Luxury brands spiff up their websites with videos

Summary: As marketing research proves that almost all affluent customers go online and watch online videos, brands such as Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Dior, and MiuMiu improve their websites. Luxury brands wants to get more emotional by using videos showing behind-the-scence vignettes such as how a product is handcrafted.

Source: Wall Street Journal

First paragraphs:

Improvements in online video and the growing prevalence of broadband access are encouraging luxury brands to create glossy new Web sites that better reflect their elite appeal on a medium that can make things look equal.

"Go look at some shoes from Marc Jacobs and then some shoes from Target," says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at the NPD Group. "Shoes from Marc Jacobs are $499. The shoes from Target are $14.99. They look almost the same online."

Miu Miu relaunched its site earlier this month, replacing a relatively simple design with one that includes stylized videos and "behind the scenes" access to photo shoots.

"Until a couple of years ago, brands were very cautious online," says James Gardner, CEO of createthe group, an interactive agency that is behind high fashion sites such as MiuMiu.com, Balenciaga.com, StellaMcCartney.com and MarcJacobs.com. "They hadn't really seen sites created that managed to remain elevated and appropriate for luxury brands. [But now, with the help of online video and interactive features] the product imagery can be very beautiful. Every component, every detail can be carefully crafted [on the Web], just as their products are."

Read the full article at WSJ.com