Earlier this year, AdWeek featured an article about a new working class: the working wealthy. AdWeek defines the working wealthy as “middle-class millionaires – the 8.4 million households in America with $1 million to $10 million in net worth – are setting the pace for innovation in new and fascinating ways. Although the word “millionaire” may conjure up images of first-class lifestyles and financial peace of mind, middle-class millionaires work exceptionally long hours to maintain their expensive lifestyles and most think of themselves as just plain ‘middle class.’”
This class of millionaires influences others in the middle class. If they like something, their early sales help companies gauge how well their product is going to do, which allows them to gauge future demand. It’s important to market to this class because they are advocates that tell their family, friends and co-workers about new products and services they’ve tried. Surveys show that this group is 50 percent more likely to say that they “tell lots of other people about products or services they like” than middle-class respondents.
AdWeek authors Lewis Schiff and Russ Alan Prince dub this occurrence in which the working wealthy’s spending habits are imitated by others as the “influence of affluence.” Take OnStar, for example. GM only offered OnStar on their highest-end vehicles, but its appeal was so profound to other middle-class consumers that GM is now standard on most GM vehicles.
The auto industry seems to be a big avenue for the middle-class millionaires to influence others. Tesla delivered electric cars – a sports car designed by Lotus – to its first 100 owners this year. Buyers ranged from TV stars like George Clooney to many middle-class millionaires. The price tag? $98,000! The concern about the environment coupled with the enthusiasm for a roadster reflects the high-class’ and the middle-class’ affinity for powerful cars. This has trickled down to the regular middle-class, and follows the influence of affluence quite well.
Tesla is planning on creating a luxury sedan in the $55,000 price range, and also a $30,000 model after seeing how well the $55,000 model sells. By selling to the working wealthy first, Tesla already has a middle-class market ready to buy as soon as their price range of cars roll off the line.
AdWeek’s survey also found that nearly 50 percent of middle-class millionaires reported they are “very or extremely often asked for advice” about “luxury products and services.” (Compare that to less than 1 percent for middle-class respondents.) Also, this group is asked “how to succeed professionally” 72 percent of the time versus 2 percent for the middle class. Schiff and Prince also report that “Across 30 areas of life ranging from cars to careers to caring for elderly parents, they report being asked for advice at least twice as often as the middle-class survey respondents.”
With this group growing at a rate of 15 percent every three years, we could see between 15 and 20 million working wealthy households in the United States. That’s a lot of people that could be touting your product to their friends and family. It’d be smart to start marketing to these folks now.
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