The New Luxury Consumer: Innovation, Inclusion and Insights

Like every part of our society today, the luxury category and consumer are also evolving and in some ways being disrupted. From buyers clamoring for more social involvement and less ostentatious branding to designers fusing classic aesthetics with sports and streetwear to connoisseurs embracing immersive experiences at every touchpoint. How is today’s new luxury consumer different and driving industry change?

Listen in as Ipsos’ Janelle James moderates a roundtable discussion with some of the most talented leaders today as they triangulate a view of this luxury evolution. During this session, Janelle is joined by guest panelists for a candid conversation exploring changing consumer behaviors, unique ways these leaders uncover and use insights, and diversity & inclusion as a source of innovation.

Don't miss hearing from:

• Dana Pouwels, Managing Director, Head of Chase Sapphire Partnerships, JPMorgan Chase
• Erum Chaudhry, Vice President Marketing, Parfums Christian Dior
• Tricia Glynn, Managing Director, Advent International
• Jemine Rewane, Senior Director Global Merchandising, Versace

Be sure to also listen in as Janelle reconnects with Jemine one-on-one to hear more about how Versace monitors evolving consumer behaviors, and applies diversity and inclusion as a source of innovation.

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Today’s AI-generated audio transcript is offered below. Apologies in advance for inconsistencies that have been included.

0:04

Thank you, Everyone, for joining us for today's Ipsos Virtual Roundtable discussion about the luxury consumer. Today's roundtable features some of the most talented marketers in the industry, and you can have the slides throughout. Today's session, you will remain in listen only mode. However, throughout the webinar, please submit questions online using the Q&A feature. I'm permitting our plan is to answer questions at the end. However, short question will be answered by e-mail without further. Ado, it is my pleasure to introduce today's moderator Janelle James, Senior Vice President, with Ipsos UU.

1:08

Thank you, Elen. And thank you, everyone in the audience for joining us today. I'm particularly excited to have this conversation today, not only because I've had the pleasure of conducting a variety of research in the luxury sector. And I'd like to believe that I'm also a consumer. But also, because the panelists we've assembled today are truly phenomenal, and really bring a unique view to the conversation on how luxury consumers are evolving today.

1:34

Before I allow the participants our panelists to introduce themselves, I just want to note that ... from Versace is joining us from Europe. She's based in Europe, and we're having a little bit of technology difficulties. So there may be a point in the conversation where we have to opt to just have her audio over her video, so I'd just ask for your patience as as as that potentially happens. So without further ado, let's dig in.

2:03

I would love for each of these ladies to introduce themselves by telling me they are titles, roll, and a short description of a recent project or initiative that you're working on. That touches the luxury consumer. So we can all have an idea of how your work in this space really manifests. So with that, I would love or Arum to start. So onto you, Aaron.

2:30

Hello, everyone. It's such a pleasure to be here. My name is Aaron Chaudhry and the Vice President of Marketing for PD for apart from Christian Dior. I've been in the role for about four years, so I oversee everything for the US, from a marketing standpoint, for makeup and skincare.

2:47

A project that I've been working on, my gosh, I work on 100 projects as I'm sure we all do at a time, But, most notably, I would say the launch of a new foundation called Forever Foundations. Michael Plug which, should we have a beautiful new spokes model Yara Shahidi? So, a big piece of what I've been working on is really how do we bring in a new consumer, a more diverse and younger consumer. And it's been through this new foundation launch.

3:10

So it's everything from the shade range to the spokes model edits for advertising, the communication.

3:18

You know, everything that will touch the consumer, and I think, everything into your as luxury. So that's sort of where I am, in terms of luxury space.

3:27

Wonderful, Daina, you're up next.

3:31

... my name is Dana Powell's. I'm a managing director at JP morgan Chase. I oversee our Sapphire Card partnerships as well as our newly announced Sapphire Airport Lounge Strategy.

3:44

So, what I'd say we're working on, you know, sir, similar to Arum, are working in a lot of different projects. I would say the Sapphire Air Port lands strategy, which will be coming to life very soon, is probably one of the most exciting things we're working on right now. The airport lounge is a space where we really think we can make an impact on the customer's end to end travel journey. And I won't share too much, but we're really excited to bring that to life over the next several months.

4:09

Wonderful. And, Tricia, you're up next.

4:12

Hello, everybody.

4:13

And so I'm Tricia Clay, and I'm a partner at Admin International, and I lead consumer investing, both in North America and globally, the firm.

4:21

And so I've been involved with brands like Lulu Lemon, Olah Plex, and then a number of other brands across sectors. I think that were in the bio.

4:31

At a recent project, I've been spending a lot of time like some of the other panelists in the luxury beauty space.

4:37

And so really thinking about the intersections between Beauty and health and Wellness in some areas, as we think about some of our most recent brands, most notably Laura Mircea, which we just acquired in December.

4:52

Wonderful. Thank you. I was about to pass it to Gemini but I see that we lost her video.

4:59

So if you can hear us, geminate, feel free to introduce yourself.

5:07

OK, but what I would love to do next is kind of a creative exercise, or weird depending how you guys think about it. I would love for you to come up with a nickname for yourselves But not any old nickname.

5:19

I'm interested in a luxury consumer nickname that helps me understand what's most important when you're thinking about this category, when you're trying to connect with consumers in his category and such.

5:32

So I'm trying to decide who to call on. first. I see your big smile data. The data, you go, first, do you have a luxury consumer nickname that you can share with us?

5:43

I'd say, it's customer perspective, Powell's.

5:47

And the reason I, I lead my team to really think Brands, the product that we are developing are putting into market what is the end to end experience, how are we making a frictionless? But really think about how we bring our products to life.

6:06

Thinking about customer first.

6:08

OK, customer first towels. Trisha, you're up next, nickname.

6:13

All right. Do no harm Glenn.

6:16

Because these, in the luxury brands, based even more than others faces, These brands stand the test of time over decades, centuries, right?

6:24

And so staying incredibly true to what the brand really means while you figure out how the world is modernizing is just incredibly important.

6:35

Wonderful, arum, you're next?

6:38

I would say the matchmaker because you have to ensure there's some like kind of basic qualities, whether it's two people, or a person, and a product, It has to be visually appealing and hasta, like, you know, kind of get those basic needs, age, height.

6:54

You know, location, but it really is that harder piece of like the intangible.

6:59

You know, what is going to make two things will fit together perfectly for a lifetime, um, and what people are willing to spend their money on. And it's, it's the value proposition, so it's like you can kind of have those basic things, but to be a true matchmaker, you have to know like that.

7:13

That GSA cloth you will too branchy altogether.

7:17

I love that, Geminate, if you can hear us. Do you want to jump in with a nickname?

7:25

OK, yes, I would always be.

7:29

Oh, outlier. Sorry, I don't know. Can you hear me?

7:33

Yes, the outlier. So I'd go with the outlier. And.

7:40

And it's, so my, my back, was it investment, banking, private equity. And also as somebody of African Origin. Working up in the luxury space tend to come at the world with a slightly different perspective.

7:58

And my experiences, or through, to date, have taken me from the concept of Africa to the walls and in Asia.

8:06

See?

8:09

Coming in from, yeah.

8:13

First effective, you tend to see things that build break silos.

8:20

It's quite different, and also to see results together.

8:26

Wonderful. I love that. The outlier good for us to keep in mind. So you guys did really wonderfully with this. And it really gives me some great things to think about in terms of how you think about the category.

8:38

The first question I have for you is really basic one, but I know there could be a lot of variety here.

8:44

I'm really curious how you define the luxury consumer and, no, I'm really curious how they're evolving in your opinion, what might be different or unexpected. So with that, Dana, if you can sort of kick us off.

8:57

So based question, Storage is a different function to see how you can get on that. That perspective definitely helps bringing in a more versatile view How we can drive into the vulgate.

9:16

Dayna, go for it.

9:18

Great. Thank you. So how do we think about luxury? I think one of the most interesting things around the definition of luxury to me is how it has evolved and what it means to different generations, Right?

9:29

So, I think the definition of luxury for, know, somebody who might be a baby boomer or older is very different from the definition of luxury for a Millennial or a Gen Z, And so, we're really focused on identifying what the different categories of luxury are, what that means to each of those consumers, and how we can develop products to meet their needs.

9:49

So, we really, what we see with the Sapphire Reserve card is the older millennial is really focused more on experiences, then thinks it's, how do you elevate the everyday versus having that one big wow moment. So, creating those moments throughout is really how we think about what the luxury journey is for our customers, and what types of things they might be looking to seek, and that's what drives our decisions on value proposition, partnerships, who might be pursuing, or additional benefits that we add to our customers cart.

10:19

Wonderful. Thank you. Aaron, Do you want to jump in with your definition?

10:22

Sure. I mean, I would echo everything Dana said. I think it's evolved so much. It certainly isn't about household income. I know we talked about that, you know, fire or education or location, you know, the democratization of beauty or luxury if you will with the retail has certainly shifted things.

10:39

You know, I think it's about some level of aspiration and something around bringing happiness, you know, and that's what we do a lot with ... or, you know, there are a lot of what sticks out there. In a way, I would say my category is sort of the Gateway to luxury, because it's a, you know, a $37 lipstick versus a $4000 book tote that. It is a way to feel a part of the brand and everything that we do.

11:02

Product, you know, craftsmanship to the, the, you know, the formulation, the shades, all of that, no worse, we're trying to recruit a much younger consumers. It's keeping that in mind. I never thought I would see your Oliver Tech talk like I have been. But that is luxury And that is the New Luxury Consumer.

11:20

Tricia? Any thoughts to build on the definition?

11:24

Yeah. I mean, I think what you're hearing from all of us is a fairly long time ago now. You had a luxury consumer. That was actually the luxury consumer and was luxury across many, many categories.

11:36

I hate to use the word but there's sort of a democratization where you still have some customers that are luxury in Alcala points, but the vast majority of consumers choose where they want to play in that next level experience. And then, even more, even higher level, the global nature of the luxury consumer is really unique market by market.

11:58

And so for any of the brands we invest in, we have to be really thoughtful about where exactly is this brand playing or item, and where can it play?

12:07

And so it's a more complicated answer than it used to be.

12:12

These are definitely mastic shifts.

12:15

I'm curious, anything in particular has been surprising for any of you.

12:22

When you think about the definition of this consumer, I mean obviously arum, you shared being on tick tock, it's a it's right. And that's really a channel that a lot of brands have to flock to now. But anything else really surprised?

12:35

Any of you about this, Especially you wanna go for it?

12:40

Sure.

12:41

I mean, the last two years has been eye opening, right? Because so much of luxury was in person, customer service and open borders.

12:49

And when that changed during the pandemic, you were stuck in this world where luxury consumers had to engage virtually.

12:57

And I think that's been a time period where some brands have done incredibly well, like Tiktok, right? I mean, the brands who have embraced it, it matters. And others haven't.

13:07

And so it's, I was going to talk about this a little bit later, but this point of how brands innovate, do no harm.

13:14

But really think about how the world's changing and how their brand fits or doesn't, or more and, more importantly, just how it fits.

13:21

I think it's showing, frankly, where some of the most interesting talent is in the industry.

13:28

Which teams can really pivot while staying true to themselves?

13:31

Hmm. Yeah. I would just add to Tricia point because I think she's so right about the pandemic and have shifted everything and I think But it's surprising in the luxury spaces. We control so much, right? That, that's usually the approach.

13:42

It's, it's a push out of an image, a product, a communication strategy, and I think with everything that happened with a pandemic and people spending more time, certainly on social and sort of being the voice of the brand.

13:55

It's sort of shift made, all luxury, I would say, I was my luxury brand, but most luxury brands ship their strategy and kind of have to be more consumer centric as opposed to, you know, you've created it now calm and love it and purchase. So, it's more of a two-way, two-way dialog with consumer, the media, which I've seen in my life kind of traditional TGA is a PNG, but certainly not a luxury girl.

14:18

Then, we talked a little bit and so forth.

14:21

I would just add to that it, you know, completely agree that the pandemic really change a lot of ways in which people like live their life and interact with brands.

14:29

And, I would say less surprising, but just more, you know, an obvious observation of the ways in which consumers consume and receive information and marketing, right, Which had been happening. But obviously the pandemic accelerated that. And just traditional ways in which no luxury products normally communicated to their customers or got their brand out there, and just a shift of this, you know, local micro influencer. Really being where people are going for their information. Or what's the, what is the new luxury item I should have? Has really been, you know, a switch, I think for, for all of us on this call, and especially here at Chase, as to, What's the best way to define luxury. And it may not be traditional marketing channels that we use in the past.

15:10

And really opening, opening our exposure into to these other places like the social media channels, like you mentioned with tick tock era.

15:21

I'm curious, we've talked we've touched on the pandemic, We've touched on sort of a greater reliance on technology today, knowing that affluent consumers tend to be early adopters with technology and media, are there other trends?

15:41

Is there anything related to digital transformation that you're seeing that's helping to drive this evolution at all?

15:53

Tricia, you want to jump in, are, so, you know, of the trends that I'm paying attention to right now across all of consumer, live selling is one, question mark, How broad it goes, and if it's truly as successful here, as it is in China, where it's, that's just a massive, massive industry at this point, and still high growth. And so that's one question mark I have about how this consumer or how brands will embrace that or not.

16:24

In a, in a luxury way.

16:26

The other trend, we're all paying attention to is secondhand commerce, which the industry has third with some brands, taking it more seriously than others.

16:39

There's plenty of questions around the metaverse right now and NF Ts.

16:43

And, I would just be speculating along with everybody else exactly how big that ultimately gets in dollars but but ultimately how we baez changing I think that's the punchline for me.

16:55

I'm also really curious about the Premier is ation of mass categories and at the same time, we're seeing a lot of these luxury categories becoming more accessible.

17:07

And so I want to chat a little bit about that, Dana, do you have any thoughts there?

17:15

I think also, if I'm coming from JP morgan Chase, so we have we cover the full spectrum rate of consumers and segments, I do think that what we've talked about before around the definition of luxury has changed.

17:30

There's, You want to target younger folks who are asked by aspiring to luxury brands and introduce them to the brand, and then folks who might already be in a traditional income, average household income. That is defined as luxury. How they want to experience life, and brands is also changing, right?

17:45

So, I think that this, what you see is this, you know, intersection of mass and luxury playing together, because that really is how people, people are increasingly living their lives.

17:55

So again, back to this notion of, people are looking for experiences and not things. And sometimes it doesn't mean that you have your you're staying at the top hotel, it could be that the hotel you're staying at, or along your travel journey, it's frictionless, and it's easy for you to move from one place to the next.

18:11

So those are the the reasons that we are kind of seeing this this cross-pollination of mass and luxury, and I think we'll continue to see it, especially as new generations like Gen Z really change the way in which they experience life and want to experience brands, as we've talked about.

18:30

I'm also curious who's doing it well, outside of your organization, potentially, Is there a brand or a product that you find connects with luxury consumers, or consumers, who are looking for luxury experiences in a masterful way, in your opinion.

18:45

Arum, you want to weigh in there?

18:48

Yeah, I mean, outside, I would say, Tesla.

18:51

I think that it's a very fascinating kind of model, if you will, no, believe it or not.

18:57

They created like an entry level, you know, car and any so, you know, many people ultimately created a waiting list, there was supply demand. There was a rarity to it yet. Still, an offering for, at a lower price point of view will really plain on the value, right, this value, you know, electric sustainable, and without compromising style and esthetic, so I think they will be done.

19:25

No interest in interesting job from a luxury standpoint, that is appealing to young and an older, you know.

19:31

So I think Tesla would be my case study.

19:36

Any case studies or thoughts I'm on.

19:39

No interesting brands or products.

19:44

At the moment, the Arabs is better than mine. So I like the Tesla.

19:51

And it also makes the point around sustainability, which we haven't touched on yet, but if the luxury sector doesn't embrace sustainability and figure out how to do it at scale, because by the way they have the margins, too.

20:03

Um, that's going to be a problem long term. For consumers.

20:06

You see customer willingness to pay changing across the board, and if there were luxury brands, we're doing a better job, telling the story, impact, and supply chain, I think you'd see a shift of dollars.

20:20

I think the other thing that people tend to enjoy or appreciate about Tesla, not only from a consumer perspective, but also just from a business perspective, is that it really is an ecosystem.

20:30

You know, how they're able to engage with that consumer and sort of like surround them, is, is, is rather interesting.

20:38

When your teams or your organizations are looking for inspiration, in general, where do you go When it comes to connecting with this consumer?

20:50

Well, I mean, what do you do? Is it? Give me a sense of that, Dana?

20:58

OK, I think I'm a needed sorry, it's a great question.

21:00

I think, again, because we're really seeing the luxury segment span so wide from everything from entry to establish luxury. You know, I would say for inspiration, it is everything from social media. Right? Tik TOK, Instagram, there's a lot of inspiration.

21:15

There's a lot of content that's created in those channels that we can learn a lot from to traditional ways. And obviously, we always look at what our competitors are doing as well and and see what's working, what's not. And then, you know, working through through research and traditional channels is really how we go look for inspiration, but we encourage our employees relates to live the life of the products. We value diversity of experience, and we really build out our teams, such that we've got folks coming from different industries, different walks of life. And, I think having that diverse team really does drive and create inspiration and ideas of how we can continue to push the envelope forward and create amazing products for the luxury consumer.

21:59

I love that, that live the life of the product is is really going to stick in my head.

22:05

Fill in the blank for me, this is kind of an interesting question.

22:08

Um, for us doing Blanck or or with affluent or luxury consumers is the most difficult because of Blank, I'm gonna say it again.

22:20

For us, doing blank for or with affluent consumers is the most difficult because of blank.

22:27

Trisha?

22:30

It's terrible for my business, but I'm gonna say, like forecasting, and you can pick a less nerdy way of saying it, but like forecasting where luxury consumers are gonna go, I think, is really hard.

22:40

Which is why we don't try that hard to do that.

22:42

We just say, do we really believe in this brand?

22:47

And then we focus on innovation, because if we can truly create better product, better experience, like, talk to the consumers more directly over the course of time, then year to year, it doesn't matter.

23:00

But the luxury sector does have trend and fashion.

23:02

And people get it right, sometimes, and people get it wrong sometimes.

23:06

Yeah, error, fill in the blank, for me, for us, doing blank for or with affluent consumers is the most difficult because of blank hot, child. That's a tough one.

23:20

I mean, yeah. I mean, I think for us, like, we're a French for a French brand, right, So I'm not going to do the exercise exactly with the blank, so I can give you kind of a sense of what you want on our side.

23:32

Know, we are a Luxury Luxury French brand, and the thinking skin care, in particular, that is, you know, very much about, you know, solution, problem, unscented, like, the US. Consumer, does not want a lot of the, you know, the elements that necessarily exists in a beautiful French product. So I think our challenge is, like, how do you stay true to what the brand is, while still being very consumer centric?

23:59

Aye.

24:00

So I think that is, are, you know, the constant conundrum in certain categories, I think we tackle that, certainly every runs and make up.

24:07

But I think skincare alerts, and then just going back to your earlier question, I was just thinking, oh, where do we get inspiration?

24:13

It's, it's really my team, honestly, like I have a millennial mentor, who's teaching me a lot, and then, you know, I'm bringing in some younger people, because I think you have to sort of stay, stay up to date. And it's not gonna come from research and reading. It's going to be as soon as I'd like everyone living their authentic lives and experiences, so, so, that's really where those insights come from for me.

24:34

Love that. Dana, dare I ask you to fill in the blank?

24:37

For us, doing blank for with affluent consumers is the most difficult, because of blank.

24:42

I would probably kind of take the same approach as Arum, I think.

24:47

No.

24:48

We're a bank, obviously, so our challenge is usually stem from making sure that what we're creating is, you know, compliant, and within the regulatory guardrails that we need to plan. So that is, I wouldn't call it a challenge, but it's just a just a different type of opportunity. And it's a different type of problem statement. And we still strive every day to create amazing experiences. And luxury products for our customers. We just have that kind of added, like checkbox that we need to go through before we can bring things to life.

25:19

If you could explore the behaviors of luxury consumers in a category, that is not your that you feel could give perspective, what category would you want to explore Arum?

25:32

I'm curious, hear the music industry because I feel like there are these artists that are really, you know, setting trends, there key influencers. They have a connection. I even look at like my 14 year old nephew who is diehard, you know?

25:50

I'm going to say a Kanye fan.

25:54

If there's just such a, you know, there's an art component, there's a value component, and I think they really do set trends in, in big ways that just become adopted, if you will, whether it's fashion, whether it's dance, something that music industry really has some true, like, thought leaders and it's, I think there's something about that industry with and I want to spend a moment, even these festivals and the way that people walk to them, fashion, everything, though, that would be my industry of choice, love that, Trisha?

26:28

What else?

26:30

Yeah, it's not an industry exactly, but I would want to know how the younger luxury consumers think about privacy.

26:36

Because if we're in a more digital world, how people are thinking about sharing information. Not sharing. Seeing others.

26:44

That's going to be incredibly important for a bunch of large decisions, All of these brands and businesses need to make.

26:50

Hmm, hmm, hmm, data, privacy, obviously.

26:52

Yeah.

26:54

Next question I'm going to ask to the group.

26:57

So, if so, conducts this affluent survey, they've been doing it for the last 45 years, and I was looking at the most recent data from 20 21.

27:10

Particularly looking at Gen Z affluent consumers.

27:15

And I was just really struck by some of the numbers that I saw, because I think we all here, the Gen Z, is more diverse.

27:24

But particularly sort of taking this affluent lens and this Gen Z lens, I was honestly surprised at how diverse.

27:33

So literally, they are two times more LGBTQ plus, 20% more female, 20% more black people, 50% more Hispanic people, 60% more Asian people.

27:54

I'm literally surprised at just how diverse it is.

28:02

And I'm curious when you hear numbers like this, when you hear literally how demographics are changing, particularly in the US.

28:10

Having to think that affects how brands connect with or market to affluent consumers today and in the future.

28:20

Dana, you want to take a stab at that?

28:24

So first of all, I think those are great stats. And I think it's a great, it's a, it's great to see that within the affluent segments, there's increasing diversity of people, experiences, live life, et cetera. I was in terms of how we think about marketing to affluent customers. JP morgan Chase has been very vocal and forward around our commitment to diversity, whether it be to our employees but also to the communities in which we serve. And so, that is very much, you know, a message and a sentiment from the top down with our organization.

28:55

And what that means is, that's just the baseline, how we think about marketing, how we think about our customers, and how we think about the products that we build.

29:04

We always have a lens, organically everybody, not just people of color or women. And the organization of, Is this a diverse put, you know, Is this a diverse product? Is this going to meet the needs of different types of people?

29:14

So, it really is, for me, it's in our culture, I would say, organically, without even hearing that stat. As to how we think about how we do business. Who we do business with. The types of products that we design, making sure we have diverse suppliers, that we're working with diverse agencies, diverse vendors who can help us bring a diverse point of view to the products that we are that we're bringing to market in a marketing campaigns, etcetera. But that really does permeate through our organization. And it's, you know, I've been at Chase for orders and and it's really impressive to see that what you hear. It only been an investor day really is practiced day-to-day across the entire.

29:53

All right.

29:55

Do you want to jump in and share a little bit of perspective there, as well?

29:59

Yeah, absolutely.

30:01

No, it's same, I'm, that does a great stats, I think, as brands, we just need to lean into it in a, in a bigger way, I think, you know, similar to what Dan was saying, do your, there really is a strong commitment, You know, it's a journey, It's not going to happen overnight, but there is a strong commitment to having more inclusive assets shades, you know, and I think step one is just consuming people, being able to see him or herself in the product, knowing that there's the right offering there. But, I think at the core of it, it starts with kind of who's in the organization? What's funny, You know, who's running the organization? So, I say it all the time. I'm like, you can't PowerPoint our way through DEI. We just have to do it. So, it just comes down to having you know, the right people at the table and the voices there, which I think we are really committed to anything, you know, tremendous progress.

30:51

I think makeup in particular is easier.

30:54

Compared to fragrance and skincare because it's, you know, you can control a lot more. But it is a journey and I don't think having just a spokes model is enough. You know, it's really how do you connect with this consumer in a bigger way?

31:07

So we're kind of having this conundrum as like, do you do something explicit and overt?

31:12

Or do you just kind of need it into the culture and eventually, you know, everyone will come along the journey, the good news is that, miss you all.

31:19

Do you find joy to be an aspirational brand? But, but, it is a journey.

31:25

Yeah, please, first.

31:27

So, I'm thrilled it's moving in the right direction, but my guess is the absolute numbers look bad, even if the percentage growth for good.

31:35

And so, I just, you think about any market, right? To have luxury, diverse luxury consumers.

31:42

You need both well distribution, distinctly in different ways, and you need companies creating products that speak to new consumers. Very few products are truly universal to everybody.

31:53

There's some, and it's amazing, but you need people thinking about these luxury consumers in mind.

31:58

And so my guess is, we have a long way to go on, both fronts.

32:01

And so for the businesses I'm involved in, I try to make sure, when we think about product innovation, or our marketing messaging, or how we're connecting with different communities, were doing, like the same quality job on all metrics.

32:17

And it's, it's hard even with a brand like Ola Plex, where, for those who don't know, it's a premium haircare brand, it fixes the keratin bonds in your hair at the molecular level for all hair types.

32:27

And so, rarely am I coming here?

32:30

Yeah, it's great.

32:32

It, rarely, in my career, I've seen a product that is like vegan, BPA free, cruelty free, like non toxic, cut climate forward, and works on every single hair type.

32:41

All Haris Keratin: Well, there are different products needed for black hair versus Caucasian here, versus Asian here, not for repair. And so it's universal.

32:51

And even still, we need to be really thoughtful about speaking to all hairstylists, all communities, Making sure we're hearing about people's concerns, because, as we evolve from our core products, maybe we do want to think about different needs, dates.

33:05

And so you can't create, you can't fix these numbers to be even better, and, on an absolute basis, get to where they need to be unless you're trying to solve people's actual concerns and listen to them.

33:21

It's, it's a wonderful point, and sentiment.

33:24

I know for a lot of the research that I've been conducting in this space and more, generally, when it comes to brands becoming more inclusive over the years.

33:34

one of the things that I'm seeing is, what a brand does in the workplace is just as, if not more important than what they do in the marketplace, in order to be really authentic or seen as authentic.

33:50

For the consumers that buy their brands, and I think everything that you guys have touched on is really speaking to that.

33:56

Is there anything else that you think is critical in that regard?

34:02

Sort of that workplace marketplace connection and and, and what consumers, luxury consumers need to see to, to advance that or to make advancements dayna.

34:17

I think you hit it on the head, I think With. without a diverse workplace, it is challenging to create products that will speak to diverse customers period. You know, to the point that was made before, you can't like researcher way into it, or look at stats your way into it. You really need to have a broad representation of people in your organization, on your team, and in teams that you partner with, internally, to help you create diverse, diverse people, create diverse products. And, so, I think that having that internal focus on the workplace, and ensuring you've got diversity of experiences. Backgrounds, really is the critical piece to removing this kind of echo chamber and creating something that is, you know, for one group of people, but that's critical.

35:02

Mmm hmm.

35:03

Any other thoughts on this topic before I move on to the next one?

35:09

OK, I'm curious, each of your firms gathers a ton of data on consumers.

35:20

If you could wave a magic wand and seriously, this one is magic.

35:25

If you could wave a magic wand, and literally either figure out a new source of data to collect on your consumers or, or customers.

35:41

Or, if you could do something really interesting with that data to better connect with your consumers, what would you do? So, if it's an either or question, right? Either, what data would you source and why? Or, how would you better connect with the consumer and why?

35:57

Aram ..., I want to start fresh's answer under privacy. I think that's so good. I definitely want to do that. Why? Why is the privacy an important one for you?

36:11

Well, I mean, I think, I think in a lot of ways, we see the pendulum like, honestly, in, in life, right, the pendulum is constantly swinging one way or the other, at one point. It's all about like, you know, super shiny and beautiful unfiltered Instagram.

36:22

And Alex, one over, it's, like, completely, like, no naked phase, authentic tik TOK, and who knows if it's gonna swing back at some point?

36:30

And so, I feel the same thing with, you know, with content yell at one point, ever wanted to share everything. And now, people are not wanting to share as much on this. Next generation is growing up, not knowing what it was like, to not be able to share everything.

36:42

And how they're able to, kind of, um, manage that piece of it, and still sort of talk about, you know, at the end of the day, with luxury, a lot of it is a little bit of showing off what you've got.

36:53

So how do you kind of have that balance between, from a brand standpoint, wanting people to talk about your product and show it off, but also having that has some semblance of privacy.

37:04

So I thought that was like a kind of a brilliant study, Tricia, that I'd like to go in with you on.

37:08

But then I also think in terms of if I had a magic wand, we do a lot of test alarms, you know, so we put, like, little bits of money against things, that just seems to be the right way to do it.

37:18

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd want to put as much money into, you know, kind of the traditional marketing levers into something that would really connect with this consumer that you're talking about. You know, we say a lot, we want to bring in younger. We want to bring in diverse, but, you know, we have little carve out amount of money that will test and test and learn and it's never enough to move the needle.

37:38

So, I almost want to, like, Just put it all in, like, Vegas, and see where it lands.

37:43

Just knowing that we all went and like, you know, went in with the best intention. And in the right way, because I think it gets a little challenging to always, kind of be the second mover.

37:53

So that would be, if I could, if I could wave my magic wand, I'd be first mover on something truly revolutionary to bring in, know, a more diverse consumer to electric brand.

38:03

Dana, what would you do with your magic wand?

38:07

I think, you know, I think as an industry, there's an opportunity, too: Leverage information that people have consented to sharing with you to really create personalize experiences and recommendations. And again, it keeps going back to me to this like how do you live your life in a frictionless way, right? So how do I know I I I'm I booked a trip and flying out of LaGuardia? You? Know, I get a push notification.

38:36

Great things to do at LaGuardia Airport, whether it's go to a lounge, or, you know, Take take part of another service, or offer the That's there. And I also have seamless and meaningful recommendations on what I might want to do in my destination. Let's say my destination is Miami, so I think being able to, and this hasn't really been cracked anywhere, right?

38:55

E-mail has been around now for awhile, but we haven't figured out how to curate the e-mail, how to make it less spammy.

39:01

You really have like Subscribe Unsubscribe, or send it to me once a week, or once a month.

39:05

Or if we haven't gotten to a place where we are able to curate information that you receive in a meaningful way that the customer views is valuable.

39:15

And I think that is a, that's an up, like, a broad opportunity, but especially as we think about luxury and the luxury consumer. And we really look, we really look at luxury consumer, as they want to remove friction from their life. They want things to be easy, but they also want to have like, great and authentic experiences.

39:33

And maybe because of where they are in their life, they don't have time always to research what that experience would be, Right.

39:38

But like, taking your preferences in really kind of saying, hey, I think you would love this restaurant. Right, based on your previous things, activities that you have done. I think that, to me, is really the goal, that I'm sure most companies aspire to.

39:51

But leveraging data in a meaningful way where the customers of consent to share with you in a meaningful way to, to make recommendations and help them live their lives, better breaks, I think that's the, that's really the goal.

40:04

What would you do with your magic wand Chacha?

40:07

I want data to, like data, and I want step change data, not incremental data.

40:15

And so for any of my brands, like, for example, I want to know, for our community, our customers, like what are, what are their bucket list items?

40:24

Like?

40:25

what are the massive things that this group of people want out of their life in some period of time, that we can see if this brand can help deliver.

40:35

I love that.

40:36

You guys are so good with these questions.

40:40

The next thing I'm curious about, and we've touched a little bit on this, is affluent consumers tend to be more engaged with media and technology. They tend to be early adopters. And it makes sense, I think, logically they have more money to experiment with these things.

40:59

Knowing that there, avid streamers, early adopters. What do you think of this? How does this influence marketing, product media strategy?

41:11

We know that, you know, we've touched on tick tock and sort of digital transformation in general but tell me a little bit more.

41:18

like when you think about the fact that they're more entrenched in media and technology what does that mean for the luxury consumer? You're smiling I love your smile churches, so I'm gonna call on you for this. Terrible new face, like it tells you, exactly.

41:35

Yeah, I just think the luxury market can't ignore that.

41:39

Right, if these customers want to be first movers, then they're going to be first movers and it's going to be to a mass brand or a mass experience if the luxury channel doesn't figure it out.

41:50

And so, there's a number of luxury brands I really admire who have a head of innovation, who is constantly working and investing to test and learn and figure out how to implement all the moves in the market for that brand, for instance.

42:05

And I just think it beyond critical?

42:08

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.

42:09

Dayna, any thoughts there?

42:13

You know, I think it's, you know, I echo everything that Tricia said. Right.

42:17

And what we've said before, which is, you have to participate in those mediums.

42:23

You need to figure out the best way for your brand to participate in those mediums and really too to talk to the effluent customer. And I think, again, it's kind of back to this like, marketing question of, like, how do you communicate? What's the, what's the right way? How do people want to receive information? How do you filter through the noise? Or, it says a little bit of kind of the step change data we talked about before.

42:46

But you brands need to figure out the right way to engage with those platforms, to reach their target audience.

42:52

And I think there's a lot of no four, for what it's worth a lot of testing, and learning rate that's happening.

42:58

There's a lot of, there's a lot of opportunities to do things better.

43:02

But I think that it's, you know, media, social media, entertainment are really where these customers are focused, and where they're going to live their life, and there's, there's no way around the fact that luxury bands have to participate there.

43:17

Any other thoughts around this out, Arum?

43:21

I mean, I think Tricia Dana said it very well.

43:23

You know, I think the, the question also sometimes becomes, cloud is a luxury brands show up on some of these mediums and does it all luxury enough. You know, I, you know, even going back in time to podcast, at one point, you know, serial first came out, I don't know if anyone remembers that, but it was sort of this riveting story.

43:45

Um, know, this trial of crime drama, if you will. And, it was kind of, the first to start this, now, you know, the podcast, but I remember at the time thinking like, how does the brand show up? Because all I kept hearing about was MailChimp, and I'm like, you've had this engaged audience, and they keep they have a sponsor. But, you know, it's not considered luxury. So we, you know, brand over.

44:07

Athena, luxury brand, never did it. But if you were to really slice out these, you know, who's the consumer who's listening, or they educated, or they know, I think there are ways and mediums that luxury brands can participate in.

44:20

Without necessarily without it being kind of the mold of what is and what is not luxuries, I think I kind of just takes me back in time to that but, you know, punctuate, again the metaverse like, it's so unknown. But I think there's a lot of things that come out that we don't realize could be a fine consumer moment from military standpoint.

44:40

Tiffany, I want to see if you're connected.

44:43

If you are, do you want to take a stab at this question as well?

44:52

OK, we'll move on to the next question, Um, so, we're a group of women here, OK.

45:01

And I'm curious, wow, if at all has being a woman or a person of color or both, may do better at connecting with affluent consumers or luxury consumers basically, with non mainstream audiences.

45:18

Since, I think, traditionally, when people think luxury, um, they have an idea in their mind, and oftentimes it's like 50 something year old White, man. So, with that, give me your thoughts.

45:33

Aram, do you want to try this one?

45:36

Yeah.

45:36

I mean, I just happened to work in a space that is mostly marketed to women, So I definitely feel like I have a competitive advantage.

45:44

But certainly being a woman of color has been, you know, not that there are ... space, but I've been in it for a very long time, and I'm so happy to see how it's there are more, you know, sitting at the table. But I think it just goes back to, like, who is the luxury consumer? And I think it's shifted?

46:01

It shifted so much, but I do, know I will say, I have the competitive advantage of being on and marketing to women. And also having that voice to say, I think Dana said it best, but like, you know, diverse people make diverse products.

46:15

So, yeah, Tricia?

46:18

Thoughts?

46:19

Yeah, I mean, I look at it. Look, it can be more difficult, right? We all know that we've all lived those moments.

46:27

But if you think about the opportunity, I just look across the whole consumer landscape, especially in luxury, and say, I'm gonna get to see things that other people don't necessarily see as opportunities.

46:40

And by the way, I, I live with my own biases and filters, and so I need to make sure my teams are as diverse as possible to help me look around corners. But there's just big, glaring opportunities, right?

46:50

Like women's health is so underfunded relative to Men's health, or 50% of the population.

46:57

If you look inside so many sub industries, even in beauty, like we're not yet speaking to everybody equally or giving people equal levels of, of quality product. And so I do think we can see things differently.

47:11

I also think natural networks, opportunities like this to speak, by the way, and you jenelle to put our voices out there.

47:20

How we think about building our teams, building boers, building, executive team, all of that is going to both distribute, like, power, and money, and opportunity.

47:29

And get people further down the path they need to go.

47:35

Dana, you want to weigh in at all.

47:38

I concur with everything that's that's been said, Yeah, yeah.

47:42

I'm curious, looking through my little list of questions here.

47:48

um.

47:52

We're also women in business, so I'm curious about advice that you've ever received either related to navigating these spaces or just work in general.

48:08

What do you think is a single best piece of advice that you've gotten and I just want to take the opportunity to no hear this from you.

48:17

Dayna.

48:18

Yeah.

48:19

You know it's, it sounds very cliche, but bring your whole self to work.

48:24

It really, really is a thing, and I think, you know, be yourself. Don't try to be somebody that you're not.

48:31

That also encourages your team to think that they can be their self and they can bring their whole self to work.

48:36

And again, this notion of living the life of the product.

48:40

Feeling that you're in a safe space where you can, you can have a different point of view, you can look differently from somebody else on your team. I think that is really, you know, a great piece of advice and something. I would just encourage, others, even when you are in rooms, where there's nobody that looks like you, which can happen, or you could be a rooms where everybody looks like you.

48:57

I think it's just important to, to, to not try to mask who you are. And I think, you know, that also resonates with what we're seeing.

49:06

The evolution in the growth of the Gen Z population, which is very much of like uniqueness, And I'm not like everybody else, and, you know, but I they demand to live their life and have their experiences in their ways. Not in ways that are being dictated to them by traditional channels. And so I think that, you know, those things kind of tied together, like bringing your whole self to work, again, is really gonna help you to feel comfortable sharing new or innovative ideas, and really driving product innovation. But I would, I would recommend that.

49:38

And that's been a good piece of advice era.

49:41

Best piece of advice.

49:43

Yeah, I'm just going to add to that because I think that's exactly right in terms of bringing your authentic self I think.

49:48

No, truthfully, sometimes there's a little bit of like everyone especially in you need the pandemic, everyone had to look a certain way and dress a certain way.

49:57

And, know, no matter how tired you are yet to put on your makeup and get your hair Boulogne and, and make it into the office with your heels, and I just think, it shifted so much.

50:06

And, you know, the best piece of advice I got was actually from a friend, Michelle, you know as well, Hera, where I would sort of say I can't believe that person came in. They had no makeup on.

50:17

They had no this like and she's like, why don't you just do it yourself? Try, and she wasn't exactly right, like, I think we hold ourselves to this perfection standard, and it really is sometimes a pressure your internally thing on yourself, and it didn't shift or change, you know, how I was viewed or how I performed.

50:35

So I think the best piece of advice is like, put less pressure on yourself and being authentic.

50:41

Tricia I love that, I have a different one, but on that note, I remember like the first week, we were back in the office. I wore heels. And another woman said, Like, Come on. We're not doing that again. five where the people might, because I'm a senior role in here, but if I don't, we could all go to let the loan sneaker look like just anyway.

51:00

I was speaking to, OK, Senior female World leader last fall, that I got to interview, and without saying who it is, that I'm not allowed. It was basic.

51:10

The basic premise was, at some point in your career, you look around and you have sufficient power, and even if you still deal with microaggressions, which you will or macro aggressions, you have enough power to just handle it. Deal with it.

51:23

And when you realize that, that's when you turnaround start pulling people up, and so it's just mindset shift in your career.

51:30

When are you going to make the shift to adjust improvement of the situation, versus having to fight through yourself?

51:37

Because there are just earlier years in your career where it feels like more of a fight.

51:42

Though, I found that uplifting actually, even if it sounds a little dark, I found it really omitting to hear this woman say, she had gotten to that point, and then, just really, on purpose. I made that mental shift.

51:54

No, I love that. I love all of this advice.

51:57

There are couple of areas that we didn't touch on before I sort of round it out in the last few minutes that we have.

52:05

I'm curious if there's something you thought we would talk about today that we haven't yet talked about, and so I'll open it up to you guys in that way, before I sort of rounded out and wrap this up.

52:20

Arum now, I mean, I feel like you covered quite a bit.

52:24

I think, you know, one thing we had spoken about is no something that You didn't think you could do before, but now you feel like you can, which I thought was really Interesting, You know, Especially if we think about a younger generation, and they're much more open, and they're much more, Like, I need a PTO day, just for my mental health. You know, like they're. They're just it's a chef, you know, so I think for me, something that I'm able to do now, but I couldn't do before, It's really have kind of tough and honest conversations with my team and with my management.

52:55

It's lots of kind of a top-down approach.

52:57

I think again, the pandemic shifted everything, a lot more people were able to join meetings that it democratizes a lot of the hierarchy, but I think especially, coming out of, you know, the Murder of George Floyd there, there were really some tough conversations that need to be had, that we never had in the workplace. And it kind of opened up a floodgate, if you will, to many conversations around many other things. I'm being able to just say it out loud, like, We need a more diverse customer. What does that mean?

53:25

Need to stop catering, just older white women, What does that mean?

53:27

So kind of having that transparency, I think, has been, um, no, been really somebody I don't think I would have ever imagined you mean, you know, 10 years ago or have them in the minutes ago. I started my career.

53:40

Yeah, Tricia, anything you thought we'd talk about that we didn't touch on?

53:45

I think what Eric just said was beautifully said.

53:49

Dana, anything to add in that respect?

53:52

Plus 1 plus 1.

53:54

What I'd like to do in the last couple of minutes is just sort of wrap this up in a really easy way. I want us to come up with the list of do's and don'ts when we think about the luxury consumer today and what we can do to better connect with them.

54:11

So, I'm hearing a lot of the things, I'll be honest, I took notes as we were talking as well, right. Because I'm like, these are some things I want to remember.

54:20

So, things that really come to mind in terms of, do, let's say, um, remember that luxury is democratizing, um, you know, think about technology. What else would you guys would add, in terms of Jews?

54:38

Can't compromise on quality or experience? No.

54:42

I mean, not just goes hand, Sounders, a lot of other competitors out there but what makes luxury truly luxury is the quality of the product or the quality of the experience.

54:54

Love that Dana, any do's?

54:58

I agree.

54:58

I love the quality piece, which I don't think we really touch on, but it's very important point. And then I would say, you know, just do bring like a diverse view, right, We've talked about that, but what's the diverse panel? Whether it's inside of your company outside of your company, an agency that you could be working with to ensure that you're meeting the needs of all luxury consumers.

55:19

Any Jews in your mind, Trisha, that really stand out even if we've mentioned them already?

55:24

Yeah, Do create like wonderful workplaces.

55:29

Where people are designed to work.

55:33

So true, Making sure that the workplaces in order, so that the marketplace can be in order, and I'll put a last call, and is there a don't out there that everyone should remember?

55:45

Anyone?

55:51

OK, I'm going to focus, yeah, go for it.

55:56

We didn't say this as clearly, but like, this is always going to be an industry where creativity and genius matters.

56:02

And so none of what any of us were saying was like copy other people or copy other business models. It's more just listen really intently and re-interpret it.

56:10

I love that. I love that great way to wrap this up. Ladies, you are phenomenal. Thank you so much for your time and for contributing to this conversation. Geminate, I'm so sorry that our technology issues prevented you from joining this conversation. So maybe we could figure out a shorter 1 to 1 of some sort to bring your voice to the table as well, because it is an important one. And with that, Ellen, I will pass it back to you. Thank you so much.

56:35

Good to know.

56:36

Thank you.

56:38

I just really want to thank to now and our wonderful wonderful guests for today's candid discussion.

56:44

And thank you for everyone for joining us. We did record today's presentation. It will be available and e-mailed out to you later this week.

56:56

Of course, at anytime, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you, so please feel free to reach out.

57:02

That now concludes today's webinar. Have a wonderful day, everyone.