: I guess to understand we would need to know what it feels like to
: have unlimited funds, through one means or another...

: I expect the reality is that $10000 to many of the people who buy
: this "luxury tat ;-)" is perhaps like $100 to us.

: Different world indeed, but many of these items do sell...if your
: brand is strong (which is the key)

: Rich

Unlimited funds don't grant unlimited taste, in my experience!

Rather, it leads to things like this:

Yes, that's a real Daytona that real Rolex really ruined :) Or take a look at any Vertu phone to see how much taste is involved in buying one of those. I thought conspicuous consumption was out of vogue nowadays, apart from China and maybe some pockets left in the middle-East...

I'm quite a brand loyal person, but I do look for adding the brand to add value in some real way, whether it be an increase in real or perceived quality or some other less tangible benefit. I also want the brand extension to make some sense - do I want Bentley cutlery? No thanks, my WMF cutlery does the job very well, thank you, and is the company doing what it's good at, not plonking its badge on any old tat and ramping the price up 100-fold.

Do I want to spend 3 times the price of the base car so Aston Martin can awkwardly graft some of their visual trademarks onto a tiny city car?

Do all those Ferrari dressing gowns hurt the image of the brand more than the help the financial bottom line? Maybe, maybe not, but you just screwed your chances of being let out at the next junction.

I guess the conclusion is that, whilst some people are still discerning enough only to buy real quality, others really do have more money than sense and brand owners are increasingly happy to indulge them!