• by Bob Shullman , Columnist, November 5, 2014

In our previous column, we reported on the upcoming holiday shopping plans of affluent adults whom we and many of our clients define as those 18 years of age or older, living in households with household incomes of $75,000 or more (the top 41% of American adults).

This generated many requests for the insights collected in our most recent survey about how marketers could communicate their messages to these valuable consumers, using either traditional or digital platforms. In that survey (completed in late August), we asked affluents about the ways marketers can potentially deliver messages to them — either through paid advertising that marketers commission or through commentary that consumers share with their friends and family via word-of-mouth or within the different digital communities to which they belong. Specifically, we asked affluents about the advertising they may see across 40 potential platforms and how engaged they are with that advertising, plus how they may communicate about brands with their families and friends when they use a total of 28 potential word-of-mouth approaches or participate in digital communities or networks.

The following are the top 10 platforms in which affluent consumers reported they saw advertising: 

• The #1 platform where affluents reported they saw advertising continued to be television, with 65% of affluent adults recalling they saw advertising on television within the past 30 days. When asked about how much interest they had in the advertising they had seen on television, 61% reported they had "considerable" or "some" interest, resulting in television’s being ranked #12 among the 40 platforms measured in this survey wave. 

• The #2 platform for delivering advertising to affluents was Facebook, with 48% reporting they recalled seeing advertising there, and 52% of these reporting they had interest in the advertising they had seen, equating to a #26 rank regarding interest or engagement. 

• Tied for the reach rank of #3 was advertising on websites and emails (reaching 43% of affluents with ads) with websites engaging 50% — an engagement rank of 27, and emails engaging 49% — an engagement rank of 29. 

• Coming in at the #5 reach rank was mail sent to the home (reaching 42% of affluents with ads) with an engagement score of 44% that equated to an engagement rank of 36.

• Radio came in at the #6 reach position (reaching 40% of affluents) while engaging 50% and ranking #27 on this dimension.

• Tied for the reach rank of #7 were magazines (printed or digital) and billboards, which both reached 38% of affluents, with magazines engaging 68% (an engagement rank of 4) and billboards engaging 44%, tied with snail mail for the #36 position.

• The #9 reach position was taken by newspapers (printed or digital), which reached 37% of affluents, while engaging 53% of its readers for the #24 position.

• The #10 reach rank was taken by printed magazines that reached 36% of affluents with ads, while achieving an engagement score of 66% that earned it the #6 engagement rank. The other half of the magazine platform, digital magazines, reached 10% of affluents with ads and engaged 70% of those readers to earn the #2 engagement rank.

The top 10 word-of-mouth or digital communities that affluents reported using to communicate with their friends and family include conversing by telephone in the #1 position used by 69% of affluents, followed by conversing in person (at 66% in the #2 position), followed by Facebook at #3 at 65%, then texting at 64%, followed by email at 61%, then instant messaging at 23%, then Skype at 20%, followed by Twitter (reading or posting) at 19%, then online chatting at 15%, with the #10 position a tie taken by 14% of affluents communicating through Instagram and in written messages delivered by U.S. mail or a delivery service.

Marketers now have 68 potential platforms through which they can potentially communicate with affluent holiday shoppers, either by commissioning advertising or inducing affluents to comment about their products or services through word-of-mouth or through the communities or digital networks to which they belong. It’s a huge menu, so make your choices wisely.