“There’s a lot of talk about the polarization of wealth and the shrinking of the ‘middle class.’ A sea change for companies as they market, brand and advertise has more to do with the fate of the ‘Mass Affluent,'” Joe Mont reports for MainStreet.
“A recent study by Digitas, a global integrated brand agency, found that those with a $100,000 to $199,000 household income level have all but disappeared,” Mont reports. “The study, Affluence in America: The New Consumer Landscape, was developed as a white paper for Advertising Age with Ipsos Mendelsohn, a global market research company that specializes in advertising and marketing. Mass affluence has given way to the spending power of the truly and the up-and-coming affluent — the ‘Class Affluent’ and ‘Emerging Affluent,’ it found.”
Mont reports, “The Mass Affluent, earning between $100,000 and $199,000 in household income, is rapidly being absorbed into other categories, including the Emerging Affluent, or those under the age of 35 earning $100,000 to $199,000; the Class Affluent, a growing segment with between $200,000 and $1 million HHI annually; the merely ‘Affluent,’ with between $200,000 and $499,000 HHI; the ‘Wealthy,’ with between $499,000 and $999,000 HHI; and the ‘Rich,’ with $1 million-plus HHI.”
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“Where one falls on the wealth spectrum has traditionally influenced what they buy and the brands they favor,” Mont reports. “‘My observation about brands is they start out small and focused and as they become more successful they need to incorporate a wider variety of people,’ says George Scribner, senior vice president of people planning for Digitas and the author of the study. ‘In that regard they end up defending their brand, as opposed to really championing and evolving their original reason for being.'”
Mont reports, “There are exceptions to that, however. A common denominator among the Mass Affluent, Class Affluent and Emerging Affluent: Apple is their favorite brand.”
Read more in the full article here.