• by Jim Meskauskas , March 6, 2003

Before the advent of television, advertising used to consist of a few simple things: price, item, and easy benefits messaging placed in any potentially public forum, from obelisks in ancient times, to signs, to newspapers, to live radio broadcasts. Coinciding with the advent of television, though, advertisers wanted more information about whom they were reaching and what the effects of advertising were on those people.

At first, research was based on households, and that was really as specific as research got. A given number of households listened to a radio station or received a newspaper or tuned in to a television program. Households can be segmented by ZIP codes. To this day, magazine, outdoor, and direct mail advertising most often target customers this way.

Soon, more specific information was desired. Demographics fast became the currency of targeting. Media and the vehicles of which they consisted were selected based on a given reach a specific media or vehicle had against the target demographic. If I want to market a new product, it is standard to determine what the likely demographic of the potential consumer is so that I can then find that consumer "being in the world,” using certain media where I can then place my messages regarding the new product.

This system has worked pretty well for a couple of decades, so when the Internet debuted as an ad vehicle, it only made sense that segmenting vehicles and targeting advertising would be based on demographics. In fact, the exciting thought was that I could target my message ONLY to a selected demographic because the web site being used as my ad vehicle could collect that information via registering users and then technologically parse out my advertising assets to be sent only to those who had identified themselves as, say, women aged 25 to 49 who had kids in the house.

No Longer Have to Rely on Demographics

But what if, in spite of proprietary research conducted and syndicated research studied, half of those who would actually be interested in my new product fell outside of the demographic? What if what I have to market is a lifestyle product that appeals more to a consumer's state of mind and the things they do rather than to his or her age or socio-economic standing?

Demographics have been used as surrogates for more specific behaviors or actions associated with endemic qualities of a given product or service.

Certainly, products endorsed by the American Association of Retired Persons can be targeted based on an age-50-plus demographic, but what about something like, say, snowboards? There are kids 10 years old who want them and guys in their thirties who want them. These are demographics so divergent, I can't really target BASED on demographics. But perhaps these consumers share a similar state of mind: new, exciting, daring, on edge. Whether you are 6 or 60, if you are interested in my product, then I want to talk to you about it.

It is BEHAVIOR that the particular product or service seeks to address, not an age or gender. Using the snowboarding example, if I’m selling snowboards or products ancillary to them, is it the fact that you are a 15-year-old boy that is important or the fact that you snowboard? It seems stupid that what we’ve been doing in advertising for decades is to take a state of mind or a type of behavior, translate that into demographics, and then seek to use those demographics as a means for reaching people in a particular state of mind or with a specific type of behavior.

So, why not try our best to target messages for products and services based on behavior rather than demographics?

We should, we can, and we will.

Tune in next week to find out what happens next!