McCann Truth Central release latest study
McCann Truth Central’s ‘Truth About Affluence’ study released this week has found affluent citizens are more concerned with how they spend their time than how they spend their money.
The announcement:
For the new generation of affluent citizens around the world, the way they spend their time is more important than how they spend their money, according to the ‘Truth About Affluence’ study from McCann Truth Central released this week.
In this new era of stealth wealth, 88% of respondents said they were unaware that they were technically affluent – despite being in the top 20% of the population as measured by annual household income and net worth. The study reveals that in fact the primary indicators of affluence are more subtle and harder for brands and individuals to detect.
“Ultimately, we discovered that ‘time’ is more important than money and that affluent people most wanted to spend that precious resource with their families, enjoying enriching experiences with the people they love the most,” said Karl Bates, National Head of Planning, McCann Australia. “To succeed in today’s market, there’s an opportunity for brands to develop a more modern understanding of the subtleties of affluence and resist the urge to rely solely on the obvious visual cues.”
‘The Truth About Affluence’ study is based on a quantitative 4,000-person online survey across 16 countries and 21 cities, representing key centres of commerce and culture around the world, including Sydney, New York, London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Bombay and Shanghai.
Qualitative in-home “dinner parties” with groups of affluent individuals in key cities were also conducted on six continents, with Sydney again taking place.
According to the study, depictions of affluent people engaging in exclusive and opulent activities set apart from the average consumer are outdated. Instead, affluence has evolved into something more intangible, with 55% of respondents agreeing that affluence is a state of mind rather than a number in the bank.
“For the new wealthy, affluence means freedom from monetary constraints, the freedom to pursue career and passions and the freedom to live their lives as they choose,” Bates added. “In the words of one Australian dinner party guest: ‘So I can afford to holiday, pay off my mortgage, eat in very nice restaurants at least three times a week, and have breakfast at a café every weekend morning.’”
The new rules of engagement required in today’s era of stealth wealth include: 1)Recognising that Time Trumps Money; 2) Honing Your Rich Radar; and 3) Building Fluency in Affluency with a Global Perspective.
1.Recognising that Time Trumps Money
The research seeks to understand what truly matters to this unique group of people. Overall, Affluents agree that the way you spend your money is less important than how you spend your time. Time is recognised as the most precious resource (33%), more so than mental energy (28%) and physical energy (16%), personal space (13%), or finally money itself (10%).
“There are two currencies in the world: money and time,” said a Chinese male dinner party guest. “Money has a price, but time is priceless.”
2. Honing Your Rich Radar to Locate the Stealthy Wealthy
Even affluent people have a hard time identifying fellow wealthy individuals, the study found. The vast majority of global respondents (84%) agree that nowadays it is harder to tell how affluent someone is just by looking at them. In fact, the primary indicators of affluence were intangible. The top affluence indicator globally for both men and women was “poise and posture” followed by facial expression.
Secondary indicators were more external. For men, the next most important factor was their “shoes” (31%) followed by their “coat” (22%) and then “jewellery” (16%). Men’s shoes were particularly important affluence indicators in Paris, Sydney, New York, and London. For women, “jewellery” was cited as the top gauge of affluence, ranked number one in Sydney (with 54% of respondents), Europe and Brazil. A woman’s “bag” and then her choice of “cosmetics” followed as signs of wealth.
3. Building Fluency in Affluency Requires A Global Perspective
With affluence becoming more globalised, brands should look not only to the local community but also the global community to understand affluent people. Conducted solely in metropolitan areas, the survey sought to determine how affluent people viewed the various leading centres of culture and commerce around the world. Globally, respondents agreed that Paris is still the centre of culture and fashion and New York is the #1 city in which non-New Yorker Affluents would most want to live (17% of Sydney respondents nominated New York as the city they would most like to live in, followed by London (15%) and Paris in third place (14%).
And not only was New York seen as the city where the most innovative people live and work, but it was also chosen as “the world capital of tomorrow.” Shanghai and Dubai were not far behind, ranked respectively second and third as prospective world capitals of tomorrow.
Source: McCann media release
