Devoted to branding and building and protecting brands

We've said it here before, but the latest Biz Week piece just reminds us that luxury brands aren't bad horses to be riding when you're riding out recessions.  People will abandon their self-rewards last.  I don't mean than luxe marks are immune to bad times.  However, those $22,000 handbags from Burberry make four-buck-a-gallon gasoline seem especially surreal. Point is, in the words of retailing consultant Dana Telsey, "the media has created much greater brand awareness, and that's not going away".  We agree with her longer-term assessment that "the cycle will come around."   Indulgences and "feel good" purchases are part and parcel of economic squeezes.  Are hair appointments easier to get these days?