Pity The Rich

Marketing & Digital

September 4, 2025

Pity the Rich!

They deserve better marketing.

Good marketing is a whisper in your ear at the right moment. Bad marketing is the incessant stream of junk calls to your phone in a language you don’t know, offering things you already have or don’t want.

On that front, pity the High Net Worth Individual (HNWI). Whether you’re a self-made entrepreneur or have inherited family wealth, you are sales target number one for an army of marketers hawking yachts, watches, private banking, booze, and premium everything. And depending on your style, you may not even buy these things yourself—you have advisors and assistants for that.

So how do marketers avoid investing in campaigns that fall on deaf ears or, worse, annoy their prospects?

As Rachel said to Nick in the movie Crazy Rich Asians, "So your family is, like, rich?" To which Nick replies, "We're comfortable." Rachel observes, "That is exactly what a super-rich person would say."

F. Scott Fitzgerald put it more bleakly in his 1926 story The Rich Boy: “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful…”

Whether they are soft, cynical, or just “comfortable,” the decision-making of the wealthy is not a simple formula. In Asia, that complexity is multiplied by a panoply of cultures and sources of wealth. To effectively market to HNWIs, one must understand that this is not a monolithic group. Their personas are shaped by the origin of their wealth, their motivations, and their anxieties. Let’s take a look to see who’s inside that Rolls Royce!

For the "Self-Made Professionals," who are often conservative, messaging must whisper of stability and legacy. They’ve earned their wealth meticulously and fear market volatility, so they respond to strategies focused on tax efficiency and succession planning.

In contrast, "Entrepreneurs" are innovative risk-takers motivated by the thrill of growth. Marketing to them should be dynamic, highlighting high-growth opportunities and agile solutions for their unique pain points, like managing liquidity between personal and business finances.

A third group, the "Inheritors," is often driven by legacy and a touch of noblesse oblige. For them, marketing should focus on ethical investing, philanthropy, and family governance, appealing to their sense of social impact and stewardship as they navigate complex family wealth structures.

The medium, of course, is the message. The Self-Made Professional still reads reputable business publications for in-depth analysis. The Entrepreneur, drawn to disruptive trends, follows industry titans on X for real-time updates. The Inheritor can equally likely be found reading the FT online or Tatler at the hair salon. And now, a fourth persona emerges: the young, "Aggressive, Tech-savvy Investor." This demographic demands a digital-first approach, consuming content about high-growth opportunities on TechCrunch and Telegram, where they follow fintech influencers and market analysts.

Ultimately, the great mistake in marketing to the rich is assuming 'wealth' is a personality trait. It isn't. It’s a circumstance, and the story of how one arrived at that circumstance is important.

And the second biggest mistake is to try to logically anticipate the lifestyle needs of each wealthy type. Every insurance company, wealth management company, and luxury goods company has disappeared down the same creative execution rabbit holes. I’m not going to mention any specific brands here, but we’ve all seen the images of the affluent Dad and his mischievous son, the reflection in the paint of the shiny black limousine, the healthy wealthy person on a bicycle, and of course, the satisfied couple drinking cognac in front of the fire. These brands’ strategies are perhaps 100% right, but also 100% undifferentiated. The best marketing to the wealthy is nuanced, with a strong dose of lateral thinking that resonates with their emotional wants – it’s hard to consider buying anything when you need nothing.

Pity the rich? Perhaps not. But pity the marketer who sees only a bank balance, for they are missing the plot entirely. In the rarefied air of extreme wealth, the most valuable currency isn't money; it's understanding. And feeling truly understood by the brand selling to you is the one luxury that never goes out of style.

**Picture: generated by Gemina 2.5 Flash Image. The 2nd woman originally had 3 arms and appears to be sitting on the other woman’s knee!**

Sources:

Pity The Rich

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