The logo has called it a day

Luxury is back

Dear luxury industry, I have some good news. You can start growing again.

BCG and Altagamma have surveyed over 10,000 people with well-stocked bank accounts, and the verdict is: luxury is back. Two to five per cent growth, rising to as much as four to seven per cent by 2029. This isn’t a champagne high, more like a refined aperitif. But at least it’s sparkling again.

However, the guests at the bar have changed.

What’s happening right now

The ‘aspirationals’ – those who treat themselves to a handbag once a year and then photograph it three times a week – have shaken up the industry in recent years like a martini. In one moment they’re in, the next they’re out, depending on interest rates and market sentiment. Now they’re getting back on track.

The real backbone of the business is the top customers. A small number of people who reliably spend a lot, regardless of whether the stock market is up or down. Their share of turnover has risen from 14 to 24 per cent over the last ten years. These are the regulars who don’t need to book a table.

And what do they want? This is where it gets interesting. When asked about their reasons for buying, logo visibility comes in at number 18 out of 18. Last. Far behind. The large monogram on the chest is about as sought-after as a fax machine. Luxury, it seems, no longer needs to constantly proclaim that it is luxury. Design, craftsmanship and timelessness take the lead. Today, luxury means: I have time, I’m healthy, I treat myself. Not: Look at me, everyone.

Creative directors, too, can breathe a sigh of relief – or gulp. More than half of aspirational consumers do not know who sets the creative direction for their favourite brands. The industry celebrates every change of personnel as if it were a change of manager in the Bundesliga, whilst the clientele ask: ‘Who?’ It’s a different story with top-tier customers. Many of them pay attention to who designs a brand, and some turn away if they don’t like a new direction.

Then there’s the price. Around 70 per cent of those surveyed have at some point put something back on the shelf because they felt it wasn’t worth it. These aren’t bargain hunters. They are people with money and taste who refuse to applaud a price increase without getting anything in return.

My plea to brands – and particularly to car manufacturers – therefore consists of six points.

1. Become the answer provided by AI

The initial selection no longer takes place at the car dealership. It takes place in the chat window. Anyone who asks, ‘Which Gran Turismo is right for me?’ will be given three names. If yours isn’t among them, there’ll be no test drive. And if yours is mentioned at last year’s price, there might be one – but with a frown.

The figures speak for themselves: around 80 per cent of regular AI users amongst luxury customers have already used it to research luxury products, explicitly including cars. And they trust the answer almost as much as they would the advice of a friend.

That doesn’t mean brands should now write copy for machines. On the contrary: they must talk about themselves in a way that’s clear enough for both people and machines to understand what they stand for. Easily readable information rather than just pretty pictures. Honest answers to genuine customer questions, from boot capacity to comparisons with the competition. The same story across all channels, from the brand website via dealers to the trade press. Incidentally, according to the study, the brand website is the most trustworthy source of all. Treat it like the company’s best showroom.

And every now and then, ask yourself what the AI is actually saying about you. It might be more revealing than any market research.

2. Less chrome, more craftsmanship

The logo came in 18th out of 18, even when it comes to cars. Nobody buys a car because of the larger emblem on the bonnet. You buy it because of the lines that will still look right in ten years’ time, because of the stitching that holds up, because of the door that sounds as if you could store the Bundesbank’s gold reserves behind it.

The emblem can stay. It confirms the choice. It no longer needs to justify it, and certainly doesn’t need to shout about it.

3. Make the price structure transparent

Seven out of ten luxury customers have at some point put off a purchase because they felt it was too expensive for what it was. This applies to top-tier customers just as much as it does to first-time buyers. These are people with money who won’t be taken for fools. This finding should be pinned to the wall in every product meeting.

If an equipment package costs more than a small car, you should be able to tell why. If the difference between two trim levels consists of a new name and a trim strip, probably not. And if the heated seats are fitted but have to be unlocked via a subscription, it feels like a hotel room with a coin-operated shower.

Every step up the ladder needs an answer to the question: what extra do I get? Fewer packages, but put together sensibly. And a carefully designed entry point, for example via certified used cars with a manufacturer’s warranty. Anyone who switches to second-hand cars because the price is too high stays within the same brand.

The good news is that those who leave usually remain in the luxury segment. The only question is whether they’ll stay with you or go to the competition. Incidentally, a discount isn’t the solution. A reason is.

4. AI in the workshop, a human on the phone

When AI books the workshop appointment, reports the repair status and explains what the yellow warning light means, nobody takes offence. On the contrary: the study found virtually no resistance to this in after-sales service. The customer saves time, and time is the new currency of luxury.

5. Sell time, not just horsepower

Today, luxury means: I have time, I’m healthy, I treat myself. At the same time, the market is shifting from wardrobes to lifestyle. Experiences, travel and indulgence are growing faster than handbags and watches.

A mountain pass drive through the Dolomites, including an overnight stay and a factory tour, is worth more than another tenth of a second in the 0–100 sprint. Especially as many electric cars accelerate faster than your stomach would like anyway.

A car from which you step out after eight hours on the motorway without feeling as though you’ve spent eight hours on the motorway is more luxurious than one that gets you to your destination faster. Comfortable seats, a quiet cabin, fresh air, beautiful lighting: the car can be a sanctuary. Added to this are brand experiences, customer clubs, ceremonial handover ceremonies, and partnerships with hotels and restaurants.

And the finest service is the one where the customer doesn’t even realise their car has been in the workshop. Picked up, serviced, returned. Time saved. Luxury doesn’t always have to make things faster. Sometimes it’s enough simply to make life more pleasant.

6. Regulars over walk-in customers

The top customers are those who don’t need to book a table. Their share of the luxury market has grown from 14 to 24 per cent over the last ten years, and they aren’t thrown off course by any economic downturn. The proportion of one-off buyers, by contrast, is set to fall from around 60 to 40 per cent. The future belongs to relationships.

If you accompany the customer from their first car to their fourth, there’s no need for a discount battle at the end of the quarter. Hardly any other luxury category offers so many natural occasions: handover, first service, travel, end of lease, successor model, and eventually classic car status. So don’t treat the customer as though the transaction is complete once the car has been handed over. The handover is just the beginning.

Reward loyalty with things money can’t buy: early access to special editions, invitations, meetings with developers and designers, and a glimpse behind doors that would otherwise remain closed. Exclusivity ranks sixth among the reasons for buying. And because buying whilst travelling is becoming less important, the support provided at home counts all the more.

Incidentally: new money from Silicon Valley doesn’t automatically buy old-school luxury. If you want to attract tech millionaires, you have to tell them something they don’t already know.

However, to be part of the club, you need more than just a loyalty card. And that brings us to the more exciting question.

The study measures what luxury customers want. But it fails to answer one key question: why should they believe that a particular brand, of all things, can give them exactly that? This is where the real idea begins for me. If the logo says less, the brand must mean more again. What follows builds on the figures and takes them further, in four lines of thought: from meaning, through a brand’s world and its stories, to the ethos behind it.

What does this mean to me?

The findings on the logo are more than just a passing fad. For a long time, luxury was an outward sign: you bought something and the reaction of others came as part of the package. This function is not disappearing entirely, but it is losing significance. The core values remain stable: quality, durability, value. What is new is the question the customer asks of the brand. It used to be: What does this say about me? Today, it is more often: What does this mean to me?

A logo cannot answer that. The product, perhaps, can – through its history, the memories one associates with it, the way it ages, and the people behind it. This shifts the role of a luxury brand. It no longer needs to shout from the rooftops that it is valuable. It must provide reasons why it is of value to a person. Everything else in this section follows from this one question.

The trick lies in keeping this world consistent. The car dealership, the website, the service centre, the customer event, the tone on the phone and, nowadays, even what an AI says about the brand: everything must be part of the same world. A single false note is enough to shatter the spell. Consistency is the subtlest form of credibility. You hardly notice it, but you miss it immediately.

And what about a sense of belonging? The study shows that luxury, as a symbol of belonging, has lost its power over the last nine years, and recognition by others ranks very low amongst the reasons for buying. No one wants to be a member of a club whose sole purpose is to be admired from the outside. What people are seeking is a different kind of belonging: to an attitude, a taste, a body of knowledge, a way of life. You belong without having to show it. You recognise one another by the details, not by the emblem.

A brand can offer this sense of belonging if it has more to offer than just a product: places where like-minded people meet, knowledge shared amongst connoisseurs, rituals repeated year after year, an attitude with which people are happy to identify. Then the customer becomes part of the story. At some point, the marketing department no longer needs to tell the story, because the customers do it themselves.

Tell stories, not adverts

A world on its own is not enough; it needs to be told. If you tone down the logo, you need something to fill the space. That is the story. The study provides the clue straight away: a brand’s origin and reputation rank fifth amongst reasons for purchase, whilst social media and influencers lag far behind when it comes to trust. Anything that sounds like advertising gets skimmed over. What sounds like the truth sticks in the mind.

The right stories are the ones that are already there. The workshop where the same hand movements have been passed down for decades. The race that was lost, and from whose defeat a magnificent car was later born. The designer who scrapped a design three times. The customer who has been driving to the same lake every summer for thirty years. Stories like these have one major advantage: they don’t have to pretend to be true. You don’t have to invent them; you have to find them and listen to them.

And the tone? Restrained, carefully observed, with respect for the audience. Good storytelling treats customers as readers who are thinking for themselves. It doesn’t explain everything; it leaves room for interpretation. That’s what distinguishes a narrative from a brochure.

AI will play a role here too. It can research, organise, translate and vary content, and it can assist with storytelling. The fact that, according to the study, AI-generated campaigns are among the areas that provoke the most reservations nevertheless fits the picture: people can sense whether a story has been lived or calculated. No AI can make a memory feel genuine after the fact. If a brand wants to have a story to tell, something must have happened first.

A brand needs a soul, and you have to take that seriously

The term ‘brand soul’ can easily sound like something out of an advertising agency or a scene with incense sticks. Yet the reality is quite tangible: a brand can only be as animated as the people who create it. The culture in development, the standards in assembly, the design decisions, the way a customer is treated when their car has the same fault for the third time, the tone of a salesperson’s voice once the deal has long been done: all this creates something that customers cannot always describe, but can sense very reliably. You can’t simply order it from any agency.

The study provides a clear indication of this. Most customers don’t know the Creative Director. Yet they can still sense whether a brand knows who it is. Top customers can sense it very clearly indeed: Around 15 per cent of them have already stopped buying from a brand because they didn’t like a new creative direction. So you don’t need to know the name to notice a shift. And a shift in attitude costs trust, even if the logo remains the same.

Authenticity isn’t a style you choose. It’s the result when culture, product and narrative come together. This takes patience, because credibility grows slowly and is lost quickly. Those who have it need to be less loud. Customers then pass the story on themselves – over dinner, in the car park, in a chat window.

Source: BCG x Altagamma, True-Luxury Global Consumer Insights 2026, 12th edition, July 2026. Survey of over 10,000 luxury consumers across 11 markets. About the study