Logos and luxury

For many years, luxury brands made sure they would design their products so their logos would become big and visible, as a beamer of aspirational brands that would drive penetration in the middle class thirsty for status symbol. But, interestingly enough, over the past 5 years, luxury brands have started to see this as a dangerous and harmful move, that actually drives away the higher classes from their products and damages their equity, turning their brands into middle class wannabees instead of the real thing. The luxury brands don't show off anymore, because wealthy people don't want to show off their wealth, but prefer more discreet branding and products that are driven to self rewarding experiences rather than show-offing that can be offensive. This idea, conveyed in a research paper from Wilson, Eckhardt and Belk in the latest HBR issue, has long been observed in part of Europe where "old money" sits, but, according to the authors, can start being seen in some of the new biggest luxury markets as well, as China. It would mark a very different period for luxury branding, and a very challenging one - I must say I am rather curious to see how this develops going forward...