Chairman’s Letter

“Hows business?” It’s a question I ask in every business conversation I have nowadays. Six months ago, the responses were generally deceptive and laden with exaggeration. It took some delving and probing to get to the truth. Today, reality and fatigue have set in. The responses are honest. What I hear, across the board, in every business category represented by Council membership, is year-to-year revenue declines of anywhere from 30-70%. Worse still, a check of major economic indicators and canaries in the mine, such as foreclosures, unemployment, commercial real estate and credit card debt, tourism, meetings and convention activity, etc. clearly indicate that this recession will be enduring. Stimulus packages notwithstanding, 2009 is a write-off; 2010 will be a year of stabilization, at best; Second or third quarter 2011, will hopefully see the turnaround. Until then, we ride it out as best we can.

The good news, is that this recession, in true Darwinian fashion, will flush away the poseurs and order-takers who made money in good times just by showing up for work. Their days are numbered. That leaves a less cluttered marketplace for those who base their business on a clearly-defined operating culture, true appreciation of customer loyalty, respect for the core tenets of quality, value and superior customer service, and commitment to employees as partners in the process of making customers happy. As coach Woody Hayes used to say, “It’s three yards and a cloud of dust”, a return to the hard-working strategies and directives that guarantee long-term survival and success.

But in addition to the demand for clear-headed thinking, as well as an obsession with managing cost and ROI, there is also an equally-important need for an eyes-on-the-horizon focus. The smart luxury marketers are those who can apply sufficient analgesic to combat the current pain yet not lose sight of the fact that when this recession is done, they’ll be in the cat bird seat by virtue of how they refined their strategies, retooled their operations and chose the difficult, and at times counter-intuitive course of investing for the future, at a time when the dollars are at their scarcest.

So how can The Luxury Marketing Council help? In addition to an expanded event calendar that is now including more recession-pertinent seminar programs and industry-specific salon events, we continue to allocate more of our time to the private work of facilitating partnerships and collaborations among our members. As you will read in Luxe Collaborations, the Council is responding to the expressed need of its members by arranging introductions, brokering partnerships and helping to leverage the relationship opportunities that reside in the Council Rolodex. As you plan marketing initiatives, programs, promotions and events, consider how Council involvement might be of value and assistance, and contact us accordingly. It’s what we do.

Coming in future months…

  • A Special Holiday Treats for Council Members from Council Members email blast featuring one-time Holiday deals
  • An August program devoted to discussing the now contentious issue of “discounting” in the luxury sector, as well as the inevitable redefinition of luxury, a trend that has been in force for some time but has gathered momentum with the recession

And finally…some housekeeping. We continue to do battle with the email gremlins and spam filters. If you’re not receiving Council communications at least 6 times a month, it means our email announcements are being hi-jacked by your spam filter or road-blocked by your corporate firewall. Here’s what you can do to fix the problem:

  • If you have a corporate IT department, ask them to white list or clear our email address (nucifora@luxesf.com)
  • Check your spam folder on a regular basis to retrieve any Council emails that may have gone astray
  • Provide us with a private email address

In spite of the difficult times, we’re quietly optimistic about the future, somewhat enervated by the rampant opportunities that lie ahead, and most of all, excited by the prospect of developing our relationship with you as together we confront the fears and slay the dragons that stand in our way.

With warm regards,

alf sig

Alf Nucifora
Chairman
The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco