Luxury and frugality: an unnatural marriage?

In 1982, a brilliant advertising agency (BETC hadn’t been founded yet at that time!) created an incredibly powerful tagline to celebrate Levi’s rebellious spirit and audacity: “When the world zigs, zag.”.??But now, as the world is moving toward more frugality (whether by choice or by force), is it a good thing that the luxury industry is moving in the opposite direction? Without giving up on what makes luxury appealing and desirable, there are new narratives to explore to bridge the gap between an industry whose very definition is the opposite of frugality these newfound aspirations. These narratives could revolve around the celebration of the craftsmanship behind the products and the celebration of a new way of “being-in-the-world”.?

Recently, two macro-trends have joined forces to question our model of society. On the one hand, the new inflationist era we have entered has impacted the purchasing power of billions of people around the globe – sparing, it is true, the wealthiest among us…??On the other hand, we observe – slightly but surely – a growing willingness to adopt a less consumption-driven way of living. For sustainable reasons (fighting climate change should require consuming less) or for philosophical reasons (the quest for buying new things appears meaningless to an increasing number of people). To the point where 79% of prosumers[1]?agree that?“(they) could be happy in a more frugal world”. Frugality: here it is.?

The concept of frugality has reached an unexpected popularity in the last month whether by force - saving money to pay the bills, or by choice - fighting climate change at an individual scale. For instance, it’s in the name of frugality that part of the European population has decreased its energy consumption this winter. We also observe a global trend revolving around the notion of consuming better. As a matter of fact, in our latest proprietary research ‘Making Frugality Desirable’[2], 42% of prosumers declare that “the solution to the climate issue will come from improving our consumption”. And the same prosumers link this improvement of consumption to frugality that they define as the art of?“not wasting anymore”?(67% of prosumers),?“not buying what I don’t need anymore”?(65% of prosumers) and even“making more things [themselves]”?(33% of prosumers).?

At first sight, that might all seem far, far away from the realm of luxury. There are as many definitions of luxury as there are experts of luxury in the world, but one could agree on a few distinctive characteristics of this industry. By essence, luxury is all about abundance. We use luxury as a qualifier to comment Balzac’s writing style when he composes a scene with a “luxury of details”. Luxury is what is superfluous, unnecessary & abundant. Quite the opposite of what frugal sounds like.?

The true question to ask ourselves: is this really an issue? Is it a problem for luxury not to be frugal? And if so, what should be the alternative: should luxury adapt itself to match a global aspiration to more frugality? Even if it means risking losing its “je ne sais quoi” and “presque rien” that make luxury so unique and special? Or on the contrary, should luxury keep on assuming its unapologetic way of being? In this case, the risk would be to cut ties with the rest of society.?

As often with complicated questions, there are no obvious solutions. But rather a way of playing with the rules - a balancing act on a rope stretched between polar opposites.

Here are my two cents:??

1.?????Embrace the global growing trend towards a more frugal lifestyle with luxury’s very own weapon: the products themselves.?

Frugal is synonymous with less but better. Applied to products it means higher quality made to last. Which could perfectly suit luxury way of doing things. Sourcing and securing the best materials are cornerstones of this industry. Thanks to these highly qualitative materials enhanced by a specific know-how, it is possible to create objects that can be kept for decades and even handed down to family relatives. There is also another opportunity to explore in terms of narrative: the manufacturing and merchandising in luxury is more frugal than in other industries. Even if LV sells millions of small leather goods every year, it’s much less than the number of cans produced by The Coca Cola Company. Even if the number of luxury customers is growing in the world, it’s still limited to ‘only’ 400 million individuals (according to most recent 2022 figures from Bain Consulting). A figure that is, once again, much smaller than the number of FMCG consumers. As a result, the luxury industry produces less goods than other industries leading to much less unsold inventory than in any other industry.

All of that makes for an interesting narrative to amplify as a luxury brand. Especially when – according to one of our recent proprietary research projects – 58% of Chinese prosumers who buy luxury goods agree with the statement?“I expect luxury brands to be even more quality driven by investing in creating more long-lasting products”.

2.?????Celebrate a new art of frugal pleasures and joy.??

So, we have the reassurance on the intrinsic quality of luxury goods that stands for a kind of genuine sustainability leading to a more frugal vision of the world. But beyond that, there is in the idea of frugality itself, an invitation to embrace a new relationship to joy and pleasures.

To say things like a memorable German philosopher, luxury can give birth to a new way of “Being-in-the-world”, meaning a state of living with a highly meaningful orientation.??

Let’s deepen this idea by going back to Ancient Times and more specifically to Greek philosophy and Epicure. Famous for celebrating the pleasures of life and a form of hedonism, Epicure actually depicted the true and stable state of joy at the crossroad of two types of pleasures which are ‘ataraxia’?(the absence of disorder of the mind) and ‘aponia’?(the absence of disorder of the body). This stable and permanent state of joy is made possible by adopting a frugal way of living. Where people train themselves to be fully aware and conscious of the quality of the rare but highly crafted and beautiful items they are surrounded by. Where people focus on the exquisite quality of the delicate food they eat. And to keep the memory of it, deep into their brains and under their skin.?

What if ‘ataraxia’?and ‘aponia’?were the only true ways-in to a frugal luxury? It would require celebrating the beauty of things and learn to the luxury customers to take satisfaction as ‘aesthetes’?of what they can buy. It would require training ourselves to feel fully satisfied by admiring the delicacy and shimmer of the reflections of precious stones. And to make sure we appreciate the voluptuous pleasure at the contact of delicate and soft materials on our skin.?

Here lay exciting cross-expertise topics for luxury houses: keep turning packaging and wrapping into an Art; keep reinventing customer experience and sales ceremony in an always more cultural and even philosophical way; keep pushing further the brand image elevation and cultivate a sense of intimacy and secrecy.??

So, here lay as well infinite exciting possibilities to create new narratives, deeply rooted in the reality of the beauty a few luxury houses are able to offer.?

[1]?Prosumers are the most advanced consumers. Developed 15 years ago by BETC and Havas, Prosumers are Identified through a proprietary algorithm. They predict what’s going to happen within a category in the next 12 months. They are a pivotal tool to better understand the dynamics and trends that affect society.??

[2]?Making Frugality Desirable is our latest Prosumer Report, fielded in January 2023 in 30 countries among a population of 16000 people.?