Maybach was able to capture ultra luxury car buyers and had a love affair among some big name clients. So now that Maybach will enter the world of classic ultra luxury cars never to produce more. Which ultra luxury car brand will claim the alternative position to replace Maybach? Well, no shame in Bentley’s game as the British are not shy.

 2012 Bentley Continental GT

Bentley has announced that they want Maybach’s clients especially Jay-Z and Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich.

“The withdrawal of Maybach is a business opportunity for us and we’re going to use it,” Bentley Chief Executive Wolfgang Duerheimer told Reuters at the Detroit auto show this week.

Smart to do research Bentley has gotten personal by writing clients of Maybach! Citing that “The comments I’m receiving aren’t very positive – they feel left alone.”

After the November 2011 announcement made by Daimler to end production of Maybachs it became apparent that there would be an opening for another ultra luxury car brand.

However, while Rolls-Royce has openly admitted that they would welcome Maybach’s clients but the approach will be differently than Bentley.

A representative said that they would, “naturally welcome any current Maybach customers.” They also related, “But seeking them out and hunting them down is not the Rolls-Royce way.”

It will be interesting to see which luxury PR approach will be the most effective. With the new concept of luxury branding and marketing is Bentley’s approach better? As luxury consumers adore being engaged! Keeping with the value of exclusive behavior and elite clubs would Rolls-Royce’s approach be better? After all luxury consumers don’t like to be hassled.

I recall a project that I was involved in that was to create an exclusive event for ultra luxury car buyers to test drive a variety of exclusive ultra luxury cars. What worked for us was to prepare a informational package to educate the potential buyer on the specific ultra luxury car. Focusing on luxury lifestyle to input the value of how the ultra luxury car would fit into the quality of life. Further we offered an invitation to attend an elite event to test drive and ask questions. Amazing product education, food, and experience. This is how you sell luxury cars folks.

Today the ultra luxury car market is widely driven by the global demand. All eyes should be on China, by the way…

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So, just how do you keep the occupancy at your luxury hotel booked solid all year long? The good news is that luxury travel is up. However, the bad news is that  competition among luxury hotel brands is fierce. One would think that generally for luxury hotels it is all about the design first. Which explains the very expensive cost of renovations for luxury hotel brands.

A recent survey by Hotels.com might reveal otherwise that it might not be the design of the hotel but what the hotel has to offer instead. Here is how to cash in!

Conrad Rangoli Hotel

1. Give Something!

True you might cater to an elite crowd but they especially love V.I.P offers. In the survey by Hotels.com they found that travelers love free fast Wi-Fi! It was even a deciding factor to book a hotel.

Consider a Complimentary item (we don’t use the word FREE in luxury, bad four letter word). Think  Complimentary Afternoon Tea, Complimentary Royal Brunch, Complimentary, you get the point…. Now that is knowing how to really make your guest feel special.

2. Signature Amenities

This is where your luxury hotel brand can outshine the competition. Keeping instep with the survey conducted by Hotels.com here are a few hot amenities desired.

• iPads for guest services, local information and personal use.
• Favorite food and beverages are provided. (45 percent reported that their favorite new amenities are: happy hours, wine tastings or any other time with free food and drinks).
• 31 percent of travelers expressed their wish to see more complimentary bottled water in their hotel rooms (34 percent of female travelers; 24 percent of male travelers).
• When asked about amenities at luxury hotels, women prefer designer toiletries (23 percent) and men prefer the fitness center and spa (27 percent.)
• When asked if they could stay celebrity-style, the top option for both men (35 percent) and women (38 percent) was to have their kitchen pre-stocked with their favorite food and beverages. However, a close second was the ability to have a private pool and hot tub in the room (37 percent of women; 34 percent of men.) These options beat out such fun or diva-esque in-room demands like: an arcade, favorite fresh flowers everywhere, private staff or a movie screening room.

Amenities Worth Ditching:

• Travelers felt like extra luxuries like turndown service and bath menus were “not worth the hype,” according to 44% of female respondents and 30% of male respondents.
• The bathroom phone gets no love. It is the least used hotel amenity, with 37 percent of total respondents saying they never touch it.

3. Resource Finder

I have a very dear friend who actually became very good friends with a well known celebrity by being an excellent resource finder. You see the celebrity was traveling and my good friend at the time was a parking agent. The celebrity asked my friend information about what to do in the city. My friend served as the most amazing resource finder making some phone calls even providing that the celeb received V.I.P treatment so on. At the end of the trip the celebrity gave my friend $5k ! That’s when my dear friend started the most amazing company for travel resources.

Now, as a luxury hotel you should be able to provide this same type of experience and service. Presenting resources for travel, entertainment, dining, and so on.

Try these luxury PR secrets out to book luxury hotels faster!

Cheers

Source: Hotels.com

In 2012 the luxury industry is going to be bigger than big. We saw a tremendous comeback in 2011 and now that luxury consumers are not shy about spending again things will pick up even more. For luxury PR and marketing there will be some major changes in 2012 and I want to give you a play by play.

What’s Hot

1. Mobile Marketing

In 2012 mobile marketing will be in big demand for luxury PR and marketing. Things you want to start doing now should be to make sure that your site is available for mobile viewing. While you may have a great site for Internet viewing you want to make sure that it can be seen just as beautiful on a mobile devices such as Iphones, Ipads, tablets, and so on.

Additionally, along with mobile marketing the ability to communicate via text messaging will be hot in 2012. It will be very important that you have a contact box for visitors to supply mobile contact information. This will allow you to send updates via text messaging. Which is vastly replacing email.

The hottest luxury PR and marketing tools for 2012 are Apps.

2. Apps

Apps known as Applications another word for software. You want to develop luxury apps that will work to assist your target audience to learn more about your luxury products, services, and goods.

Using Apps you present a luxury PR and marketing environment for interactive engagement.

What’s Out

Out = Social Media Sales Promotions!

No, I did not say stop using Twitter and Facebook please don‘t do that. However, I did say stop with the promotions. You have to engage your friends and followers in social media. Luxury is exclusive and this requires you to get social with your audience.

Promotions must be engaging and not a sales pitch. So what’s out is social media  sales promotions. What’s In is social media engagement promotions.

Now On To New Year In

3. Infographics

What’s new for 2012 is Infographics!

Also known as information graphics which presents visual representation of information, data, or knowledge in a picture.  The search engines are now indexing info graphics and for 2012 this will be the new luxury PR and marketing tool that you want to incorporate.

The possibilities for Infographics in the luxury industry are limitless. You have the ability to use high resolution lifestyle images and also educate and inform the consumer for desired influence.

Wishing you the most successful New Year in 2012.

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With the recent excitement of luxury brand IPOs more experts are predicting luxury stocks to rise. Citigroup has prepared a list of luxury stocks around the world projected to rise even higher. No doubt that the luxury industry is moving in the right direction.

We at MosnarCommunications.com were talking luxury PR when all others jumped ship but nice to have the attention back on the luxury sector and luxury stocks that are expected to do well.

Six luxury stocks Citigroup anticipates will rise:

1. Brown-Forman Corporation (BF-B): Market cap of $10.63B. Brown-Forman Corporation engages in manufacturing, bottling, importing, exporting, and marketing alcoholic beverages. Target price at $85 vs. current price at $74.63. Implies a potential upside of 13.89%. The stock has gained 21.36% over the last year.

2. Apple Inc. (AAPL): Market cap of $369.36B. Designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. Target price at $500 vs. current price at $401.36. Implies a potential upside of 24.58%. Might be undervalued at current levels, with a PEG ratio at 0.77, and P/FCF ratio at 12.28. The stock has gained 27.05% over the last year.

3. Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL): Market cap of $19.56B. Engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. Target price at $112 vs. current price at $119.77. Implies a potential upside of -6.49%. Exhibiting strong upside momentum–currently trading 22.52% above its SMA20, 23.74% above its SMA50, and 23.28% above its SMA200. The stock has had a good month, gaining 15.39%.

4. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT): Market cap of $9.94B. Operates as a hotel and leisure company worldwide. Target price at $60 vs. current price at $51.32. Implies a potential upside of 16.91%. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.07). The stock has had a good month, gaining 31.16%.

5. Starbucks Corporation (SBUX): Market cap of $30.72B. Operates approximately 16,858 stores, including 8,833 company-operated stores and 8,025 licensed stores. Target price at $48 vs. current price at $41.29. Implies a potential upside of 16.25%. The stock has had a good month, gaining 10.55%.

6. Saks Incorporated (SKS):Market cap of $1.75B. Operates fashion retail stores in the United States. Target price at $13 vs. current price at $10.69. Implies a potential upside of 21.61%. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.5). The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 32.21% (equivalent to 9.26 days of average volume). The stock has had a good month, gaining 23.45%.

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Social media users posted many more positive opinions than negative about Audi and other luxury car brands over the last 12 months, according to a new social media analytics report from Amplicate.

The report found that 85% of all opinions on social media about Audi (GR) were positive over the last 12 months, while 77% of all opinions on luxury car brands were positive ( http://bit.ly/w3P82T ). Only German rival Mercedes (DAI) was more loved on social media than Audi: 86% of opinions on Mercedes were positive in the 12 months.

Social media users had almost nothing bad to say about Audi, expressing particular enthusiasm for the Audi driving experience and the company’s commercials. Only Audi drivers bothered consumers enough to make them say something bad about the German auto manufacturer on Twitter and Facebook.

Ferrari (F), surprisingly, was the most hated luxury car brand on social media over the 12 months, with only 54% of opinions showing love for the Italian icon, although that had more to do with dissatisfaction with the Ferrari Formula One team and its drivers than unhappiness with their super-fast sports cars.

Amplicate’s new report ‘Public Opinion on Audi and Luxury Car Brands on Social Media’ ( http://bit.ly/w3nswJ ) reveals that the average social media user who posted an opinion on luxury car brands had over 500 friends or followers in the last 12 months and that fans of luxury cars were far more influential than haters of luxury cars.

Amplicate’s new report is one of its new company focus social analytics reports. Amplicate’s company focus reports offer a complete picture of what people are saying about a company and its industry. Reports explain what people have been saying, when and where they are saying it and why.

About Amplicate Amplicate tracks and analyses opinions on any topic posted on social media. It currently tracks over 160m opinions from over 30m people.

Amplicate has been featured in TechCrunch and its data has been used by The Telegraph and CNN among others.

Source Amplicate

This press release was distributed by Marketwire copyright reserved.

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Join Pam Danziger, the president of Unity Marketing, on Thursday November 10 at 12 p.m. EST to learn the 10 essential values every luxury brand has to deliver and how to these values work for your brand.  Branding is a long-term proposition.  It is an investment in the future of your business.  To build a luxury brand, it takes time to repeatedly convey a consistent value message that resonates with your target customer.  There is no such thing as a “pop up” luxury brand.

With the national economy still in a precarious position, luxury brands must emphasize the “luxe” to draw the attention of the affluent consumer, the nation’s heavy lifter segment that accounts for 20 percent of households but over 40 percent of spending.  To be successful, you need proven strategies tailored to your marketing needs.

How Do You Position Your Brand to Attract These Affluent Consumers?
Unity Marketing Has the Answers.

In this 60-minute webinar, you will learn:
•How to satisfy the youth passion for luxury indulgence through brand positioning
•How to think beyond features and benefits to “buzz”
•What ten brand attributes that every brand has to have to attain ‘luxury’ status in the consumers’ eye
•The five ‘hot button’ words that translate into quality for luxury goods
•How to think beyond product to deliver branding experiences for your customers

Danziger, the author of ”Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury”, will host this exclusive webinar, which will include actionable strategies drawn from case studies of successful luxury brands, plus plenty of time for Q&A.

The webinar will inspire you with innovative new ideas and concepts that are grounded in luxury consumer research

This webinar is appropriate for wide range of professionals in the luxury market.  Specifically:

•Brand managers who are responsible for well established heritage brands, as well as marketers interested in learning how to give luxury status to their fledgling brand.
•Advertising professionals will find this webinar useful to help ground their work with new research insights into the mindset of the luxury customers.
•Retailers will appreciate this session both to help them position their store as a destination for luxury consumers, but also to learn to sell their luxury goods and services more effectively.

The webinar will last approximately 60 minutes.  Subcription fee is $249, and covers an unlimited number of attendees at your site.  Subscribers will also receive a copy of the detail slides used in the presentation.  The recorded webinar will also be stored for an additional 30 days if you want to listen again or can’t make the live broadcast.  Finally, your subscription fee can be applied as credit toward the purchase of any Unity Marketing report.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing

Pamela N. Danziger is an internationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights for marketers targeting the affluent consumer.  She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992. Pam received the Global Luxury Award for top luxury industry achievers presented at the Global Luxury Forum in 2007 by Harper’s Bazaar.

Pam gives luxury marketers “All Access” to the mind of the luxury consumer. She uses qualitative and quantitative market research to learn about their brand preferences, shopping habits, and attitudes about their luxury lifestyles, then turns these insights into actionable strategies for marketers to use to reach these high spending consumers. Unity Marketing is the voice of the luxury consumer for such clients as PPR, Diageo, Tempur-Pedic, Google, Swarovski, Constellation Wines, Luxottica, Orient-Express Hotels, Italian Trade Commission, Marie Claire magazine, The World Gold Council, and The Conference Board.

Follow Pam on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/PamDanziger

Pam’s latest book is Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury:  How new consumer values are redefining the way we market luxury (Paramount Market Publishing, 2011).  Her other books include Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, published by Kaplan Publishing in October 2006;  Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses-as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) and Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

This press release was original distributed by Diamonds.Net copyright reserved.

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Just in time for the holidays, CREATETHE GROUP has launched a new mobile commerce site for luxury jeweler David Yurman on its renowned global e-commerce platform, CTS PLATFORM. The new mobile site, m.davidyurman.com, offers an ideal enhanced and optimized shopping experience for consumers by letting them shop from wherever they please. It also provides a multi-channel extension of David Yurman’s flagship commerce site, www.davidyurman.com , which has been powered by CTS PLATFORM for the past five years.

A recent survey from the Luxury Institute found that 20 percent of respondents with an income of $150,000 said they regularly shop from their phones. Among respondents with a net worth of at least $5 million, mobile commerce is even more popular. And, according to a recent PayPal survey, 46% of all US shoppers are expected to make holiday purchases with their mobile devices. Luxury and premium brands are projected to experience an uptick in holiday sales by offering the speed and convenience of mobile commerce to their consumers. In fact, David Yurman has experienced a 200% increase in overall website traffic through its mobile channels alone.

Key features of the David Yurman mobile site include an easy-to-browse and filterable product catalog for shopping with exclusive mobile promotions and a shopping brand section called “Style” — which gives consumers the ability to shop from celebrity looks and the ad campaigns featured on the site. In addition, there is an easy-to-use Store Finder, which enables consumers to find any of the eighteen David Yurman boutiques in ten states as well as luxury department stores that carry David Yurman merchandise using their current location. Shoppers can use either the mobile-enabled GPS capabilities to pin point a store near their exact location or use more standard store finder functionality such as zip code search or filtering by Country, State and City.

“We are delighted to launch this new mobile commerce experience that will make holiday and year-round shopping easier, faster and more in line with trends in consumer behavior,” said David Yurman President Carol Pennelli. “Many of our brand devotees are busy executives with little time to shop as well as people who simply appreciate the ease, convenience and speed of a world-class mobile commerce experience. We aim to please them all as well as reach new consumers who appreciate the quality and craftsmanship of our designs.”

“This new mobile commerce experience will allow David Yurman to transform the holiday shopping experience for both time-pressed shoppers as well as discriminating affluents searching for the most perfect, unique gifts,” said James Gardner, CEO of CREATETHE GROUP. “On a year-round basis, it will help David Yurman further deepen engagement with shoppers via exclusive promotions and incentives.”

About CREATETHE GROUP

CREATETHE GROUP delivers breakthrough strategies, services and technologies for premium and luxury brands that create and sustain emotional connections with consumers to drive measurable results. The Company’s innovative and emotional campaigns, communications platforms and commerce solutions maintain the highest levels of brand integrity across digital, mobile, social media and emerging channels.

Morpheus Media, a CREATETHE GROUP company acquired in 2011, provides world-class strategic digital media services including display media, paid search, natural search optimization, social media management, mobile and pay-for-performance marketing.

CTS PLATFORM, CREATETHE GROUP’s next-generation commerce platform, powers digital flagship experiences and seamlessly integrates global commerce and community functions with uniquely branded content. Its flexible front-end supports branded innovation without the limitations of traditional platforms. The managed cloud infrastructure provides enterprise performance, scalability and security. Supporting businesses across North America, Europe and Asia, the CTS PLATFORM features integrated content management, social shopping and cutting-edge business tools, including promotions, merchandising and reporting.

Headquartered in New York City with offices in London, CREATETHE GROUP has more than 250 employees with a client roster that includes Alexander Wang, Bulgari, Burberry, David Yurman, Donna Karan, DKNY, dunhill, Fendi, H&M, Jurlique, kate spade new york, La Perla, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, NARS, Neiman Marcus, NOWNESS, Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford and Vichy. In 2011 alone, CREATETHE GROUP has been featured in Fast Company’s “50 Most Innovative Companies” issue, ranking #5 in the Fashion Industry, and won Webby and CLIO Awards for NOWNESS.com. For more information, please visit createthegroup.com, follow us on Twitter (@CREATETHEGROUP) and Tumblr (createthegroup.tumblr.com), or email info@createthegroup.com.

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Macy’s, Inc. today unveiled an unprecedented, multi-year renovation that will reinvent and elevate the shopping experience at Macy’s flagship store at Herald Square in New York City. The project will fortify Macy’s Herald Square as one of the world’s favorite department stores (it’s already the largest) and a New York City icon.

The company is investing approximately $400 million in capital in the project over the next four years. Additional selling space will be added to allow for expanded assortments and upgraded presentations in key merchandise categories including shoes, handbags, cosmetics and fashion brands for millennial-generation customers.

Work will begin in early spring 2012 and continue in phases through the fall of 2015. The majority of every floor, virtually every department and the exterior of the building will be improved over the life of the project. The store will remain open and operating during construction, with the location of some departments shifting temporarily as work progresses.

“The excitement, size and scale of this remodel reinforces our conviction that Macy’s Herald Square is and will remain a retail store in a class by itself. It is our company’s most productive store, and experience shows that improvements in this location consistently result in higher customer traffic and sales volume. Our upcoming top-to-bottom remodel represents an investment in the future growth of our business as New York City continues to evolve as a world capital and shopping destination,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s, Inc. chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“Herald Square is a national and international symbol of the Macy’s brand. It already is one of the top tourist attractions in New York City and North America. It is the hub of the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And generations of fashion designers and celebrities have gravitated to Macy’s Herald Square as a place to launch products and showcase their newest ideas,” Lundgren said.

“While we will be creating a modern, customer-centric shopping experience for customers at Herald Square, we also will be careful to preserve and restore the historical integrity of this landmark building. Macy’s Herald Square is a treasure that we intend to protect and nurture. Blending Macy’s architectural legacy with advanced technology and contemporary design is what makes this project so special,” he added.

Key elements of the remodel project include:

– A 100,000-square-foot expansion of the store’s selling space to a total of 1.2 million square feet by opening up space currently used for stock and offices and extending the mezzanine level in the Broadway Building.

– A new hall of luxury brands, a dazzling series of two- and three-level shops in the Broadway Building. The current Louis Vuitton shop will be updated and enlarged to multiple floors. Other new shops to be announced will be added to provide a robust shopping experience for luxury goods, including handbags and shoes.

– Creating the world’s largest women’s shoe department — a total of 39,000 square feet of continuous selling space (63,000 square feet including stockrooms) on the second floor. The department will offer an unequalled assortment of fashion and luxury footwear (as many as 300,000 pairs of shoes available on any given day), including access to the second level of luxury brand shops. Part of the footwear space will be an all-new concept for a coffee/wine/chocolate bar.

– Dazzling, updated presentations of new and expanded apparel assortments from top fashion brands for which Macy’s is well-known.

– Restoring the first floor “great hall” with an all-new presentation of cosmetics, fragrances and fine jewelry that will incorporate the most advanced thinking on merchandising of the top brands and products for which Macy’s is well-known. The original great hall’s ceiling height will be restored.

– Creating an entirely new Impulse presentation of contemporary apparel and accessories for the millennial customer.

– Creating an entirely new “mstylelab” presentation of juniors and young men’s in the Lower Level. This will be a technology-infused environment of products and services appealing to the social instincts of younger customers. The hottest apparel brands will be complemented by juniors’ accessories, shoes, cosmetics and services such as a nail bar and salon. Also incorporated into the Lower Level will be a complex of casual dining experiences, including concepts created by Macy’s Culinary Council of celebrity chefs and a brew pub that will remain open beyond normal store hours.

– A significant expansion and enhancement of men’s merchandise, which will grow to cover about 200,000 square feet of selling space over seven floors of the Seventh Avenue Building. This will become one of the premier men’s shopping destinations in the world.

– Infusing technology and new media into the shopping experience throughout the store. This includes interactive store directories, a system to stream live video feeds of Macy’s events nationwide, digital product information, an enhanced shoe locator system, new wayfinding signage and a new mobile app to guide customers as they shop. Detailed design of the latter phases of the renovation project are yet to begin so new technologies and ideas may be incorporated as they emerge.

– A new table-service restaurant on the sixth floor with window access along Broadway that will provide stunning views of the Empire State Building and Midtown Manhattan. This all-new restaurant will be among 22 restaurants and foodservice stations throughout the store that will accommodate seating for about 1,100 customers, an increase of nearly 40 percent.

– An entirely new world of home merchandise on the eighth and ninth floors, including an enhanced demonstration kitchen and relocated De Gustibus Cooking School.

– A restoration of the store’s exterior to re-capture its original grandeur and take full advantage of foot traffic along America’s top retailing block. The ornate “Memorial Entrance” on 34th Street will be restored and reopened. Windows along Broadway, 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, which have been covered up over the years, will be reopened. Windows on the upper floors also will be uncovered to allow more natural light into the building. Sidewalks will be replaced, with Macy’s-branded paved “welcome mats” added at every entrance. Awnings and canopies reminiscent of the original building will be added. New exterior lighting will highlight the building’s elegant architectural details.

– Preservation of 42 of 43 historic wooden escalators in the current store — a unique and distinguishing feature of Macy’s Herald Square. (One current wooden escalator will be removed to supply replacement parts for the others.)

– An enhanced Visitors Center on the newly expanded Mezzanine level with technology in nine languages to serve a growing volume of international visitors.

– Expanding and upgrading amenities. Nearly 300 additional fitting rooms will be added over the next four years. Restroom facilities will be added and improved.

– Operating systems to improve environmental sustainability, including a new state-of-the-art energy management system and expanded use of LED lighting, that is expected to reduce annual energy use by 15 to 20 percent.

“Our design of the new Macy’s Herald Square reflects how a new generation of customers prefers to shop. In many cases, product will be organized by lifestyle to help customers create looks and build wardrobes across categories. On every floor and across departments, our shopping environment will be new, fresh, interesting and entertaining,” Lundgren said.

Macy’s Herald Square anchors two of the top retail corners in America — Broadway/34th Street and Seventh Avenue/34th Street. The first portion of the current Macy’s Herald Square store (the majority of the current Broadway Building) was opened in 1902. The store was expanded in three additional phases to its current form by 1931. The current building includes nearly 2.2 million gross square feet.

Over the course of the remodel project, an estimated 1,600 construction-related positions will be created. The total ongoing workforce in the Macy’s Herald Square store is expected to grow steadily as each phase is completed and the level of business accelerates. By fall 2015, Macy’s plans to add about 800 new positions to the store’s existing year-round workforce of about 4,600 persons.

Macy’s, Inc.’s internal planning, design and construction team is leading the Macy’s Herald Square renovation program, with master planning support from STUDIO V Architecture of New York. Component elements were designed by Highland Associates of New York, Kevin Kennon Architects of New York and Charles Sparks + Company of Westchester, IL.

Macy’s, Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation’s premier retailers, with fiscal 2010 sales of $25 billion. The company operates about 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, as well as the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites. The company also operates six Bloomingdale’s Outlet stores.

All statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Macy’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this release because of a variety of factors, including conditions to, or changes in the timing of, proposed transactions, prevailing interest rates, changes in expected synergies, cost savings and non-recurring charges, competitive pressures from specialty stores, general merchandise stores, manufacturers’ outlets, off-price and discount stores, new and established forms of home shopping (including the Internet, mail-order catalogs and television) and general consumer spending levels, including the impact of the availability and level of consumer debt, the effect of weather and other factors identified in documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(note:Additional information on Macy’s)(note:Inc.)(note:including past news releases)(note:is available at www.macysinc.com/pressroom ).

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Are we to be shocked or even stunned that Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Kris Humphries is ending only after 72 days of marriage. The luxury brands who banked on seeding Kim Kardashian as the luxury wedding brand ambassador are sure to feel the backlash.

It was never a smart move to seed Kim Kardashian to promote luxury wedding goods and services. There are often high risk with seeding celebrities and with the rise of social media as a culture this method may not even be effective anymore. A better approach is to engage consumers and offer exclusive goods and services directly. After all who is really going to say I want this for my wedding because Kim Kardashian did it?

Kardashian, 31, cited “irreconcilable differences” in her Los Angeles Superior Court filing on Monday, saying the couple have a prenuptial agreement and asking the court to deny spousal support to Humphries.

“I hope everyone understands this was not an easy decision,” she says in a statement to E!, which airs her reality shows. “I had hoped this marriage was forever, but sometimes things don’t work out as planned. We remain friends and wish each other the best.”

The major issue for the luxury wedding brand is how to regain trust of the luxury wedding consumer. In the world of luxury credibility is the highest regard.Gifting celebrities for exposure must be calculated and implemented with extreme caution. Next time before seeding any celebrity evaluate how sustainable is the celebrity as a brand.

While Kim Kardashian is a reality star with celebrity status. Her potential to remain sustainable relies on pulling celebrity stunts for attention.

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All eyes are on China for luxury brands and targeting the Chinese luxury market is the object of every major luxury brand. So the desire to capture market share in China as a luxury brand leader is the future for luxury brands wanting to sustain. China is leading the market for consumers purchasing ultra luxury goods and products.

The open letter addressed to the top management of Gucci China from its former employees, who resigned en masse last month, ripped the veil off the luxury brand and its working practices. The public suddenly realized that people who work for luxurious brands are not leading a lifestyle that matches their employer’s image.

Gucci is not the only prestigious brand that sets up production factories in China. The likes of Prada and Zegna have them too.

Thirty-nine-year-old billionaire Philippe Gaydoul tells swissinfo.ch why he wants to expand by trying to sell his Navyboot, Fogal and other brands in China. The group currently comprises four brands: Navyboot (shoes and accessories), Fogal (legwear and knitwear), Jet Set (sports fashion) and Hanhart (watches). Navyboot is the first to dip its pedicured toe into Chinese waters.

Some of the best customers of luxury brands in China—gift-giving entrepreneurs and corrupt officials—might also turn out to be their worst enemies. Corruption is a fact of life on the mainland. China comes in 78th in Transparency International’s corruption index, ranking equally with Colombia. With expensive gifts a routine channel for corruption, the luxury sector owes a part of its explosive growth to the dark side of China’s rise.

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