28 November 2008
	AdMakers Selling the experience By Sasha Planting Luxury goods must be marketed differently. It's all about the experience and the ambience

Successfully marketing luxury goods is about selling an experience, not just a product, says J P Fourie, CEO of AdMakers International, an SA-based agency focusing on luxury products the world over. He and AdMakers founder Duan Coetzee know a thing or two about luxury: between them they have 30 years of experience in this market. By luxury Fourie is talking about expensive cars, jets, luxury yachts and to-die-for property. It's way beyond the realms of peat-flavoured whisky, US$1 000 pens or Jimmy Choo shoes. Their domain is the rarefied space occupied by those living above the living standards measure (LSM) 10. "The more senses you can stimulate, the greater the chance of someone remembering you in an overcrowded marketplace," says Fourie. "The challenge is to get people into a situation where you can stimulate as many senses as possible." Lap of luxury ... Calla Wessels with AdMakers colleagues (from left) Nadia Saal, Mandy Crossly and Lara Colliani That is not to say product quality is irrelevant, but when attracting a luxury buyer, premium quality is a given, he says. For instance, when creating a fine dining experience, it is about more than simply superb cuisine. It is also about creating an ambience. Music, lighting and service are critical. Likewise, a memorable hotel is about more than 100% cotton sheets and mandatory bottles of Molton Brown beauty products in the bathroom. DVDs and music to your own taste, flowers and your preferred brand of champagne are the order of the day. "Stop thinking of luxury as a noun and start thinking of it as a verb," he says. A campaign that illustrates his point is one AdMakers completed this year for a property development, Dolce Vita, in the US state of Florida. Prices for the luxury properties ranged from $5m to $12m. "When you are looking at properties in this bracket, conventional media has less effect," says agency media strategist Johan Gilliomee. Instead, about 250 selected people were hand-delivered a 1 m x 15 cm white lacquered box crafted in China. Inside was a magnificent leatherbound brochure detailing the property development. In addition, the box contained an Apple iPod, pre-loaded with a Hollywood-produced movie that showcased the property further. "This is the attention to detail that gets us and our clients noticed," says Fourie. That said, AdMakers will not hesitate to use mass media should the campaign require it - because conventional descriptions of what luxury is and who can access it, continue to blur and fade. Says Fourie: "Television is still an appropriate medium, as are the business newspapers. We would also not hesitate to use e-mail should the situation require it" - though he admits many people in his agency's target market would view unsolicited e-mail as spam. One area that AdMakers has not ventured into is social networking sites. "Cartier is one of the first luxury brands to market itself in a big way on a mainstream social network, MySpace," says Fourie. An article in the International Herald Tribune says the possibility of blending entertainment and marketing and spreading it through chain letter-style links has many marketers excited about social networking. But luxury brands, worried about the company they keep, have been reluctant to get involved. This is a concern shared by Fourie. "Overall, social networking is not the right field to play in for luxury brands. The really wealthy don't have the time or inclination to spend their time online." AdMakers has had a profitable year, despite the slowing growth in SA and other economies. "It is only recently that the luxury market has shown some sign of slowing down," says Fourie. "We are fortunate in that we don't operate in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) arena." This year the agency added a number of new clients to its books and launched new campaigns for its long-standing client General Motors (GM). The biggest spending clients were the Urban Ocean Group, Banyan Tree Properties, PB Shores and GM. "Typically the first thing to be cut in difficult economic circumstances is the marketing budget," says Fourie. "But experience has taught us that marketers that increase spend and engage in brand-building in difficult times will reap the rewards when the market turns around." As for its own marketing efforts, AdMakers is not resting on its laurels. "We have used the slowdown in the market to increase our international focus," Fourie says. Coetzee has travelled overseas extensively this year. The effort paid off and the agency was awarded new work as far afield as the Seychelles, Croatia and Monaco. Also, AdMakers opened marketing and client liaison offices in New York, Montreal and Sao Paulo. Rather than develop each of these into a fully fledged design centre, AdMakers has developed "travelling strike teams" comprising a designer, copywriter and client service agent. They travel overseas as and when they are needed. In spite of the international expansion, most high-end creative work is still handled by the same team that started the agency almost 20 years ago. The advantage of travelling as much as they do is that it helps the team keep its ideas fresh and innovative. "No matter where we go, we absorb new concepts and photograph new trends in a variety of design genres to stay cutting-edge," says studio head Mandy Crossly. AdMakers' selling point to potential clients has nothing to do with the fact that SA is a cheaper alternative to other source countries. Instead the agency says it offers superior service and an in-depth understanding of the audience it targets. It is recognised as a specialist in its niche. For this reason the agency is selective when it comes to the clients it will represent. "We don't believe it is possible for the same firm to develop the expertise necessary to sell washing powder and to sell a multimillion dollar tropical paradise," says Fourie. "What applies to buying a property, applies to an expensive vehicle or jet. Our clients know they can trust our expertise, track record and experience." AdMakers has also learnt to keep things simple. "If you want to play in the luxury market, keep hammering away at the same positioning statement," says Coetzee. "Rich people generally have little time and short attention spans. They find security in consistency." He uses a favourite example: comparing a BMW M3 to a Ferrari. Jeremy Clarkson and his BBC Top Gear team insist there is no road car that can match the instant response of the Ferrari F430's fly-by-wire electronic throttle. As soon as the pedal is touched, the car leaps forward and hurtles right up to the 8 500 rpm red line with the high-pitched scream of a race car. Yet the BMW M3 is a legend among enthusiasts. They argue that it's renowned for blending near-supercar performance with the practicality and civility of BMW's sharp-looking 3-Series coupe. "There is actually little to differentiate them in terms of performance," says Fourie, but everything to differentiate them in terms of image. "The Ferrari is six times the price of the BMW and virtually impossible to obtain unless you are already on a waiting list. Scarcity, desirability, premium price and the ultimate in engineering and design create an unashamedly elitist impression. It's our job to articulate that." AdMakers pioneered the risk-sharing approach to marketing in the 1980s. This alternative model allows the agency to take risk in return for some of the upside. Some clients, however, prefer to stay with the conventional method of billing. Says Crossly: "The success of an advertising and marketing campaign depends on the results. Basically, did the product sell? Many advertising agencies are more interested in being creative for the sake of being creative. Many lose sight of why they were hired in the first place." It is impossible to talk about advertising without thinking of SA's Loeries and other award ceremonies that recognise and celebrate creativity. Does the company have a clutch of statues in its reception? "Yes we do, but to AdMakers creativity is a means to an end, not an end in itself," says Coetzee. "Much of the agency world has succumbed to being creatively driven, while the resulting work has little or no influence on actual sales success." Instead the agency subscribes to the view of advertising guru David Ogilvy: "If it doesn't sell, it's not creative." If a campaign is successful and the work is excellent, AdMakers might enter it for an award, says Crossly. "But only in awards that judge strategy, creativity and the final product." To put this into perspective, AdMakers is the most successful agency in the world at the international CNBC awards, having won more than 40 awards since 2002. Since many clients are international brands, it is clear AdMakers prefers international awards recognition to the SA scene. Despite its phenomenal year, Fourie does not believe AdMakers has built up the kind of global awareness it wants. "Not everyone knows that AdMakers is the world's foremost luxury goods marketing agency - but tomorrow is another day," he says with unabashed optimism.