Premiumizing for Millennials
It's a request I hear a lot from clients: "We want to target the Millennials with our new brand. How do you propose we go at it?" Okay, I may have paraphrased a little here, but that's the gist of it.
First, who are those Millennials?
The official definition is: people who are reaching young adulthood around the year 2000.
I also love the one on Urban Dictionary: special little snowflake.
This is the generation who grew up with Internet and is acutely aware of its surroundings.
Millennials aspire to luxury items, but often can't quite yet afford them. Brands are eager to fill the gap both in terms of offering and communication.
“The demand for luxury has grown so much that it has become commoditized, blurring the edges between the elusive and the readily available. This has created an opportunity for brands to satiate Millennials’ growing demands for extra specialness with new approaches that make the impossible dream possible.”
Here would be 3 different approaches worth considering would you want to go that road according to the design agency Pearlfisher:
Create a premium line
Have a sub brand occupy the premium tier. If there are attributes of the brand that can be leveraged to develop a credible offering, brands can create a premium line.Partner with luxury brands
Mass brands have the option to borrow caché from luxury brands by participating in limited edition collaborations.Leverage brand equity
For brands that want to premiumize overall, leveraging premium aspects of the brand can help to shift perceptions and positioning.