Commentary
Launching Head-First into A New Demo (And I Like It)
- by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, May 13, 2009
Last year I left for good the hallowed halls of the coveted 18-34-year-old male segment and entered that more refined, well-structured and infinitely more complex 35-54-year-old demo, but now I've also become part of the "1+ children in the household" segment, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
For years I've built media recommendations and marketing plans that reached out to specific segments of an audience, but not until now did I truly understand the subtle differences between these groups. As a male 35-54, and a parent, my media usage patterns have changed substantially from when I was in my 20s and single. My choices truly reflect more of a family unit and less of the selfishness of time that was indicative of my younger days. Disposable income is a thing of the past, as my resources are focused on family and my time is far more valuable because I'm sharing it with other people whom I love and cherish deeply.
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Along with the obvious issues of how I, as part of this audience segment, spend my time comes the new ways that I view the world. Aging brings with it a certain maturation of the soul; I'm not as obsessed with the same things as I was when I was younger, and I am gaining more of an appreciation for family and long-term relationships. I seek balance and an understanding of the ways that I can benefit my immediate surroundings, which re-emphasizes my focus on the family.
Of course many of you have already experienced these kinds of life passages, too. I'm discovering that these changes are reflected in my use of digital media as well, and are far deeper than some description of a target audience that I pull from a brand study. These are true-life changes for real-world people!
Mobile becomes surprisingly important for this group, once we've overcome the hurdles of comfort and familiarity and past the early adopters (people like me) who love gadgets for gadgets' sake. When you're on the go and you're trying to balance work and home life, and both represent a stronger force than when you're younger, mobile allows you an access point that you really can't do without. It becomes a lifeline and a means of staying connected while you're away from home or office. It creates convenience that didn't exist a few years ago. In 2008, the fastest growing group of users for mobile data services was males 35-54 years (source: AccuraCast), which should come as no surprise when you realize the strides that have emerged from this category in just the last two years!
My segment is also spending increasing time with social media. According to a study that was released by iStrategyLabs, the 35-54-year-old demo led the growth of Facebook in 2008, by a jump of 276%! Social media becomes a way of revisiting friendships, getting back into contact with friends from years past. I find personally that it enables me to reconnect with people with whom I haven't spoken for years because they had families and I did not, so our paths had diverged slightly. It never meant that those friendships had suffered, but rather that we had less in common at the time. Now that I have a family and am more structured, I find Facebook to be a great resource. I can share my current experiences with my peers, they can share theirs with me, and we once again have common ground.
Of course, all media is capable of connecting with a consumer, assuming that the media plan was built with a refined target in mind. I am in no way stating that a particular media vehicle is less effective at reaching the family-oriented consumer than the younger, discretionary-income-centric consumer. I'm just commenting on the fact that there is indeed a difference in insight that a run through Nielsen or comScore simply can't provide. You can read the data and build a profile, but you need to take the time to get inside the head of your audience and understand their motivations and concerns. Get to know how they think, rather than just reading the two-dimensional description of what they do.
Understanding leads to better marketing, and better marketing leads to sales, which is what you should really be looking for, right?
Cory,
Welcome to the new demographic, we're darn glad to have you! Great article and spot-on. Brands need to engage their customers and prospects in different ways, depending on their respective demographics. And getting inside their heads and engaging with them is so much more impactful than statistics. That's one of the things that makes social media so exciting to an older demographic (of which I am a long-standing member). SM helps lead to relationship, engagement, quick answers, opinions, suggestions, leads, feedback, etc., from like-minded, busy, intelligent people. Mobile media and social media are a great fit for the busy, more complicated, more family focused lifestyles of an older graphic, hence the rapid adoption.
Bottom line - great insight and congrats on the new little man. Your life will only get better and better from this point on - kids have a way of making that happen.
@shellykramer
Cory,
Excellent article and ditto on welcome to the new demo. Reminds me of when I was first in the business - a demo we actually used for a major account was 35+ or, as we called it, "35 to dead". (When you're a 23 year old planner, those 40-year-olds seem ancient!) Thank goodness we've come such a long way.
-CL
Cory,
Well, first of all, welcome to parenthood. It's the toughest job you'll ever love. Now go get some sleep.
I don't disagree with anything you had to say regarding us old folks and mobile devices but I did want to add that one factor that comes into play as we get older as well is that our eyes change too. During the past few years my 'old eyes' (as the doctor called them) can no longer see the face of my cell phone (or most of everything else) clearly without first putting on my reading glasses. As you can imagine that takes a little fun out of the idea of receiving frequent text messages or trying to figure out which number in your phone directory belongs to a client while you're driving a car.
To work in front of a computer is a different situation because the readers stay on all the time. But when out and about and the phone rings, sometimes you have to take a good guess at who is calling because you don't have time to fish your glasses out of your pocket.
I offer this up as a possible reason why some segments of the aging population my avoid any PDAs or phones that don't offer interfaces that are easy to see.
Cory,
Well there you go: to hell in an hand basket. Congratulations on the addition to your family, but a warning as well. They don't usually come alone, friends, family and other pressures insure that there are more in the offing. That said you will have a blast, get ready to find your imagination again. Good luck.
As for the new demographic, we in the targeting world have refined your demographic from 35 - 54 year old male with one child to: 35, male, child birthday in May, also male, married in month X to wife born in month Y, zip code, HHI, interests, profession, car lease expiring in Z, shops at (store list), purchases ABC on a Q frequency and has a girl friend in (just kidding). The point being that we in the Behavioral Targeting world will bring much more relevant content, in the form of advertising, to you based on segmentation that goes well beyond the simple demographics of the past.
This goes to your point in the article "understanding" of the target audience "leads to better marketing." Great point, thanks.