ET Insider – October 23, 2012

Elite Traveler Insider –

October 23, 2012

Elite Traveler Insider

============================================================ More than ever private jet travelers, or elite travelers as we like to call them, are the most lucrative market for luxury brands and service providers. With readers spending $10,000 per hour to fly privately, the over 600,000 readers Elite Traveler reaches each issue provide you a great way to make sure your message is in front of consumers who have the money to be good customers. With our Asia Edition, Elite Traveler Superyachts, our over 60 Elite Traveler Destination Guides at Elitetraveler.com, our global database of private jet owners and our award-winning custom marketing team, we would welcome the opportunity to be of help to you in making sure you get a bigger share of our reader spending.

With a Net Worth of more than $25 trillion, I hope you will agree elite travelers should be a key target for your marketing!

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Follow Doug Gollan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EliteTravelerDG ============================================================= “Recently we had an American customer who walked in with a copy of Elite Traveler and booked two suites that been directly featured in the magazine. The value of the booking was in the region of $200,000.” – Tony Potter, Corinthia Hotels =============================================================

 

In this issue:

1. How Much More Could The Super Rich Spend With You?

2. Private Jets Create Jobs in Indianapolis 3. Unity Marketing: Aspiration Consumers “Suspended Consumption”

4. Nigeria? Yes, Elite Traveler Is There. Here’s Why…

5. The World’s Most Expensive Take-Out

6. Your Chance to Win a Private Jet Trip

 

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1. How Much More Could The Super Rich Spend With You?

Recent reports have found that the Super Rich (those with a Net Worth of $30 million +) actually were about $10 trillion richer than we thought. The 185,000 Super Rich households worldwide were previously thought to be worth as much as $40 trillion.

Based on industry sales numbers compiled by Boston Consulting, the “spare” $10 trillion of the Super Rich could buy:

– Every Swiss watch exported for the next 526 years

– Every designer dress or suit for the next 200 years

– Every leather good and accessory for the next 200 years

– Every room or suite in every luxury hotel, resort and spa for the next 180 years

– Every luxury auto for the next 40 years

While I certainly understand luxury marketers need to fight for the occasional purchases by the aspirational consumers – there is plenty of competition for this market – the Super Rich merely need more motivation. After all, when they want to spend, they certainly can. What do I mean? Recently it was reported New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $100 million of his own money to win re-election. Want to sell more to the Super Rich? Make them want it! Most of them know a lot less about what you have to offer than you think!

============================================================ “Elite Traveler is a key media source for us with well over $200,000 in sales we can track directly back to our ads in your magazine over the past year.” – Charles Krypell, Owner, Charles Krypell ============================================================

2.Private Jets Create Jobs in Indianapolis

A recent local market newspaper noted, “If an international jet-setter wants the interior of his private plane modeled after King Henry VIII’s bedroom or a hotel on the French Riviera, he can turn to Comlux America at Indianapolis International Airport. Leather recliners, granite countertops and luxury bedroom suites are the norm for jets outfitted by the company, which has expanded into a new Indianapolis hangar and plans to increase local employment to 500 from 350 in the next 18 months.”

Costs for a custom designed interior can run $20 million to $30 million.

Last year there were over six million private jet flights worldwide, and the U.S. industry contributes $150 billion to the economy and some 1.2 million jobs.

After taxes, rent/mortgage, health insurance, debt and loan payments, commutation, telephone/internet/communications, food, electricity, perhaps kids and so forth, we think this person looks very much like the infrequent enthusiast – that is, somebody who likes luxury but can’t afford it except once in a while when the stars align. Perhaps this person is more the ‘look for less’ consumer, but if Willie Sutton had followed Forrester’s advice, he would have been robbing trash bins instead of banks!

============================================================ “From the Summer Edition of Elite Traveler Superyachts, as well as the Asia Edition including the May/June issue we are happy to report sales ($437,000) of the timekeepers we advertised”  – Patrik Hoffmann, CEO Ulysse Nardin ====================================================================

3. Unity Marketing: Aspiration Consumers “Suspended Consumption”

Mass Affluent research specialist Unity Marketing issued a report noting “With the Chinese market starting to show signs of ‘luxury fatigue’ and the European markets facing economic meltdown, Burberry announced that sales were slowing in its core markets: China, Europe and the United States, as well.”

The research stated, “The ‘news’ that luxury goods sales were off in the U.S. is no news to Unity Marketing which conducts routine surveys of 1,200+ luxury consumers every three months. In its latest Luxury Tracking Survey, spending on luxury goods and services declined by 8.2 percent from the previous quarter, and 26.9 percent from the same period last year. Even more troubling is the fact that in the latest survey period, luxury consumer spending stands below levels seen in second quarter 2009, when the U.S. was still deep in the recession.”

Commenting on the results, Unity Marketing President Pam Danziger stated, “The drop in luxury consumer spending was led this time by a sharp cutback in spending on fashion accessories and high-end clothing and apparel — those categories where Burberry and so many other luxury brands are vulnerable.”

She noted, “Because so many luxury brands have been focused on easy growth in China, they turned a blind eye to weaknesses growing in the U.S. luxury market. The American luxury consumers who went into recession four years ago have undergone a transformation. Their values have changed, their priorities adjusted, and today the idea of spending thousands of dollars on a status symbol like a luxury watch, the latest ‘It Bag’ or a pair of red-soled shoes is losing relevancy. More affluents today are finding status in who they are, rather than what they own,” said Danziger.

She points to the triathlon watch (about $100 or less) as the new ‘status symbol’ watch. “The triathlon watch has replaced the diamond-encrusted Rolex as the status symbol watch for the next generation of luxury consumers. It signals that ‘I am a man (or woman) that needs a triathlon watch; I am that person; I am a triathlete.'”

We agree with Unity Marketing. Luxury marketers need to wean themselves from costly marketing exercises targeting consumers who can barely afford their rent. A much smarter long term course, in our opinion, would be to increase focus on the Ultra High Net Worth consumer who can afford anything they want and will do so with the proper marketing motivation.

================================================================= “We sold two DeWitt Golden Afternoon timepieces retailing for $86,500 from your March/April issue – in the first week the magazine was out.”  – Jon Omer, Vice President, DeWitt ============================================================

4. Nigeria? Yes, Elite Traveler Is There. Here’s Why…

Recent reports noted that over the last five years, some of Nigeria’s wealthiest people have spent about around $1 billion acquiring new private jets, making it Africa’s biggest market for private planes, according to a new report.

Today there are some 150 private jets registered in Nigeria. And several weeks ago, Bombardier Aerospace, the world’s third-largest airplane manufacturer, kicked off a 16-African city marketing tour, with a four-day showcase of its latest offering, the $60 million Global 6000, in Nigeria, its most promising African market, according to a report by Ventures Africa.

Go to any major spot in Europe, the Middle East and New York or Los Angeles, and Nigerians are often top customers.

And if you want to reach wealthy Nigerians, Elite Traveler has 150 copies of each issue delivered to the private jets of Nigerians in Nigeria!.

============================================================ Again this year Elite Traveler continues to be our #1 source for reservations generating close to $1 million in bookings from your readership of private jet travelers”  – Sean Emmerton, Villas del Mar ============================================================

5.The World’s Most Expensive Take-Out

A recent Financial Times article noted Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea football club, was on a business trip in Baku when he had a craving for sushi. While the Azerbaijan capital ranks as one of the world’s most expensive, it is not famed for its Japanese food. Abramovich, however, was undeterred.

He simply told one of his aides to order sushi from a London restaurant, drive it to Luton airport, and fly it in his Gulfstream jet to Baku. At an estimated cost of £40,000 ($65,000), it is believed to be the most expensive takeaway in history.

Whether used for ordering food or simply getting from one place to another clearly private jets are the chariot of choice for the global Super Rich, whose combined net worth of $40 Trillion make them a lucrative luxury target!

============================================================ ONLY ELITE TRAVELER – Elite Traveler is the ONLY global publication targeting and reaching private jet travelers to have its circulation successfully audited.  View our BPA statement here. ============================================================

6. Your Chance to Win a Private Jet Trip

Elite Traveler invites you to travel like our readers. Simply click on the link below, watch the videos and enter as many times as you wish!

http://pr-dbetmg-elite-traveler.pantheonsite.io/business/etvideos.html

All the best,

Douglas D. Gollan Group President and Editor-in-Chief Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine Elite Traveler Superyachts, the superyacht lifestyle magazine Elite Traveler Asia, Asia’s private jet lifestyle magazine Elitetraveler.com, the private jet lifestyle online Elite Traveler Update, our weekly e-Newsletter to private jet owners worldwide