As a marketing academic, manager and consultant I will give an explanation of this very interesting phenomenon here.
Sorry, in advance, for the academic/technical marketing language - this is from a conference presentation of mine (with all credit and references to all other authors included).
Before the text, let me just point out that
Rolex is trying to create a virtual rarity via limited advertising and, generally, very selective and restricted marketing communications.
In more detail:
"...In order to maintain their prestige, luxury brands must sustain high levels of awareness while, at the same time, controlling tightly their sales.
This is a really hard task for managers of luxuries; Catry (2003) has identified possible ways so that the expansion of sales into emerging new luxury segments remains compatible with the maintenance the of the desired scarcity. As he points out,
“luxury goods companies are not selling rare and exclusive products. But, like magicians, they are adept at pretending to do so by offering an illusion of scarcity”.
While, historically, rarity has stemmed from the use of naturally scarce materials such as diamonds, gold or silver, or through the hand-made craftsmanship process where an item would need weeks or months to be manufactured and would, therefore, be unique, nowdays this is no longer the case ; instead, in an effort to reconcile differentiation with high production volumes companies are adding a
virtual dimension to rarity (Kapferer, 2006; Catry, 2003) by using marketing techniques such as artificial shortages and limited series or policies such as selective distribution or an appropriately designed marketing environment.
Catry (2003) distinguishes between four types of rarity, ranging on a continuum from natural to virtual:
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Natural rarity, based on scarcity of ingredients, components, limited production capacity, rare human expertise. This type of rarity is incompatible with sales expansion and high production volumes due to limits in availability of materials or human or production constraints (e.g. Valmont’s use of rare alpine herbs to produce its high-end Swiss Cosmetics; large waiting lists for Mercedes SLK Coupé during its first years of production; an 18 years old whisky needs 18 years to be made).
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Techno-rarity, based on innovations, new products and features (e.g., first fridges or air bags). These products are not compatible with excessive production due to initial cost inefficiencies - though not as much as the naturally rare products; so, they are usually reserved to the top lines, until technology becomes massive or obsolete, when it is passed-down to more the cheaper lines.
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Limited editions or custom-made products (handmade products: some exclusive brands of Cuban cigars, originally made for F. Castro himself), and one-to-one relationship (e.g. Vuitton Graffiti bags, painted in hand by Steven Sprouse himself). Again a high volume is not attainable due to cost limits or human constraints; in addition a “pseudo-limited edition” strategy is used many times whereas, while there are no actual constraints in mass-production, a marketing hype is falsely created around limitedness.
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Information-based rarity, where the information communicated to customers creates the feeling of rarity, through a manipulation of various techniques such as playing with pricing information or creating distribution rarity . PR communication is especially suited in order to create informational-type of rarity
as opposed to massive advertising. Finally,
secrecy - where the ingredients or number of items available are not publicly disclosed - can contribute to an information-based rarity strategy.
Rarity creates the feeling of uniqueness which is essential to luxuries; generates consumer dreaming and an aura of illusion... It may be difficult to reconcile rarity with expanding sales, but not impossible; after all, according to Catry “
luxury firms have always been experts in the art of selling illusion”.
Hope this helps
Minas