NEW YORK, May 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Digitas, the leadingglobal integrated brand agency, announces key trends fromproprietary research -- "Affluence in America: The New ConsumerLandscape," -- developed in partnership with Ipsos Mendelsohn.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110525/PH09058 )
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100616/NE22345LOGO )
The study reveals that the future of affluence is not like thepast, and that "mass affluence" has given way to the spending powerof the truly and the up-and-coming affluent -- the "Class Affluent"and the "Emerging Affluent."
"In the wake of the global economic recession, marketers need anew map and compass to the affluent landscape, including mediaconsumption. It's crucial for business planning, targeting, newproduct development, communications, and creative," said GeorgeScribner, SVP/People Planning, Digitas and leading force behind thestudy. "We believe this new segmentation and the consumer insightsderived from this research will empower both our clients andmarketers across the U.S. to better identify, understand and reachtheir most valuable customers."
KEY FINDINGS:
The Mass Affluent ($100-$199K household income level) hasdisappeared.
They don't have the leveraged spending power they once had andnow have to live on income alone. Not surprisingly, an overwhelmingmajority (53%) classify themselves as middle class. They have beenreplaced by:
The Class Affluent -- earn $200K HHI or more yearly and 54%classify themselves as upper-middle class.
The Emerging Affluent -- earn $100-$199K; same as the MassAffluent YET are under 35 years old.
The Rise of the Class Affluent (in a "class" by themselves):
Earns between $200K HHI (the minimum threshold for true affluencein America according to our findings) and $1 million+ HHI annually.
Represents the minority -- only 8.5 million in a country of 307million people.
Three tiers of Class Affluence.
The Affluent -- $200K-$499K HHI -- The Creative Class: TheAffluent are the creative class. They are likely to work in creativefields or industries, like software design, publishing,architecture, advertising, or journalism.
The Wealthy -- $499K-$999K HHI -- The Money Class: Likely to workin Finance and Consulting.
The Rich -- $1 million+ HHI -- The Leadership Class: They areindividuals who run companies and influence industry. They commandthe highest incomes and make decisions that affect many. They can befound in high-income careers, like financial or legal services, orbreak-out industries like Internet properties/services or realestate.
In terms of media behavior, Digitas has identified a directcorrelation between level of affluence and digital media usage.Early adoption of new digital devices, digital content consumption,and mobile usage all increase with affluence.
Emerging Affluent: 5.5 million people who are currently in thework force and on their way to affluence.
They have the same HHI as the Mass Affluent ($100K-$199K) but areyounger, under 35.
Emerging Affluents work in careers that will eventually deliveraffluence -- financial services, legal services, and engineering --but they are still in the low to middle management tiers.
This group has all the attitudes of the truly affluent. Theyconsider themselves opinion leaders, follow trends, love to travel,and are passionate about food and dining. They pursue both stylishyouth-oriented brands like Scion, Diesel, and Samsung and trueluxury brands like H. Stern, Tiffany, St. Ives, and D&G.
What sets this group apart from all others is their intenselydigital media behavior. Universally digital, members of this classuse mobile devices for communicating, consuming content, enjoyingmusic, and gaming. They use social networks and blog, and theyprefer apps to 411 to research restaurants, recommend products, orget deals from marketers.
Geographic Highlights (see chart above)
Northeast commands the highest index of "Rich": 27% (index: 127).
Midwest has the highest concentration of "Emerging": 26% (index:125).
"South" and "West" regions have relatively equal representationacross all tiers of Affluence.
Methodology
The primary source of quantitative data is the MendelsohnAffluence Survey, fielded March 2010 with heads-of-households thathave household income (HHI) of $100,000 or more. Digitas soughtsigns of affluence based on a range of lifestyle behaviors and thento identify the tiers of affluence. Once establishing the affluencehierarchy, Digitas mined the data further for source of income,attitudes, purchasing patterns, and media usage.
Digitas--Leader in Insights and Research
Digitas also recently released Digitas Trends, a forecast reportwith a list of 45 trends across six categories -- culture, data,devices, media, mobile and social. Digitas Trends is housed in anapp format and available on iTunes.
For more information on Digitas' "Affluence in America: The NewConsumer Landscape," please contact George Scribner atGeorge.Scribner@digitas.com.
About Digitas
Digitas, the top global integrated brand agency, builds activebrands for some of the foremost companies in the world. With a deepunderstanding of their client's customer's passions and behaviors,the agency combines media creativity, technology, creativity,analytics to ignite emotional bonds between people and brands.Digitas counts Agency of the Year honors from the Festival of Media,OMMA Magazine, Promo Magazine, BtoB Magazine, and Les Agences del'Annee, France, and has been named to the Advertising Age Digital A-List among its many awards.
Digitas also operates the brand content platform, The Third Act:,producers of first and most well renowned event on digital content,The NewFront; the healthcare marketing brand, Digitas Health; and,Prodigious Worldwide, the world's only standalone, global digitalproductions company.
With sister agencies Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia, Denuoand Razorfish, Digitas is a member of Publicis Groupe's VivaKi -- aglobal digital knowledge and resource center that leverages thecombined scale of the autonomous operations of its members todevelop new services, new tools, and new partnerships.
Publicis Groupe [listed on the Euronext Paris Exchange -FR0000130577 - and part of the CAC 40 index] is the world's thirdlargest communications group. With activities spanning 104 countrieson five continents, Publicis Groupe offers local and internationalclients a complete range of advertising services. Web site:www.publicisgroupe.com
www.digitas.com | Twitter: @Digitas | Facebook: Digitas Fan Page| Blog: Digitas Distillery
ABOUT IPSOS MENDELSOHN
Ipsos Mendelsohn, a division of Ipsos OTX MediaCT, specializes inproviding media and marketing insights to clients interested inbetter understanding the upscale segments of the American consumermarketplace. Conducting high-quality media and marketing research,Ipsos Mendelsohn has reported on the demographic, behavioral, andattitudinal characteristics of the American affluent population forthe past 34 years in its syndicated offering, The MendelsohnAffluent Survey, and its ongoing monthly offering, "The MendelsohnAffluent Barometer." To read more about The Mendelsohn AffluentSurvey: http://www.ipsos-na.com/products-tools/media-content-technology/syndicated-studies/mendelsohn-affluent-survey.aspx.
To learn more contact: Mark Kostelec mark.kostelec@ipsos.com
SOURCE Digitas
No comments:
Post a Comment