What Are Masstige Brands? Masstige Brands In A Nutshell

Masstige is a portmanteau of the words “mass” and “prestige”. The term was made popular by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske in their 2008 book Trading Up and in a Harvard Business Review article entitled Luxury for the Masses. Masstige brands are mass-produced goods that are marketed as prestigious or luxurious to an aspirational audience.

Aspect	Explanation
Definition	Masstige Brands are a category of consumer brands that bridge the gap between mass-market or mainstream products and prestige or luxury offerings. The term “Masstige” is a portmanteau of “mass” and “prestige.” These brands aim to offer products that are more affordable than luxury goods while maintaining a perception of quality, exclusivity, and aspiration. Masstige brands often appeal to consumers who desire the status and quality associated with luxury items but are price-conscious. They occupy a middle ground in terms of pricing, positioning themselves as accessible luxury options. Masstige brands are prevalent in various industries, including fashion, cosmetics, electronics, and more.
Key Concepts	– Accessible Luxury: Masstige brands aim to make luxury-like experiences and products accessible to a broader consumer base. – Quality and Exclusivity: These brands focus on maintaining the quality and exclusivity typically associated with luxury items. – Pricing Strategy: Masstige brands strategically price their products between mass-market and luxury offerings. – Brand Perception: Building and maintaining a premium brand image is crucial. – Target Audience: Masstige brands cater to consumers who desire quality and prestige without the high price tags.
Characteristics	– Premium Quality: Products exhibit a high level of quality and attention to detail. – Limited Editions: Some items may be released as limited editions to enhance exclusivity. – Effective Branding: Strong branding and marketing efforts convey a sense of prestige. – Pricing Strategy: Prices are set higher than mass-market competitors but lower than luxury counterparts. – Retail Environment: Masstige brands often have well-designed retail spaces that enhance the shopping experience.
Implications	– Market Positioning: Masstige brands must carefully position themselves in the market to attract their target audience. – Pricing Strategy: Balancing pricing to maintain exclusivity while appealing to a broader consumer base is a challenge. – Consumer Perception: Building and preserving a perception of quality and prestige is essential for success. – Competitive Landscape: Competing with both mass-market and luxury brands requires a unique approach. – Marketing and Branding: Effective branding and marketing are crucial to communicating the brand’s value proposition.
Advantages	– Wider Customer Base: Masstige brands can attract a broader range of consumers. – Higher Margins: Pricing allows for healthier profit margins compared to mass-market products. – Brand Loyalty: Effective branding can lead to strong customer loyalty. – Market Resilience: The category can be resilient in economic downturns as consumers seek affordable luxury. – Innovation: These brands often innovate in terms of product features and design.
Drawbacks	– Pricing Challenges: Striking the right balance between affordability and exclusivity can be challenging. – Brand Dilution: Overextension or misalignment with brand values can dilute the brand’s prestige. – Competition: Facing competition from both mass-market and luxury brands requires effective differentiation. – Consumer Expectations: Consumers have high expectations regarding quality and value for money. – Market Trends: Masstige brands must adapt to changing consumer preferences and trends.
Applications	Masstige brands are prevalent in industries such as fashion, cosmetics, fragrances, electronics, automobiles, and home decor. They cater to consumers who desire premium quality and brand recognition without the premium price tag.
Use Cases	– Fashion: Brands like Michael Kors, Coach, and Kate Spade offer accessible luxury fashion items. – Cosmetics: Cosmetic brands like MAC and NARS provide high-quality products with a touch of luxury. – Electronics: Apple’s positioning as a premium tech brand with a wide customer base exemplifies the masstige concept. – Automobiles: Brands like BMW and Audi target consumers seeking luxury vehicles at a relatively lower price point. – Home Decor: Masstige brands in home decor offer stylish and well-crafted furnishings and accessories.

Table of Contents

Understanding masstige brands

Masstige brands rose to prominence during the 1980s and 1990s as economic growth lead to increasing disposable incomes, lower unemployment rates, and a growing wealthy class in emerging countries. Once the domain of a small, elite group of wealthy consumers, the so-called “democratisation of luxury” has today made luxury products accessible to a larger population.

This new class of luxury goods is less expensive than traditional luxury goods while still retaining aspects of a brand’s original prestige and value. With that in mind, there are two key components of a masstige brand:

They must be considered luxury or premium products, and
They must have price points that fill the gap between mid-market and super-premium.

The consumers for whom luxury has been made more accessible come from the middle and upper-middle classes who purchase luxury goods as a form of self-reward and indulgence. This contrasts with luxury purchases made by the rich, which are mostly driven by status.

This emerging class of luxury product evangelists is perhaps best described by James Twitchell in his 2002 book Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury. Twitchell noted that “These new customers for luxury are younger than clients of the old luxe used to be, they are far more numerous, they make their money far sooner, and they are more flexible in financing and fickle in choice. They do not stay put. They now have money to burn.”

Masstige brand categories

Before we list some masstige brand categories, it is important to note that not every category is appropriate for the masstige approach. Masstige brands must complement existing product lines and enrich the brand experience without creating overlap or conflict.

With that said, most masstige brands encompass the following categories:

Eyewear

Designer fashion brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Prada also sell sunglasses and other eyewear to broaden their respective target audiences. Porsche is another premium brand that has entered this space.

Automobiles

Despite earning a reputation as a luxury sedan manufacturer, BMW now sells a watered-down version of the luxury sedan known as the 1 Series. Brand prestige is maintained to some extent since the vehicle still wears the BMW badge. Ferrari also sells branded merchandise including hats, clothing, and even computers without that merchandise competing with the brand’s core identity that is rooted in sports cars.

Beauty products

Women love masstige beauty brands because they offer comparable quality and trendiness to luxury brands but for a fraction of the cost. Indeed, the affordable price point combined with the aura of luxuriousness allows women to feel like they’ve treated themselves without breaking the bank.

Fashion

Companies such as Zara exemplify the idea of selling taste and style to the masses. The fashion retailer imitates the clothing and store design of luxury brands and also takes inspiration from their advertising strategies. Armani Haute Couture jeans sell for $900, but the company also sells a $100 pair to appeal to brand-conscious wearers.

Homewares

American home furnishing chain Pottery Barn sells homewares that are considered premium. However, these products are widely available and are sold at price points more affordable than more exclusive brands.

Advantages of Masstige Brands:

Wider Market Reach: Masstige brands tap into a broader consumer base, making premium experiences accessible to a larger audience.
Brand Aspiration: These brands evoke aspirational feelings, allowing consumers to enjoy a taste of luxury without the premium price tag.
Enhanced Perceived Value: The fusion of quality and affordability elevates the perceived value of masstige products or services.
Market Resilience: During economic downturns, masstige brands tend to be more resilient as consumers seek affordable indulgences.

Challenges of Masstige Brands:

Brand Dilution: Striking the right balance between affordability and prestige can be challenging, as excessive price reductions can dilute the brand’s image.
Competition: Masstige brands often face competition from both luxury and mass-market brands, requiring a unique value proposition.
Consumer Expectations: Consumers have high expectations for quality and experience from masstige brands, necessitating consistent delivery.
Maintaining Brand Image: Over time, masstige brands must maintain their aspirational image while catering to evolving consumer preferences.

When to Use Masstige Branding:

Product Expansion: When expanding product lines, masstige branding can help bridge the gap between mainstream and premium offerings.
Market Entry: Masstige strategies are effective for entering new markets, where a balance of affordability and prestige is essential.
Rebranding Efforts: Brands undergoing rebranding can explore masstige positioning to rejuvenate their image and attract a wider audience.
Targeting Millennials and Gen Z: These consumer segments often prioritize value and experience, making masstige brands particularly appealing to them.

What to Expect from Using Masstige Branding:

Market Growth: Masstige branding can lead to market growth by appealing to a broader range of consumers.
Enhanced Brand Image: Successful masstige strategies enhance the brand’s image, making it synonymous with affordable luxury.
Increased Market Share: By catering to consumers seeking a balance between quality and affordability, masstige brands can gain a larger market share.
Sustainable Success: Over time, masstige strategies can lead to sustainable success by consistently delivering on the brand promise.

Long-Term Impact of Masstige Branding:

Brand Equity: Effective masstige branding builds brand equity by combining quality and affordability, creating a lasting positive impression.
Market Resilience: Brands that successfully navigate the masstige space tend to be more resilient during economic fluctuations.
Consumer Loyalty: Masstige brands can foster long-term customer loyalty by consistently delivering accessible premium experiences.

Related Business Frameworks:

Market Segmentation: Understanding the target audience’s needs and preferences is critical in masstige branding, as it helps tailor products and messaging effectively.
Pricing Strategies: Pricing plays a central role in masstige branding, as finding the right balance is essential for success.
Customer Journey Mapping: Mapping the customer journey helps identify touchpoints where the masstige brand experience can be enhanced.
Competitive Analysis: Regularly analyzing competitors, both in the luxury and mass-market segments, is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge.

Key takeaways:

Masstige brands are mass-produced goods that are marketed as prestigious or luxurious to an aspirational audience.
Masstige brands are purchased by middle and upper-middle-class consumers as a form of self-reward or indulgence. Traditional luxury brands, on the other hand, were once the domain of the rich who purchased them as a status symbol.
Masstige brands must complement existing product lines and not dilute or conflict with brand identity. These brands are most prevalent in eyewear, automobiles, beauty products, fashion, and homewares.

Main Free Guides:

Visual Marketing Glossary

Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy where the marketing and sales departments come together to create personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts. Account-based marketing is a business-to-business (B2B) approach in which marketing and sales teams work together to target high-value accounts and turn them into customers.

Ad-Ops

Ad Ops – also known as Digital Ad Operations – refers to systems and processes that support digital advertisements’ delivery and management. The concept describes any process that helps a marketing team manage, run, or optimize ad campaigns, making them an integrating part of the business operations.

AARRR Funnel

Venture capitalist, Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables to understand what metrics and channels to look at, at each stage for the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.

Affinity Marketing

Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.

Ambush Marketing

As the name suggests, ambush marketing raises awareness for brands at events in a covert and unexpected fashion. Ambush marketing takes many forms, one common element, the brand advertising their products or services has not paid for the right to do so. Thus, the business doing the ambushing attempts to capitalize on the efforts made by the business sponsoring the event.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing describes the process whereby an affiliate earns a commission for selling the products of another person or company. Here, the affiliate is simply an individual who is motivated to promote a particular product through incentivization. The business whose product is being promoted will gain in terms of sales and marketing from affiliates.

Bullseye Framework

The bullseye framework is a simple method that enables you to prioritize the marketing channels that will make your company gain traction. The main logic of the bullseye framework is to find the marketing channels that work and prioritize them.

Brand Building

Brand building is the set of activities that help companies to build an identity that can be recognized by its audience. Thus, it works as a mechanism of identification through core values that signal trust and that help build long-term relationships between the brand and its key stakeholders.

Brand Dilution

According to inbound marketing platform HubSpot, brand dilution occurs “when a company’s brand equity diminishes due to an unsuccessful brand extension, which is a new product the company develops in an industry that they don’t have any market share in.” Brand dilution, therefore, occurs when a brand decreases in value after the company releases a product that does not align with its vision, mission, or skillset.

Brand Essence Wheel

The brand essence wheel is a templated approach businesses can use to better understand their brand. The brand essence wheel has obvious implications for external brand strategy. However, it is equally important in simplifying brand strategy for employees without a strong marketing background. Although many variations of the brand essence wheel exist, a comprehensive wheel incorporates information from five categories: attributes, benefits, values, personality, brand essence.

Brand Equity

The brand equity is the premium that a customer is willing to pay for a product that has all the objective characteristics of existing alternatives, thus, making it different in terms of perception. The premium on seemingly equal products and quality is attributable to its brand equity.

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is about creating a mental real estate in the mind of the target market. If successful, brand positioning allows a business to gain a competitive advantage. And it also works as a switching cost in favor of the brand. Consumers recognizing a brand might be less prone to switch to another brand.

Business Storytelling

Business storytelling is a critical part of developing a business model. Indeed, the way you frame the story of your organization will influence its brand in the long-term. That’s because your brand story is tied to your brand identity, and it enables people to identify with a company.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most powerful commercial activities which focuses on leveraging content production (text, audio, video, or other formats) to attract a targeted audience. Content marketing focuses on building a strong brand, but also to convert part of that targeted audience into potential customers.

Customer Lifetime Value

One of the first mentions of customer lifetime value was in the 1988 book Database Marketing: Strategy and Implementation written by Robert Shaw and Merlin Stone. Customer lifetime value (CLV) represents the value of a customer to a company over a period of time. It represents a critical business metric, especially for SaaS or recurring revenue-based businesses.

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is a marketing method that divides the customers in sub-groups, that share similar characteristics. Thus, product, marketing and engineering teams can center the strategy from go-to-market to product development and communication around each sub-group. Customer segments can be broken down is several ways, such as demographics, geography, psychographics and more.

Developer Marketing

Developer marketing encompasses tactics designed to grow awareness and adopt software tools, solutions, and SaaS platforms. Developer marketing has become the standard among software companies with a platform component, where developers can build applications on top of the core software or open software. Therefore, engaging developer communities has become a key element of marketing for many digital businesses.

Digital Marketing Channels

A digital channel is a marketing channel, part of a distribution strategy, helping an organization to reach its potential customers via electronic means. There are several digital marketing channels, usually divided into organic and paid channels. Some organic channels are SEO, SMO, email marketing. And some paid channels comprise SEM, SMM, and display advertising.

Field Marketing

Field marketing is a general term that encompasses face-to-face marketing activities carried out in the field. These activities may include street promotions, conferences, sales, and various forms of experiential marketing. Field marketing, therefore, refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field.

Funnel Marketing

interaction with a brand until they become a paid customer and beyond. Funnel marketing is modeled after the marketing funnel, a concept that tells the company how it should market to consumers based on their position in the funnel itself. The notion of a customer embarking on a journey when interacting with a brand was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898. Funnel marketing typically considers three stages of a non-linear marketing funnel. These are top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Particular marketing strategies at each stage are adapted to the level of familiarity the consumer has with a brand.

Go-To-Market Strategy

A go-to-market strategy represents how companies market their new products to reach target customers in a scalable and repeatable way. It starts with how new products/services get developed to how these organizations target potential customers (via sales and marketing models) to enable their value proposition to be delivered to create a competitive advantage.

Greenwashing

The term “greenwashing” was first coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 at a time when most consumers received their news from television, radio, and print media. Some companies took advantage of limited public access to information by portraying themselves as environmental stewards – even when their actions proved otherwise. Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing practice where a company makes unsubstantiated claims about an environmentally-friendly product or service.

Grassroots Marketing

Grassroots marketing involves a brand creating highly targeted content for a particular niche or audience. When an organization engages in grassroots marketing, it focuses on a small group of people with the hope that its marketing message is shared with a progressively larger audience.

Growth Marketing

Growth marketing is a process of rapid experimentation, which in a way has to be “scientific” by keeping in mind that it is used by startups to grow, quickly. Thus, the “scientific” here is not meant in the academic sense. Growth marketing is expected to unlock growth, quickly and with an often limited budget.

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that seeks to utilize low-cost and sometimes unconventional tactics that are high impact. First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same title, guerrilla marketing works best on existing customers who are familiar with a brand or product and its particular characteristics.

Hunger Marketing

Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy focused on manipulating consumer emotions. By bringing products to market with an attractive price point and restricted supply, consumers have a stronger desire to make a purchase.

Integrated Communication

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is an approach used by businesses to coordinate and brand their communication strategies. Integrated marketing communication takes separate marketing functions and combines them into one, interconnected approach with a core brand message that is consistent across various channels. These encompass owned, earned, and paid media. Integrated marketing communication has been used to great effect by companies such as Snapchat, Snickers, and Domino’s.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy designed to attract customers to a brand with content and experiences that they derive value from. Inbound marketing utilizes blogs, events, SEO, and social media to create brand awareness and attract targeted consumers. By attracting or “drawing in” a targeted audience, inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing which actively pushes a brand onto consumers who may have no interest in what is being offered.

Integrated Marketing

Integrated marketing describes the process of delivering consistent and relevant content to a target audience across all marketing channels. It is a cohesive, unified, and immersive marketing strategy that is cost-effective and relies on brand identity and storytelling to amplify the brand to a wider and wider audience.

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.

Marketing Myopia

Marketing myopia is the nearsighted focus on selling goods and services at the expense of consumer needs. Marketing myopia was coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in 1960. Originally, Levitt described the concept in the context of organizations in high-growth industries that become complacent in their belief that such industries never fail.

Marketing Personas

Marketing personas give businesses a general overview of key segments of their target audience and how these segments interact with their brand. Marketing personas are based on the data of an ideal, fictional customer whose characteristics, needs, and motivations are representative of a broader market segment.

Meme Marketing

Meme marketing is any marketing strategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Microtargeting

Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that utilizes consumer demographic data to identify the interests of a very specific group of individuals. Like most marketing strategies, the goal of microtargeting is to positively influence consumer behavior.

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multichannel marketing executes a marketing strategy across multiple platforms to reach as many consumers as possible. Here, a platform may refer to product packaging, word-of-mouth advertising, mobile apps, email, websites, or promotional events, and all the other channels that can help amplify the brand to reach as many consumers as possible.

Multi-Level Marketing

Multi-level marketing (MLM), otherwise known as network or referral marketing, is a strategy in which businesses sell their products through person-to-person sales. When consumers join MLM programs, they act as distributors. Distributors make money by selling the product directly to other consumers. They earn a small percentage of sales from those that they recruit to do the same – often referred to as their “downline”.

Net Promoter Score

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of the ability of a product or service to attract word-of-mouth advertising. NPS is a crucial part of any marketing strategy since attracting and then retaining customers means they are more likely to recommend a business to others.

Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing information is collected by measuring brain activity related to specific brain functions using sophisticated and expensive technology such as MRI machines. Some businesses also choose to make inferences of neurological responses by analyzing biometric and heart-rate data. Neuromarketing is the domain of large companies with similarly large budgets or subsidies. These include Frito-Lay, Google, and The Weather Channel.

Newsjacking

Newsjacking as a marketing strategy was popularised by David Meerman Scott in his book Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Newsjacking describes the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and increase brand exposure.

Niche Marketing

A microniche is a subset of potential customers within a niche. In the era of dominating digital super-platforms, identifying a microniche can kick off the strategy of digital businesses to prevent competition against large platforms. As the microniche becomes a niche, then a market, scale becomes an option.

Push vs. Pull Marketing

We can define pull and push marketing from the perspective of the target audience or customers. In push marketing, as the name suggests, you’re promoting a product so that consumers can see it. In a pull strategy, consumers might look for your product or service drawn by its brand.

Real-Time Marketing

Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.

Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing involves businesses and their brands forming long-term relationships with customers. The focus of relationship marketing is to increase customer loyalty and engagement through high-quality products and services. It differs from short-term processes focused solely on customer acquisition and individual sales.

Reverse Marketing

Reverse marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages consumers to seek out a product or company on their own. This approach differs from a traditional marketing strategy where marketers seek out the consumer.

Remarketing

Remarketing involves the creation of personalized and targeted ads for consumers who have already visited a company’s website. The process works in this way: as users visit a brand’s website, they are tagged with cookies that follow the users, and as they land on advertising platforms where retargeting is an option (like social media platforms) they get served ads based on their navigation.

Sensory Marketing

Sensory marketing describes any marketing campaign designed to appeal to the five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling marketers to design fun, interactive, and immersive sensory marketing brand experiences. Long term, businesses must develop sensory marketing campaigns that are relevant and effective in eCommerce.

Services Marketing

Services marketing originated as a separate field of study during the 1980s. Researchers realized that the unique characteristics of services required different marketing strategies to those used in the promotion of physical goods. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that promotes the intangible benefits delivered by a company to create customer value.

Sustainable Marketing

Sustainable marketing describes how a business will invest in social and environmental initiatives as part of its marketing strategy. Also known as green marketing, it is often used to counteract public criticism around wastage, misleading advertising, and poor quality or unsafe products.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing strategy skewed toward offering a great experience to existing customers and incentivizing them to share it with other potential customers. That is one of the most effective forms of marketing as it enables a company to gain traction based on existing customers’ referrals. When repeat customers become a key enabler for the brand this is one of the best organic and sustainable growth marketing strategies.

360 Marketing

360 marketing is a marketing campaign that utilizes all available mediums, channels, and consumer touchpoints. 360 marketing requires the business to maintain a consistent presence across multiple online and offline channels. This ensures it does not miss potentially lucrative customer segments. By its very nature, 360 marketing describes any number of different marketing strategies. However, a broad and holistic marketing strategy should incorporate a website, SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, public relations, in-store relations, and traditional forms of advertising such as television.