A recent article by C-suite luxury ad man Duke Greenhill compared attitudes toward premium brands among Millennials and Baby Boomers. Millennials emphasize the source, craftsmanship and design of a product over its price tag. To them, luxury items are a means of expressing aspiration rather than net worth. These aspirations often center on green living. (Four out of the seven recession-era status symbols cited by The Fiscal Times involve social responsibility or sustainability.) Furthermore, Millennial luxury is inclusive rather than exclusive: Young people want their peers to join them in the social initiatives they advertise through their choice of brands.

Affluent Millennials want to be seen as civic-minded, not rich. They want to appear well-informed, altruistic, discerning and down-to-earth. This is a big change from the “trading up” mentality of the Boomers, and must be kept front-of-mind when developing products and ads geared toward Millennials with money.