Luxury Briefing.

AS debates continue to rage on how to effectively tax the wealthiest members of our society, many consumers are turning away from their busy, hyper-connected digital lifestyles and prioritising personal fulfilment and wellbeing. Fed up with materialism, let down by capitalism, disconnected and discombobulated in their digital lives, consumers are seeking escape and aspiring to a new set of values. And they are now seeking greater meaning from their lives. Successful brands will offer solutions for this new mindset, from new ways to regulate digital intrusiveness, to holistic spiritual spaces, to offering services that genuinely promote wellbeing and happiness.

Where once ‘always-on’ culture was all pervading, consumers today are seeking digital invisibility. Constant conversation and dialogue is losing its appeal, and in its place, people are yearning for contemplation. From hotels to airports, consumers are looking beyond aesthetics, and seeking the sublime. Meanwhile, they are culling bold brash brands in favour of ones that are considerate, quiet and intuitive.

The New Sublimity is not about abandoning digital life, though. Rather than simply switching off, consumers are mastering a new on-off way of being. The world is soul-searching alternatives to capitalism. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2012, one of the key debates was: ‘Is 20th-century capitalism failing 21st-century society?’ David Cameron has called the old-style system ‘turbo capitalism’. Economist Noreena Hertz dubs the old way ‘Gucci capitalism.’
“The system, in all its different varieties, is widely perceived to be failing to deliver,” wrote economic journalist John Plender in The Financial Times, in January 2012.

In response to the recession, consumers are now re-evaluating what matters. “Is [life] about equity and the acquisition of things, or is it about sustainability, balance, love, family, happiness?” asks Richard Welch, director, Lowe Counsel. It’s a question more consumers are beginning to raise.

“When we can no longer find happiness and safety in outside sources we have no choice but to look for an inner sense of faith,” says Gabrielle Bernstein, author of Spirit Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles. Governments are responding too. France, Canada and Britain all now measure the happiness of their citizens. The US and Australia are now investigating alternative measures to GDP. “In the beginning, it was great to be able to shop on Amazon at 2am. Now you have to shop at 2am because you just finished work with your international client. All the benefits of the always-on culture have slowly become detractions. The question is what can we do about it?” says Thomas Stevenson, New York-based artist, designer and builder.

Recognising that, according to New York research brand Basex, 50% of a knowledge worker’s day is spent managing information, which results in “a loss of ability to make decisions, process information and prioritise tasks”, companies in the future will bring sublimity to the workplace. Netlife Research web consultancy is already trialing this, by introducing a new monastery-style space at work, were employees are encouraged to find refuge for contemplation.

Companies will also put technology in its correct place, and create tech-free time outs. Automaker Volkswagen has rewired employees’ BlackBerrys to stop receiving work emails 30 minutes after their shifts ended. W Hotels in New York is instigating tech-free Fridays to encourage “greater communication and creativity among the team”.

People are going on digital diets to manage their on, and off, digital time. Daniel Sieberg’s The Digital Diet shows people how to manage technology in their lives. The new RescueTime app monitors where you spend time online, forcing you offline at certain times. It claims to rescue an average of three hours and 54 minutes of productive time per person per week.

Businesses are also becoming more aware of digital on and off time. New legislation in Brazil rules that any emails answered after work hours qualify for overtime. New app MacFreedom blocks computer connectivity for up to eight hours, allowing uninterrupted analysis, and coding or creative time.
Now that sounds like a real luxury …

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