COLLABORATION WITH ART IN THE LUXURY INDUSTRY AS A MARKETING TOOL FOR VALUE CREATION

The paper examines the role of art in value creation in luxury brands and the insights for consumption of luxury items made in cooperation with artists or under inspiration by art heritage. The paper concentrates on artistic collaborations and on collaborations with art heritage in cases where an artist has passed away but their paintings inspire designers and become interpreted and implemented into a luxury brand. These collaborations bring strong emotional and symbolic values for consumers as e.g. aesthetic pleasure, as well as feelings of being an art connoisseur and a part of global cultural elite. Moreover, luxury items with visual artistic elements (LIVAE) can provoke an interest in the arts and create educational value for people. The study was carried out in Moscow and the primary data was collected during March-April 2018 using online in-depth interviews with members of Facebook and Instagram communities devoted to luxury brands. The conducted research allowed the author to find out about the awareness of LIVAE and reveal the motives for their consumption among Muscovites such as 1) expressing individuality and demonstrating understanding and proximity to art and 2) getting an aesthetic pleasure for self. These motives form the two following segments of LIVAE consumers: 1) attention and differentiation seeking individualities and 2) aesthetic connoisseurs.