Sometimes you come across these amazing ideas/thing/concepts. Like this one. I guess I’m not the only one who loves some good old urban art. Graffiti artists are keen to think out of the box and often provide you with some ‘eye candy’ in your city.

Some people at Mini Cooper must have thought the exact same thing before they asked KR. He’s famous for his use of over juiced metallic ink in New York. This guy is also is the first writer to make money developing his own ink—KRINK. This ink was used to create this Mini. I call it art, what do you (th)ink?

For more information on KRINK click here

Even in the biggest economy of Europe, Germany, luxury brands getting though hits by the current crisis.

It’s hard, but basically – it’s time to face the facts: In this global economic downturn, even rich consumers are taking a deeper look, and more carefully weighing purchase decisions – much to the discomfort of marketers worldwide.

Every luxury brand fears the critical eye of the newly frugal consumer, but the tests of time have shown advertising is an indispensible necessity in recession. The famous studies by McGraw-Hill in the 80’s, showed that brands that continued or increased advertising during the 1981-1982 recession experienced an average increase of 256% in post-recession sales, over those who didn’t.

Comforting to know, although today’s strategy should be a slightly different one. Considering the fact that the global media already is calling this crisis one of the most s evere since the depression of the 1930’s and recent studies like those of Unity Marketing (US based luxury market research firm) present disturbing news on the spending behavior of affluent consumers. “Specific changes they are making to their lifestyle according to our latest survey are reducing the times they dine out and shopping less frequently. Affluent shoppers are showing a new frugality that may well become a habit once this recession ends.”

Furthermore, Richemont, maker of luxury watches, is currently facing the toughest market conditions since its formation 20 years ago. Richemont’s spoke person: “We see no cause for optimism. We must assume that there will be no significant recovery in the foreseeable future and plan accordingly to cope with this situation.” With those ominous words in its trading update last January, Richemont provided the first concrete signal to the luxury industry of the depth of the global downturn, raising the question of its long-term impact on the sector as we know it.

Several more examples could be given to illustrate the downfall of the luxury market. Potentially, luxury brands could face some of the toughest hits during this crisis, as brand erosion is just around the corner due to tempting short-term solution to drop prices of luxury items to a minimum. Luxury marketers could be pushing the panic button anytime soon now. So, who will be the first to fall?

here are several different schools of thoughts:

One theory says that “affordable luxury” will suffer as customers retreat to their comfort zones. For the rich, this means only the best products (no trading down) and for the poor, it means highly accessible, mass-produced products or better: ”value-for-money-products”.

Others say that small, independent brands are the most at risk. With tough credit conditions in a highly cash-flow intensive stage of their development, these businesses lack the oxygen they need to grow. What’s more, they argue that department stores will flee to “names people know,” a euphemism for those with big brands and advertising firepower.

But big brands are not immune to this slow down either, especially if we take a longer-term perspective of what is going on. Unlike small fragile businesses or overextended banks, it may take years for the eventual decline of some of the big brands we know to play out, as it is unlikely to come from cash flow or liquidity issues. But, it will happen, eventually. Even big names, as we have already seen across the retail sector (and the economy more generally), can fail.

So in truth, there will be companies who will struggle in all of these segments, while others will thrive. This is a good thing. Joseph Schumpeter called it creative destruction; the process whereby sleeping giants are replaced by innovative upstarts over the longer-term. The question remains: how will luxury brands going to survive?

Alfredo Silva is a freelance Marketing & Communication strategist. Contact Alfredo: alfredo@klatergoud.com