There was a great cartoon in The New Yorker magazine back in 1999 when Ford bought Volvo cars. It was the first of the ill-fated American car moves to co-opt luxury brands. The cartoon showed a well-heeled couple at the breakfast table. The man was reading a newspaper with the "Ford Buys Volvo" headline. Caption: "Do you think Velveeta will now buy Brie?"

While marketers and advertisers have long paid attention to the growing market of American Hispanics in general, only recently has there been widespread interest in Hispanic Affluents. In fact, just last month we were invited to speak at a symposium on affluence and luxury, the theme of which was "Hispanic Affluents as an obvious but too-often-overlooked" market segment.

The value of China's art market, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, has more than doubled since 2009, making China the world's second-largest art market, behind the United States.