Best marketing approach: For the inheritors, it is all about lifestyle and financial freedom. They are looking for products and services that enrich lifestyle and make them feel secure. They are not reckless spenders but are always open to impulse purchases.
Motto: Shh, don’t tell anyone…
What’s hot: Absolute beachfront property, home theatre, luxury travel, fine art, Audis, philanthropy, book clubs and volunteer work.
Love: Great experiences, high quality, business class airfares and joining the Qantas Club for the first time.
Loathe: Settling for second best.
Best marketing approach: Brand savvy, post-consumerists. Growing up with marketing and brands, it washes over them. They are super picky. They are connoisseurs of particular brands, and love customisation. Miley Cyrus remains the Tween icon. She is to this recession what Shirley Temple was to the Great Depression.
Motto: “That’s so random.”
What’s hot: Smiggle, Roxy, The Simpsons, iPods, Jonas Brothers, Kit, Facebook.
Love: Texting 24/7, following Lily Allen on Twitter, shopping, personalising technology (such as mobile phone skins), wireless broadband.
Loathe: Not being able to spend more money, strict parents.
Best marketing approach: Dery recommends keeping in mind that these consumers are reconsidering their brand choices in search of better value. It pays to communicate how your product and service costs less than other brands and demonstrate why it is just as good.
Motto: More dash than cash.
What’s hot: Scottish singing superstar Susan Boyle, the arrival of Costco Warehouse to Australia this July. Priceline (rather than department stores), Aldi, bottle shop specials, pirate DVDs, Ebay.com.au, mystery hotel deals on wotif.com.au, Tiger Airways.
As Australia has moved into recession over the past six months, spending in just two retail areas is up – at bottle shops and pharmacies. “Drink and drugs are getting us through,” says Salt.
Love: Substituting name brands for home brands, finding ways to enjoy an experience for less (ie. instead of going out for pizza in a restaurant, have it delivered at home instead). They go to the cinema ‘cheap Tuesdays too’. They continue to greatly value education and will scrimp and save to pay for it.
Loathe: Downgraders loathe the fact that their discretionary spending money has plummeted. They loathe people who brag about the recession not having any impact on their lives. They also hate paying a premium for basic items.
One key downgrader group is the Baby Boomer, forced to economise as their life savings have evaporated in the GFC. “They have to pare back their lifestyle that is akin to that of their parents,” says Salt.
Best marketing approach: Offer NEOs something to fall in love with. Social Intelligence Lab www.socialintelligencelab.com chief executive Ross Honeywill who invented the NEO consumer group estimates that 24% of the Australians fall into this NEO category. NEOs have high social intelligence and they like to spend on experiences.
During the GFC, he says NEOs are spending less on necessities but are still prepared to pay for things that lift their spirits – a Chanel lipstick, a weekend in an eco-resort or an iPhone. The NEOs total wealth may have taken a hit in this recession, ie. they might have dropped $120,000 on their investment portfolio but, says Honeywill, “they still have $1.2 million intact”.
What’s hot: iPhones, iPods, anything Apple, President Obama, Amazon Kindle, Twitter, Mad Men, Jason Bourne, Audis and Mini-Cooper, online international shopping, Blackberrys. “If they fall in love with it, they buy it,” says Honeywill.
Love: Brand new, limited release products. “Things that touch the spirit,” says Honeywill. Slow food, fine wine, spas and eco-tourism.
Loathe: Poor quality, knock-offs, poor performing superannuation funds.
OTHER GROUPS THAT ARE SPENDING:
Super rich, the cashed-up thanks to a redundancy payout person, the pink dollar and international students.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
