Event Recap: (Part 2) VALS Presentation "Getting the Right Message to the Right People"

Defining consumers based on level of segmentation

(Broadest) Demographics, Psychological Traits

Activities, Interests, Opinions

Evaluation of Product Benefits

Product or Brand Preferences

(Most Specific) Intent to Purchase

Marketers can make the most impact by connecting consumers' activities, interests, and opinions and evaluation of product benefit.

What happens statistically? Marketers want high level of statistical correlation in predicting purchase.

·       Best predictor: Intent to purchase

·       Worst predictor: Demographics/psychographics (very broad)

o   Different points of ground differentiation go away.

o   Less interested in predicting any given purchase for a product.

·       In truth, most brands’ marketing strategy falls in the middle of the above chart… not too broad and not too specific.

Dividing people by demographics: Marketers can make inferences based on this, but the data can be misleading. For example, can you make inferences based on these information?

37 years old

Caucasian

$100,000 household income

Married

Graduated college

Professional career (manager)

Dividing people by behaviors: Are Bob and Bill in the same segment? They both:

Work out

Own a cell phone

Go on vacation

Spend similar amounts of discretionary income

Interested in the news

Dividing people by behavior AND motivation: motivation differs between people. Take for example Bob and Bill:

Bob:

Works out to stay healthy

Bill:

Works out to look good

Bob:

Owns cell phone for emergencies

Bill:

Owns cell phone for productivity

Bob:

Goes on vacation to learn about different cultures

Bill:

Goes on vacation to relax with family

Bob:

Spends after careful research

Bill:

Spends based on recommendations

Bob:

Reads the New York Times

Bill:

Catches CNN headline news (while shaving)

Takeaway:

·       Within each layer of information hides interesting, important information

·       Companies that assume people fall within the same category will most likely fail at reaching their target audiences

·       People (different demographics/psychographics) are motivated by different reasons.

·       Often times people don’t know why they do different things, which creates a hurdle for researchers

o   Hard to identify causes of action

o   Solution: researchers are forced to infer why people do things. For example, people who buy toothpaste with no fluoride must have some health concerns. Inferences are not always accurate, and it could be hard to make them at times.

·       “Things people do are access point to their thoughts” – David Sleeth-Keppler