What is the premium audience? Until very recently, most agencies and advertisers would have given a very simple answer: people who can afford to buy premium brands, whose prices are between 20% and 50% higher than the average market.
However, according to the investigations carried out by Microsoft Advertising, they have questioned this traditional concept of premium consumers. The report entitled “A Cut Above the Rest” shows that premium consumers and consumers of luxury goods are not identical concepts and, what is even more significant, that the premium public can not be defined according to demographic criteria.
It is clear that the importance of the premium public, which constitutes 40% of online consumers in Europe, can not be denied. However, only 45% of the premium public can be defined as «high purchasing power», since the average income of the typical premium consumer is € 39,000. As a result, campaigns that target the high purchasing power public will be bypassing 55% of premium consumers.
Premium consumers save in other areas of their lives in order to be able to afford the premium products that interest them the most, as they are convinced that the benefits they offer are superior. They respond to emotional and rational motivations very different from those that guide consumers of luxury items, which tend to act on the whim and status. The Internet represents a fundamental role in the decision-making of premium consumers, since they are carefully informed about the products and seek the recommendations and opinions of their friends.
Advertisers who want to target the premium public effectively should adopt a comprehensive online strategy that increases the visibility of their products and, at the same time, provides information that inspires confidence in the customer. Online banner advertising, social media advertising and search advertising play an important role, while online behavioral targeting is the most effective way to identify premium consumers and to target them.