The Future of Modern Affluence
I had the joy of attending the Future of Modern Affluence Summit at 180 The Strand, to find out all about the next generation of luxury consumers. Read on to discover the main themes, plus a little extra research, opinion and context from me.
Move over Millennials. Make way for the Alphas.
Jamie Caring (Sevengage) believes that ‘Unlike prior generations, wealthy young people today don’t seek other people like them’. This poses a challenge to traditional members clubs such as Quo Vadis and Annabel’s which were all about ‘belonging’ to a clique. It also presents an opportunity to new ones, such as Soho House Group and Airbnb Luxe and which are about discovering a more diverse circle of friends, experiencing and exploring beyond the obvious. Chris Kenna (Brand Advance) says ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome’. Chloe Franses agreed that ‘affluence today is not about birds of a feather. It’s about lifestyle choices. It’s not about mass consumption, it’s about rarity and discovery’. Which perfectly paves the way for…
…Virtual Possessions & The Metaverse.
Virtual possessions, like this digital Gucci Bee bag are predicted to be an industry worth $400bn by 2025. Yes, for real. This digital Gucci Bee bag re-sold for $4,115, that's $800 more than the physical, real life one, and people are already investing in virtual items such as NFT art, entertainment, digital racehorses, digital furniture to put in your digital house on your digital lands to secure their virtual place in our digital future. If you don't believe, speak to an Alpha parent. That's a parent of a person born between 2010-2020 - most likely a Millennial (and also me). They'll tell you their kids are already hooked on Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, and would prefer to save up for a digital skin or game than a real life object. Indeed, my gamer husband just bought the Balenciaga virtual collection. If this makes your head swim, perhaps it’s time for a digital drink, said Katherine Templar Lewis.
Have you experienced the Metaverse yet? Right now, says Karina Abramova, Cultural Insights and Trends Director for Bacardi, it replicates the real world with experiences such as concerts, and virtual real estate tours. In 20 years, it will facilitate completely new and unimaginable experiences, which will ‘dance seamlessly alongside the real world through your augmented reality’.
Re-Commerce.
Ning Yuan, from Ning Dynasty, says ‘the value of luxury goods is not the cost price. It’s the cost price minus the benefit of owning it (financial and emotional), minus it’s eventual resale value’. When you put it this way, luxury can be a worthwhile investment. Something our instagram influencer generation learned by doing!
Woman of the year, Rachel Reavley, added her view to the mix - ‘the environmental entrepreneurs of today will be the trillionaires of the future’.
Using resources more wisely (ESG)
James Lohan, founder of Mr & Mrs Smith says people want to ‘Stay longer. Go deeper. Explore the whole country, not just a city’ and implores us to ‘do something [sustainable] rather than nothing, because every little counts’. Liam Bailey, from Knight Frank, mused that ‘a sustainable approach to property is to buy something that will evolve with your needs over a lifetime, thus doing more with less (resources and materials), and minimising wastage’. Jamie Caring chipped in, ‘the younger the consumer, the more vocal they are about waste - unnecessary print production, inks and carbon footprint a a no-no for this audience’ which calls into question that need to ‘touch and feel’ luxury marketing materials. Diana Nieto Verde, founder of Positive Luxury champions the idea that ‘it’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do’ and that to make a meaningful contribution, businesses need every individual within an organisation to play their part rather than relying solely on the CSR department. Dr Rebecca Nadin wants us all to note that ‘it’s not just a climate crisis, it’s a biodiversity crisis’ while Matteo Atti, from Vistajet believes ‘Carbon offsetting is only the beginning. It’s about becoming carbon positive, to make a difference’. Chris, from Ocean14 Capital gave Blue Marine Yacht Club as the example of where the wealthy can use their power to make a better world.
Personalisation & Ownership at DNA level.
Luxury has always been about personalisation and bespokeness, right? Traditionally this has been about expressing your individuality through design and colour choices, with the help of a designer or ‘co-creator’, it was still conformist to a white-male-skewed world. Now, it’s about infusing the product with your unique DNA for the ultimate expression and secure proof of ownership. In fact Stephan Tual, founder and owner of Ethereum and 3 Billion Pairs Genetics, believes the near future is all about decentralisation of the internet, digital ownership of your personal data and digital possessions, and he has a personal mission to improve diversity in health research by enabling pharmaceutical companies, for the first time ever, to buy guaranteed diverse sets of genomics data for their product innovation studies. On the flip side, Adoreum partner David Tazibel’s story couldn’t be more juxtaposed - as a single child to an IVF business owner, he took a DNA test to learn more about himself and… discovered he had 30,000 brothers and sisters (he doesn’t go on dates anymore).
Space Travel.
Space. It’s the new consumer luxury frontier. Becky Galea from Deloitte announced it, and we all know it, yet no-one was quite sure what to say about this topic. In my view, a huge market has opened, in the wake of Virgin Galactic, Space X, Blue Origin and NASA, with new experiences underway from the likes of Space Perspective, and complementary products such as the capsule bodywear collection designed for the weightless environments experienced in consumer space trips, by Under Armour. Watch this ‘space’.
After a thoroughly thought provoking curation of talks, Diana Nieto Verde provoked us with the question ‘What is the purpose of your business beyond profit?’ This is the question your brand needs to answer, in order to survive and thrive in the 21st Century.