Modern luxury research draws upon the concept of conspicuous consumption, the act of publicly displaying luxury goods as a means of showing-off one’s wealth (Veblen, 1899). Millennials are considered to be the next generation of luxury consumers. Instagram being a highly visual social media platform creates an environment that is fit for setting the scene by displaying wealth. This study explores millennials’ display of experiential luxury through personal branding strategies on visual social media, looking at the case of ‘Millionaires’ of Instagram. We collected data through an anonymously curated platform on Instagram called “Rich Kids of Instagram”. We carried out a visual content analysis and a netnography.
Findings revealed two main aspects of the personal branding strategies (Peters, 1997) adopted by wealthy micro-celebrities. First, the restrained use and lack of display of conspicuous luxury branded products. Second, an emphasis on experiential luxury through the use of geo-tags. These findings carry theoretical implications. Contrary to more ‘traditional’ luxury consumption theories (Veblen 1899), findings showed that wealthy millennials put an emphasis on more unconventional and immaterial - rather than material - aspects of their luxury consumption. The experiential nature of luxury consumption was exemplified by the almost systematic use of geo-tags. Followers seemed to be especially motivated by this aspect of the luxury consumption experience, which can be seen as a truer, more authentic, form of consumption experience. This study also contributes to the understanding of how millennials conceive luxury consumption in a broader sense. Experiential luxury, rather than luxury products (Hemetsberger, von Wallpach, and Bauer 2012), appears to be the main focus of luxury consumption for this new generation of luxury consumers.

• Marina Leban(ESCP Europe, France)
• Benjamin Voyer(ESCP Europe, UK)