In marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 and advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, premium refers to a segment of a company's brand

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

s or products that carries tangible or imaginary surplus value in the upper mid- to high price range. The targeted high income customer

Customer

A customer is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services...

 group is also frequently referred to as "premium". Premium brands are designed to convey an impression of exclusiveness, especially in the mass market

Mass market

The mass market is a general business term describing the largest group of consumers for a specified industry product. It is the opposite extreme of the term niche market.-General:...

s. Frequently, companies will invent different (sub)brands to differentiate their product lines into a premium and a general segment (e.g. Toyota with their Lexus, Prius,and Scion marques). In most ways, the premium segment can be thought of as the contrary to generic brand

Generic brand

Generic brands of consumer products are distinguished by the absence of a brand name. It is often inaccurate to describe these products as "lacking a brand name", as they usually are branded, albeit with either the brand of the store in which they are sold or a lesser-known brand name which may...

s. In that sense, the term "premium" replaces the traditional attribute "luxury

Luxury good

Luxury goods are products and services that are not considered essential and associated with affluence.The concept of luxury has been present in various forms since the beginning of civilization. Its role was just as important in ancient western and eastern empires as it is in modern societies...

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