TREND #1

Brand-New Style

There’s a conspicuous consumption in today’s environment that demonizes the historic excesses of the top 1% of the buying population. Instead of simply buying status symbols, today’s affluents are also embracing “bragging rights” to show they’re smart shoppers.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Take a tip from top luxury names that are showing they have a new style. Chanel, for example, showed its fashions at the Grand Palais in Paris, in a venue that was set up like a supermarket. While the models were all wearing Chanel clothing, they also sported sneakers. Talk about a fresh statement. What could be less traditionally luxurious?

TREND #2

History Repeats

Unity Marketing has found that between 70% and 80% of today’s affluent consumers tie their perception of a given brand to both experience and familiarity. In other words, most of them have already owned or experienced the brand’s products, most likely during the past five years.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Use marketing communications to educate the affluent consumer about a luxury brand. The more familiar that prospective customer becomes with a brand you offer, the more likely they are not to view it as overrated or not worth buying.

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TREND #3

Change That Tune

For years, and in some cases even decades or centuries, some luxury brands have been continuing to sing the same old song and do the same old dance for both current and prospective customers. Recently, cracks have begun to show in the wall of some of the “same old stories” that have long served as the traditional luxury marketing platform.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Create a new story that matters, especially to moneyed millennials, whose oldest members (age 35) will soon be approaching middle age, as well as their peak income years. That generation is looking to both brands and shopping experiences that capture their mood and their spirit. One brand that has answered the call is the re-imagined Saint Laurent. By dropping the Yves from its name, but keeping Saint Laurent Paris, it connects to the brand’s history but also looks ahead to tomorrow.

TREND #4

Younger Is Better

While affluence tends to come with middle age, the 35- to 44-year-olds who fit into that buying category are more valuable to marketers than their more senior middle agers, who range from 45 to 54 years of age. According to Unity Marketing research that was conducted over the past 11 years, younger affluents spend between 1.5 and 2 times more on higher-end goods and services than their older affluent counterparts.

MAKE THE CONNECTION: As a marketer, you need to begin to plan now for the transition of dominant generations—that is, from today’s boomers and Gen Xers to tomorrow’s customer, the millennial. That transition will begin between 2018 and 2020 and really take hold by 2029.

The millennial affluents will be very different from their monied parents and grandparents, so start getting ready today for tomorrow’s key customer by asking three questions. Where do your business and brand fit into the new style of luxury? How do your competitors compare? And, finally, is there an essential new style of luxury message that you need to communicate?