Our Future of Britain project has documented the markedly different views of younger people in the UK to previous generations; often dubbed the ‘lost generation’ we feel this is unfair. They are a generation that is entrepreneurial, driven to work hard but that value fun as a reward rather than financial recompense.
Further evidence of this pragmatic personal growth mind-set was seen in a recent piece of work conducted by Britain Thinks (britainthinks.com). They discovered that for 70% of teenagers having a job they love is important, but having a degree (35%) and owning their own home (29%) was of significantly less importance.
Another interesting statistic to emerge was that just 1% cited owning designer brands as important. As a new, less materialistic generation emerges what does this mean for the concept of designer and brand in the future? We are already witnessing a shift away from mass consumer brands (See our recent post here) and Harrods this week announced that their growth is being driven by ‘understated luxury, those brands that don’t have a logo’. Is Brand Britain becoming Boutique Britain?
