Strategies for luxury brands to balance accessibility and exclusivity on social media

Luxury brands require the use of social media to expand their customer base, especially among young customers. But social media focuses on visibility and communication, whereas luxury brands focus on scarcity and singularity. Other works reveal that brands could offer entrance designing content in thoughtful ways instead of mass interaction. However, there is a lack of research to compare how various luxury brands deal with this problem in reality. The study is a comparison of Van Cleef & Arpels and Gucci. It is based on the reports of the companies, official social media posts, marketing materials and selective comments made by the public. The paper analyzes how the brands become more accessible but at the same time preserve the exclusivity. Van Cleef & Arpels shares art, dance and culture stories with the world through its Dance Reflections program, and its merchandise is still scarce. Gucci employs famous personalities and high profile content to address a larger population. The Primavera AI campaign also faced negative reviews on the issue of authenticity and craft. These comments suggest that some audiences did not find the AI content appropriate to their expectations of a luxury brand.