Kinder, Gentler--and More Materialistic? : Americans Willing to Pay Top Dollar for Status Goods, Poll Says
Forget all that stuff about a kinder, gentler America. A new study released Wednesday says the facts are cold as gold and hard as the finish on a Rolls-Royce: Americans have a growing desire to acquire.
Over the next decade, this selfishness will be the driving economic force worldwide for makers of everything from snack foods to luxury cars, says a global study called “Global Scan” conducted by Backer Spielvogel Bates Worldwide, the giant New York advertising agency. The firm, which creates ads for such diverse companies as Miller Brewing Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., surveyed 15,000 consumers in 14 countries.
“Are Americans really going to become kinder and gentler?” posed Jacqueline Silver, the agency’s executive vice president, referring to President Bush’s pledge. “Well, despite the altruistic hopes sparked by that inaugural address, the hard fact is that materialism will continue to be one of the driving forces in American society over the next decade, and an increasingly important force in other major markets as well.”
In other words, companies will be marketing to the rich--and the soon-to-be-rich--like never before. And the rich will be more willing than ever to pay top dollar for products and services that fit their often-exotic whims.
The rich, for example, will pay premium prices for dietary products that taste like the real thing. “In the past, these people were willing to trade off things like taste and texture for products that they knew were better for them,” Silver said. “But they won’t make those trade-offs any more. And they’ll pay double to get what they want.”
Premium Services on the Way
As a result of the findings of this continuing study, several of the ad agency’s biggest food clients, such as Dole Foods and Mars Inc., “have begun to shift the emphasis in their ad campaigns,” Silver said.
Likewise, in financial services, this age of the Gold Card will soon be replaced by something even more valuable than gold--vastly improved services. “The rich won’t stand in lines at banks. They don’t want to be treated like cattle,” Silver said. “There will be premium services that most banks have never even thought about before.”
Americans have plenty of company worldwide in this thirst for the good life. The survey found that the demand for expensive cars and jewelry was even greater among the Japanese rich than among the wealthy of America. And the German elite like exotic vacations more than just about anyone else.
What to make of all this apparent materialism? Well, one expert says it might not really be greed at all.
“It’s hard to judge cultural values on the basis of surveys that ask people what they want,” said Dave Stewart, a marketing professor at USC. “If someone asked me, I might say that I wanted a high-definition TV in my home, but that doesn’t mean I’m materialistic.”
At the same time, the study said, consumers will be attracted in greater numbers to companies that they believe are sincerely looking out for them.
As never before, consumers will be drawn to “environmentally safe” forms of packaging, she said.
“Advertising promises will no longer be able to be based on song and dance,” Silver said. “Consumers will no longer believe your product is nutritional just because you’ve slapped the label ‘wholesome’ on a product.”
But while the rich make all of these demands for better things, the poor will increasingly feel left out, the study warned. “There’ll be more and more of a split between the haves and the have-nots,” Silver said. “And that worries me.”
