Affluence comes in shades of green.

Are the rich truly eco-conscious or do they buy green just to make a statement?

It may sound shallow, but if you’re a marketer who’s thinking about going green, it doesn’t matter why your affluent customers respond to green products. What matters is if they’ll respond. And all signs point to yes.

Modern fashionistas are seeking out environmentally friendly threads – and for many different reasons . While some affluent consumers make saving the earth priority one, others equate buying green with luxury and exclusivity, filling their closets with designer names like Stewart + Brown, whose organic cashmere sweater coat retails for $978. Not exactly the hemp dress and Birkenstocks usually associated with the green-minded.

But eco-chic doesn’t always have to be about clothing, nor does it have to be expensive. The Brelli, an umbrella made of bamboo and biodegradable plastic, is equal parts green and trendy.

Another brand that’s jumped on the green luxury train is Lexus. In 2007, the brand had much success in the hybrid market, with year-on-year sales of the Rx400h up 26% in November. Lexus seems to be aiming for the same success with its more luxurious 2008 LS600hL. This month, Lexus joined forces with Fairmont Hotels to offer a special green package, which included complimentary use of the LS600hL and a stay in a designer suite decorated with eco-friendly fabrics, paint and furniture, including a custom-made coffee table made with recycled Lexus leather. Green luxury at its finest.

Here’s the trick, though. You can’t just take a luxury item or service and add something green to it. Customers may be green because it’s “in;” marketers need to be green for more altruistic reasons. With articles about “greenwashing” all over the Web, and even a site devoted to it, consumers of all ages and economic backgrounds have their BS detectors at full staff.

If you haven’t entered this market yet, look before leaping. As Esty and Winston say in their environmental business strategy manifesto, Green to Gold, “there’s a fine line between being a step ahead of the pack and miscalculating the marketplace.”

The best way to tread on green ground? Very carefully.

Can't a rich girl catch a break?

The once discreet practice of affluent matchmaking has now gone garishly public, with the advent of Bravo’s hit show “Millionaire Matchmaker.” The show stars real-life matchmaker Patti Stanger, who runs the Millionaire’s Club dating service out of L.A.

What’s interesting, is that none of the millionaires on the show are women. It’s all about finding beautiful and (at least mildly) engaging women for successful men.

Seems to be an epidemic.

Last year in New York, Jeremy Abelson launched Natural Selection, a speed-dating event open only to men making at least $200,000 (for ages 25 and under – for 30 and up, the minimum was $500,000). For women, the requirements were even simpler: look pretty and send in 5 photos.

A quick search online reveals countless dating services in the same vein. MillionaireDating.org matches “beautiful ladies and successful gentleman.” SugarDaddie.com says… do I even have to tell you what it says? And even The Elite Society based in South Florida looks like a glorified escort service. Men pay a hefty fee to join. Women usually pay a small fee if any at all.

Now to be fair, 2008 brought us Natural Selection Speed Date II: Sugar Mamas & Boy Toys. And there are sites like SugarMommyMeet.com, where single millionairesses can search for “sugar babies.”

But what about professional, affluent women who are looking for more than a gold-digging lawn boy?

There don’t appear to be many options for them. One exception is Seventy Thirty, an exclusive “introduction agency” based in England. The company is designed to match men and women who devote 70% of their time to work and 30% to their private lives.

Seventy Thirty is not the norm.

The affluent, single woman is largely ignored by dating services. And here’s a thought – she’s largely ignored by marketers as well.

Affluent brands do everything they can to reach the female, affluent head of household (aka soccer mom). But what about those without a brood or a husband to look after? What about the ones who drop $700 on a pair of Manolo Blahniks, because they don’t have to buy baby clothes?

There may not be many of these women. But they are here. And they have money to spend and needs to be met. Just like the rich boys do.

Mini Me: Designer Mommies Bear Designer Babies.

Usually, I buy gifts for my friends’ kids at Target. The clothes are cute, cheap, and durable – and when it comes down to it, they only have to last a few months anyway.

But today I decided to splurge. I stopped in a small boutique in Guilford, CT called Just Hatched. And I’ll admit, the clothes were a lot nicer than at Target, but the price tags were just as I expected – more than I pay for my own clothes. A short sleeve tee with matching skirt by Catamini sold for $102. I bought a hat instead for $26.

The designer baby industry isn’t something that’s just begun. In fact, just about every designer from Burberry to Juicy Couture has jumped on the baby bandwagon.

What these brands are capitalizing on is a phenomenon we like to call the Mini Me Effect – the tendency for young parents to think of their kids as extensions of their own personal style and uniqueness. Affluent moms and dads see it as a way of preserving their standard of life. And clothing is just the beginning.

Consider the Nicole Reid sleigh high chair, which retails for $886, or the Bugaboo Cameleon Special Collection stroller, available exclusively at Neiman Marcus for $1199. And don’t get me started on diaper bags.

Whether you’re a hipster mom or prepster pop, there are styles in sync with whichever image you wish to project. You can even buy baby a faux fur at www.minimink.com

The point is, if you’re a luxury brand that hasn’t started thinking about a baby line yet, you could be missing out. This is a category that’s not going away. And who knows? You may have a new customer for life.

Yale: The affluence incubator

Outside of the Linsly Chittenden Hall in the main Yale quad, students bustle to and from class. They are Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, Asian…they’re from all over the world. And they represent the future generation of affluent consumers.

But right now, they’re just college kids. Looking around the quad, there are quite a few Obama banners in dorm windows. The students themselves may or may not come from affluent families, but they sure dress like undergrads. Worn parkas, beat-up backpacks, etc.

On the main bulletin board near Phelps Gate, you see flyers for classic student-lefty causes. I saw a flyer for a seminar on “Courts, Democracy, and Equality” sponsored by the Alliance for Justice (their slogan: “Fighting for a Fair America.”) There was also a call for applicants for a $1000 dollar New Haven community action grant for causes such as clean energy, early childhood education, and public safety.

Stay with me.

Because as I walk out the quad to Chapel Street, about 100 feet away, some of the same students bustling through the quad are looking longingly in the window of idiom, a high end jeweler, and Raggs, a premium men’s clothing store.

These shops are located at the corner of Chapel and College Streets, aka Bishop Tutu corner.

Yale grads rule the world. They make (and spend) serious money doing it. The question worth asking is: As they move on, will they abandon their undergrad value system and embrace affluence with both arms?

Or will they reserve one hand to reach out to the people who will never stroll Chapel Street with an American Express card idling in their pocket?

Opera - striking a note with a new audience.

I was at the movies over the holidays watching pre-trailer commercials, when amongst all the soft drink spots and ads for the local dry cleaner, I saw something inspiring – opera. The Metropolitan Opera was advertising its latest round of live HD broadcasts, to be played in the very theater in which I was sitting. Admission price: $22.

What I didn’t know was that this was the second season of the Met’s international movie theater program , and it’s proven to be a large success. But the big screen isn’t the only way opera houses have tried to make themselves accessible.

To shake opera’s stigma of stuffiness and create a larger and younger fan base, opera houses across the county have been rolling out discounted ticket programs, streaming and downloadable broadcasts and, in the case of Boston’s OperaHub, smaller productions with no admission fees at all. Moves that are welcome by those who find the price and formality of traditional opera offerings to be intimidating.

But opera houses need to be careful as they groom the next generation of opera-lovers. The Met certainly is.

To avoid alienating avid opera-goers (who may see half of the productions over the course of the year), the Met is making sure that the experience is not cheapened. How? By offering memberships that grant access to private lounges, lectures by stage managers, actors, and composers, exclusive exchange privileges, as well as the Met’s new private art gallery filled with pieces inspired by current performances.

And each year the Met joins forces with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to offer a holiday package – the 2007 “Holiday Hansel Package” included two tickets to the staging of Hansel and Gretel, one night in a room with a view of the Hudson and afternoon tea for $1,700 (an upgrade to the Corner Hudson River View Room with adjoining Superior Room costs a mere $3,550).

So they’re not forgetting their bread and butter (or shall we say blinis and beluga). This is a smart move – the cost of tickets alone for a couple to see half of the staged yearly performances from orchestra level seats would be close to $12,000 (transportation, food, and accommodations excluded).

What the Met is really doing is taking an age-old marketing tactic and bringing it into the cultural realm. It’s what Paul Nunes and Brian Johnson, authors of Mass Affluence, like to call “treating some customers more equal than others.” And why not? The younger, less affluent crowd finally has access to the opera, and the full-price-paying consumer base has access to more than just tickets. Everybody’s happy – especially the Met.

Perhaps other genres within the arts and culture arena would benefit from a more tiered pricing structure, beefing up what they offer their current consumer for a little bit extra, while extending a lower-priced (albeit more limited) experience to the less affluent.

After all, while the present may lie in the hands of a more seasoned, wealthy demographic, the future will be in the hands of a very different audience.

Those who captivate it are sure to receive a standing ovation.

Owning your own piece of the sky…Fractional Jet Ownership- Is it what’s next?

Something that has caught my attention lately is a new trend among affluent air-travelers which is really beginning to “take-off” in many cities across the United States. Fractional Jet Ownership is the newest, latest, trend to hit the air travel market for the wealthy since the Leer Jet. The advantage of buying only a fraction of a private jet is that the costs involved in purchasing, staffing, and chartering your own private piece of the sky are astronomical, even for today’s mass affluent market. A solution is fractional jet ownership, all the benefits of actually owning your own private jet, with none of the hassles of holding that kind of liability. One of the top players in this current trend is NetJets [http://www.netjets.com], which boast’s it’s “Marquis Jet Card”, essentially a prepaid private jet debit card, allowing you access to your own private jet 24/7 with proper notification. NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, owned by billionaire Warren Buffet, has been on the forefront of this new and exciting trend in affluent travel and has over 700 jets currently in service. This makes NetJets the second largest airline in the nation, by amount of planes alone.

This truly says something big about the demand of this new form of travel for the wealthiest of Americans; it is on the rise and getting bigger each year. Today’s business and pleasure travelers seek more of a customized, personalized experience in their travel arrangements every year, but don’t want the difficulty of complete ownership. This includes how they get to their destination, with over 80 percent of NetJets- Marquis Jet card customers traveling on leisure or vacation.

Other key players in this new trend include Bombardier’s “Flexjet” brand [http://www.flexjet.com], offering owner’s flexibility in flights, and top-notch service; Skyline Jets [http://www.skylinejets.com] (who also offer a card similar to that of NetJets’s “Marquis Jet” card), Sentient Jet Membership [http://www.sentient.com], Blue Star Jets [http://www.bluestarjets.com], and Citation Shares [http://www.citationshares.com], and their “Vector” jet card. All have similar options and programs offered, multiple sized jets, ranging from 1-4, to 18 seats and travel options to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in addition to the Americas. However not all companies will fly you anywhere you want to be on a dime. Some only offer domestic (US) service, and some will not go out of North America, so check carefully before purchasing a prepaid card for one of theses fractional ownership jetliners, which will run you about $100,000 for 25 hours of flights.

So with the nation’s wealthiest telling the airline industry that they want customized, and a more personal in-flight travel experience, what will this mean for the mass affluent market travelers who are not buying into the fractional ownership craze? Is this the end of the ultra-affluent flying on a commercial jet? If so, is there anything big-airline can do to get these important customers back?

Well perhaps…Right now airlines are beginning to make accommodations to attract the wealthy:
- Sleeper seats in business/first class
- Personal flat-screen TV’s in each seat
- Offering travelers more choices of meals
- Increased cabin service

- and More technology onboard

Private clubs and lounges for business/first class travelers in airports around the world.

The airlines that are on the fore-front of this re-invention of the VIP in the sky are:
- Air India
- Korean Air
- LAN
- Thai Airways
- British Airways
- and billionaire-tycoon, Richard Branson owned, Virgin Airlines

In the industry where the front 1/8th of the airplane pays for 70% of the operating costs, the airlines cannot afford to lose this customer base. But the bigger question is- are they doing enough to keep them on-board?

The Luxury Trailer: Roughing It In Style.

As a kid, my only exposure to RVing was a Disney cartoon called “Mickey’s Trailer.” In it, Mickey, Goofy and Donald head cross-country, sleeping, dining and bouncing around in a rickety, round trailer just big enough to fit the three of them. Not exactly the lap of luxury.

It wasn’t until my sister-in-law and her family – who live in a wealthy Virginia suburb – rented an RV up in Maine that I realized there might be a little more to it than Mickey’s rustic adventures.

According to www.AmericanRVrentals.com, Class A and luxury RV rentals can cost anywhere from $269-$510 per night. About the same as you’d spend for a luxury hotel. When purchased, luxury RVs often come with the comforts of home. This Royals International model by Carriage features granite countertops in both the kitchen and bathroom, Kohler sinks, an LCD TV, Bose Lifestyle system and a Fisher & Paykel Dish Drawer.

Or, if you’d like to buy an amphibious RV that travels through water as well as land, check out the Terra Wind, starting at $850,000.

Many campgrounds have begun to cater to the affluent RV’er. It’s not uncommon to find an RV resort complete with spa, resort-style pool, clubhouse and on-site dining (I’m not talking s’mores and hamburgers either). Bella Terra RV resort in Gulf Shores, Alabama even has a private movie theater and showers finished in granite and tile. A far cry from the traditional coin-operated showers at your average campground.

Perhaps this is an opportunity market for other luxury brands. If Fisher & Paykel can put their Dish Drawer on an RV, why can’t Williams-Sonoma offer travel-size dish soap to go with it? Campground stores can move the marshmallows and hot dog buns aside to make room for gourmet crackers and organic snacks. The possibilities are endless.

“Roughing it” obviously means different things to different people. But if convenience is what it means for the affluent, let’s give it right to them on a silver platter.