Move over mass marketing, says Ashgrove’s Terry van Rhyn, premium is where today’s bands are creating more value

In the marketing playbook of the last few decades, mass was the summit every brand aspired to climb. Bigger volume. Broader reach. Wider distribution. Scale was king and ubiquity was proof of success.

Today that summit no longer guarantees relevance and, in many categories, it simply doesn’t buy the kind of brand equity that lasts.

In its place, a new hierarchy has emerged. Premium is the new mass.

This isn’t mere branding rhetoric: it’s observable in consumer behaviour, market forecasts, and the strategic positioning of the fastest-growing brands.

Consumers are increasingly trading for better rather than more – choosing quality, experience and meaning over volume. They want things that feel personal, crafted, distinctive and worth paying a little extra for. They want stories as much as high specifications. They want value beyond utility.

This shift is perhaps most visible in the world of alcohol. There is a clear trend in the UK drinks market where overall alcohol consumption is declining. This pattern of “drinking less but drinking better” is now widely recognised in market commentary.

According to global industry data, the broader premium spirits segment – the category above the commoditised bottom end – is projected to grow strongly through this decade, with forecasts pointing to double-digit expansion globally from 2025 onwards.

Within that landscape, rum in particular has been quietly reinventing itself. Once a mass-market punchline in many markets, higher end rums are now among the fastest-growing segments of the category. Estimates suggest that super-premium and ultra-premium rums in the UK have been growing at roughly 8% annually and are on a solid growth trajectory through the latter half of this decade – a clear signal that consumers are developing a taste for something that feels more elevated and experiential than the old bulk off-the-shelf stuff.

I know this because one of the businesses I’m involved with is a rum brand, created some five years ago and this trend aligns perfectly with how we’ve positioned our Far Shore Merchants rum portfolio. It is clearly in the super-premium bracket in the UK, not because premium tastes are fashionable, but because discerning drinkers are increasingly gravitating toward craft spirits that deliver complexity, provenance, sustainable credentials and a compelling backstory, not just alcohol content.

This premiumisation phenomenon isn’t limited to spirits. Across luxury and premium categories, the hierarchy of consumer demand has been reconfigured. The global luxury goods market – spanning fashion houses, jewellery, watches and accessories – remains robust with projected steady growth over the next decade, driven by affluent consumer demand for high-end craftsmanship and differentiated experiences.

Other sectors show the same story. Luxury automotive brands such as Aston Martin are expanding not just with cars but with lifestyle lines, property ventures and high-end collaborations – a recognition that brand itself now encapsulates more than product features.

High-end jewellery houses and heritage fashion labels are seeing renewed demand from younger clients who prioritise craftsmanship and emotional resonance over mass-produced fashion.

Even the UK wine scene is witnessing a generational shift toward quality sparkling wines, with producers reporting significant sales increases as affluent consumers trade up from everyday bottles to premium options.

The logic is simple. In a world of saturated choice and hyper-efficiency, functional differentiation is no longer a sustainable competitive advantage. Technical performance, features and rational benefits can now be replicated quickly by competitors – often with the help of the very technologies that accelerate commoditisation.

What cannot be easily imitated is meaning, experience, status and emotional relevance. These are the currencies of premiumisation.

Premium brands don’t need to be exclusive in the old sense of being inaccessible. They need to be meaningful; they need to deliver something that feels worth the price because they are delivering something people care about.

That might be heritage and craft, as with a beautifully aged rum; it might be enduring design and storytelling, as with a legacy fashion house; or it might be an elevated sensory experience, as in fine wine or luxury watches.

We are seeing consumers trade mass for meaning. Volume may still matter in terms of category share, but it no longer guarantees cultural relevance or loyal brand affinity. Premium is the new mass because premium is where engagement, emotion and value intersect.

This does not mean that mass market is disappearing. Quite the opposite. Retailers like Primark and other fast-fashion and value-led brands continue to perform strongly in volume terms, particularly in the current price-sensitive climate. The shift is in perceived value and how this is created.

Many of these high-volume brands are efficient, accessible and clearly commercially successful, yet they are increasingly interchangeable. They serve a need but rarely create desire.

By contrast, premium brands build something more durable and longer lasting.  This ultimately means loyalty and pricing power. So, while mass wins transactions, premium wins meaning, and is increasingly overtaking volume as the benchmark for a successful brand.