• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 3, 2003

Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" has been one of the most talked about books in marketing circles, laying out how big changes occur in our society and who the people are who make them happen. But until now few agencies and marketers knew how to get a handle on this small, but extremely influential segment of society, much less determine how to create ad campaigns and target media specifically to reach them.

All that could change based on a new study being announced today by marketing and media researcher Simmons. The study divides Simmons' humongous media and product usage database into clusters based on the Tipping Point segments.

The segments - "Connectors," "Mavens," "Salesmen" and "Innovators" - represent only 12.5% of the adult population, according to the Simmons study, but are the individuals most likely to affect social changes, including the success or failure of marketing campaigns.

"We think the tipping point is one of the books that has really changed the way people in this business think. I don't know anyone who hasn't read it at least once," acknowledges Joanne Burke, executive VP-managing director of Carat Insight. In fact, she says Carat has been trying to develop a similar Tipping Point segmentation tool.

"If they did it right, I think it's a really cool thing. Account planning and creative people would be all over it," says Burke, though she said it would still be a difficult sell for some media agencies, because Simmons is not yet accredited by the Media Ratings Council, the ad industry's official stamp of approval for media research services.

"They're not MRC-accredited and that's a big problem," concurs Tony Jarvis, senior VP-director of the strategic insights group at MediaCom. "If I have MRI as the established currency for magazine buys and reasonable data on category users, what else do I need?"

But several major agencies apparently have had no qualms subscribing to Simmons data, including GSD&M, MediaVest, OMD, Optimedia, Universal McCann and Zenith.

"For some agencies it's an issue. For others, it is not," acknowledges Ellen Romer, senior VP-integrated marketing solutions at Simmons, who notes the company has applied for and is in the process of being accredited by the MRC.

Even so, she says agencies may be passing up a potentially valuable targeting tool by ignoring Simmons, especially given the innovative approaches to consumer segmentation the firm has adopted. In addition to the Tipping Point segments, Simmons recently released a study enabling agencies to plan media based on body type classifications, which could be a breakthrough for certain health and weight related categories.

Meanwhile, the Tipping Point segments could be used to more precisely target media to groups that could influence the outcome of everything from new product launches to political campaigns.

Media Usage Among Tipping Point Clusters

Medium     "Connectors"  "Mavens"  "Salesmen"   "Innovators"
Cable       Animal Pl.    Weather   Discovery   Discovery 
Radio       Contemp. Hit  Oldies    News/Talk
Classic Rock 
TV(Prime)   News Mags     Sitcoms   Cop Dramas  Adult Animation 
Online      Instant Mess. Medical   Email       Email 
Magazines   Women's       General   Newsweekly  Men's

Source: Simmons Fall 2002 Omnibus Recontact Study.