THE DANGER OF TARGETING A DEMOGRAPHIC

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for stereotyping and over-generalizations. It’s kinda like putting your brain on auto-pilot. Look, over in the produce aisle... check out that senior citizen. He’s afraid of computers. That young, single woman two aisles over is probably really into shoes. Oh, that guy picking up the bottle of organic wheatgrass... that’s a liberal. He must hate America. See how easy that is?
 
While these assumptions bear no consequence in the supermarket (other than, of course, a slow form of brain rot), when it comes to planning the course of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, they can be the difference between success and failure.
 
Things like gender, age, income and education have traditionally been the four pillars of a brand’s target definition. However, like picking a good cantaloupe, when it comes to targeting, it’s what’s inside that counts.
 
The truth is this: demographic cues are poor indicators of brand preference and shopping behavior.
 
We didn’t say that. MRI did.
 
Being one of the largest providers in demographic data on American consumers, MRI – also known as Mediamark Research & Intelligence – confesses that...
 
“On average (across product categories), less than 2% of brand choice is explained by demographics.”
 
That’s not a typo. Two percent.

If you want someone to choose your brand over your competitor's, developing your strategy around a demographic won't get you anywhere.

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TWO SIMPLE PATHS TO BRAND INNOVATION

The relationship between any product and its customer can be broken down into a series of steps starting with desire and ending with consumption. However the number of steps and the level of consumer involvement at each step differs for every product.

Once you understand all the steps and the role of each, two forms of innovation can take place.

1. Remove Steps from the Process. This is the option that gets all the ink. Making things simpler for customers is the most basic form of innovation. Take a walk down the beer aisle and you’ll see what we mean. The twist off cap and the fridge pack are two examples. These innovations were born from the search for inefficiencies or unnecessary motions that could be removed from the process.

2. Add Steps to the Process. Although often overlooked, savvy marketers realize it can sometimes be beneficial to add steps to the process. Trader Joe's, Target and Fresh Market actually added an extra step for beer customers by allowing them to assemble their own six-packs. It takes more time and adds complexity to the shopping process. But it creates new value for customers.

So, there you go. Two simple paths to innovation. Now you give it a shot.

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A Wall Meant To Keep People Apart Now Brings People Together

The Face2Face Project is an organization that strives to bring Palestinians and Israelis together.

To help raise awareness they've created an initiative where for 30 Euro you can have someone spray paint a message on the wall that divides the two groups. They'll take a picture and send it to you. The proceeds help fund social and cultural change.

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