3

The Fundamental Marcom Decisions#1

Targeting

11/10/09 AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY in IFRANE 1

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES PROGRAM
 Objectives

1. Discuss the importance of targeting marketing

communications to specific consumer groups and
realize that the targeting decision is the initial and most
fundamental of all marcom decisions

2. Understand the role of behaviorgraphics in targeting

consumer groups

3. Describe the nature of psychographic targeting and the

VALS system
11/10/09 2
 Objectives

1. Explain the meaning of geodemographics and

understand the role for this form of targeting

2. Recognize that any single characteristic of consumers

—whether their age, ethnicity, or income level—likely
is not a sufficient basis alone for sophisticated marcom
targeting

11/10/09 3
 Targeting Customers and Prospects

• Targeting specific audiences can be considered the

starting point for all marcom decisions

Targeting allows marketing communicators to

1. Deliver their messages more precisely

1. Prevent wasted coverage to people falling outside

the targeted audiences

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Targeting Customers and Prospects

Behaviorgraphics

Psychographics
Measureable Consumer
Characteristics
Demographics

Geodemographics

4–5
 Consumer Characteristics

Behaviorgraphics

Psychographics

Demographics

Geodemographics

11/10/09 6
 Consumer Characteristics

• Characteristics that singularly or in combination influence

 What people consume

 How they respond to marketing communications

11/10/09 7
 Consumer Characteristics

• Note that "graphics," the suffix for each of these

consumer characteristics, is a term that refers to
measurable characteristics of target audiences

11/10/09 8
 Consumer Characteristics

• The prefix to each type of targeting

represents

• how the audience is measured

11/10/09 9
 Consumer Characteristics

• Specifically, behaviorgraphic represents information

about the audience's behavior

 In terms of

Past purchase behavior

Online search activity in a particular product
category or set of related categories

11/10/09 10
 Consumer Characteristics

 Psychographics captures aspects of consumers'

psychological makeup and lifestyles including
their

Attitudes
Values
Motivations

11/10/09 11
 Consumer Characteristics

• Captures aspects of consumers’

psychological make-ups and lifestyles
including their attitudes, values, and
motivations as they relate to buying
behavior in a particular product
category

11/10/09 12
 The Market Segmentation Process

1. Identify people with

shared needs and
characteristics
 The Market Segmentation Process

1. Identify people with

shared needs and
characteristics

2. Aggregate these
groups into market
segments according
to their mutual interest
in the product’s utility
 Consumer Characteristics

• Demographics reflect measurable population

characteristics such as

Gender
Age
Education
Income
Ethnicity

11/10/09 15
 Consumer Characteristics

• Marcom practitioners are mainly concerned

with:

the age structure of the population the

changing household composition of the
society. (ethnic population developments)

11/10/09 16
 Consumer Characteristics

• Geodemographics is a conjunction of
geography and demography

• Geodemographics is based on the premise

that consumers who reside within geographic
clusters such as Zip Code Areas and
neighborhoods also share demographic and
lifestyle similarities

11/10/09 17
 Behaviorgraphic Targeting

• Based on how people behave (with

respect to a particular product category
or class of related products) rather than
in terms of their attitude and lifestyles,
their age, income, or ethnicity, or where
they live

11/10/09 18
 Behaviorgraphic Targeting

• The best predictor of one’s future behavior is his or her past

behavior

11/10/09 19
Classification of Four General Targeting Characteristics

4–20
 Online Behavioral Targeting

• Audience Management Systems track Internet users’ surfing behavior in

order to target them with specific advertisements

• In the context of online behavior targeting, Web surfers are increasingly more
likely to be served with ads for products that are most relevant to their
interests

11/10/09 21
 Privacy Concerns

• Technological advances in marketing bring with them

increased ability to serve consumers but also at the
risk of invading privacy

• This advantage comes at the expense that

companies have access to our Internet search
behavior without our approval
or knowledge

11/10/09 22
 Privacy Concerns

• What's the harm?

• Big Brother is watching you!

11/10/09 23
 Definition

• Segmenting
Dividing the market into groups
of people who have similar
characteristics in certain key
product-related areas

5-24
 Definition

• Targeting
Identifying the group that might
be the most profitable audience
(most likely prospects) and the
most likely to respond to
marketing communications
messages
5-25
 U.S: VALS segmentation

• The U.S: VALS segmentation scheme places American adult

consumers into one of eight segments based on psychological
characteristics that are related to purchase behavior and
several key demographics

• The horizontal dimension in this figure represents individuals'

primary motivations, whether in terms of their pursuit of ideals,
their need for achievement, or drive to self-express

• The vertical dimension reflects individuals' resources as based

on their educational accomplishment, income levels, health,
energy, and consumerism

11/10/09 26
U.S: VALS
segmentation
Psychographic segmentation :
VALS
 U.S: VALS segmentation

• VALS places U.S. adult consumers into one of eight segments

based on their responses to the VALS questionares

• The main dimensions of the segmentation framework are

 Primary motivation (the horizontal dimension)

 Resource (the vertical dimension).

11/10/09 28
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Descriptions of the VALS types:

 Innovators
 Thinkers
 Achievers
 Experiencers
 Believers
 Strivers
 Makers
 Survivors

11/10/09 29
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Innovators

Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-

charge people with high self-esteem
Because they have such abundant resources, they
exhibit all three primary motivations in varying
degrees
They are change leaders and are the most receptive
to new ideas and technologies
Innovators are very active consumers, and their
purchases reflect cultivated tastes for upscale, niche
products and services

11/10/09 30
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Thinkers

Thinkers are motivated by ideals

They are mature, satisfied, comfortable , and
reflective people who value order, knowledge, and
responsibility
They tend to be well educated and actively seek out
information in the decision-making process
They are well-informed about world and national
events and are alert to opportunities to broaden their
knowledge

11/10/09 31
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Believers

Like Thinkers, Believers are motivated by ideals

They are conservative, conventional people with
concrete beliefs based on traditional, established
codes: family, religion, community, and the nation
Many Believers express moral codes that are deeply
rooted and literally interpreted
They follow established routines, organized in large
part around home, family, community, and social or
religious organizations to which they belong

11/10/09 32
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Achievers

Motivated by the desire for achievement

Achievers have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep
commitment to career and family
Their social lives reflect this focus and are structured
around family, their place of worship, and work
Achievers live conventional lives, are politically
conservative, and respect authority and the status quo
 They value consensus, predictability, and stability over
risk, intimacy, and self-discovery

11/10/09 33
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Strivers

Strivers are trendy and fun loving. Because they are

motivated by achievement, Strivers are concerned about
the opinions and approval of others
Money defines success for Strivers, who don't have
enough of it to meet their desires
They favor stylish products that emulate the purchases
of people with greater material wealth
Many see themselves as having a job rather than a
career, and a lack of skills and focus often prevents them
from moving ahead

11/10/09 34
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Experiencers

Experiencers are motivated by self-expression

As young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers,

Experiencers quickly become enthusiastic about new
possibilities but are equally quick to cool

They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the

offbeat, and the risky

Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor

recreation, and social activities

11/10/09 35
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Makers

 Like Experiencers, Makers are motivated by self-expression

 They express themselves and experience the world by working
on it-building a house, raising children, fixing a car, or canning
vegetables-and have enough skill and energy to carry out their
projects successfully
 Makers are practical people who have constructive skills and
value self-sufficiency
 They live within a traditional context of family, practical work,
and physical recreation and have little interest in what lies
outside that context

11/10/09 36
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

• Survivors

Survivors live narrowly focused lives

With few resources with which to cope, they often
believe that the world is changing too quickly
They are comfortable with the familiar and are primarily
concerned with safety and security
Because they must focus on meeting needs rather than
fulfilling desires, Survivors do not show a strong primary
motivation

11/10/09 37
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

Successful, sophisticated, take-charge, with high self-

Innovators esteem

Mature, satisfied, comfortable, and reflective; valuing

Thinkers order, knowledge, and responsibility and motivated by
ideals

Conservative, conventional with concrete beliefs based

Believers on traditional, established codes: family, religion,
community, and the nation; motivated by ideals

Motivated by the desire for achievement; have goal-

Achievers oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career and
family
 Descriptions of the VALS types:

Trendy and fun loving. Motivated by achievement out of

Strivers concern about the opinions and approval of others

Motivated by self-expression; are young, enthusiastic,

Experiencers and impulsive consumers; quickly become enthusiastic
about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool.

Motivated by self-expression; express themselves and

Makers experience the world by working on it and have enough
skill and energy to carry out their projects successfully

Live narrowly focused lives; with few resources with

which to cope, often believe that the world is changing
Survivors too quickly; are comfortable with the familiar and are
primarily concerned with safety and security
 </End>
11/10/09 40
 Geodemographic

• Hence, knowing where people live also provides some

information regarding their general marketplace behaviors

• Several companies have developed services that delineate

geographical areas into common groups, or clusters,
wherein reside people with similar demographie and lifestyle
characteristics

• Geodemographic clustering systems have been developed

in many countries other than the United States, including
Canada, most countries in Western Europe, some African
countries, Australia, and Japan

11/10/09 41
 Geodemographic: PRIZMNE 1/1

• PRIZMNE is an acronym in which PRIZM stands for

Potential Rating Index by Zip Markets and NE represents
the "new evolution" of Claritas' original segmentation system

• The PRIZMNE classification system delineates every

neighborhood in the United States into one of 66 clusters
based on an analysis of neighborhoods‚ demographic
characteristics

11/10/09 42
 Geodemographic: PRIZMNE 1/2

• These characteristics include variables such as educational

attainment, race/ ethnicity, predominant age range,
occupational achievement, and type of housing (e.g., owned
versus rented)

• Sophisticated statistical analysis of these demographic

characteristics has enabled Claritas to identify 66 groups, or
clusters, of neighborhoods that share similar demographie
profiles

11/10/09 43
 Benefit segmentation

• Focuses on the advantages consumes receive from the

product rather than the characteristics of consumers
themselves

11/10/09 44
 USAGE Segmentation

• The final type of consumer segmentation is based on

costumer usage or purchases

• The goal of usage segmentation is to provide the

highest level of service to a firm best customers while
promoting the company to casual or light users

• Usage segmentation is also designed to maximize sales

to all user groups

11/10/09 45
 The Changing Age Structure

• The U.S. population is aging relentlessly.

Median Age:

28 30 33 36

1970 1980 1990 2000

11/10/09 46
Population of the
United States by
Age Group, as of
2006

4–47
 Demographic Targeting

• Children and Teenagers

• Preschoolers. Preschool-
• Elementary-school-age children
• Tweens
• Teenagers
• Young Adults
• Middle-Aged and Mature Consumers
• Middle-aged
• Mature Consumers

11/10/09 48
Demographic segmentation:
Heavy usage patterns of Market Segmentation
various age groups