvard Business Review
article “Luxury for the Masses” (2003). Masstige products were defined as “premium
but attainable” and there are two key factors in classifying items as having these
characteristics: they are considered luxury or premium products and they are priced
The author acknowledges the comments by Professor Constantine S. Katsikeas which worked as Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Vol. 33 No. 5, 2015
the basis for thinking beyond developing a pyramid model. His suggestion on the first draft of pp. 691-706
the paper resulted into developing a measure/index for masstige marketing. Comments from © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-4503
Professor Anamary Irizari and Research Assistance from Joely Ramon also acknowledged. DOI 10.1108/MIP-02-2014-0028
MIP between the middle class and the super premium. With the growing number of
33,5 middle-class consumers, those who are trading up to higher levels of quality and taste,
luxury goods are not only for ultra-affluent consumers but also for mass-market
consumers (Silverstein and Fiske, 2003).
Though the concept “masstige marketing” sounds like a buzzword, there is not yet
a theory or a measure or a model developed to generalize the idea and to stimulate
692 further research in this area. Therefore, we attempt to put forward a theoretical model
and introduce a measure called Masstige Mean Score Scale (MMSS) in this paper to fill
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the gap in the literature and to help the managers to examine the effectiveness of their
marketing strategies in different countries as well as in different regions/states within
the same country. In other words, the scope of this paper include contributing to the
academic as well as managerial theory by developing a new scale and index with
two goals: (a) to measure the success/failure of a brand, in terms of mass prestige value,
in comparison to other brands within the same industry in the same region;
(b) to measure the success/failure of a brand in terms of mass prestige value in two
different regions/countries and understand the market where it has succeeded. This
would help the brand managers to rethink on their branding strategies if they have not
succeeded in a market, and prepare future marketing plan and actions accordingly.
Though data collected for this paper specifically addresses only the point (b) mentioned
above, the MMSS and the index introduced could be widely used in all industries
and countries.
This paper is divided into seven sections. As discussed above, a brief overview
of “masstige marketing” and marketing mix Ps is presented to underline their
significance as an important research domain. In the next section, the research
objectives (RO) and methods have been elaborated. Thereafter, Section 3 is devoted
to discuss the “masstige marketing” strategy implemented by premium and popular
fashion goods brands in Japan. In Section 4, we analyse the marketing and growth
strategy of Louis Vuitton (LV), the leading European luxury sector multinational firm,
to support the purpose of this paper and to draw a theoretical framework, blending
“masstige marketing” and marketing mix Ps. We examine not only how a foreign firm
established its business model in Japan, but also how it sustained growth for over
30 years. A pyramid model for “masstige marketing” of products is proposed in Section 5
and an instrument with the title – MMSS has been introduced in Section 6 as a measure
to assess and compare the masstige value of different brands, on a generalized scientific
scale. The paper ends with the conclusion with propositions in Section 7.
of marketing mix has received considerable academic and industry attention. The most
concerted criticism has come from the services marketing area (Rafiq and Ahmed, 1995).
The concept of four Ps has been criticized as being a production-oriented definition of
marketing, and not a customer oriented (Popovic, 2006). Constantinides (2006) assessed
the standing of the four Ps marketing mix framework as the dominant marketing
management paradigm and as theoretical concept and identified two limitations, namely,
the model’s internal orientation and lack of personalization.
Despite number of criticisms four Ps, product, price, promotion and place have been
extremely influential in informing the development of both marketing theory and
practice. In spite of its deficiencies, the four Ps remain a staple of the marketing mix
(Kent and Brown, 2006). Hence it is important for companies to appropriately mix
as part of implementation of “masstige marketing strategy”. In other words, it makes
sense to posit that the success of “masstige marketing” to a great extent is based upon
how to formulate strategies with reference to product, price, promotion and place.
Paul and Ferroul (2013) analysed the case of LV in Japan and found that the brand had
long-term success in Japan mainly because of appropriate marketing strategies.
However, they did not talk about the term “masstige”.
3. “Masstige” strategy
The concept of luxury is attractive and fashionable. There are luxury columns in
all magazines and journals. There are TV shows on the business of luxury,
and on luxury products and services. New words have been recently invented and
promoted that add to the complexity: masstige, opuluxe, premium, ultra premium,
trading up, hyper luxury, real or true luxury and so on (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009).
New luxury brand positioning strategies often combine a high-perceived prestige with
reasonable price premiums in order to attract middle-class consumers. These strategies
are radically different from those implemented by traditional luxury brand owners,
who maintain a strict consistency between perceived prestige and price premiums
so as to preserve their brand’s exclusivity. Although some authors have suggested
the existence of masstige strategies, few empirical studies have been conducted Pyramid
to support this claim (Truong et al., 2009). model and
Hong et al. (2010) analysed how the relationship marketing implement factors of
masstige fashion brands influence the trust, satisfaction and repurchase intention
MMS measure
of consumers. Their results show that the relationship marketing implement factors
of masstige fashion brands were customer orientation, salesperson expertise,
communication, brand expertise and inducement. They also found that the trust and 695
satisfaction of consumers influence the repurchase intention in the masstige fashion
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management and positioning strategy in Japan have also helped it to achieve business
volume in Japan. As LV had been going global, the brand was able to develop
a successful advertising strategy in line with its global expansion strategy.
The advertising strategy of the company remained based on the idea that
productivity would not sustain growth. Rather than cutting its ad budget like most
luxury groups, the company increased advertisement spending by 20 per cent in 2003.
This figure might have seemed very high but in fact it only represented 5 per cent
of revenues, half the industry’s average (Matlack, 2004).
LV frequently used print advertisements in magazines and billboards in large
cosmopolitan cities. The campaigns often involved famous stars like Gisele Bündchen,
Eva Herzigova, Sean Connery and Francis and Sofia Ford Coppola. Lot of customers
got attracted to the mind-boggling 90-second commercial advertisement in television
with a catchy question, “Where will life take you?” translated into 13 different
languages, it helped LV to build brand. The media (communication) department was
strategic in choosing the newspapers and magazines to reach out to the higher and
middle-income group (Paul, 2011).
4.2.4 Place. In general, the more the number of distribution channels, the higher the
sales potential for companies selling normal goods. However, theory could be different
in the case of luxury goods. The multinational brand LV had established a global but
rigidly controlled distribution network from its headquarters, with exports from Europe
to other countries including Japan. In the case of LV – they were selling only through few
exclusive stores located at prime locations. LV has always opened up its stores in the
prime areas in each city where high- and middle-income groups visit frequently. This
seems to have helped the firm to attract the target segments. The location of stores is an
important factor for luxury sector brands like LV. A few years ago, LV started online
(via web) business in Japan after the new CEO took over the leadership. An expansion of
LV’s internet business for ready-to-wear could be the next possible approach.
However, they are not distributing LV branded products through other stores. The
reason being, it is easy to control one or two distribution channels than many. Control is
the key in the business plan of LV, being a luxury brand. Also, LV paid attention to provide
the comfort of convenience while offering “joyful” shopping experience at well-decorated
showrooms. Since there was demand for opening more franchisees, the management also
ventured into opening stores through franchisee mode, with local business people investing
capital for franchisees during the last decade.
management tried to position the brand with the appropriate marketing mix principles,
i.e., implementing four Ps scientifically and aggressively to position the brand with
a focus on the concept mass prestige.
There are two stages in luxury culture – the “show off” stage and the “fit in” stage –
and Japan has already passed through the two stages. LV products were sold very well
during the “show off” stage in Japan in 1980s. For example, more than three quarters of
women in Tokyo of about 20 years of age possessed an item of the brand. This
phenomenon was considered normal as luxury goods symbolized membership of the
“acceptable” group of society. In the sulphurous book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre,
Thomas (2007) reported that 40 per cent of all Japanese owned a LV-monogrammed item.
She compared LV’s growth over the past decade to that of McDonald’s, suggesting that
the LV logo had become almost as ubiquitous as the Golden Arches. In addition, the
repetition of limited editions over the past years had marked a new era for LV – an era
characterized by disposable “it” bags with shelf lives of two fashion seasons at most.
After Marc Jacobs (LV’s star artist) had seen an exhibition by Japanese artist
Takashi Murakami at the Foundation Cartier pour l’artcontemporain in Paris,
LV decided to collaborate with the Japanese artist for its 2003 spring/summer
collection. Murakami, who was known as the “Japanese Andy Warhol”, re-created
a colourful pop version of LV’s monogram in 33 colours on a black and white
background. In stores, LV’s handbags with smiling blossom designs turned out to be
best sellers in Japan. The strategy appeared to be huge success for the leading luxury
conglomerate LVMH, as the Murakami line increased LV’s profits by 10 per cent. The
success was not only in the Japanese market but also in the European and American
markets, which showed true admiration for Japanese culture (Paul and Ferroul, 2013).
Following the massive success of the line, in 2003 and 2005 collaborations between
Murakami and Jacobs resulted in the Monogram Cherry Blossom line, featuring
a trendy motif inspired by the fruit of the cherry blossom – Japanese art wedded to LV’s
perfection – and the Monogram Cerise line, with a new pattern that gave freshness and
cheerfulness to the monogram, i.e., the collaboration between Jacobs and Murakami
opened new avenues for LV not only in Japan, but also in the USA. Their collaboration
has produced a lot of work, and has been a huge influence and inspiration to many.
It has been and continues to be a monumental marriage of art and commerce:
the ultimate crossover (Williams and Sharf, 2008). It was indeed “commerce” and
strategy, as Takashi Murakami had been instrumental for LV’s success in Japan.
Japan has been LV’s most profitable market, representing almost 30 per cent of
its profits, for more than three decades, i.e., “LV” may be French, but Japan has become a
land full of “LV” lovers (Paul and Ferroul, 2013). The fact that 40 per cent Japanese adults
owned a LV monogram implies that the luxury brand was successful in implementing
“masstige marketing” strategy, by targeting middle-income group and upper part of low-
income group. LV has certainly succeeded in the middle-income group segment in Japan
and has taken efforts to attract the customers, those who belong to the upper part of the
MIP low-income group segment. This can be generalized by introducing a pyramid model
33,5 for “masstige marketing” (see Figure 1(a)-(d)). The top of the pyramid represent the
high-income segment of customers (class market) while the middle-income group can be
considered as synonym for the middle of the pyramid. Similarly, it is shown that
the low-income group belongs to the bottom of pyramid (mass market). Pyramid 1
(Figure 1(a)) shows three segments of customers. In real life, the firms selling normal
700 goods target all three segments of customers, which are shown in Pyramid 2 (Figure 1(b))
– pyramid for normal goods. Pyramid 3 (Figure 1(c)) – pyramid for luxury goods’ firms is
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drawn to show the usual target segment (top of the pyramid) of firms in the luxury goods
sector. We posit that the firms will succeed tremendously if they follow the “masstige
marketing” strategy, by targeting customers as shown in the proposed pyramid model
for masstige marketing (PMM) in pyramid 4 (Figure 1(d)) – in nutshell, this model calls
for firms, particularly luxury goods’ firms to target not only the top of the pyramid
segment, but also every customer in the middle of the pyramid. Firms could sustain the
sales growth for long time, if they go one more step forward, by targeting the customers
belonging to the upper part of the “bottom of the pyramid”.
(a) (c)
Usual Target Segment of
(High Luxury Firms (Top of
Income the Pyramid)
Group
= Top of the Pyramid)
(Middle
Income Group = Middle of the
Pyramid)
(Low
Income Group = Bottom of the Pyramid)
(b) (d)
Firms could succeed
with masstige
marketing strategy if
they target (High
customers this way Income Group
=Top of the Pyramid)
(Middle
Income Group = Middle of the
Pyramid)
(Low
(Low
Income Group = Bottom of the Pyramid)
Income Group = Bottom of the Pyramid)
Notes: (a) Pyramid 1: basic pyramid; (b) pyramid 2: pyramid for normal goods (normal firms target customers in all three segments);
(c) pyramid 3: pyramid for luxury goods’ firms; (d) pyramid 4: proposed pyramid for firms to follow “masstige marketing” strategy
MMS measure
Pyramid
masstige marketing
model and
702 7. Conclusions
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Based on the MMS analysis, survey results, the case study of LV and pyramid
model, it is worth noting that blending masstige marketing strategy with the
principles of four Ps can result into greater market share and rousing gain even in a
culturally different foreign market. The conceptual model posited in this paper
shows how a firm could create mass prestige with the appropriate targeting
strategies time to time.
Other findings from this study can be summarized as follows:
(1) The MMS-based instrument introduced in this paper as a measure of “Masstige
Marketing Strategy” can be used as a criteria to examine the effectiveness and
popularity of brands regardless of the industry and region/country/state.
For example, MMS measure could serve as a benchmark measure for
comparing the effectiveness of not only the premium brands, but also the
normal brands. laptop brands such as Dell, HP, Apple, Acer, etc., and
automobile brands such as Toyota, GM, Ford, Honda, etc., would very well fit
into the MMS analysis. Similarly, this instrument could serve as a basic
measure for market research in different regions/markets for all firms,
regardless of their industry and size.
(2) It is also important to note that the luxury firms cashed in on the opportunities
in Japan in with “masstige marketing” strategy. This strategy helped them
to capitalize the capabilities created, leveraging opportunities.
(3) The pyramid model for “masstige marketing” proposed in this paper could
add value for business executives, entrepreneurs and researchers looking for
thoughtful insights on the strategy and development of a business model for
product marketing, particularly in the case of high-value branded products.
LV in LV in
Sl. no. Factor Japan France
following theoretical propositions (P1, P2, P3, P4), which could help stimulating future
research and improve managerial practice:
P1. The higher the Masstige value of a brand, the higher the likelihood to succeed in
a distinct market.
P2. The higher the brand’s market orientation targeting the customers, in the middle
and bottom of the pyramid segments, the higher the likelihood of sustaining the
success in long run.
P3. The better the marketing mix (product, price, promotion and place), the higher
the likelihood to increase sales and thereby the MMS.
P4. The higher the MMS, the higher the average life of a brand in that market.
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state/district
5. I would like to recommend this brand to friends and
relatives
6. Nothing is more exciting than this brand
7. I believe this brand is known for high quality
8. I believe this brand is of international standard
9. I love to buy this brand regardless of the price
10. I believe that people in my country/state/district
consider this brand as a synonym for
prestige
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