UM recently launched a new study, Shared Stories: The New Global Luxury Storyteller, heralding the rise of the new ‘global’ traveler and providing brands with a powerful roadmap for how to target a group that now accounts for 50 percent of all luxury spend. The study, dedicated solely to the luxury consumer, was launched at a gala event at the beautiful Asia House, located in London’s fashionable West End. The event was produced in partnership with McCann London.

Over 100 senior marketing professionals from major luxury brands were in attendance, including representatives from Burberry, Tiffany, Harrods, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney. The evening boasted a lively panel discussion as well as an exclusive networking session complete with a Woodford Reserve tasting.

The impressive panel including Imran Amed, founder and editor, The Business of Fashion, Isabel Lloyd, deputy editor, Intelligent Life, and Rachel Reavley, group publisher, Net-A-Porter Publishing Group, discussed the study and its findings.

“This study has been a breakthrough for UM. The insights we have uncovered will allow marketers in the luxury space to deliver real business outcomes for customers within this fiercely competitive market,” said Gary Bonilla, Chief Strategy Officer, UM G14. “In our digitally democratized world, luxury behaviors and values have changed dramatically, yet marketing remains stuck in the past – with print often still accounting for almost 90 percent of media spend.”

Led by Mayuko Haldan-Jones, Strategy Director G14, the Shared Stories study was conducted in partnership with Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, polling data from over 1,000 luxury consumers across the UK, China, Russia and the Middle East, and overlaid with social media tracking from 65 countries. The study revealed strong self-awareness, brand preferences and converging media behaviors, and identified a new consumer segment in the luxury space: the ‘global luxury citizen’. This global traveler is a new storyteller – a leader, creator and sharer of knowledge, style and trends and therefore an ideal brand advocate.