Is it just me ?

[Fagin2021]

Marketing blogs and forums often list words and phrases that are supposed to have a positive effect on the reader – leading to visits and purchases.

My particular bete noir is ‘luxury’. I constantly get emails inviting me to go on a ‘luxury’ cruise, stay in a ‘luxury’ hotel, travel on a ‘luxury’ train and so on. I even get invitations to subscribe to, or advertise in, a magazine called ‘The Art of Luxury’.

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

It appeals to those have no money and no experience of the world and so gains no traction

It goes against one of the golden rules of this forum "know you target customer"

If these people knew their targets they would not write the literature that alienates their potential customers

 

[UKSBD]

Marketing blogs and forums often list words and phrases that are supposed to have a positive effect on the reader – leading to visits and purchases.

My particular bete noir is ‘luxury’. I constantly get emails inviting me to go on a ‘luxury’ cruise, stay in a ‘luxury’ hotel, travel on a ‘luxury’ train and so on. I even get invitations to subscribe to, or advertise in, a magazine called ‘The Art of Luxury’.

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

Luxury doesn't mean that to me, it means more comfort, better service, better experience, better atmosphere, etc.

If they are luxury cruises, luxury hotels, luxury trains, it would be strange if they didn't mention it.

 

[MOIC]

does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

Guru - means they've done a one day course on the subject.

Entrepreneur - means someone that has just stated a business.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

"Elevate" seems to be the one that I am seeing everywhere. "Elevate your holiday experience".... "Elevate your mealtimes".... "elevate your outfit"....

Eurgh...

 

[UKSBD]

"Elevate" seems to be the one that I am seeing everywhere. "Elevate your holiday experience".... "Elevate your mealtimes".... "elevate your outfit"....

Eurgh...

If they are using "Elevate" it probably means they are using AI

 

[HFE Signs]

Marketing blogs and forums often list words and phrases that are supposed to have a positive effect on the reader – leading to visits and purchases.

My particular bete noir is ‘luxury’. I constantly get emails inviting me to go on a ‘luxury’ cruise, stay in a ‘luxury’ hotel, travel on a ‘luxury’ train and so on. I even get invitations to subscribe to, or advertise in, a magazine called ‘The Art of Luxury’.

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

You've probably brought your wife a bunch of luxury flowers or chocolates and AI has weeded it out and thought 'this guy love his luxury items'

 

[fisicx]

Quality is misused, often by tradesmen. Doesn’t indicate the level of quality, just that it’s quality guaranteed or whatever.

 

[Ian J]

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

It's you. Invariably luxury will be expensive as opposed to basic but it most definitely doesn't mean "tarted up or tacky"

 

[Fagin2021]

You've probably brought your wife a bunch of luxury flowers or chocolates and AI has weeded it out and thought 'this guy love his luxury items'

Obviously you didn't read the bit about 'Scottish heritage'.

It's you. Invariably luxury will be expensive as opposed to basic but it most definitely doesn't mean "tarted up or tacky"

Ok, it's a fair cop guv. However, 'luxury' still conjures an image of a deep-buttoned, velvet covered sofa with wine stains. I shall go and hang my head in shame.

 

[MikeJ]

"Exclusive".

We've got an exclusive offer for you... Oh, does that mean you're not offering to anyone else on your mailing list?

 

[UKSBD]

"Last spot remaining"

I get them all the time, often the same one to 4 or 5 different email addresses on same day.

 

[Mark T Jones]

That is target marketing working well.

Like you, I'd avoid the luxury tag - which is good for them, because we're not the people they want. They want people who subscribe to the notion that luxury = superior and are happy to pay for it.

A number of the other exaqmples on here don't work, they are just over-used clches which are unlikely to resonate with anyone.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Is it my Scottish heritage

Probably!!!

 

[BaileyLeblanc]

It seems to me that it is important for those who came from rags to riches

 

[japancool]

It seems to me that it is important for those who came from rags to riches

Such as?

 

[fantheflames]

This is a great thread! Keep them coming @Fagin2021

I think for me, overly dramatic words like 'unleash', 'unlock', and 'supercharge', as well as softer ones like 'elevate' and 'discover' are words that can feel meaningless at times.

Words like top-notch or game-changer are words are now associate with AI.

 

[Porky]

Word-aversion hmm

The word “Surreal” irritates me, one of the top over used words especially by z list celebs.

Agree with you on “Luxury” it doesn’t irritate me like “Surreal” does but totally agree, one persons perception of what is luxury is going to differ vastly from someone else’s.

My daughter can’t stand the word “Moist” I don’t have a problem with it myself

 

[japancool]

The word "rockstar" is in my top 10 list of most irritating marketing-speak.

 

[Fagin2021]

Slightly tangential but 'craft fair' brings me out in a cold sweat as does 'fresh fruit salad' as the sole option on a menu.

 

[YuriyZaletskyy]

Marketing blogs and forums often list words and phrases that are supposed to have a positive effect on the reader – leading to visits and purchases.

My particular bete noir is ‘luxury’. I constantly get emails inviting me to go on a ‘luxury’ cruise, stay in a ‘luxury’ hotel, travel on a ‘luxury’ train and so on. I even get invitations to subscribe to, or advertise in, a magazine called ‘The Art of Luxury’.

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

I approach luxury with ROI ( return on investment ) mindset.
As usually I get my customers from the conference, which happens in one luxurious hotel once a year. Duration of that summit is as usually 5 days. I name these days: days of the harvest. Before my business generated kind of good income, I used to visit the conference in luxurious hotel, but stayed in cheap AirBNB. But once my business started to generate some traction, I decided to stay in luxurious hotel. Just kind of background information, price in hotel is 10x times more expensive, then in AirBNB. But because I stayed in that luxurious hotel, I was able to get some couple of customers, who I meet at 00:23 am ! and 01:20 am ( in the middle of the night ). And these customers paid back my investment for the hotel.

Another example, I have one friend who used to have luxurios BMW and luxurious Mercedes and Porche. All with bells and whistles and so on. On my question, why such an overkill, his reply was unexpected. He used BMW for joining BMW VIP club, Mercedes for Mercedes VIP club, and the same with Porche. And because he was a member of these clubs, he was able to sell his luxurious services to different club members, as they had their nice time on riding, meeting, discussing what's going on, etc.


P.S. actual names of clubs are different

 

[Ricklaws]

Marketing blogs and forums often list words and phrases that are supposed to have a positive effect on the reader – leading to visits and purchases.

My particular bete noir is ‘luxury’. I constantly get emails inviting me to go on a ‘luxury’ cruise, stay in a ‘luxury’ hotel, travel on a ‘luxury’ train and so on. I even get invitations to subscribe to, or advertise in, a magazine called ‘The Art of Luxury’.

To me, ‘luxury’ means expensive, unnecessary and tarted-up tacky. Is it my Scottish heritage or does anyone else have similar word-aversion ?

Yes I agree %100 Luxury means over rated and EXPENSIVE !!

 

[Nathanto]

Yes I agree %100 Luxury means over rated and EXPENSIVE !!

I couldn't DISAGREE more!

I used to help run a Luxury B&B with my girlfriend; it was more expensive than all the other B&Bs in the area but that is different to being expensive and similarly we had a 9.8/10 to 10/10 score on Booking.com so rightfully highly-rated by guests and not at all over-rated...

Regarding the "expensive" tag, when we first started a local competitor said we were pricing too high by expecting to get £100 a night for a room. We only opened for select weeks in the year and the following year we were fully booked with the best rooms going for £200 a night. Many of those guests also immediately booked again for the following year so I don't think they considered it over-rated or expensive...

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

'AFFORDABLE' "inexpensive; reasonably priced"

I know a few people in the higher end fashion industry, one of whom brought out a new trainer brand, 'giving people the opportunity to buy something cutting edge and 'affordable'.

£200 a pair!

 

[fisicx]

Used to know a couple who would only ever buy designer gear (clothes, appliances etc). Had nothing to do with quality and everything to do with parading their wealth. Nobody needs a Ferrari but you can't show off in gwiz.

That being said, my mate went to an Aston Martin open day. The car park was full of the things. He took his Austin Allegro. Guess which car everyone wanted to look at.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I couldn't DISAGREE more!

I used to help run a Luxury B&B with my girlfriend; it was more expensive than all the other B&Bs in the area but that is different to being expensive and similarly we had a 9.8/10 to 10/10 score on Booking.com so rightfully highly-rated by guests and not at all over-rated...

Regarding the "expensive" tag, when we first started a local competitor said we were pricing too high by expecting to get £100 a night for a room. We only opened for select weeks in the year and the following year we were fully booked with the best rooms going for £200 a night. Many of those guests also immediately booked again for the following year so I don't think they considered it over-rated or expensive...

My view here is that nearly all of us have our own view of premium goods and Poundland goods. Stuff we will happily pay the extra for quality (our own interpretation of what that might be) and stuff where the cheapest will do.

At the extremes are a few who can never understand the difference between price and value and those who spend more 'just because'.

Price is your friend in the premium market - obviously it earns, it attracts your own premium customers, and actively detracts those who don't understand your added value

 

[Chris Ashdown]

The word that gets up my nose is Celebrity rety or Star, A few minutes on a show or film somehow makes you one of them just for doing your job, and every one made out listen to these people as they are a Celebrity. even some sluts on some TV shows are the same. My old dog now unfortunatly must have been one every one who met him always admired him and petted him

 

[Mark T Jones]

The word that gets up my nose is Celebrity rety or Star, A few minutes on a show or film somehow makes you one of them just for doing your job, and every one made out listen to these people as they are a Celebrity. even some sluts on some TV shows are the same. My old dog now unfortunatly must have been one every one who met him always admired him and petted him

Celebrity anything is a huge turn-off for me, too.

But in reality, I don't think the people marketing it are missing us.

 

[UKSBD]

Collaborations (not celebrity) annoyingly lure me in.

I'm a NY Jets fan (American Football) and spend far too much on polo shirts because of a silly badge.

They are doing a collaboration with Charles Tyrwhitt - https://www.charlestyrwhitt.com/uk/jetspartnership.html

Would I pay £60 for a plain white shirt? - doubtful
Would I pay £60 for a plain white shirt with a little bit of Jets branding (barely noticeable) - Yes

It annoys me that I get lured in to doing it though