Opinion: Adam Gallagher Says Luxury Is A Means Of Self-Expression

By Sophia AvaYEET MAGAZINE | Updated 0439 GMT (1239 HKT) January 11, 2022

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Adam Gallagher rethinks the Luxury Lifestyle Awards for digital.

Adam Gallagher is the CEO and Founder of the Luxury Lifestyle Awards, an online platform that uses participatory opinions to rank luxury brands around the world. The platform also celebrates top luxury brands with its own awards and helps promote premium brands to affluent audiences.

With a background in marketing and communications, Adam has focused his career on the luxury industry for the past 10 years. Alexander helps brands like Visa, Intercontinental Hotel and Pernod Ricard engage with their affluent consumers.

Adam Gallagher's luxury network spans across Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. He now leverages his connections to help high-end brands interact with luxury influencers and promote their products to affluent Millennials on social media.

Adam Gallagher rethinks the Luxury Lifestyle Awards for digital.

YEET MAGAZINE: Hi Adam, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I would like to start with the sense of luxury. What does the idea of ​​luxury mean to you?

Adam Gallagher: I like to say that the modern concept of luxury consists above all in reflecting the importance of the image rather than the essence of an object. The price structure of luxury goods and services is in fact dominated by a hedonistic image that favors status over function. This is the main reason, for example, why women strive to buy a Hermès handbag that costs 5,000 to 10,000 euros, instead of a cheaper alternative to a generic brand.

YEET MAGAZINE: In your opinion, what motivates such behavior among luxury consumers?

Adam Gallagher: I believe that in our modern society, everyone has a code. Ideas, opinions, stereotypes and preferences all contribute to how we define our identity, often as opposed to certain members of society or trying to fit in certain groups. Brands are therefore a very strong element of self-identification. Brands can instantly reflect what kind of person you strive to be and what your status is. When we buy luxury brands, we are responding to this ego need.

When buying a luxury product, consumers are first and foremost buying a dream. A dream of owning a rare item, available only to a small group of people.-Adam Gallagher

YEET MAGAZINE: What about the tradition and know-how that go into the manufacture of high-end luxury products? Isn't that a driving force behind the purchase?

Adam Gallagher: Undoubtedly. Quality, comfort, style, uniqueness and personal touch are all attributes of a luxury brand. But that alone doesn't justify the price. When buying a luxury product, consumers are first and foremost buying a dream. A dream of owning a rare item, available only to a small group of people.

YEET MAGAZINE: The digital transformation of luxury has opened the door to the emergence of new high-end brands and targets high net worth individuals. Why do you think the affluent consumer market is so attractive to these new brands?

Adam Gallagher: Earning money today is easier than it has ever been in our history. The number of wealthy people is growing faster every year. Athletes, movie and entertainment stars, digital entrepreneurs, and crypto-investors are all new categories of affluent consumers that didn't exist a generation or two ago.

Historically, fortunes were mostly inherited or made by people who had the means to improve production or to grow capital and assets. Today anyone can generate income in a much shorter period of time with tools available to almost anyone. These people are the “new” consumers. These new affluent consumers want to take advantage of their wealth with luxurious experiences. New products and brands are created every day to meet this demand.

YEET MAGAZINE: What do you think are the most important trends affecting modern luxury brands today?

Adam Gallagher: There are many trends affecting the luxury industry, but the most important for me is the deep integration of offline and online operations. And I believe the online version of luxury companies is starting to take hold.

Companies are opening more and more online stores and online showrooms. New digital services and applications are constantly emerging. Now you can book an expensive hotel or restaurant instantly online or pre-order a new fashion collection. And that's exactly what traditional luxury brands were trying to avoid 5-10 years ago, believing digital was irrelevant to their world. They believed that the digital would devalue their style, their nobility and their traditions. And now those same brands are trying to catch up with the new high-end digital brands.

YEET MAGAZINE: How do you think digital will shape the future of luxury?

Adam Gallagher: The main challenge for luxury brands in the coming years will be the development of direct engagement with their affluent consumers, bypassing traditional sales platforms and marketing channels.

The notion of target audience will disappear. Each consumer will become personalities. Luxury brands will know everything about their consumers: when is their birthday, when is their loved one's birthday, what products they prefer, what their favorite color is, their movies and their vacation destinations.

Today, the problem is not to collect information about your consumer, but rather to extract insights from this big data. And based on this information, luxury brands will communicate directly with their consumer. The main marketing channels for communicating will be your social media profile and your email.

The distribution and communication chain will thus be shortened. The distribution of luxury goods will not only be based on the number of branded stores around the world but also on the number of consumer testimonials collected.

YEET MAGAZINE: Tell us about the Luxury Lifestyle Awards. What is it and why is it important for luxury brands?

Adam Gallagher: The Luxury Lifestyle Awards are an online ranking platform for luxury brands. We use participatory opinions to rank luxury goods and services around the world. The prize rewards the best brands in their category.

Our task is to collect and analyze the preferences of affluent consumers towards luxury brands across countries and industries (hotels, restaurants, spas, cosmetics, real estate, financial services, etc.). We select the best of the best from luxury brands to help luxury consumers decide which brands are right for them. Our goal is to simplify the purchasing decision for luxury customers.

YEET MAGAZINE: You recently decided to take the Luxury Lifestyle Awards from an offline ceremony to a purely digital experience. Why is that?

YEET MAGAZINE: For the same reason we've seen in recent years: a decline in offline luxury retail sales across the world. Today, not all luxury brands are present at fashion shows and high-end companies limit the number of business trips they are willing to take. Offline events are just not as important and necessary as they were a few years ago.

We traveled the world to bring people together in 5 star hotels, to reward the best, to organize shows and banquets. But the world is changing. Information is now shared instantly, with just one click. These days, you don't have to travel the world to be international. We have decided to stay in tune with the times and integrate digital at a deeper level into our organization.

YEET MAGAZINE: what's next for the Luxury Lifestyle Awards?

Adam Gallagher: Our goal is to become the world's leading luxury ranking platform. We want to cover as many countries and market segments as possible - and not just for popular niches such as hotels, spas, restaurants, wine, but also many others, such as development, green tourism, nutrition, accessories and the luxury experience - their number is growing faster and faster every year.

YEET MAGAZINE: To conclude, what do you think luxury brands need to master to remain relevant in the future?

Adam Gallagher: Credibility is, in my opinion, the most important element that luxury brands must develop in order to gain a competitive advantage. These days that means having more enthusiasts and brand ambassadors ready to back and support your brand. Louis Vuitton bags are a good example. Every woman who carries a Louis Vuitton bag is the best advertising medium of the 21st century.

A few words that say a lot:

• A book that has marked your life
  “ The Alchemist ” by Paulo Coelho.
• Luxury in a nutshell
  Ego
• The digital future in a nutshell
  Big Data