Style guru Tyler Brulé reckons that media will be the next luxury - and that people will shortly "get what they pay for" in publishing and broadcast.

Brulé, best known in publishing as the founder of Wallpaper magazine, dropped the tip to an Aussie reporter covering a portable phone launch in Sydney.

He claimed that blogs, cheap magazines and blurred lines between editorial and advertising copy will mean quality will come at premium rates in the not too distant future.

Brulé, who writes a column on jet-set trends for the Financial Times, collared the Economist's CEO Helen Alexander to push his theme. He advised her that as the Economist had just passed the million reader mark, it was time perhaps to add a further £2 to its cover price to restore the newspaper's premium quality. Alexander unsurprisingly, didn't think the market was ready for such a move. Brulé disagrees: "Now is the right time," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Though Brulé is currently heading trends-design-branding consultancy Winkreative, he knows a thing or two about premium publications. He launched Wallpaper in the mid-90s, aiming the magazine at international trendsetters with time and cash to spare. Wallpaper's fresh layouts and campy editorial - covering industrial, interior and fashion design, as well as travel and food - was brilliantly timed and hugely influential: At one stage, it seemed as if every pub in provincial Britain was being "madeover" in a Wallpaper-inspired pop art meets international modernism style. Brulé's team could also be credited with the renaissance in the magazine illustrating game, and it was an early adopter of publishing exclusive and premium content on the web.

Brulé sold Wallpaper to Time Inc for a tidy sum at the end of the decade, but if magazines are in your blood, it is very difficult to remove them completely. His vision of a "first class" rank of publications available for those willing to fork out for them would be a natural reaction to the endless proliferation of news and comment sources on the web, not to mention a welcome booster for publishers wondering how to make a buck as circulations slow and online subscription models flounder.

Just how does one go about creating a premium-rate publication, though? It isn't enough to simply add two pounds to the price of a publication: Presumably the executives who buy the Economist are wise enough to realise that higher prices alone do not equate to better quality. Circulation would fall, of course, but by squeezing all but the most affluent (or most willing to pay) from the readership, gains might be made through higher advertising rates. Even so, such gains are likely to be slight once set against readership losses. Which would mean that there would be little money to spare to improve the Economist's service to its more selective audience.

Exclusivity could hit the Economist's broader philosophy, too: The newspaper was founded to argue for progressive and liberal values. Restricting readership to the very wealthy would damage its proselytizing mission, not least among the young.

Creating exclusive content for business-class readers is another option - though the Economist team could argue that it already does this via the Economist Intelligence Unit, which provides regular (and very expensive) reports on investment in 200 nations around the world. The newspaper also publishes a glossy lifestyle annual, Intelligent Life, which is interestingly reminiscent of Brulé's Wallpaper.

But if the approach might not be right for the Economist, who might benefit from pricier editorial services? A generation of young readers have become so accustomed to getting news for free via the web that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to demand that they pay for it. It is perfectly possible that someone in his mid-twenties has spent his whole adult life reading newspapers without paying for one - that is, if he reads newspapers at all.

He will, however, pay for mobile phone content; for video games; for music; for certain television broadcasts and channels; for an internet connection that will allow him to do all of the above. Based on this willingness to pay for certain services, publishers should be unwilling to write off web subscription or pay services altogether.

Moreover, it is not difficult to imagine an ultra-swish media offering combining broadcast, web, mobile and print material, aimed at an international market. High subscription fees and limited distribution would guarantee a certain exclusivity, while content tailored to the user's needs could also introduce a luxe "personal service" quality to its output. "Luxury media" has an appealling ring, even if paying for something others receive for free does not seem the best way for wealthy customers to stay that way.

Perhaps publishers should aim above the freedownloaders: Brulé is surely right to say that quality publications will distinguish themselves by charging more for content. It is difficult to see how they will survive otherwise.

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Related links

• Economist Intelligence Unit
• Winkreative
• Wallpaper