The BMW Gina is a concept car made of cloth. BMW is cited by luxury marketers as a brand doing digital marketing right.

Luxury brand marketers are investing in digital advertising to reach affluent consumers on the go and they’re willing to pay for it. But they also want the ability to measure their return-on-investment.

So says a new study by Martini Media, a digital media and content platform intended to reach consumers with the most money and influence online.

Developed in partnership with veteran research expert Michele Madansky and Digiday, the Luxury Brand Advertising 2012 Outlook study polled over 345 luxury brand marketers, including Aston Martin, Baume and Mercier, Five Star Alliance, Godiva, Jaguar, Virgin Airlines, each of the media agencies that represent the brands and many more.

“Overall, while the majority of those surveyed indicated that investment in digital is indeed growing, luxury brand marketers want much better ways to reach affluent consumers on the go,” said Martini Media CEO, Skip Brand.

“Those audiences have more dollars than time and expect an engagement experience that standard banner units do not deliver. And while they are willing to pay for it, if they cannot measure the return across their investments, it is an issue.”

Specifically, the study found that:

• Luxury brands plan to spend more on digital. Half believe that growth will be greater than 10 percent.
• Rich media, social, mobile and video are biggest digital growth areas.
• Digital media is perceived as effective at driving favorability and both online and in-store purchases. Digital is seen as a better mechanism for driving online sales. Half think that digital is more effective at driving retail sales as well. 80 percent believe that digital is as effective or more effective at driving brand favorability. 60 percent believe it is as effective at building brand awareness.
• Those surveyed perceive that the following brands do the best job at digital marketing: BMW, Burberry, Chanel, Lexus, Mercedes, Tiffany, Cartier, Porsche, Audi, Tag Heuer, Rolex, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Coach, Apple, Inspirato, Agent Provocateur, American Express, Caesars, Capital One, GE, Gilt Groupe, Harry Winston, Hilton, IWC, JetBlue, Johnnie Walker, Kate Spade, La Prarie, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Mini, Omega, Oscar de la Renta, Samsung, Starwood and VW.\

To download Engaging the Affluent Online: How Luxury Brands are Leveraging Digital Marketing to Connect with Customers or to learn more takeaways from the survey, seeL www.martinimediainc.com/luxurystudy

Related Stories:

• Wealthy consumers feel more connected to brands with mobile apps
• Consumers want to see marketers invest in email, Facebook, web sites
• Want to reach affluent consumers: they’re in cyberspace
• Social networks fail to deliver many online sales
• Advertisers will boost digital video ad spending by a quarter the next 12 months

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Tags: growth expected, luxury brand digital marketing, Martini Media, study