Cracking the code on a very small target group.
One of my goals with Upward Home is to dispel myths about affluent consumers, so that marketers can do a better job of building high-end brands and generating sales.
Typically, I focus on the 23 million affluent (HHI $100-249k) consumers in the U.S., as well as the 2.5 million ultra-affluent consumers (HHI $250k+). I also write about the 60,000 or so Ultra High Net Worth individuals ($30m+ in investible assets). To state the obvious, there is an inverse correlation between the size of each group and their wealth. The higher the wealth, the smaller the group.
At the top of this wealth pyramid are the billionaires. It’s a small club: only 571 of them in the United States and a total of 2,325 of them globally.
However, as is the case with the mere affluents down the wealth ladder, there are some surprising statistics about this group that marketers shouldn’t ignore. For example, lest you think that most billionaires inherited their wealth, you should know that only 19% inherited. The rest, eight out of ten, are mostly self-made – and they are a hard-working group. This insight alone should impact the way that you market to them.
I was reminded about this elusive group of consumers when I read a recent report from Wealth-X, a global research and prospecting firm that specializes in providing insights and intelligence on UHNW individuals to global private banks and luxury brands. If your brand can benefit from access to UHNWI’s and billionaires, Wealth-X can help you find them.
Wealth-X’s report had a few other factoids that I found fascinating:
- Billionaires are transnational. They move from city to city, rather than from country to country. That said, nearly 35% of the world’s billionaires are concentrated in 20 cities.
- They are generous. On average, they donate more than $100 million, which is more than the value of their total real estate assets of $94 million.
- They are networked. Billionaires have large social networks, with at least three of their connections also having a billion-dollar net worth.
- They are diverse. There are currently 286 female billionaires, accounting for a 12.3% share of global billionaire wealth.
If you believe, like Drucker, that the aim of marketing is to know the consumer so well that the product sells itself, then you should invest some time learning more about this group at the very top of the wealth ladder. Knowing the differences (and similarities) between billionaires and millionaires (and regular people) can only help your marketing grow sharper.
I encourage you to download Wealth-X’s report by clicking here.
Written by
