As part of their Visual Futures study design agency Coley Porter Bell commissioned an Omnibus survey to ask a representative sample across the UK what luxury means to them.
The area that came out on top was experiences. 52% of respondents cited a type of experience such as holidays, pampering and even just feeling cosy as the ultimate luxury. People do remain quite materialistic too. 41% still felt that luxury is about status symbols - nice car, big house, lots of money and designer clothes.

23% of those questioned were concerned with wanting the best quality of item they could buy. Unobtainable items were also a theme - those that are ‘out of reach’ and ‘unaffordable’. 18% of respondents jointly rated things that are hard to come by and freedom as their luxury.

Rarity appealed to 12% of respondents and finally 10% regarded anything that was ‘not a necessity’ as luxurious.

Coley Porter Bell also examined the differences between the sexes in their attitudes. As you might imagine women rated experience more highly and men were mostly concerned with status - particularly cars and money. Interestingly women were more likely then men to mention ‘stylish design’ as luxury.

Stephen Bell, Creative Director at Coley Porter Bell who led the project said, “We chose to focus on luxury as the subject of our next Visual Futures study as from a design and branding point of view it seems there are no rules nowadays. Seeing how consumers think about luxury it is easier to understand this capricious market.”
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