Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Recession Marketing Tip: Know Your Audiences.

Just last week I was reading the results of the latest Nielsen Shopper Modality Study.

According to the report, "Consumers approach different categories of consumer packaged goods with different mindsets, and marketers that understand and leverage these can enhance their products' performance."

David Parma, global head of Nielsen Consumer Research warns that CPG (consumer packaged goods) marketers "don't want to get it wrong in the fleeting nan-second of purchase decision. Marketers need to know what buttons to press to influence their shoppers and win on the ultimate marketing battleground - the store aisle."

Indeed.

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College,
that's where I,
caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded,
I said "In that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola."
She said "Fine."
and in thirty seconds time she said,

"I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people,
I want to sleep with common people, like you."

The thing about consumers is that every time you think you've got them figured out, they surprise you. It would be nice to suppose that you could place all shoppers into five convenient boxes as Nielsen does. Here is how they describe the process:

The Study, combines primary survey data with Nielsen scan data. The method provides an integrated picture of the dynamics of a category with a "holistic deconstruction" of the shopper decision process that includes shopper habits and predispositions, channel choice and in-store behavior.

How cool is that? And the result is the identification of five CPG mindsets that marketers can exploit.

Well what else could I do -
I said "I'll see what I can do."
I took her to a supermarket,
I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere,
so it started there.
I said pretend you've got no money,
she just laughed and said,
"Oh you're so funny."
I said "yeah?
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people,
you want to see whatever common people see,
you want to sleep with common people,
you want to sleep with common people, like me."

Unfortunately, the economic bubble has burst and the world of CPG shoppers has been reduced to only two boxes. It is important to know who your target audience is... and what they are experiencing at any point in time.

But she didn't understand,
she just smiled and held my hand.

Rent a flat above a shop,

cut your hair and get a job.

Smoke some fags and play some pool,

pretend you never went to school.

But still you'll never get it right,

cos when you're laid in bed at night,

watching roaches climb the wall,

if you call your Dad he could stop it all.

No comments:

Post a Comment