This book shows marketing professionals how to position their products to take advantage of the $77.7 billion luxury market.

In Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses As Well as the Classes, readers will get the first research-based study of the 15 million truly affluent households that make up the leading edge of the new luxury market. Pamela Danziger notes that the luxury market is changing radically from the conspicuous-consumption consumers of the 1990s. Danziger conducted a two-year research study of luxury consumers with incomes of $75,000 and above and discovered a totally new type of luxury consumer. Called the "butterflies," these most affluent of affluent consumers have emerged from their luxurious cocoons and are turning their focus from the home to the outside world. Designed to give marketing practitioners an insight into what luxury means to the consumer, Let Them Eat Cake covers the natural evolution as today's luxuries become tomorrow's necessities, as products move "from the classes to the masses." Readers will learn:

* How to "get it right for the masses" and how to "get it right for the classes" with profiles of companies that exhibit best practices in luxury marketing.

* Why luxury isn't about material things or how much something costs. It is how the product or service connects with the dreams, desires, and passions of the consumer.

* The different drivers and motivators for luxury consumers. Danziger outlines the purchase behavior and preferences in the nine categories of home luxury products (e.g., furniture, art, antiques), four personal luxuries (e.g., automobiles, fashion), and six experiential luxuries (e.g., luxury travel, spa/beauty treatments). As businesses compete in an increasingly crowded marketplace, Danziger also describes the six key consumer trends in luxury marketing and strategies that marketers can implement to build their luxury brands.