New job title: Mansion reporter
The Wall Street Journal has a position open: mansion reporter. Just goes to show that while newspapers and magazines are clawing for ad revenue, there’s one segment of the industry that’s having a lot less trouble: the luxury market.
Say I wanted to apply for the new reporter’s job at the luxury website VeryFirstTo.com. According to the job description, I’d have to be able “distinguish between the roar of a Bentley and a Lexus engine,” Now, I’ve never been in a Bentley. So, can I get the job?
“Well, you certainly appear to qualify on the personality traits,” says Marcel Knobil, founder of VeryFirstTo.com, “but unfortunately we’re looking for someone who is really acquainted with loads of aspects of luxury.”
VeryFirstTo.com previews products and experiences for wealthy early adopters. Media outlets are hiring people to write the stories that go around luxury ads, says Rick Edmonds, media business analyst with The Poynter Institute.
“It could be kind of leaving money on the table not to do something that served that particular advertising market,” he says.
Edmonds says it’s not just for the super-rich. Plenty of people are happy to live like “The Real Housewives of New York” vicariously.
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