Premium isn’t what it used to be.
Luxury. Exclusivity, Status. That’s passé.
Today, premium is about how something makes people feel - emotionally, culturally, and sensorially.
It’s about depth, meaning, and self-expression.
Over the past year, we’ve decoded this transformation and developed a framework to help brands understand, design, and deliver premium experiences that truly resonate.
Our proprietary framework brings together semiotics, culture, and consumer insight to map 14 new cultural codes reshaping what “premium” means across India.
Consumers are buying experiences rather than ‘things’ to make them feel seen — they’re buying experiences that make them feel seen.
And in a culture where aspiration has turned inward, brands that design for feeling - not just function - will define the next decade of growth.
From coffee raves to cultural retreats, India’s new definition premium is immersive, emotional, and identity-led India’s new definition OF Premium.
As screens and tech dominate our lives, people seek in-person experiences that cater to complex emotional and sensorial needs, such as immersive audio-visual experiences, tourism rooted in local ways of life.
Premium, once tied to life stage and spending capacity, is now about:
Designed for leaders making 2026 strategy decisions today.
Built using semiotics, expert insights, cultural intelligence and brand strategy, this 100+ page report deep dives into ways that brands can show up to deliver premium experiences
Marketers & CX leaders shaping next-gen brand experiences
Innovation teams exploring new value spaces
Agency strategists decoding meaning and culture
Founders & leadership teams aiming to build emotionally resonant premium brands
Discover what consumers are willing to pay more for
Identify emerging experience spaces aligned to consumer passions
Create immersive activations that make brand purpose felt, not just heard
Design premium service and content layers that deepen consumer engagement
Build communication systems that speak to the codes of modern aspiration
Our framework on The Future of Premium Experiences™ is a strategic lens we bring to our consulting and co-creation work with clients.
We can explore what premium means for your brand and design experiences that matter.
A downloadable tool that helps you apply codes to create the right premium experiences for brands? (apply premium experiences sounds off)
Immersive sessions with your brand and category teams to decode which premium codes are most relevant for your audience.
Fast, collaborative consulting sprints to translate insight into action, refining positioning, innovation, or experience design.
Tailored cultural scans exploring how “premium” is expressed in your industry — from beauty and fashion to travel, F&B, and wellness.
If your brand is ready to move toward connection, depth, and cultural relevance, we’d love to collaborate.
This is part of Plum’s Cultural Futures Series - a proprietary, research program decoding how emerging cultural meanings are reshaping categories, consumer motivations, and brand opportunities across modern India. Each study is available for tailored consultation, application workshops, and brand strategy partnerships.
