This conceptual paper revolves around trends and research challenges in luxury brand management for the future. Four broad research trends are identified and discussed. First of these is the issue of country cannibalization at the strategic and tactical level. Second, is the issue of make-and-buy brand portfolios, revolving around how brands can be acquired from the market and internalized with the portfolio, and how brand managers think in relation to this. Thirdly, the issue of luxury partner branding is discussed in relation to modifier and modified brands, and their relation towards and between each other. Finally, the issue of old brand extensions is developed and discussed in depth.

Although luxury branding has become extremely important, it is a seriously underleveraged area within the current brand management research (Uggla, 2014). In the 18th century, sociological acceptance of luxury was enabled through the advent of liberalism (Smith, 1776). Several trends, such as the division between luxury and morality (Hume, 1752), the emergence of the bourgeoisie after the Industrial Revolution, the increased independence and emancipation of women, and the trend towards general democratization (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009), converged to create an emergent market for luxury goods, thus creating and reiterating a process of social stratification among customers and segments in a market (Kapferer, 1991 and 1997; and Dubois and Paternault, 1995).

According to Keller (2009), luxury branding is in many ways one of the purest examples of branding that exists within the realm of strategic marketing and “Luxury brands are perhaps one of the purest examples of branding, as the brand and its image are often key competitive advantages to create enormous value and wealth for organizations” (Keller, 2009).

Brand Management Journal, Leveraging, Luxury Brands, Prevailing Trends, Luxury Brand, Cannibalization, Armani Exchange, Research Challenges.