Commentary

The Emergence Of The Affluent Millennial

by Alexis DeVilling , Op-Ed Contributor, April 29, 2015

In a nutshell: Affluent Millennials are going to be spending a lot of money in the coming years.

According to the 2014 Ipsos Affluent Survey USA, affluent adults (aged 18+ with at least $100,000 in annual household income) now account for 23% of U.S. households, a whopping 67.5 million people. The affluent community is anticipated to spend $2 trillion on products and services this year. Baby Boomers may be the single largest affluent population (38%), but a generational shift is underway. Gen Xers (33%) and Millennials (22%) combine to outnumber Boomers. This trend is on the rise as the number of affluent Millennials continues to grow. Millennials are moving into the phase of life where they are purchasing homes, starting families, and running companies. With these life-stage changes, affluence will come, followed by the desire for luxury and upscale products.

To speak to the affluent Millennial demographic, marketers must recognize they live in a world where technology reigns supreme. It is crucial for brands to recognize the importance of social media marketing. An overwhelming 88% of Affluents visited one social network per week, led by Facebook, which was visited by 70% of Affluents for an average of 5.7 hours. It’s no wonder brands are turning to Facebook to target this socially engaging demographic. In Q1 alone, mobile advertising drove 73% of Facebook’s advertising revenue.

Across all industries, brands are capitalizing on the high ROI social media marketing programs deliver. The ability to create highly targeted audience groups gives brands an efficient way to reach their audience and measure a program’s success. Luxury brand Audi enlisted Facebook’s suite of products as part of their omni-channel advertising approach to raise brand awareness for their A3 Sportback. Audi relied on Facebook to showcase the vehicle’s exemplary technology features. The targeted reach Audi obtained was significantly higher than TV and print, and at a fraction of the cost of traditional media spends.

Brands like Audi, which targeted affluent Millennials, recognized what was important to the demographic when creating their campaign. Millennials are of a generation that values trust, technology, and environmental sustainability. They want to do business with brands that share their values, so highlighting corporate responsibility is important. They also want to be engaged in a conversation, as opposed to getting the hard sell. Millennials’ decision-making processes are often based on personal referrals, reviews, and self-guided online research. If brands can create an emotional connection across all digital platforms, they will find much success.

affluent, gen y, social media

4 comments about "The Emergence Of The Affluent Millennial".

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Jim Gilmartin from Coming of Age, April 29, 2015 at 11:17 a.m.
The author's last paragraph says it all, however, the advice should not be limited to just appealing to millennials. Baby Boomers desire and demand such values and motivators even more.
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Greg Ventresca from VentraLocal Digital Marketing, April 29, 2015 at 12:18 p.m.

The quick emergence of affluent milennials comes as no surprise. Standing on the shoulders of the education provided by the Baby Boomer generation (mom & dad), many millenials were gifted more education than any other generation in American history. As the internet became useful & mobile, social interaction morphed from face-to-face time into broadcasting your opinions without the accountability of being present. Even though Johnny sucked at football, he got to play every game. The unfortunate spawn, in my view, is a rather pompus and dismissive generation of adults that have been tainted by entitlements & convenience. Patience has been replaced by intolerance; loyalty by narcissim...but they are making good money. Newsflash: the Boomers have the most disposable income and are your best customer. Be nice.

Alexis DeVilling from CTP, April 29, 2015 at 12:41 p.m.

The purpose of the article was to raise awareness that Millennials are stepping up as the next wave of big-spenders (and likely taking care of their Boomer parents in the future). Key is for brands to have a target market plan in place to reach your ideal audience, no matter what generation they fall under.

P.S. I wont take it personally that you feel Millennials are narcissistic brats :)

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, May 3, 2015 at 7:40 p.m.

Millennials are not aware of what it is going to cost to take of their parents. And all of those who are in favor of cutting Social Security and Medicare are especially in denial. It will hit them like a ton of bricks. $100,000 annual HHI doesn't go very far for luxury items when paying a mortgage, 2 cars, kids, medical and your boomer parents who will have had the most disposable income at one time. $200,000 goes pretty darn fast, too. Boomer market will garner another meaning.