Speed read – Meta-luxury: Brands and the culture of excellence
Manfredi Ricca and Rebecca Robins, Palgrave Macmillan (2012) (view on Amazon)
Introduction
Luxury as a term to describe brands has been rendered meaningless by the depredations of copywriters, devalued by indiscriminate usage and the deployment of various superlatives, such as 'hyper', 'super' or 'ultra', not to mention the oxymoronic 'accessible luxury'. The co-authors of this book - two senior executives with Interbrand - propose the notion of meta-luxury, luxury beyond luxury, to apply to brands that stand for unsurpassed excellence, brands for which authenticity, sustainability, innovation and talent...