Did you ever make one of these “investment” purchases? You love it, you want it, you have thought about it for long enough, but there was just a little somethin’-somethin’ that you disagreed with in either the design or color or functionality? Your purchase could be anything: cars, appliances, shoes, jewelry or even tech. Even though you were kind of deep down disappointed, because you really wanted it, you went ahead and bought it anyways.

You think to yourself, wow, if I could just reach out to somebody at this company and tell them what I think, then, maybe they would use my idea……

Well, now you can. And in ways never before possible and with some of the world’s largest, most luxurious brands.

Brands and marketers call this USER GENERATED BRANDING.

Who would have ever thought that brands like DeBeers, Mercedes and Christian Louboutin would do such a thing?

For DeBeers, their “Moments in Light” app celebrates women nominated by their peers for their brilliance. Just as a diamond is brilliant, DeBeers wants all women as celebrated their precious gems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mercedes Benz utilized their user generated branding in the most literal way. Customers were able to design their GLA model via an Instagram app. You can watch the brief GLA customization YouTube instructional video here.

 

 

Christian Louboutin cleverly took a fun multi-media approach celebrating the Spring/Summer 2015 “Tribalou”, collection launch. When email subscribers received their newsletter, it featured a large animated graphic of a Southwest Indian mask. The mask linked to the Louboutin website and landed on a build-your-own-paper-puppet feature. Most adorably, the puppets are called a “Tribaloubi”. When the user completed their design, they printed out their puppet and assembled it. Now that’s what I call brand interaction!

Your friends won’t do it.  Most likely your family and co-workers won’t either.  But now your favorite luxury brand will!  Go on, don’t hold back, send ’em your advice.

Have fun, and see if your ideas come to life in their next campaign.

 

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Christine C. Oddo is the author of The Christine Report blog and founder of Madison Luxe Group; a beauty and luxury product retail sales and digital strategy agency.

Inquiries to christine@madisonluxegroup.com