Back in 2018 Edward Campbell, vice president of new business and thought leadership for Highsnobiety coined the term “cultural pioneer,” in partnership with the marketing firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), igniting a new conversation around people who don’t just consume luxury goods, but experience them.
“BCG approached us because they have a global panel of 10,000-plus general luxury consumers making X number of purchases a year,” Campbell told Sourcing Journal. “What they wanted us to find was someone who is not just defined by the luxury purchases they make, but by their almost super-engagement with brands and marketing and their social influence.”
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Campbell describes the cultural pioneer as typically younger than 35, having more Instagram followers than their cohort and more knowledgeable about the products they buy.
“It’s almost become kind of a youth pastime, if you will, alongside engaging in sports, in music and what have you,” Campbell said. “It’s definitely someone [who] takes more of a front seat in terms of how they like to see themselves and how they build their identity.”
Ever since, BGC and Highsnobiety have published an annual report addressing the state of luxury consumption and its future prospects. The 2023 edition, titled “Navigating What’s Next,” found that 93 percent of these consumers were able to identify at least six luxury brands, compared to just 60 percent of the general luxury population and half of them, compared to one-quarter of the general, self-identified as creative.
Cultural pioneers, according to the survey, indicate they are more interested in the longevity of a product than current trends with 72 percent reporting be less concerned about having the newest products.
“These people are investing in more subtle items,” Campbell said, and “leaning more into things that are built on quality and timelessness as well.”
Preppy styles and fashion expressing gender fluidity are at the top of their tastes, and among the cultural pioneers, 61 percent say that post-pandemic, they are looking for travel experiences that are “more once in a lifetime.”
“I think post-Covid, across the board, the experience economy and spending money on experiences, broadly has taken more of a front seat,” Campbell said, pointing out popup stores in exotic locations as an example. “I kind of feel like retail has almost become marketing in a way, and in some ways marketing is retail—it’s just become a lot more like a closed circle.”
But if the report had one word to define the cultural pioneer in 2023, it would be “community,” and brands and retailers interested in earning their dollar need to keep that in mind.
The report urges companies to focus on “Stories over product; knowledge over possession; community over crowd; participation and experiences over observation.”
While the report finds clear distinguishing characteristics between cultural pioneers and traditional wealthy consumers, what will become of the Gen Z—those between 10 and 25—is up in the air.
Gen Z has a reputation for prioritizing sustainability and environmental responsibility, and, as the first digital natives, is expected to fuel Web3 and metaverse spending. According to the Highsnobiety/BGC report, millennials and Gen Zers account for about 40 percent of the luxury market now, but that share will leap to 75 percent by 2026.
Companies hoping to win Gen Z shouldn’t be afraid to try something new in pursuit of the digital generation’s wallet share.
“I think you have dinosaurs that are always scared of the new, and also, by the way, you’ve got old school luxury players that are doing phenomenally well,” Campbell, citing Chanel and Gucci as commendable examples. “There probably are brands that are sort of scared or nervous, but I think the way to look about it is it’s not like an all or nothing thing—it’s a complementary thing.”
As for the expectation that Gen Z consumers will really champion sustainability, Campbell believes he’s seeing “less lip service” from them than from previous generations.
“Even myself, working in marketing—every now and then we would always get a sustainability brief from a client, but now, almost, sustainability is a thread that runs through almost everything. I haven’t really seen that,” Campbell said, pointing to a potentially promising future in luxury resale. “Perhaps, you know, sustainability is not just about the green item or the vegan leather, or the locally made item; maybe buying the new thing that had a lot of energy spent on it, but then selling it on to another person and that person selling it on to another—that, for me, is still part of the sustainability conversation.”
