Have you recently splurged on a higher-quality product even though it costs more? Hulu without ads? Fancy jeans? A Le Creuset instead of a regular ol’ Dutch oven?

Companies are hyperfocused on attracting that particular kind of customer right now. According to the NYT, they’re going all-in on “premiumization,” which is a strategy to entice customers to pay more for what is perceived as a better-quality product or service.

Premiumization isn’t new. Starbucks famously did it with coffee in the 1990s, and airlines have been dangling a luxurious first-class experience for decades. Premiumization has been especially popular in the consumer goods space.

But what’s new is the breadth of companies that are trying to extract more $$$ from their wealthiest customers. Execs referenced the premiumization concept in close to 60 earnings calls and investor meetings in the past several weeks, per the New York Times. A few examples:

• Krispy Kreme, which offered bargain deals last year, is now aiming to generate “excitement around our premium specialty doughnuts.”
• Six Flags has raised prices “in order to elevate the guest experience.”
• Even WD-40 is souping up its cans with things like a “smart straw” to get consumers to pay more.

Why is this happening?

Companies facing slowdowns in other areas see growth opportunities in upselling their wealthiest customers, who are sitting on more than $1 trillion in excess savings since the pandemic.

And those customers seem willing to play along. “All around the world, people are spending more on better products,” L’Oréal’s CEO Nicolas Hieronimus recently said. “The pandemic has generated this desire to pamper yourself.”

Big picture: The urge to focus on premium products could result in fewer options for lower-income Americans, who spend a greater share of their income on essentials like housing and food, the NYT notes.

The auto market is already out of reach for many Americans. At the end of 2022, only 10 car models were priced below $25,000, compared to 36 at the end of 2017.

UN agrees to protect the seas. In a deal decades in the making, more than 190 countries established a framework to protect marine life on the “high seas”—which are the 60% of the world’s oceans that lie outside of national boundaries. Currently, only 1.2% of those areas are protected, but the UN High Seas Treaty hopes to turn 30% of international waters into protected areas by 2030. Almost 10% of global marine species are at risk of extinction, per the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Proposed Florida laws will push it hard to the right. Ahead of a new legislative session tomorrow, GOP lawmakers have unveiled a suite of bills that are delighting conservatives and worrying progressives, free speech groups, and civil rights leaders. The bills include provisions that would ban gender studies majors and minors in higher education, open up media organizations to more libel lawsuits, and create a universal school choice voucher program. Gov. Ron DeSantis, the champion of this conservative agenda, is expected to run for president in 2024.

Another train derailment in Ohio. For the second time in about a month, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio. Unlike the first incident, which spilled toxic chemicals and forced the evacuation of East Palestine, the train that derailed on Saturday was not carrying any hazardous materials, the railroad said. It’s an inauspicious start to an already tense week for Norfolk Southern: CEO Alan Shaw will receive a grilling from senators when he testifies on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Despite a cyclone of headlines and hype, ChatGPT remains almost as unpopular on campus as the overachiever who asks a question when the professor is about to end class.

In a survey of 520 US college students, a Morning Brew/Generation Lab poll found that 40% have never heard of the chatbot from OpenAI.

• Of those who have heard of ChatGPT, 52% have never used it.
• And the students who said they do fire up ChatGPT…don’t use it all that much, as 55% of respondents who said they’ve used ChatGPT do so “almost never.”

Of course, ChatGPT was released just a few months ago—so in a sense it is quite remarkable that 60% of college students have heard of it. Still, it hasn’t made major inroads on college campuses yet, even while many instructors warn the new tech could create havoc in the classroom.

Uses for ChatGPT

Among the students who do use ChatGPT…what are they using it for?

• For giggles: 71% of students who’ve used ChatGPT said they use it in part for entertainment or just for fun.
• As Google: 32% of students who’ve used ChatGPT said they use it in part for quick answers to simple questions, and 31% to understand complex topics.
• For…cheating? 17% of students who’ve heard of ChatGPT said they have direct knowledge of friends having used ChatGPT to cheat.

Check out the full write-up here.

“Hell week” on Wall Street. As we mentioned at the top, this week features several potential landmines for the stock market. One of them is the jobs report on Friday. Employment numbers have been on the rise, and continued strength in the labor market could lead to more interest rate hikes. Another key event this week: Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill. He’s expected to field questions on the trajectory of inflation and the looming debt-ceiling crisis.

Daylight saving time begins. This week might be the last time you leave work while it’s still dark out for a while, because we’re “springing forward” on Sunday and getting more daylight in the evening. Some lawmakers are reviving efforts to make DST permanent.

March Madness is almost here. College basketball teams will make their final push to be included in the NCAA tournament ahead of Selection Sunday on March 12.

Everything else…

• The Hindu festival of Holi is on Wednesday.
• International Women’s Day is on Wednesday.
• Pregame the Academy Awards on Sunday by watching Tár and The Banshees of Inisherin.

Stat: Men will literally go to therapy instead of getting their annual checkups. A Cleveland Clinic survey of men last year found that 55% do not get regular health screenings, which is a far lower share than women. So, why do men avoid the turn-and-cough? Several potential reasons: their belief they might not need to, the concern of receiving bad news, and the taboo nature of talking about health issues with other dudes, the NYT suggests.

Quote: “You know what people say, they say, ‘Words hurt.’ Anybody that say words hurt has never been punched in the face.”

Comedian Chris Rock spoke at length about Will Smith slapping him at the Oscars in his live Netflix standup special Saturday night. (Spoiler: He wasn’t particularly delighted about getting smacked.) In the special, called Selective Outrage, Rock also touched on topics such as “wokeness”; Americans’ addiction to attention; and celebs including Beyoncé, the Kardashians, and Meghan Markle.

Read: A DNA test revealed the CEO of my company is my half-brother. (Ask a Manager)

Good TikTok account: Unclogging drains is oddly satisfying.

Always a treat: Dan Wang’s year in review.

If you watched cartoons as a kid…you’ll love this unaired Cartoon Network special about the worst cartoons ever. (YouTube)

We’re hiring another writer. If you think you can write this newsletter better than we can, apply here.

Startups are hard. Building a retail startup during peak pandemic while going through Chapter 11 was really hard. One founder managed this, emerging with the world’s leading VR experience. Listen in for the full story.

Whoosh whiz: Mailchimp analyzes millions of data points from billions of emails (yup, billions) to help elevate your email game. Be sure to catch the latest ep of The Crazy Ones, sponsored by Mailchimp.*

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Turntable: Mary tells me today’s Turntable features the longest pangram (15 letters) that we’ve ever featured in this game. See if you can solve it here.

Food geography trivia

Let’s return to the subject of Gruyère for today’s trivia. The cheese was originally developed in the Swiss town of Gruyères, and it’s not the only food product named after its place of origin.

We’ll give you a food product with a place-based name, and you have to identify the country the name originates from.

1. Black Forest ham
2. Lima bean
3. Sriracha sauce
4. Cheddar cheese
5. Fig Newton
6. Habanero pepper

There’s more to retail AI than chatbots (think: autonomous security robots). Retail Brew explains four uses for AI in retail.

The ultimate Excel hack you never knew you needed: Our best-selling Excel desk pad has over 60 Excel functions and over 70 shortcuts right at your fingertips. Shop now.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there—this isn’t one of them. Check out The Brief, our one-day marketing summit in NYC.