People Want Experiences, Not Things

A notable feature of any contemporary cultural, sporting, musical or social event is that half the attendees are constantly engaged in photographing or filming themselves.

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Rather than just enjoying the moment, we spend so much time recording banal events not because it is easy or cheap to do, but because of the payoff we get from social media.

Veblen in the 21st century

Indeed, the emergence of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Weibo and other social media means that our experiences today are more “valuable” than they were a few years ago as they can now be “shared” with friends.

Most humans want to belong to a “tribe”.

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Today, this consumption dynamic has to be shown on Social Media

But today, this conspicuous consumption dynamic is being upended by social media.

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Instead, we use Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat accounts to show that we “belong”.

This is why people take weird pictures of their food at restaurants, or film themselves at a concert.

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Shifting from “Things” to “Experiences”

Thanks to social media, conspicuous consumption is shifting from “things” to “experiences”.

On this last point, see how millennials pride themselves on not drinking mass-produced beers, but instead on discovering the latest microbrew nobody has heard of.

Today, consumers no longer want just a burger, but instead seek a burger with a back-story

A new paradigm in many industries. The death of “Value for Money”?

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Thus, as we think about market segments where growth faces structural challenges