The Future Laboratory’s recent webinar, ‘Luxury & Hospitality Futures’, explored emerging trends in the luxury and hospitality sectors, as well as the drivers shaping these trends. In particular, the event centred around a new sector macrotrend, ‘Guilded Luxury’, an elevation of opulence. Our very own Alan Hunt, Co-Founder of The Collective was among the panel of experts for this event, providing his own insights on some of the topics raised including how ‘luxury brands are ‘seizing on safeguarding strategies’ to build long-lasting and enriching relationships with their clientele.
Rarity Reset
As the world enters a new (but frighteningly familiar) era of global economic and political uncertainty, luxury brands are now turning their attention away from the aspirational consumers and towards their so-called Very Important Clients or VICs. You can read my previous article on the topic here. Arguably, it is by building deeper connections and providing more enriched experiences to their VICs that luxury brands will be able to weather this economic storm. The key to Guilded Luxury is enhanced exclusivity; this is not the ‘by invitation only’ luxury that we’re used to, but instead a tiered level of access offering a multitude of benefits for the highest spenders.
Maximalism Mindset
If you are anything like me, you desperately missed traveling during the pandemic, craving that sense of adventure that had been so lacking from all of our lives. With us all having been so restricted over the past few years, there seems to now be a pent-up demand amongst consumers for… extra; for heighted escapades, and to experience the extravagant. Spending on big ticket items soared post-pandemic. According to the Future Laboratory, private jets now account for 25% of all air traffic in the US. This figure has doubled since the pandemic.
As Chris Sanderson, Co-Founder of The Future Laboratory, has said ‘the luxury brand is transforming into a travel agent, hotelier and cultural compass’. ’Luxurians’ are in search of ‘excessive, extravagant and edgier hospitality experiences’. I’m thinking ‘floating breakfast in an infinity pool of an exclusive 5-star hotel in Bali overlooking an elephant sanctuary’ or a ‘drinking delicious Greek white, on a sunset cruise of the caldera on a private yacht in Santorini’. Every planned piece of minutia is Guilded Luxury – the cherry on top of the splendid sundae.
The Future is Collaborative
Guilded Luxury is just once approach that brands are taking to combat these unprecedented times, however, they will have to find other creative solutions to the challenge landscape they face. Many are embracing technology to create those future-proof protections. I like to think of it as the perfect balance between the absolutely necessary and the absolutely vogue;
- In-Style Security: As ‘Luxurians’ are spending more time and money online, and with the development of the Metaverse, digital security will need to grow with it; Fendi x Ledgers are well ahead of the game on this.
- Virtual Craftsmanship: The protection of supply chains and craftspeople is paramount for the survival of luxury brands. Emerging technologies will enable brands to upskill craftspeople remotely, as well as create products and services that straddle the physical and digital arenas.
- Digital Assets: NFTs and other digital assets have their own role to play in this new tiered model, with many luxury brands viewing them as a way of delivering a more bespoke service and as such unlocking a more reciprocal and fruitful relationship with their most valued customers.
- Post-copyright Creativity: The use of block-chain in the luxury design world is an exciting way to authentic a piece’s history, but also gives consumers a sense of control over brand-narrative. Again, this is about feeling (and without a shadow of a doubt proving you are) part of the exclusive in-crowd.
- Medi-Luxe: With an ageing population and growing climate-related ailments, we will see more collaboration between luxury and medical and a shift from holistic experiences to those which incorporate luxury healthcare as, according to The Future Laboratory ‘health will be considered a metric of personal wealth and success’.
Final Thoughts
The offering of Guilded Luxury and a tiered offering is interesting; does it exacerbate an already growing divide between the rich and, well, everyone else, or does it mean accessibility to those aspirational Luxurians who may be able to participate at ‘level 1’. Does it anger or excite Luxurians? Will the focus on VICS in this unprecedented cost of living crisis be enough? Will embracing emerging technology enable the luxury sector to enter new unknown markets and succeed there?
Food, or should I say, vogue for thought.
Want to join The Collective, and contribute to the debate?
Email us at: The.Collective@lewissilkin.com