As the holiday season winds down, home holiday lights have reached into realms of displays once reserved for corporate buildings and special arrangements for towns. Now, however, the rise of premium has extended into holiday lighting. As Reason Magazine notes,
Today’s lavish displays do more than brighten the night. They tell a story of economic progress. Like the electronic gadgets aimed at gift buyers, the tiny lights outlining rooflines and tree limbs illustrate new sources of growth, productivity, and prosperity. Aesthetic pleasure, they tell us, is an increasingly important source of economic value and hence of new jobs and business opportunities. And the same trends that boost living standards in other areas also make Christmas lights more abundant.
Franchises, like Christmas Decor, have only enhanced the ability of consumers to “buy up” to these premium services.
The phenomena can also be tracked with the rise of the holiday-themed Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who, according to the New York Times, has “ elaborate, effects-filled concerts” that have put them “thirteenth highest-grossing concert act in the last three months.” The band and their pairing of lights fueled the drive for a premium experience from consumers after Carson Williams “decorated his house with 16,000 Christmas lights in Mason, Ohio and programmed them to dance to music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The video moved instantly around the Internet. He and his home were featured on NBC’s Today Show, and other network programs. His house also was featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial.”
The Rise of Premium 