Rolls-Royce Seeks Young, Rich Buyers

What attributes and qualities come to mind in connection with the Rolls-Royce brand? One of them is probably not youthful and hip. The brand wants to change that though and is seeking a PR agency to promote Rolls-Royce to wealthy, young consumers.

The desire to reach the young rich comes on the heels of the brand's introduction of a new Ghost model, nicknamed the "baby roller" in a bid to be more hip and cool than its predecessors, and called "sleeker and sportier-looking" by reviewers. Yet, at more than $300,000, make no mistake—it's still a Rolls.

Of course, what luxury brand doesn't want to be popular with the young and the wealthy? But is this a demo to which Rolls is unfamiliar? More important, could the brand get too much of what it seeks?
 
The effort does not stem from soft sales. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Sales for BMW's ultra-luxury Rolls-Royce brand were driven by the new Ghost model and jumped to 220 cars in May from 51 in the same month last year. In the first five months, Rolls Royce's sales totaled 678 compared with 276 vehicles in the same period last year."

By trying to skew young and hip, Rolls-Royce should just be careful about what it wishes for. The danger, of course, is that in the hands of an overly ambitious "Results Now!" marketing push, Rolls could sacrifice long-term brand credibility for a short-term flare in popularity. It's a lesson other luxury brands have learned the hard way.

Several years ago, top-end fashion brand Burberry was forced to take drastic action to trim its offerings and corral its image after young consumers began adopting the brand's namesake pattern as a badge of "chav" culture and hooliganism. Reports of the brand's recovery are just now coming out, after years of effort on Burberry's part. 

The truth of course is that Rolls-Royce is already very popular with the young wealthy demographic. It just might not be the wealthy young that Rolls is interested in attaching its brand to. In fact, the brand is so popular with hip hop and rap artists that as long ago as 2008 superstar musician Pharrell Williams was bemoaning how the brand had become too popular, calling it "kind of ubiquitous."