What do these four photos have in common, and what does that have to do with Downtown San Diego condos?  Well, one of these photos looks like something your high school or college teacher would give you as a graph showing something of importance.  One photo looks like your grandfather's pocket watch, while one indicates some sort of fancy car.  The remaining photo looks like someone or someones having a glass of wine together, admiring the fantastic San Diego harbor view while thinking of something fun in the future.  Hard to imagine there is a common thread, but appearances can be deceiving.

The common thread is that three of these items fit the graph in box number one.  These items are a good example of "aspirational" marketing.  What is aspirational marketing?  A simple answer is that aspirational marketers expose their produts, i.e., Maybach car, Patek Phillipe pocket watch, and Bayside by Bosa to a large audience.  This large audience consists of people who think someday they may be able to afford these "luxury and limited" items.  A small group of this audience (generally around 30%) become the "consumption" audience and are the actual target market because they can afford to purchase right now and they want products that appear limited and invoke "invidious" (I had to look this word up...it means consumption designed to cause envy) in their purchase.  Think of people you know who want to have the best and will pay the price for the best.  Price is never the issue with these people.  It is the feeling that being able to purchase an "aspirational" product that everyone else cannot afford.  It is simple human nature.

Notice how Bayside by Bosa does their marketing.  Bosa focuses on the consumer who can afford their condos.  They focus on making the others wish and hope to purchase down the road.  This is exactly how the Maybach makes its owners feel when they purchase a vehicle.  Only 66 Maybachs were sold in the United States during 2009.  At over $400,000 per vehicle, the aspirational audience is small, but the actual consumption market is even smaller.  Even a small consumption market is a market.

Patek Philippe sends you a newsletter but only after you purchase their watch and register the serial number.  This takes exclusivity to the max.  Bayside by Bosa offers special open houses to real estate agents who think they have clients that can afford the Bayside by Bosa prices.  Aspirational marketing is targeted to the part inside that is "snobby."  Another San Diego example is Mission Hills.  Owners live in Mission Hills because they can and cannot afford to live there.

Downtown San Diego has been marketed to aspirational condo buyers no matter what the price range.  Lower end purchasers are shown how they can make an inroad and become an "urban dweller."  The Metropolitan buyer is shown how they can live in understated elegance at the top of the Omni Hotel and even have their "own" entrance to Petco Park.  Bayside by Bosa is marketed to the cosmoplitan buyer who wants lifestyle over anything else.  It's all relative.

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, Downtown San Diego real estate agents.