As expected, some of the first advice: get your digital strategy right. Global Director of Consumer Marketing, Marylee Sachs, commented on the need to move beyond the efforts most companies put forth today:

“One thing she said she would like to see her clients do more of is cut back on simply experimenting in the online space and instead make the commitment and “put a truly significant spend behind their efforts.”

The internet offers the most effective & efficient way to deploy marketing dollars for serious brand-building organizations. The old Wanamaker adage of half your advertising being wasted is slowly being broken down by the relentless progress of targeting, optimization, and monitoring to ensure that the message is not only received but drives active engagement. When you’re facing pressure to ensure your increasingly limited resources are used well, being able to show as direct a path as possible to positive ROI is not a goal but a necessity.

Of course, effective targeting is predicated on the notion that you’ve carefully thought through who to target in the first place. A campaign designed to reach affluent individuals may work better than a generic mush of messaging, but it can barely reach the level of a context-sensitive effort. The challenge (and opportunity) for brand marketers is to carefully evaluate how they relate to their audience, and dive as deeply as possible into that world. By truly understanding their audience, they can ensure that their ad dollars have the effectiveness of a scalpel, rather than a rubber mallet.

You can read the full article on AdAge:

WPP Execs Offer Tips on Weathering the Recession (AdAge)

The Martini Media Network attracts consumers un-phased by the current economic ennui. These affluent hobbyists are passionate about their pursuits and will continue dedicate resources to them. To the avid sailor the market downturn may be reason for concern, but a dedicated passion and escape for the weekend still resides out on the waves. They are iron-clad consumers of goods and services, and maintain their spending habits with less regard to adjustments in the markets than your average consumer. And for those who do tend to spend a few days less on their pursuit, they find their outlet increasingly through the most entertaining & efficient channel available – the internet. Premier brands will increasingly utilize the superior demographic targeting and trackability of online advertising; this will accelerate both print advertising’s decline and online marketing’s rise. Our consumers will buoy premier brand spending during any economic slowdown.

Online advertisements on Martini sites provide superior trackability and demographic-targeting.  Premier brands can speak directly to highly-engaged, high net-worth consumers.

We’ve collected a number of recent articles that present a cogent viewpoint around our enthusiasm for Martini. Click “Read More” below share our view.

L.A. Times : Technology : “Internet advertising : It keeps growing and growing” – June 17, 2008

Lauren Sherman at Forbes.com – October 8, 2008

“The chairman of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, said this month that he expected global spending on luxury goods to double in the next five years to nearly $440 billion. Much of that growth will come from China, Russia and other emerging markets and will be directed to classic European brands.”
International Herald Tribune – March 7, 2008

“Luxury skin-care products defy the economy:

In fact, it may be the very reason the upscale skin-care market has yet to feel the ravages of the recession. The overall skin-care category is up 2% for the first half of the year over the same period in 2007, according to research firm NPD Group. But get this: Sales of super-premium products — priced at more than $150 — have climbed 21%.”

LA Times – October 19, 2008

Between March 4 and March 7, Russ Prince and I surveyed a random sample of 338 Middle-Class Millionaires throughout the nation and here’s a summary of what we found.

More than 77% of those surveyed believe that recession is imminent and more than 93% do not believe the government will provide an adequate bail out.
Despite the downturn, the Middle Class Millionaire won’t be putting a permanent hold on luxury spending.  In fact:

* Nearly 48% of those surveyed says they will take a vacation, one that exceeds $10,000, in 2008;

* While more than 38% will curtail their spending until the economy improves, the rest will continue to shell out for things like home renovations, luxury cars, and second homes;

* A full 66% say they will increase their luxury spending when the economy recovers.”

Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff, Co-authors, “The Middle-Class Millionaire”, Mr. Prince, Founder & President, Prince & Associates, a leading market research and consulting firm, and founder of Private Wealth Magazine – May 10, 2008

“In a Newly Competitive Luxury Market, Marketers Need Consumer Insights:
2008 will be a testing time for many luxury brands.  Luxury companies will be facing a new, more competitive market, one unlike any they have confronted in the past.   The conventional wisdom has always been that the affluent market is unaffected by the economic ups and downs that impact the average consumer.  But today the affluent market is far more diverse and stratified than it historically ever has been.
That means luxury marketers need to understand the segments within their target market and develop marketing strategies that clearly differentiate the priorities and passions of these different segments.”

Unity Marketing’s Luxury Consumption Index and Predictions for the Luxury Market in 2008

“Like the women’s category, we’re going to offer advertisers better-defined opportunities with better reach,” said Samir Arora, chairman and CEO of Glam Media. “The men’s category, as it’s traditionally defined by ‘laddie’ magazines and upscale fashion magazines, is too narrow in its focus.”

It looks like Brash has taken this to heart with channels in entertainment, lifestyle, tech, and autos to start. It’s a well done site, with Glam’s typical polish & approach to network content. Of course, we’d love to see them feature even more strongly their publishers that generate a lot of the feel of the place – but that may come with time. It is encouraging to see more focus on the sophisticated gentleman – it’s an audience we strive to understand through their passions like classic cars, private planes & polo. And they tend to be incredibly tech savvy & online.

Mediapost has more details on the announcement.

Time is Money: Wealthy Drop Dollars Online (AdAge)

Of course Google has as much interest as us in having the affluent shop online. But they call out a couple  personality assumptions that we think are key.

First, comfort and convenience. Many of the current affluent group made their money in technology. The two internet booms, along with the modern finance, have been some of the greatest wealth creators in recent history. Both of those worlds rely heavily on technology, and so the beneficiaries of those booms tend to be more comfortable researching, finding, and purchasing online. Not only do they want their favorite brands online (91% said so), those who buy online actually tend to spend MORE ($114,632 annually vs $22,813 annually for those who shop offline). So if your luxury brand isn’t online yet, shouldn’t you be wondering how much of the market you’re missing?

Second, efficiency. 89% of the millionaires are working full time. Considering the working environments prevalent in society today, how many of those do you think are at 40 hours a week and have time for relaxing strolls down 5th Ave? More likely they’re squeezing in Christmas shopping on an iPhone between board meetings. Reaching these folks and making it quick for them to find your brand online is key.

There’s a trove of other great stats in the article, so I encourage you to check it out for yourself. This is too important a trend in the luxury space to miss.

Affluent Spend the Most Time Online (eMarketer)

As a household’s wealth increased from $100k-$150k to $250k+, the average time logged weekly online increased nearly 6 full hours – a 25% jump. So not only do the affluent consumers show increased internet access rates, that time they actually spend online is higher is well.

While less dramatic, equally interesting is the corresponding decrease in consumption in traditional channels – television & radio are detailed here. Why is that? It’s not explained in the report, but I suspect they’re looking for more from their media sources – more depth, more interactivity, more community – and all of it faster and cleaner. The internet provides that.

So what are these people doing online in all this time? Just checking portfolios, reading email? Wrong. The upper income ranges also show the highest percentage of the population using the internet frequently for exploring their passions & hobbies.

Hobbyists Online (Pew Internet)

The key data point? While the report unfortunately doesn’t detail the extreme wealth ranges, within the highest income bracket they detail ($75k+), the percentage of adults who used the internet to find info on their hobby was the highest surveyed (90%), including a remarkable 36% who used the internet the day before to look into their passion (that’s also 20% higher than internet average). So affluent consumers aren’t just online: they’re affluent enthusiasts, looking to explore their pursuits and connect with their communties.

If You’re Rich, You Still Have Time to Read (AdAge)

Some key info:

“Respondents making more than $100,000 annually said their average hours online had grown to 22.1 each week from 10.7, while the time they said they spent watching TV sunk to 18.6 hours from 23.7 in the 2003 survey.”

One thing we get questioned on fairly often is…are the affluent enthusiasts you target actually spending time online? While we have a stable of fellow enthusiasts & publishers showing a resounding yes, it’s encouraging to see AdAge backing up our position. Are the affluent busy? Of course. That doesn’t mean they’re not able to spend time online. In fact, going online has become the best way to get your fix while on the go. When you’re not able to make the trip to Napa, you can read about the latest harvest news, in real time. Away on a sales trip while Newport polo is going on? No worries – catch the latest updates live. Affluent enthusiasts are carrying their passion online, and looking for communities to keep them up to date and in the know, even during an overly scheduled life.