Look Here if you are Rich

INTRODUCTION

The advertising, layout, and articles in the Robb Report indicate that this publication caters only to the very affluent, and to those who want to take the occasional peek at what being rich would be like. While gazing at a magazine rack, it is obvious that there are as many magazines as there are interests. The Robb Report is a magazine that caters to the wealthiest of society. The articles found within the magazine concern subjects such as: yachts, watches, tailored $1300 shoes, custom-made $225,000 home audio speakers, and high finance. Products the Robb Report advertise range from custom hand-made dress shirts to multi-million dollar yachts and vacation properties.

METHODOLOGY

The information presented within this paper is derived from a review of the media kit supplied by the Robb Report website at www.robbreport.com, advertising and layout books, and the Robb Report magazine. Each source is applied to the analysis of the Robb Report in order to substantiate that the magazines’, advertising, layout, and textual content is designed for the rich.

THE MEDIA KIT

The first bold type written statement of the Robb Report Media Kit is definitive, and is as follows: “CurtCo Robb Media publications are synonymous with luxurious living by providing wealthy readers with authoritative information, lively writing, and timeless design” (CurtCo Robb Media, 2001). They are providing their wealthy readers with the material to which they are interested. The very next paragraph, and phrase, refers to the fact that the magazine has been around for some 25 years, and is the authoritative text on luxury lifestyles (CurtCo Media, 2001). The media kit proceeds to describe their readership and their subscriber bases. The following is a summary of the financial aspects of those profiles in U.S. DOLLARS:

(Financials of Readers and Subscribers)

While this table demonstrates the relative difference between the reader and subscriber in terms of income levels, it should be noted that for the subscriber, the mean household and personal incomes are $1,254,000 and $1,100,000 respectively (Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, 2001). The disparity in income levels between the readers and subscribers also reflects that a percentage of the readers are just voyeurs into the luxury lifestyle. They are either just intrigued by how the upper crust lives, or are themselves interested in attaining such a lifestyle. But his information still translates into the fact that their magazine readers are among the wealthiest in the world. The ability to hold this audience base allows the Robb Report to attract advertisers whose products appeal to the very wealthy.

ADVERTSING

The magazines’ target audience can afford the most expensive items offered for sale. Planes, exotic vehicles and multiple vacation homes are often the norm for this social class. As such, advertisers whom offer such objects of desire are attracted to the magazines’ ability to draw this type of audience. This is very important because advertising is typically a magazine’s greatest source of income. An ad in the Robb Report can demand as much as forty-two thousand dollars USD as seen in the following rate card excerpt:

Premium Positioning (U$)

(CurtCo Robb Media, 2001)

The back cover is a full-page advertisement by Maserati USA advertising their Maserati Spyder. The price for the Maserati is $143,750 (Brian Jessel Maserati, 2002). The second ad on pages 3 and 4 is again a two-page spread advertising a watch by Piaget, price, $16500 USD (Piaget, 2002). While the price of these products had to be researched, many of the products in the magazine have their price in the advertisement. Often, advertisers shy away from including price in ads creating a situation where the prospect has to call to get the information. This gives the business in question an opportunity to convince the prospect that they need or can afford the product. But advertising in the Robb Report has the distinct benefit of appealing to people that in most likelihood, can afford your product. Hearts Afire for example, advertises a collection of romantic jewelry. Their jade and diamond necklace, on page 29 sells for $175,000. Included is also an ad for an ocean going residential resort on page 39. Residence rental rates start at $2,100 per day, while residential sales start at $2,050,000. Another full-page advertisement on page 43 is for a luxury condominium, prices start at $550,000 to more than $3 Million. The advertisers also use color to their advantage when designing ads for the rich. Pages 111, 112, 115 and 117 for example, all contain what is considered to be sophisticated colors. They contain metallic blues, browns, grays and maroons, and convey a sense of opulence and sophistication. Other advertisements in the magazine that deal with money, such as those on pages 15-16, 44-45, and 125, mostly contain blue. This according to the book Type, instills confidence and motivates people to believe they are serious about money (Beaumont, 1987). This is particularly important when trying to land multi-million dollar accounts. Some ads appeal to the high standards wealthy people can more easily afford. For example, Page 73 displays an ad for Lexus. This ad according to the creative director at Lexus joins the high standards of the owners with the high standards of their products (Aitchison, 1999).

LAYOUT

The layout of the Robb Report including both advertising and text, appeals to those people who expect, or more precisely can afford absolute quality and perfection. The magazine exudes quality and craftsmanship. The articles are very well written, and easy to locate. Plus, each article is very easy to follow because it is on consecutive pages. The Robb Report does not make the reader trek through the entire magazine to complete the reading of a story, as most others do. The raison d’être for other magazines adopting this practice is to be able to guarantee advertisers traffic to their advertisement. Even though the Robb Report undoubtedly relies on advertising revenues, it will not do so at the detriment of its readers. Each article also has the distinctive benefit of being the only article on any given page. This adds authority to the article because it captures the readers’ entire focus. The combinations of these traits in article layout lend themselves to readability, appeal, and a very strong sense of quality and value. The advertisers must then put even more thought into the design and implementation of their advertisements. The Robb Report does not merely plaster their clients’ products onto a page in a magazine because they know their readers can afford them. When companies place ads in the Robb Report, they are very aware of the demographics to which it appeals. They also realize that the reader of the Robb Report is a person whom puts great emphasis on quality, reliability, style, and panache.

TEXTUAL CONTENT

The articles in the Robb Report are for people interested in the finer things life has to offer. But again, more specifically for those who can afford them. It is, of course, also interesting to those of us with more meager means. A small one page article on page 38 discusses the virtues of certain vinyl record players. One in particular sells for $75,000 USD. That is for a record player. Page 40 takes a look at a plane that has the capability to land like a helicopter. According to the article, the company has received orders from Ross Perot Jr., Gregg Norman, and several others. Every article throughout the magazine pertains to such exquisite taste that if you are not very rich, you are just dreaming. For example, page 127 takes a look at a pair of stereo speakers for the home and compares them to a masterpiece. The price is an astounding $225,000 USD a pair. That is approximately $349, 000 in Canadian funds. Another contributing factor which supports the premise that this magazine caters to the very rich, is the range and quality of its writers. According to the Media Kit supplied by the Robb Report website, all are very accomplished writers, many having prestigious awards to their credit. Jack Smith for example has won the Golden Quill for writing about culture and the Moto award for automotive journalism. Editor Richard Carleton Hacker is known as being one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when discussing cigars and spirits (CurtCo Robb Media, 2001).

FINDINGS / CONCLUSIONS

The organization of the Robb Report, including the quality of bond and text, coupled with the overt materialism of its advertising content, provides sufficient evidence to support the fact that this publication is produced with the purpose of appealing to the most affluent among us.