PERSUADING NICHE AUDIENCES

Segmentation Analysis

What is segmentation?

Audiences are more fragmented than ever.

Segmentation divides an audience into subgroups to identify specific attitudes, beliefs, patterns, or trends.

Segmentation is used to create a profile of the niche audience.

Persuasive messages target the niche group on the basis of their unique characteristics.

Segmentation may involve any of the following:

• Age • Gender• Culture/ethnicity• Class • Illnesses, disabilities• Income• Education• Language• Lifestyles • Location• Sports, Hobbies

example 1: metro versus retro-sexuals

The “Man Study” by the Leo Burnett advertising agency, which created the Marlboro Man, found that half of all men report that they don’t know what is expected of them in society.

three-quarters of men think that images of men in advertising are out of touch with reality.

Most ads have lumped men into one of two groups: “metrosexuals”: soft, caring males who

are in touch with their feelings. They use product in their hair, get facial peels, wear edsigner clothes

“retrosexuals”: manly, macho types. They drink beer, worship sports, work on cars

Segmenting male consumers

Metrosexuals: straight urban men who are into style, fashion wear designer clothes like fine cuisine get expensive haircuts get waxed enjoy shopping at

Banana Republic

Retrosexuals (“real men”): straight males who are more macho, prefer sex role differentiation watch Nascar Play Xbox 360 and Sony PS2 like Carl’s Jr. use power tools enjoy shopping at Bass Pro live in a “man cave”

Other male niches

African American males

Asian American malesHispanic malesAnglo-Euro American

malesgay malesbachelorsemo guysmacho menliberal, cause-oriented

men

sports nutsolder dadsdivorced, separated

malesNASCAR dadsnerdy, geeky menathletic, fitness-

orientedconservative malesborn-again, religious

males

Advantages and disadvantages

identify a new audience, market

tailor message to a specific audience

focus on most relevant media

micro-marketing can be costly More time, effort,

expense to develop individual messages and strategies

if a brand is associated with one subgroup it may be shunned by other subgroups

Example 2: marketing to gays and lesbians

There are lots of gays/lesbians Kinsey Report pegs 10%

of the population as being gay. 6-7% openly identify themselves as gay/lesbian

higher concentrations of gays (12%) in large urban areas.

Gays as upscale consumers

Gays/lesbians have considerable purchasing power

generally better educated, more affluent

more tech savvy, computer literate

tend to be trendsetters, “early adopters,” of technology

politically involved

Gays as a niche group

Advertising to gays/lesbians is perceived as a form of social validation 77% of gays report changing

to brands that are gay friendly.

mygayweb.com reports that 78% of gay online users prefer to buy from companies that market to the GLBT community.

example:“gay friendly” hotels, tour operators

insensitive campaigns may backfire

Gay friendly ads

Example 3: Marketing to hispanic teens

There are lots of Hispanic teens As of the 2000 U.S. Census,

Hispanic youth ages 12-20 had become the largest ethnic youth population

Nearly 40% of Hispanics are under age 20

By 2010, nearly 1 in 5 young people in the United States will be Hispanic

By 2020, the Hispanic teen population is expected to grow 62% compared to 10% for U.S. teens overall.

A larger percentage of children (ages 0-4), 17+%, are Hispanic

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4484245883891789484&q=spanish+commercial&hl=en

Hispanic teens are bilingual (duh!)

Hispanic teens are more bilingual than their adult counterparts.

about 75 percent of U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish at home.

96 percent of Hispanics use at least some Spanish at  home and 86 percent do so at work or school.

Nielsen reports that half of Hispanic-American households are thought to prefer watching programs in Spanish.

a majority (69 %) of Hispanics get more information about a product when it is advertised in Spanish than when it’s advertised in English only.

Target ad

Hispanic teens are more receptive to Spanish language advertising

Roslow Research Group (2000) advertising to Hispanics in Spanish is significantly more effective than advertising in English. …Spanish commercials

are 40% more effective at increasing ad awareness than commercials in English

…Spanish advertisements are twice as persuasive as ads received in English.

16% more Hispanic teens will recall the spot’s message if it is in Spanish.

1.96

2.73

2.10

2.47

Viewed Spanish Viewed English

PrePost

Hispanic teens as a niche group

Hispanic teens have buying power The average Hispanic teen spends

$320 a month, 4% more than the average non-Hispanic, and one out of five teens in the U.S. is Hispanic`.

18- to 24-year-old Hispanics are the most brand-loyal demographic segment in the U.S.

Hispanics teens have their feet in two cultures Hispanic teens are holding on to their

culture Retro-acculturation

Hispanics exhibit more brand loyalty and less cynicism than other consumers

Hispanic friendly marketing

Accommodation Theory suggests that bilinguals are attuned to advertisers who go out of their way to reach them in Spanish.

Persuaders should speak to an audience's cultural identity. The message should be relevant and resonate with the culture.

Regional or sub-segmentation

How much homogeneity? Are “Hispanics” one group or many groups? Can a persuader use the same

advertising approach to market to Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans and Central and South Americans?

Hershey's made a controversial choice in promoting its new U.S. Hispanic line with language familiar to Mexicans, but not to other Spanish-speakers cajeta, is the Mexican term for the

caramel flavor known as dulce de leche in the rest of Latin America

Micro-marketing

Mark Penn 2007: microtrends: targeting niches within niches

Stay at home workers Uptown tattooed Office romancers Archery moms Old new dads Vegan children Troubled teens College educated nannies

Late-breaking gays Surgery lovers Mini-churched Militant illegals Pampering parents Mildly disordered teens Video game grown-ups Young knitters Social geeks New luddites