Marketing Luxury Products — Campbell Partners

When Jesse James was asked why he robbed banks, he responded simply: because that is where the money is.

Where is the money now? And how best to reach it with marketing?

Here are a couple of relevant thoughts.

It is in households headed by a group marketers ignore: over 55 years old. High net worth households have always been older than the general population, but the difference has increased over time. Wealth peaks between the ages of 55 and 65. Indeed, even at 70, median net worth is about double what it is at 40. Only about 20% of the millionaires in this country are less than 45 years old.

These households spend less time on the Internet. Up to 50 years old, everyone spends time on-line; between 50 and 64, it is almost everyone. Over 65, almost 1/3 of the population do not spend any measurable time on-line. Only 40% engage with Facebook.

They care a lot about privacy. Many don’t even talk about their financial status with their children. Their life has taught them to be suspicious of ulterior motives. Overselling to them is a path to failure. Remember that the next time you set your retargeting parameters. Stalking is a relative thing.

They respond to emotional messages. There is no rational basis for luxury goods, and they know it. Don’t fetishize the product; connect more deeply. They aren’t buying a product anyway; they are buying a better version of themselves. The younger aspirational buyers care more about horsepower than the real ones. All they care about is how the product makes them FEEL. Is Rolex really the best performing watch? Who knows? Who cares?

Marketers have gotten really young, as the profession has changed in a fundamental way with the growth of digital options. The mismatch between who is doing the marketing and who is doing the buying has never been larger, and that is never a good thing. The UHNW consumer lives life differently and consumes media differently, and the result is a very different path to purchase.