History Main / UpMarketing

* When the iPhone was first released, an enterprising developer offered an app called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Rich I Am Rich]]." With a eye-popping sticker price of $999.99, the app did literally nothing except display a picture of a glowing red gem and the mantra, "I am rich, I deserv [''[[YouMakeMeSic sic]]''] it." That is, the whole purpose of the app is transparently to demonstrate that you can afford to throw away $1000 like it's nothing. The developer reported that he had many satisfied customers before the app was pulled from the App Store, although several claimed [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted they had clicked the purchase link by mistake]]. There were [[FollowTheLeader similar products]] available for Android and Windows phone users as well.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cadillac_ad_2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:When you're draping your lovely wife in [[PimpedOutDress fancy dresses]], [[PrettyInMink furs]], and [[EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry jewelry]], think of Cadillac.]]

* Common for dedicated peripherals. Why play an FPS with a normal keyboard and mouse when you can have a keyboard and mouse spefically designed for FPS? Why play racing games with anything but a steering wheel & pedal peripheral? Why play MMO[=RPGs=] without that "RGB LED" keyboard extension featuring all your hotkeys and quickslots? Why play flight simulators in anything less than a full cockpit, complete with stick, throttle, rudder pedals, [=MFDs=], other assorted switches for various subsystems, and maybe even topped off with a motion platform?

* Ads for most luxury and high-performance cars, like Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, Acura, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. The ''really'' high-end car companies/brands, like Rolls Royce, Porsche, Ferrari, and Bentley, subvert this: their advertising is that they hardly advertise at all.

* Nearly all ads for high-end watches. Does the ad copy call it a "timepiece"? It's this trope. A good ad is the Patek Philippe slogan "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation." Nothing says upmarketing like arguing that the product is literally more valuable than you, the buyer.

* The UsefulNotes/NeoGeo was among the most expensive home video game consoles ever released, with a bundle including two controllers and ''VideoGame/MagicianLord'' going for $650, and additional games costing $200 each [[note]]adjusted for inflation, a single Neo Geo cartridge would cost ''at least'' as much as a brand new contemporary console in 2019[[/note]]. Since mainstream appeal was out of the question as a result, UsefulNotes/{{SNK}} upmarketed the console for only the most hardcore of gamers.

Well, you have two choices. The first choice is to sell the product at a loss, so that the mainstream can afford it. This is ''only'' advisable if it's sold with another product profitable enough to offset that loss, which is the old "Give away the razors to sell the blades" strategy. The second choice is to not bother with the mainstream at all. Instead go for as much of the market that can afford it. This is known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upmarket the upmarket.]]

* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who ''are'' old money because they (and their parents and grandparents) spent their money wisely. They ''can'' drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, but they won't unless those shoes are so classy and well made that they can be worn for years and still look like new after a good polish.

Of course the upmarket doesn't just go for anything. They have to feel they are getting their money's worth. So instead of just a hook for people to remember the product, you need the upmarket to feel your product is worth their money. There are three common methods of doing this.
* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who ''are'' old money because they (and their parents and grandparents) spent their money wisely. They ''can'' drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, but they ''won't'' unless those shoes can be worn for years and still look sharp after a good polish.

However, all this quality comes at a price. Namely... well, price. It costs too much for the mainstream market to afford it. What do you do?

* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who ''are'' old money because they (and their parents and grandparents) spent their money wisely. They ''can'' drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, but they won't do it unless those shoes are well made, have a timeless design, and will still look good as new after a polish.

* Claim this product [[AppealToVanity makes one superior for owning it]]. Mostly works with [[NouveauRiche New Money]]. May or may not directly state that anything less is fit only for the peasantry, but the implication is often there.

* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who ''are'' old money because they (and their parents and grandparents) spent their money wisely. They ''can'' drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, but only if they're well made, have a timeless design, and will still look like new after a good polish.

* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who ''are'' old money because they (and the parents and grandparents) spend their money wisely. They might drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, not because they have a designer label, but because they have a timeless design and can be worn for years and still look like new after a good polish.
* Focus on the class and sophistication of your product. This appeals to both Old and New Money -- who doesn't want to seem sophisticated? -- and is likely the most common form of appealing to the upmarket

* Focus on the value and high quality of your product. This is often the way to appeal to the OldMoney crowd, who are old money because they (and the parents and grandparents) spend their money wisely. They might drop hundreds on a pair of shoes, not because they have a designer label, but because they have a timeless design and can be worn for years and still look like new after a good polish.

* Claim this product [[AppealToVanity makes one superior for owning it]]. Mostly works with [[NouveauRiche new money]]. May or may not directly state that anything less is fit only for the peasantry, but the implication is often there.

* Focus on the sophistication of your product. This also works with old money, because they like to be known as persons of class and taste. This also works with new money, because they want to look sophisticated too. Hence this is likely the most common form of appealing to the upmarket.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrero_Rocher Fererro Rocher]] chocolates, whose advertisements somewhat iconically portrayed a distinguished butler circulating through a formal embassy party with a silver tray full of the gold-wrapped candies. The commercial voiceover began, "The Ambassador's receptions are noted in society for their host's exquisite taste that captivates his guests," and included a party guest saying, "Ambassador, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us!" A particularly silly case of UpMarketing for sure, because someone with a hankering for the confection can usually find it near the checkout counter at their local gas station or most any store with "Mart" in the name.

* Just to focus on how good your product is. This is often going right for the OldMoney crowd, who are old money because their parents and grandparents spent their money wisely. They spend hundreds on a pair of shoes, not because it has a designer label, but because it will last years and years and still be good as new with a nice polish.
* Focus on the sophistication of your product. This also works with old money, because they do have an image of sophistication to uphold. This also works with new money, because they want to look sophisticated too. Hence this is likely the most common form of appealing to the upmarket.
* Claim this product [[AppealToVanity makes one superior for owning it]]. Mostly works with [[NouveauRiche new money]]. May or may not directly state that anything less is tripe meant for the LowestCommonDenominator, but the implication is sometimes there in SubText.

More shadily, this method of selling may be invoked by an [[HonestJohnsDealership Honest John]]-type ConMan who artificially marks up prices in an attempt to [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted part a fool and his new money]]. After all, [[SunkCostFallacy if it's very expensive, it must be very valuable]], [[PlaceboEffect right]]?

This doesn't always go for the upper classes. Anyone with a decent salary and [[CrackIsCheaper an expensive hobby]] can be the upmarket for that hobby. It even applies to [[TheOldestProfession the world's oldest profession]]; see HighClassCallGirl for that.

** Actual professional gamers play on stage on such peripherals, and gaming organizations like TSM and Cloud9 would be extremely averse to letting their players play on such equipment if it wasn't actually better quality (they really don't want to lose over something like peripherals).

** In Season 1, Rachel Menken approaches Sterling Cooper basically to advise her on how to up-market her family's somewhat fusty old-school Jewish department store and turn it into someplace [=WASPs=] would actually think of shopping at. The changes recommended are drastic, but she goes with it. It seems to take, too; when Topaz Pantyhose needs a new strategy in Season 7 after Hanes released [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27eggs L'eggs]], it's seen as an entirely reasonable business decision for Don to send feelers out to Menken's to test an up-marketing strategy. (Don has ulterior motives for reaching out to Menken's in particular, but nobody but him realizes this and everyone thinks it's perfectly rational business-wise).
** In Season 2, Sterling Cooper gets Heineken beer as a client. Both Heineken and most of the SC team want to focus on increasing the brand's bar distribution, but Don Draper says the brand should play up the "[[MadeInCountryX Imported from Holland]]" angle to expand grocery-store sales by getting rich housewives to buy it as a trendy alternative to wine. He even concocts a pilot program focused on grocery stores in the "rich belt" of New York's northern suburbs--including where he lives. Sure enough, at a dinner party at his house with his colleagues, Don's wife Betty includes "Heineken beer from Holland" as an alternative to French wine (as part of an "around-the-world"-themed menu). His colleagues laugh (and adopt the strategy). (Betty was none too pleased with being a guinea pig, and Don was ExiledToTheCouch for what Betty took as a manipulation.)

** In Season 1, Rachel Menken approaches Sterling Cooper basically to advise her on how to up-market her family's somewhat fusty old-school Jewish department store and turn it into someplace [=WASPs=] would actually think of shopping at. The changes recommended are drastic, but she goes with it.

* Chigusa Nagayo's Marvelous pro wrestling promotion, known for having a much lower budget than it's predecessor GAEA, inexplicably has vending machines among the products it sells, when the most expensive thing marketed to its target audience is usually a 60 USD DVD set, and it has a much cheaper rate for its streaming service for its shows than the market standard.

* ''Series/SchittsCreek'': David Rose has a talent for this. His first successful job in town is as the brand manager for dumpy local boutique The Blouse Barn, which he transforms into a store so upscale and sophisticated looking that an Australian company that wants to buy the name pays the owner a significant sum of money. Later, he opens his own successful store, Rose Apothecary, where he elegantly rebrands produced by the rural locals and sells them on consignment.

** In Season 2, Sterling Cooper gets Heineken beer as a client. Both Heineken and most of the SC team want to focus on increasing the brand's bar distribution, Don says the brand should play up the "[[MadeInCountryX Imported from Holland]]" angle to expand grocery-store sales by getting rich housewives to buy it as a trendy alternative to wine. He even concocts a pilot program focused on grocery stores in the "rich belt" of New York's northern suburbs--including where he lives. Sure enough, at a dinner party at his house with his colleagues, Don's wife Betty includes "Heineken beer from Holland" as an alternative to French wine (as part of an "around-the-world"-themed menu). His colleagues laugh (and adopt the strategy). (Betty was none too pleased with being a guinea pig, and Don was ExiledToTheCouch for what Betty took as a manipulation.)