Richard Smith & Milena Castellnou

The meaning of ‘luxury’

MRS Conference

September 16th 2015

Richard Smith Director

Milena Castellnou Research Manager

J:\Current Jobs\F+\22109 Luxury ZMET study for MRS conf\Reporting/MC RS 10.09.15

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A dictionary definition of luxury

Pronunciation: /ˈlʌkʃ(ə)ri/

Definition of luxury in English:

noun (plural luxuries)

Mass Noun

An inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain: luxuries like chocolate, scent,

and fizzy wineCount Noun

A pleasure obtained only rarely: they actually had the luxury of a whole day togetherIn Singular

Middle English (denoting lechery): from Old French luxurie, luxure, from Latin luxuria, from luxus

‘excess'. The earliest current sense dates from the mid 17th century.Origin

A state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense: he lived a life of luxury


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What would help us to understand luxury better?

We know what luxury looks like / what represents luxury : SO WHAT?

We wanted to know how consumers thought about luxury

• What does it mean to them?

• What does it give them?

• What thoughts, feelings and behaviours are associated with luxury?

• What frames and mental models do they have around luxury?

We wanted to know what luxury

‘means’

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Principles of ZMET

195% of human thinking and emotion happens in the

subconscious – afterwards, decisions and attitudes are

rationalized but are they the true motivation?

2Thought and emotion is a series of neural activations in the

form of images, not words – therefore research needs to go

beyond words in order to go deeper.

3Metaphoric thinking is the basic mental process by which we

create meaning and make sense of the world. Metaphors can

open windows to the subconscious.

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Emotion is critical to how we think, behave, and interpret our

world … and is intimately intertwined with reason. Metaphors

can uncover and explain our largely unconscious emotions.

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Who did we speak to?

Younger

‘spare cash’

• Aged 25-40

• £75k+ household income and/or £75k+ liquid assets

• None with children4

Middle-aged

‘spare cash’

• Aged 40-55


• At least 2 with dependent children4

Wealthier /

Mass Affluent

• Aged 30-65


• All to be ‘sorted’ financially

• At least 2 with dependent children under 18

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With that in mind, please find 3-5 pictures which express your thoughts and

feelings about luxury and the role of luxury in your life

We set a simple pre-task

Luxury is a hot topic at the moment. The V&A are currently running an exhibition

on luxury. Recently Channel 4 had a programme on what luxury meant to the

ancient Greeks.

It’s easy to think of the classic symbols of luxury; the things that represent luxury.

But what is the role of luxury in your life? What thoughts and feelings come to

mind?

Now, imagine you had to express these thoughts and feelings without using

words…and you had to do this using pictures instead.

• List of do’s and don’ts

• Invitation


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Luxury is an experience not an adjective!

When people think about the meaning of

luxury and its role in their life they focus on:

• What luxury does for them

• The emotions that produces

So, when people buy a luxury product –

they are buying the outcome, not the

features

Outcome

Emotion

Attribute

Benefit


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Luxury is relative and is correlated with contentment

• Direct connection or correlation between luxury and

wealth

• The unattainable; the yacht; the 10 star hotel; the

Steinway concert grand

• Still ‘hungry’ for luxury – perhaps postponing

current enjoyment

There is a spectrum of luxury, depending on

how contented people are with their lives:

• The little things in life that money cannot buy

• Something they have or is within their grasp

• Focus on how blessed they are / the luxuries they

experience


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Amongst our target audience we found some key frames or ‘Deep Metaphors’ for luxury

TIME

CONNECTION PERSONAL

EXPRESSION

CONTAINER:

FREEDOM / ESCAPE

PROTECTION

CONTAINER:

PROTECTION


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Time is at the epicentre of the meaning of luxury

The most valuable resource of all

• Time for yourself

• Time that can be purchased

• The stress caused by lack of time

Time is relative when it comes to

luxury:

• BEFORE: The anticipation

• DURING: Time changes

−Goes slower for pleasurable

experiences

−Goes quicker for things that

might be dull

• AFTER: The memories linger


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‘healthy’ luxury involves experiences which can be shared

“what you have in your life”

•Family and friends

• Gifts from others

• Sharing /gifting to others/ with

others

• Being able to own a pet / having

the time to look after it / have it

looked after for you

There is a yin /yang between:

• Luxury for ME

−But not necessarily –

sometimes pampering or

owning something special can

be OK

• SHARED luxury / gifted luxury

−Although sometimes sharing

can go as far as ‘showing off’


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Luxury is freedom – but also safety and separation

Luxury strongly linked with FREEDOM

and ESCAPE

• FREEDOM to do whatever you

want to do

• ESCAPE from the normal / the

everyday

But luxury also linked with protection,

safety and insulation:

• COCOONED in your house / away

from the world

Luxury provides SEPARATION from

the crowd


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Being able to express your own personality and identity

Displays of wealth sometimes

perceived as the darker side of luxury

So preference for:

• Understated luxury

• Authenticity

Expressing your own identity

• Making you feel superhuman


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A framework for luxury, with Time at the centre

Time

Protection

Connection

Freedom / Escape

Personal Expression

You invest time in order to

build protection into your life

– which is then recognised

as a luxury

Connection

impacts on the

quality of the

time you spend

For much of your life, your time

is not your own in luxury it is

released

Products and experiences

that take time to make and

that carry memories and

therefore express the

impression you wish to

make on the world


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How do these ideas interconnect in the ‘shared mind’

Consensus mapping illustrates a simplified

neural network for the topic

How does one ‘bit’ of luxury connect

with all of the other bits?

Outcome

Emotion

Attribute

Benefit

Identity


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Time is one of the most important themes and directly feeds into a sense of control and achievement

Personal

services

Free

time

Choices

In

control

AchieveBeing able to buy time, to have

additional time.

.... I suppose it gives you a feeling of

power, which is that you've got

choices that most people don't have.

“

“


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The choices that a luxurious lifestyle offers also have a strong impact on the sense of control over one’s life

You feel quite grown up; quite mature.

Because it's an every day functional

thing it's really important. Every day

when you're going through your

wardrobe you feel really nice and

organised. You feel together.

Expensive

/brands

Choices

In

control

Achieve

Finely

created

Bespoke Beautiful

/classic

“

“


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Free time is also crucial to be able share experiences with loved ones and create strong connections

Peak

experience

Free

time

Sharing

Connection

/ love

To me, luxury is more what you have in your

life rather than what you can buy in your life.

… you know that you're better for it

as a person because you know

what really matters, what's really

important…..it's that thing of

making time to spend with family

and getting your priorities right.

“

“

“ “


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Experiences allow individuals to escape their routine, relax and be themselves

Peak

experienceNature/

quiet

Escape

Me time

Recharged

/ at peace

Freedom

to be me

Anticipation

I like to go fairly unencumbered, and to me it's a

pleasure to leave all my belongings and all my

woes and stresses at home and then just go

and see how other people live.

…the luxury of feeling

pampered ...You feel

uplifted, energised, relaxed,

….it's just a joy. It's it's very

easy to forget things or

switch off

“

““

“


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The experience continues in memories and reinforces existing connections

The pictures do hold parts

of my life that I've

experienced and I wouldn't

want to lose that. I like

having memories

triggered, invoked and I'm

not sure whether or not that

would occur with as much

frequency.

To have that moment where

everybody in your family,

everybody that you care

about where everybody is

completely content that is

quite an achievement. I

actually return to memories

like that and they're very

precious.

“

“

“

“

Beautiful

/classic

NostalgiaConnection

/ love

Finely

created

Peak

experience


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The emotional implications of gift giving should not be overlooked

Privilege

Freedom

to be me

Gifts

Being a

provider

Giving /

Treating

others

Unexpected

I feel very privileged that

she only gets four people

to put on her

concessions and I'm one

of them. A) it proves that

I'm a very close friend of

hers. B) I am extremely

grateful …. It's sort of a

sense of excitement

I have got the ability to affect other people in the

same way, so they feel like that as well …So whilst

I've achieved luxury I am creating luxury for

people that matter to me.

“

“

“

“


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Exclusivity is multidimensional: it creates an impression of safety and is also seen as a privilege that allows individuals to be themselves

Peak

experiencePrivate

clubs

Exclusive

Separation

from others

Protected

Privilege

Freedom

to be me

It feels a bit exclusive. It's a good

crowd in there. it's just nice, working

in a place in Covent Garden, to have

somewhere that's a bit of a

sanctuary.

“

“


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Private

clubs

Expensive

/brands

Exclusive

Impress

Feeling

superior

Exclusivity also has an external dimension: it is a way to impress people and feel superior to the crowds

An element of a feeling of success and

achievement, because you're

associated or you can get access to a

certain club ... if I had an outward feeling

of success it would be inviting friends, or

family or something like that, but

mainly friends, to the club for

entertaining.

I think that the way human

beings operate is that it offers a

sense of, 'I have something that

you don't', a sense of one-

upmanship, a sense of, 'I'm

doing better than you are'.

“

““

“


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Personal indulgences through shopping can occasionally leave a feeling of guilt

Expensive

/brands

Indulgence

Guilt

If I found myself suddenly buying those things

for myself it wouldn't feel like me. If I then got

pleasure out if it, well, then I'd feel slightly guilty

for it. It would seem a betrayal of myself … I

would feel I'd taken away from giving things to

my children or something.

“

“


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Personal

services

Peak

experience

Private

clubs

Expensive

/brands

Nature/

quietExclusive

Free time

Beautiful/

classic

Nostalgia

Escape

Separation

from others

Impress

Choices

Me timeSharing

Connection

/ love

Recharged

/ at peace

Protected

In control

Privilege

Feeling

superiorFreedom

to be me

Achieve

Finely

created

Bespoke

Gifts

Giving /

Treating

others

Being a

provider

Unexpected

Anticipation

Indulgence

Guilt

Attributes

Functional outcomes

Psychosocial outcomes

Emotional outcomes

Identity experiences

For a luxury brand or service:

• In which territory do you want to play?

• What would you want to add?

• What would you want to change?

• What would you want to reinforce?


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Final thoughts

For this target audience; mass affluent working folk with some money…

Luxury is an experience, not a luxury

- when you’re selling a luxury ‘X’ - focus on the benefits of X

Luxury can be aspirational, but not always - sometimes it’s the things you have as much as the things you

want or can be bought

Time is at the epicentre of luxury - the most valuable finite resource in human experience

Space and separation are also important, both in terms of exclusivity and a sense of safety; protection;

feeling cocooned

Sharing and gifting luxury takes away any negative sense of indulgence, selfishness or display

In positioning overtly luxurious goods, the benefits should not be solely positioned as indulgent or status

driven; if you allow the angel and the devil to ‘come to an arrangement’ within the mind of your target

consumer, you have much more chance of success!


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For further information

www.bdrc-continental.com

+44 (0) 20 7400 1018

+44 (0) 7875 549065

[email protected]

Richard SmithDirector

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Milena CastellnouResearch Manager

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Richard Smith & Milena Castellnou