Briony is a Senior Behavioural Analyst at Canvas8. With a degree in Professional Communication and several years spent in advertising and consumer research, she understands the importance of decoding audience behaviour and the impacts for brands. She has a love for storytelling with data and cultural insights. Outside of work you can find her spending too much money on books, dining out, and the latest gym class craze.

In a hyper-connected world, it feels like everything previously ‘insider’ is more available than ever: from behind-the-scenes access to the lives of public figures to travel experiences immersing people into worlds previously deemed unattainable. But while people embrace this community-based inclusivity and unprecedented access to their icons, they still yearn for touches of exclusivity to define their status.

As the age-old understanding of exclusivity is eroded, people are redefining status for themselves using a broad range of factors beyond solely economic ones. This new iteration of status is often based around increasingly niche and local signifiers – from luxury dupes to the rise of members clubs and closed-community spaces based on shared interests. Status is becoming a mode of belonging and connection with like-minded people.

People are erecting walls of their exclusive communities, relying on more subtle markers of identity. This is apparent with middle-class people fetishising working-class aesthetics, athletes turning to niche sports like padel, and social media groups organising around niche interests – spawning companies. As status-defined micro-trends on social media accelerate, brands face a challenge to keep up. If previously certain legacy items were automatically associated with exclusivity, now people are much more trusting of the UGC-defined vision of what status means. More than ever, speed, knowledge, inventiveness, and being plugged into the community determine what – and who – is in.

Insider Status

United States

Shopping

TV, film, and social media video

Pinterest has launched shoppable celebrity-curated gift guides to simplify the holiday shopping experience while also offering more unique recommendations. Combining a human touch with social algorithms can appeal to people seeking both personalized and authentic suggestions.