ET Insider – June 25, 2009

Elite Traveler Insider –

June 25, 2009

Elite Traveler Insider

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler Magazine  

Welcome to the latest issue of Elite Traveler Insider, the bi-weekly newsletter designed to update our top partners on trends in the private jet lifestyle. This information is provided to offer a better understanding of how to target these globetrotting elite travelers, their impact on your business and other trends that affect you. Remember, private jet travelers are paying up to $10,000 per hour to fly by private jet, so these super rich consumers could be and should be your best customer. We talk about them and how you can get more of them and more from them.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Living the Life: Clinique La Prairie Mixes Luxury Lifestyle into the Spa Experience

2. Elite Traveler Helps Sell $150,000 for Roland Iten

3. Frank Urges Companies To Market For Attitude, Go Online

Over 90 percent of today’s Super Rich are Self Made and over 80 percent of the Super Rich have made their fortune in the past 10 years. Now is the best time to make sure they know your brand. 86% believe Elite Traveler is a good showcase for luxury products.

1. Living the Life: Clinique La Prairie Mixes Luxury Lifestyle into the Spa Experience…

During a period when many companies involved in luxury are having a difficult run, it is always nice to run into success stories.

Clinique La Prairie (CLP) in Clarens-MontreuxSwitzerland year-to-date is actually ahead of 2008 in terms of revenue according to Yael Bruigom, Marketing & PR Manager, thanks to a few wealthy clients. Like virtually all entities in the hospitality arena, actual bookings are down; however, a couple of large bookings from ultra-wealthy Middle East families has kept the revenue numbers strong.

A perennial name on lists of top Destination and Medical Spas, perhaps one reason that CLP is enjoying continued success (70% of its guests return within 18 months) is that in addition to luxury accommodations and a unique array of treatments and picturesque surroundings, under Bruigom (who previously served under Swiss watch marketing Guru Jean-Claude Biver at Blancpain and before that was a marketer for Oracle) the spa has aggressively cultivated partnerships that speak to their clients’ lifestyle. “Many of our guests arrive by private jet,” she told us during a recent visit.

Shopping and affinity for special products is a passion of many guests, and to make sure they don’t feel isolated, Bruigom has created what some refer to as the “CLP Mall,” a series of hallways with vitrines and showcases featuring the works of Breguet, Boucheron, Audemars Piguet, Lalique, Piaget, Chopard, Roger Dubuis, Prada, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and of course Hublot to name a few.

In fact, a $40,000 green crocodile Hermès Kelly bag sold the day after it was placed in its showcase. “Guests have a lot of free time while they here,” Bruigom notes, adding there has never been a complaint about the various high-end displays. “They are done in a very nice way, and we only really feature companies we know our guests will have an interest in.”

It is in many ways a comparable strategy to Elite Traveler and Luxus with our distribution aboard private jets and in private jet terminals as well as on mega-yachts.

From watches, jewelry and accessories, there are even displays featuring Persian rugs (yes, guests have made purchases as a result), private client services from UBS and a local purveyor of caviar.

When it comes to accommodations, the 59 units range from standard single rooms to an Imperial Suite with a private elevator and rooftop garden. All are furnished to the standards of a five star hotel “except there is a call for the nurse next to every bed.” With 210 employees, CLP has a staff-to-guest ratio of more than 3-to-1.

Guests stay from a minimum of seven days to as much as a year (a princess who wanted to lose weight before her marriage) with many clients staying several weeks and a significant percentage coming as couples. One week with the basics starts at about $20,000 but with a clientele that includes billionaires from all continents, spending can range into the millions based on treatments and length of stay.

Known specifically for its Cellular therapy treatments using sheep fetus extract, CLP also offers dental and plastic surgery, hydro therapy and literally dozens of more health focused programs. Its restaurant is so popular that it is now open and gets a strong local clientele who enjoy the haute cuisine prepared in a healthy way. For patients who are used to the private jet lifestyle, they each receive menus customized by a dietician “so if there are 50 people, there are 50 menu variations.”

Cuisine is so highly rated by guests that from time-to-time guests will bring a chef home with them to train their staff on how to prepare meals the CLP way.

The spa, Bruigom notes, has a unique public relations tool. While the number one source of new customers is current client referrals, the La Prairie cosmetic brand (which was sold by the owners in the early 80s and today has no connection to the spa) has built the CLP into a name with high worldwide awareness. It’s interesting that the skincare products that are now used exclusively at CLP are “Swiss Perfection,” a house brand developed by the owner which started to gain a strong following outside CLP.

In addition to the various displays of luxury goods, CLP also offers its guests art exhibits from time to time, including one sponsored by Hublot. For further amusement there are ornate and complex music boxes from haute couture maker Reuge, stop-bys of exotic cars as part of auto rallies, and even some shopping trips, where all guests at a local Hermès boutique received a replica of their picture imposed on to the cover of the Hermès house magazine, wearing of course an Hermès scarf.

With business strong, CLP is open to new projects to enhance customer experience and provide an even more unique experience. “We weren’t just waiting around for the recession to start before getting into action. This has been our direction for the last several years,” she noted.

Elite Traveler’s BPA audited circulation aboard private jets and mega-yachts in over 100 countries means your ad is guaranteed to reach the highest spending luxury audience in the world no matter where they are from and where they happen to be today – each issue is read by 407,000 readers with a Household Income of $1 million +, the highest of any magazine or newspaper in the world! Sources: 2007 Prince ET/MMR for others

2. Elite Traveler Helps Sell $150,000 for Roland Iten…

When you have some 650,000 readers in over 100 countries who get a magazine via private jet, private jet lounge, mega-yacht or first class lounge, good things are bound to happen, even in a bad economy. After all, the above distribution points (all audited by BPA) pretty much ensure that our readers not only still have money, but are relatively happy and in a good place when they are reading the magazine.

The result:

June 24th 2009

Mr. Douglas Gollan President Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine 801 Second Avenue New York, NY 10017 USA

Dear Doug,

Roland and I have always been great admirers of Elite Traveler with the belief that the readers of your magazine aboard private jets are thecustomers who appreciate the unique designs of Roland Iten Mechanical Luxury for Gentlemen.

Recently, a client contacted us after reading about Roland Iten in Elite Traveler, and after an enjoyable and intimate gathering at our showroom in Switzerland, he purchased seven of our mechanical belt buckles (3 in solid gold for himself and 1 each in steel/gold for his four sons) resulting in a sale valued at approximately US $150,000.

We believe the client who is truly discerning, despite these difficult times, or perhaps because of these times, is more attracted by value and longevity than ever before, and our experience with your publication proves that it strikes exactly the right cord with this client base. Our client told us that he had admired Roland’s products from afar, but reading about him in Elite Traveler gave him the assurance he needed to contact us.

Thanks so much for consistently delivering a high quality and highly valued publication. We look forward to continuing our relationship, and appreciate the support!

Sincerely, Carol Galiano-Iten

While the world’s economy today is unsteady, one thing is for sure: The wealthy consumers flying aboard private jets are your best bet, and only Elite Traveler delivers these elite travelers to our advertisers through our BPA audited circulation aboard private jets in over 100 countries, including Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, India, Singapore, Korea and China. All with one ad buy!

3. Frank Urges Companies To Market For Attitude, Go Online…

“Green shoots and rays of hoops” was the overview by Wall Street Journal Luxury Reporter Robert Frank during a recent breakfast talk held by The Luxury Marketing Council at The 21 Club.

Frank tempered his optimism by telling listeners to keep their eyes on news about commodities and inflation. He said he also worries when economists call the massive government injection into the economy “the grand experiment” but overall is optimistic that recover is under way with “a lot of consumer companies saying second and third quarters are looking stronger.” He noted, “Hedge Funds in May had one of their best months in history.”

Overall “Lower Richistanis” who have a Net Worth of between $1 million and $10 million have taken the hardest hit of the rich consumers he follows. Frank’s top selling book “Richistan” divides the super wealthy into three countries, “Lower Richistan,” Middle Richistanis worth between $10 million and $100 million” and “Upper Richistan” where the residents are worth more than $100 million.

Frank noted in the UK the number of “millionaires” had plummeted by 50 percent and he expects in the United States the Millionaire population to drop by 40 to 50 percent by end of the year from the end of 2007. Most of the dropouts will be from Lower Richistan; however, of course, there will be some big flameouts.

Concurrently, and what Frank sites as a key reason to the cutback in luxury spending, he say many of these folks just no longer feel rich. He noted a Fidelity survey of consumers with investible assets of at least $1 million – well off, but not your private jet owner. Forty-six percent of this group said they “no longer feel rich” compared to 19 percent a year earlier. The decline in money and mood, he believes, has caused consumers to find satisfaction in a new frugality for now.

He said the new line of thinking among those feeling the pinch has gone from “What do I want?” to “What do I need and can I afford it?” Exclusivity and craftsmanship are going to be more important in getting the wealthy to spend.

“Lower Richistan has been clocked and that aspirational group has been clocked. The pretenders are no longer there,” Frank noted. Luxury Marketing Council Chairman Greg Furman noted the consumer segment in the $250,000 to $500,000 Household Income category, and of course below, has simply vanished and a recent WWD report now expects it to be at least until 2011 for that segment to return.

Frank urged luxury companies to embrace the web. “They for some reason forgot that the wealthy are technology leaders or were not sure how to present their brands without devaluing them,” he said.

As evidence that luxury companies need to jump into the e-market, he noted that as he was writing Richistan, spending time with his subjects in their multiple homes, the one common factor was daily deliveries from UPS and FedEx of boxes and boxes of books and other mass goods purchased online.

Elite Traveler’s BPA audited circulation aboard private jets and mega-yachts in over 100 countries means your ad is guaranteed to reach the highest spending luxury audience in the world no matter where they are from and where they happen to be today – each issue is read by 407,000 readers with a Household Income of $1 million +, the highest of any magazine or newspaper in the world! Sources: 2007 Prince ET/MMR for others.