Why “human upgrading” is the ultimate luxury

I am often asked the question, what is luxury?

“While some may argue that it is a dream or pure emotion, I propose a more accurate description: it is the ability to create extreme value for a customer. Or, if we change perspective, it is a person’s belief that an experience created extreme value for them. so, something is only a luxury if its perceived value is dramatically higher than other experiences.” Says Daniel Langer – the CEO of the luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand strategy firm Équité.

Through my research into unlocking luxury’s hidden value drivers, I found that an anticipated shift in perception is what drives value. In a groundbreaking study, I was able to show that if someone sees the exact same person in two different environments, the luxury environment (for example, a man wearing a Rolex or Patek Philippe watch or a woman wearing a Chanel dress) offered a much larger environment. positive perception of the person than a normal environment (for example, the man is now wearing a Swatch or the woman is wearing the same dress but now we think it is made by H&M). People felt that the person in the luxury environment was more attractive and had higher self-esteem, more experience, more opportunities, and a more interesting life.

If an anticipated change in personal perception is the key driver of extreme perceived value, thus the fundamental accelerator of viewing something as luxury, it stands to reason that any brand, product or service that can help people improve their predicted future has great potential. to become the ultimate luxury.

This is not surprising. For many people, spending a day at a beautiful spa, being pampered with an exceptional massage or enjoying a spectacular resort are moments of extreme value. At times when people feel the pressures of an increasingly complex and fast-paced reality, emotional well-being becomes an investment in oneself. These include guided retreats, detoxification treatments and the rediscovery of ancient healing practices and rituals.

But human improvement can go much further. Ankha Marza, founder and CEO of Speak Your Power, is a celebrity coach who, with the utmost sensitivity and compassion, works with clients around the world to improve their presence. By making them feel more confident in public, it increases their opportunities in life, whether it’s a short speech at a family gathering or a critical business presentation in front of a large audience. She explains that “in my work it is essential to connect with each of my clients, understand their situation and help them remove anything that is holding them back while allowing them to show their full personality to the world.” It is a great example of working closely with a person and providing extreme value by maximizing their potential.

Traci Moon, a renowned life coach and psychic who is often flown by her clients on a private jet to even the most remote locations, helps people through a multi-step process to unlock their power without fear or anxiety Her method provides her clients with exceptional mental clarity and action-oriented tools and techniques to support important decisions in their lives and manifest deep and lasting change, feeling in full control. According to her, “the moment when people take control of their destiny, while feeling deep empathy and compassion is a real game changer in people’s lives.”

Meanwhile, high-end gyms have become increasingly sophisticated, offering motivating experiences that go far beyond workouts. In Santa Monica, Los Angeles, the Human Upgrade Center takes the gym experience to a different level. The workouts are done using a high oxygen environment to achieve better results in less time. Another brand, the Superhuman Protocol, promises a sequential system that uses magnetic pulses, oxygen workouts, and red light therapy to dramatically change the way people feel—the ultimate wellness.

During the recent Pepperdine Disruptive Luxury Symposium, one of the key ideas was how much spending the ultra-rich allocate to biohacking, having the best personal trainers in the world, and having private chefs curating healthy foods. Well-being, health and longevity are the new luxury.

The trend of a human upgrade through technology originated in Asia, with particular interest in Korea, Japan, affluent Chinese. Oxone therapies, oxygen rods, detoxification treatments assisted by sophisticated tools and an endless variety of heating, cooling, nutrient or soothing patches applied to the whole body are now somewhat commonplace.

The metaverse further increases opportunities in human actualization: virtual reality applications help countless people meditate, focus, and make endurance sports like indoor rowing and cycling feel like a computer game, transporting people to dystopian worlds, serene landscapes or outer space.

Extreme value creation from human enhancement is literally everywhere.

And in Hollywood, many celebrities transformed their bedrooms into large hyperbaric chambers, allowing them to sleep in their beds with pressures of up to 2.5 atmospheres and 95-97 percent oxygen, helping them to maintain a dramatically younger appearance and boost your energy to keep going. appearances on the screen. It’s an increasingly popular technology, and chambers can cost anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 or more, the equivalent of many premium cars.

Providing extreme value to people, products and services that promise human enhancement the ultimate luxury. The highest value perception is, in fact, when we feel that a brand or service really cares about us and improves the way we are.