Once upon a time, premium was simple. It was a VIP section cordoned off with velvet rope. It was bottle service with sparklers. It was the thickest business card, the loudest logo, the hotel with the most stars. It was, above all, a price tag you made sure everyone could see.
That version of premium is dead now. Or rather, it has become deeply unfashionable, like doing cocaine at dinner parties or calling your therapist your "shrink." It happens, but nobody interesting does it anymore.
We've entered the age of quiet luxury - except it isn't really quiet, and it isn't exactly luxury. It's a new premium paradigm altogether, one built not on what you conspicuously spend, but on what you inconspicuously know.
THE SHIFT TO CULTURAL CAPITAL
The most telling manifestation of this shift can be found in one of advertising's most ingenious sleights of hand: The Economist's iconic "I never read The Economist" campaign.
The genius of this campaign wasn't what it said but what it made you feel. As you smirked at the fictional management trainee who never read The Economist, the ad performed a perfect psychological ambush: you were invited to smirk at someone who'd missed the intellectual party while simultaneously confirming your invitation hadn't been lost in the mail. It created an instant conspiracy between you and The Economist - a shared eyebrow raise that cost nothing but delivered immediate belonging.
These ads didn't sell information; they sold the feeling of not being the person who misses out on cultural significance. They didn't say "this wasn't meant for you." They said "you could belong here, if you just tried harder."
This is today's premium. Not access to exclusivity, but participation in cultural significance. Not status through wealth, but identity through knowledge.
WHAT PREMIUM LOOKS LIKE NOW
The old luxury was loud - obvious brand signifiers, price tags, visible status markers. The new premium is quiet - discernment, curation, and cultural literacy. It manifests in knowing:
- Where to drink in Cape Town that's not a tourist trap
- Getting the reference in a meme before it blows up
- Watching a cultural figure before their Netflix special
- Getting the reference in a meme before it blows up
- Watching a cultural figure before their Netflix special
It's being able to say, "Oh, I used to go to the Gin Bar back when..." but being just self-aware enough to catch yourself before you actually finish that sentence.
CULTURAL AUTHORSHIP: THE NEW APPROACH
As premium shifts from conspicuous consumption to cultural capital, brands must shift from product credentials to cultural authorship.
The concept of cultural authorship represents a powerful evolution in premium brand strategy:
- Traditional approach: Brands sponsor or participate in culture
- Emerging approach: Brands create and define culture
- Emerging approach: Brands create and define culture
Cultural authorship means moving beyond simply attaching your brand to existing cultural territories and instead becoming the architect of cultural experiences, conversations, and institutions.
This isn't merely conceptual. Red Bull transformed from an energy drink to the definitive voice in extreme sports. Supreme shifted from a skateboard shop to the arbiter of streetwear culture. Glossier evolved from a beauty blog to the defining force in millennial beauty culture.
What these brands understand is that cultural relevance isn't something you rent through advertising. It's something you build through infrastructure.
WHAT WE LEARN FROM THIS
The Economist understood decades ago what luxury brands are scrambling to learn now - that making someone feel seen for their knowledge creates more loyalty than making them seen for their purchase. As cultural fluency continues to outpace conspicuous consumption, the most successful premium brands won't just invite you to exclusive parties - they'll give you the cultural coordinates to host your own.