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Strategic Trends: Premium vs mass (Part 2): I want to be premium, but I can’t be

The most interesting thing for me has always been witnessing what less-solvent households will do to become premium for a short period of time. I have always wanted to understand the driving force that motivates them to act in front of the outside world, even at the risk of their total financial security, as belonging to a “club” with those who really have no problem affording a Gucci or even an Aston Martin. Many people have tried to approach this issue from many angles. They have looked at childhood complexes, they have analysed the envy factor, but they have not really found a common denominator in all cases. However, if we approach the subject from the personality angle, in all cases, it has been possible to say that those who want to “climb the ladder” do have clear commonalities: firstly, that Individual is their primary personality type, and secondly, that Ruler is their secondary personality type.

Spending mania

When it comes to describing the Individual personality type, the first sentence I heard from a personality analyst almost burned itself into my mind: he always stretches himself further than his blanket reaches. And it was added that if he can’t buy something at a given moment, he is very resourceful in finding a solution, even if it means racking up credit card debt. Globally, the most common of the RISE Human Development System’s main personality type categories used for complex personality analysis of key business decision-makers and key people is the Individual, who is reckless in both his business and personal decisions, emotionally overwrought, and lives in the moment. Which is not a bad thing, let’s face it. He doesn’t like rules, can’t stand a tight system, and doesn’t plan his life. So, of course, it’s clear that he’s a direct target, because under certain circumstances, on a good day, almost anything can be sold to him. Market players take advantage of this and often do not care about the personal or family tragedies they cause. After all, the individual does not care about the future, or thinks he does, but does not think logically about the consequences of his decisions, driven as he is by the new experience he can have in the present. If he has a high income, the problem is less serious, as he will wake up after several years or even decades having earned a lot of money, but still without any savings to find peace of mind. But he has had a more than full and exciting life. Only the price of this great journey will have to be paid one day, and usually is, often taking families and communities with it. But basically, just because someone has a strong Individual personality does not mean they want to cling to the premium market. In itself, the spending propensity of this type is very high, but if Supporter is his secondary personality type, he will concentrate this spending on cheaper products and stuff in the mass market, which ,will of course, benefit him and his environment. The problem starts when the Individual personality is joined by a strong Ruler personality. After all, the Ruler is the one who loves expensive, luxury goods, and if there is a willingness to spend attached to it, things can get out of hand there.

The poor man’s dream

The best situation is when you don’t have the money to do it, because Individual-Ruler wants to find the right solution. We saw the consequences of this in the housing crisis in the US in 2008, which then spread around the world. People were offered the opportunity of a dream home. They reached for a premium lifestyle that they could never maintain. Households began to enjoy a standard of living they would never have had access to. But not everyone, of course. And the situation divided the world anyway, with some people feeling sorry for those in trouble and others simply not understanding to this day why they had taken out a loan that they had any problem repaying. We do not have to do justice to this, but a significant proportion of the poor decision-makers were indeed Individuals in the households surveyed. Of course, it is also worth pointing out how fair it was for anyone to have led them to believe that they could have a dream life, when realistically, they must have known exactly what the danger was. Obviously, if there were Individual people on the other side, it is difficult to talk about realities. But before we condemn a particular personality type just because they can make questionable decisions on purchasing issues, we should add that we are talking about the most creative, creative, optimistic, positive people who are the most motivating to the community! And it is safe to say that without these qualities, it would be difficult to live our lives. At the end of the day, the extent to which someone unleashes their spending spree is also a matter of intelligence, because every personality type has its own challenges that make life difficult in a given situation, but that’s what makes us human, to control them. Whether or not they are in control of their own personalities does not change the fact that if you see mismatched customers in the premium market, they are most likely to have come from that personality type category. They are a good target group, a grateful target group, but you should not build a business on them, because bankruptcy is a real event in their lives at any moment!