They, the French, Swiss and Italians have more than their fair share of high-end prestige brands that make money.
These wines tend to be more expensive than producers' entry level, nonvintage brut wines, but cost less then high-end prestige cuvées.
In Southeast Asia, but especially in the Philippines, cockfighting enjoys a high-end prestige as a social lubricant for businessmen and politicians akin to golf in the United States.
"They want everything high end".
Leininger claims that the Michelob brand has a kind of prestige, high-end image, and that the low-carb aspect offers "a health benefit".
Prestige, for one: high-end craft beer is being made with ever more exotic ingredients, like cacao nibs and imported honey, and it is often aged in whiskey or wine barrels.
Posh Pawn (Channel 4), returning for its fifth series, followed the fortunes of Prestige, a small chain of high-end pawn shops.
"High-end brands like Dior and Chanel will be for the prestige consumer, which is completely different from the local brand market," he said.
But just as royalty now has less attention than celebrity, so couture has lost its unique prestige, with the word bandied about by any high-end designer.
But Ferrari is about more than cars and profit: its selling point is prestige, status and sex appeal, carefully calibrated through the economics of high-end luxury.
