• by Cha Iwai , Op-Ed Contributor, January 29, 2020

It’s the time of year for Americans to focus on self-improvement goals. According to a YouGov survey, three in 10 Americans said they have 2020 New Year’s resolutions. 

With “weight loss” and “organization” coming up as top resolutions, we took a deep dive into our data to better understand the demographics, attitudes, and purchase behavior among these two groups.  

To analyze these different New Year’s “resolvers,” we built two custom audiences using behaviorally defined attributes.

Interestingly, we found that while they were both very keen on making self-improvements and were demographically very similar, their attitudes/purchase behavior vastly differed based on the 2020 goals they set for themselves. This reinforces the importance of understanding a consumer’s mindset, attitudes, and interests to ensure that you are speaking to them in an effective and relatable way.  

GET ORGANIZED! (9.4 Million U.S. Consumers) 

This group of high earning, emerging empty nesters is looking to reorganize and revamp their lives in the new year. With a healthy lifestyle and a social life already under way, they are on a quest to improve quality of life by focusing their mind and wallet on getting more organized.

You can find them saving items to their DIY/décor boards on Pinterest for ideas to spruce up their homes, and shopping at stores that will help them deliver their “organizational” goals. This group is slightly more female (55%), age 55+ (55%) and married (73%).

They are very motivated to live life for themselves. For example, they are 86% more likely than the average U.S. consumer to be interested in quality-driven products, 40% more likely to be pursuing a healthy lifestyle, and 27% more likely to be focused on self-improvement as a whole. 

Given this context, it’s not surprising they are 23% more likely to be involved with charities, 14% more likely to do yoga/Pilates, and 28%  more likely to go on vacation.

Their go-to brands stress quality and purpose — including Patagonia, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. They are looking to brands including Home Goods, Ikea and Bed Bath & Beyond to help them achieve their organizational goals. 

A NEW “TRIMMER” ME (19 Million U.S. Consumers)

With the exception of having lower household income and education, this group tends to have a strikingly similar demo profile to their “Get Organized!” counterpart. They are also slightly more female (55%), age 55+ (57%) and married (74%). 

However, their mindset and purchasing behaviors are vastly different from the organizers.  

Members of this more traditional-minded group can be found in the comfort of their homes, relaxing with family over home-cooked meals. They love the simplicities in life, and their behaviors reflect their mindset goal for a healthier self.  

They tend to like to establish comfortable routines. This group is more than two times more likely than the average consumer to be focused on self-improvement. They are also 21% more likely to be focused on family.

Simple outdoor experiences rule the day, as they are 97% more likely to be campers and nearly 2.5 times more likely to be NASCAR fans. 

Tried-and-true brands are the clear preference. This consumer group is more than three times more likely to purchase Levi’s, and twice as likely to own a pair of New Balance sneakers.

As they gear up to reach their fitness goals, they are nearly 3.5 times more likely to purchase Healthy Choice brands, 2.5 time more likely to stock up on Smart Ones, and 12% more likely to belong to Anytime Fitness.

Given the fact these two groups looked similar on the surface but proved to be different as a whole, let’s all resolve to take a deeper look into our customers for the rest of 2020 and beyond.

Editor's note: The data analyzed in this commentary is derived from M1, which is Dentsu Aegis Network’s proprietary database of personally identifiable information of 242 million U.S. adult consumers.