Brand extension to the maximum. That’s marketing speak for taking a brand name from its original domain or product category to another one in the hope that a successful brand’s aura works the same magic on anything it gets associated with it.

Take Armani, for example. Not only can you wrap yourself in the man’s fashion creations, but you also can sip water (preferably expensive and imported) from an Armani glass, eat from an Armani dish and even sleep on Armani linen. In short: you can live in an Armani Casa as the designer’s home furnishings and accessories brand is called (see www.armanicasa.com).

But it doesn’t stop there. What if you’re away from home, traveling. Say to Dubai. How can you live “Armani style” then? How about an Armani Hotel. Well, such an idea is worth a billion dollar and that exactly the amount of the deal signed last February between the Armani Group and Dubai’s leading developer Emaar to launch a chain of Armani branded luxury hotels and resorts, 14 in total

No date has been set for the opening of the first hotel, to be built as part of Emaar’s Burj Dubai project (expected to be the world’s tallest tower). The announced locations for the hotels cover Dubai, Milan, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai. At least six of the hotels and two of the resorts will open within five years.


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