The Global Affluent Collective® & The Vanguards
Overview
The Global Affluent Collective is a longitudinal study that looks at the values and aspirations of the modern affluent. It was launched by Team One in 2010 as a way to look at the values that wealthy people have in common, no matter where they come from in the world. It is an ongoing research program that combines quantitative and qualitative research to provide HNW insights to brands and services.
I joined the project in 2018 when I worked on our Ethnography of Influence, in which we examined how influence works amongst some of the most affluent, and most influential, people in Asia and The United States. I joined full-time in 2021 and in 2022, I took over the initiative and ran the qualitative research, quantitative research, and entire thought leadership platform for our clients and the press.
The approach
The GAC looks at the top 10% of HHI earners in country of residence who also fit a particular mindset, measured attitudinally. This mindset can be best described as those who are citizens of the world; they are the influential tastemakers who love to travel and experience things. They also, of course, spend money on luxury and premium goods and services.
The research approach:
⚡️Annual quantitative survey of 4,000 affluent consumers from 20+ markets.
⚡️Year-round topical qualitative studies, working in tandem with quantitative research.
⚡️The Vanguards panel: Ongoing global affluent consumer panel who can be tapped into for studies big and small, and who help give deeper, more granular insights that are complementary to the other research. Essentially, it functions like a long-term ethnography with 50 HNW people worldwide. I built and managed this panel for five years.
Insights
The insights and learnings I was able to produce for clients and in my reports include, but are not limited to:
- how the affluent think about status and success
- how belonging is changing
- what they seek from luxury brands
- what they expect, how they plan, and booking factors in luxury travel
- how they use AI and technology in their lives
- what they think is the future of luxury
- the capacities and skills they seek to build, and how that impacts their spending
- their views on the current economic and political environments
- luxury spending habits and annual travel spending choices
- what gathering and celebrating looks like
- how personal growth shapes their relationship with brands
- loyalty and membership in hospitality or travel
- expectations and experiences with wealth management
Impact
The work I did on The Global Affluent Collective program has had an outsized impact on the agency’s work:
⚡️An annual topical report written based on recent research, to share with current and potential Publicis Groupe clients. Annual reports were themed and chock-full of insights about what is currently important in the lives of the affluent. Reports were focused on deep values, lifestyle, and how cultural shifts are impacting their decisions. Every report had a section for luxury brands as well as a section on travel and hospitality.
⚡️Quantitative and qualitative data were repurposed for new business pitches and ad hoc studies were run with the Vanguards panel to support many new business wins (e.g. Wisk, Vuori, The RealReal, Barclays Bank, and more).
⚡️Yearly learnings were implemented into ongoing strategy and service design for both Lexus and Marriott Luxury Group. They were also used in strategic support of group clients like Visa, Citi Bank, American Girl, LVMH, etc.
⚡️The Vanguards panel was used in support of our agency expertise, creative concept testing, consumer insight knowledge base, and new business studies. You can read more about it in this article I wrote about how I use a consumer insights panel.
⚡️Serviced many PR and credibility opportunities. This included speaking opportunities for myself and agency leadership at Cannes, SXSW, academic conferences, luxury leaders summits, and on podcasts. I was also interviewed and published in Forbes, The Robin Report, EMarketer, and others.
➡️ The latest report I wrote based on my research —The Belonging Correction — is available for download on Team One’s website.