• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 16, 2013

According to the Shullman Research Center “Survey of the Affluent,” ads, electronic devices and apps attract very high income consumers. Magazines and newspapers score high, especially in the age 35-54 and 55+ categories, among places where consumers have seen or heard advertising.

America's 6.7 million adults, with household incomes of $250,000 or more, are all avid users of electronic devices and apps and are attracted to ads in a wide selection of media platforms. Only about 3% of total adults in the United States live in these households, but they are of great importance to marketers and advertisers.

Health clubs and gyms are at the top of the list of consumers' level of interest in advertising seen or heard in selected media platforms and places, and the Affluent are firmly committed to technology in all its forms, and always open to innovation.

The study investigates the expectations, behaviors, and plans of adults in all markets, with a particular focus on upscale consumers, the drivers of the luxury and affluent markets. Selected March 2013 insights are included in the report, by three age segments among those very upscale adults with household incomes of $250,000 or more.

These very desirable consumers are all not alike, and the Whitepaper highlights some key differences among three age segments regarding the media platforms they currently use, the electronic devices they own and plan to purchase, and the apps they have installed on the electronic devices they own. 

6.7 million adults with HH incomes of $250,000 or more:

• 23% under age 35; 1.6 million
• 40% age 35 to 54; 3.1 million
• 31% age 55 and over;  2.0 million

Source: Bureau of Census, March 2012

Older, very-high-income consumers, are more likely to have seen or heard advertising through many of the traditional media platforms during the past 30 days. An exception is movie theaters, where the youngest and oldest segments are more likely than the 35- to 54-year-olds to have seen advertising. 

Among the highly desirable, very-high-income consumers, who saw or heard advertising in different media platforms or places, advertising in health clubs and gyms captured the interest of the greatest proportion of these consumers (more than four in five of the under-35s), followed by magazines, newspapers, and television. The youngest age segment was most interested in advertising in bus stops, subway stations, and train stations, followed by health clubs and gyms and smartphones; for the middle age segment, health clubs/gyms and medical offices topped the list; and the 55-and-overs were most interested in advertising they saw in magazines and newspapers. 

The youngest age segment is very much in the market for tablets and Internet-connectible television sets, with more than one third planning to purchase each of these devices in the next twelve months. 

Notably, a majority of these very-high-income consumers chose their smartphone when asked which electronic device they would choose if they could have only one of their currently-owned devices. Otherwise, only tablets and video game systems, among the youngest age segment, were chosen by more than a small percentage of these elite consumers. 

Older, very-high-income, consumers are more likely than the younger segment to have many of the listed app types installed on their devices: weather, books/e-readers, GPS/directions/maps, business and finance, etc. A notable exception is social networking apps, which have been installed by more than half of the youngest segment compared with just over one third of the oldest segment. 

Nearly all very-high-income adults use the Internet at home. More than two thirds of the 35- to 54-year-olds also go online at work and while in transit or on the go. 

The overall impact, concludes the report, is that these very high income adults are committed consumers with an appetite for innovation, representing a huge opportunity for marketers and agencies alike.

Data presented in this paper are based on the Shullman Luxury and Affluence Monthly Pulse, March Preview Wave, conducted online between February 26 and March 6, 2013, among adults age 18 or older. Results were weighted to bring these income groups, as well as other key demographics, into line with estimates from the March 2012 Current Population Survey as reported by the Bureau of the Census in the fall of 2012. 

For additional information from the Shullman Research Center, please visit here.