Lifestyle
Lifestyle segmentation aims to categorize people in terms of their way of life, as reflected in their activities, interests and opinions. As we saw in Chapter 3, lifestyle is an important personal factor driving consumer behaviour, and advertisers have identified several different lifestyle groupings. Lifestyle is also a powerful method of segmentation as particular lifestyle groups have fairly predictable media habits. For example, people who enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and watersports will be likely to read magazines, watch television programmes and visit websites dealing with these topics. Marketers can then use these media to reach their chosen segments. Lifestyle segmentation describes the way in which many advertising agencies attempt to relate brands (e.g. Martini) to a particular lifestyle (e.g. aspirational).
5.2 Marketing in Action
Smithwicks Focuses on Current Users
In the 1970s, the Irish beer market was dominated by what was referred to as the 'holy trinity': Guinness (stout), Harp (lager) and Smithwicks (ale). However, during the 1980s, as more international beer brands began to appear on the market, Smithwicks suddenly found itself out of place and time, and its market share has been in freefall ever since. Stout has 48 per cent of beer sales, lager has 44 per cent and ale has 8 or 9 per cent of the market. Smithwicks has 91 per cent of the draught ale market.
The Smithwicks experience shows that a big brand can go into decline despite being supported by massive advertising. The Guinness Group never turned off the marketing tap, but nothing seemed to work. Advertisers in the mid-1980s tried to give the brand some street cred by using commercials that showed groups of fairly hard (macho) men, but these ads were found not to be sufficiently aspirational. A new tack was tried, using more affluent individuals and moving the location upmarket. Still Smithwicks sales went down. Research among Smithwicks drinkers revealed that they saw themselves as people who tell it like it is, are unpretentious and don't need to impress others. Cue yet another approach. This time the ads would reflect modern social reality and the depressed Ireland at the end of the 1980s, showing images of love and hate. These Benetton-style ads did not have the desired impact either.
It became apparent that Smithwicks drinkers see a pint of beer as a social lubricant, not as a deep and meaningful statement about themselves. So in 1995, Smithwicks launched its 'Locals' campaign, which has now been through 12 executions. In it, Smithwicks doesn't try to be young, sexy or deep. It is unpretentious and 'doesn't make a song and dance about life'. The imagery is relaxed, showing people having a good time, reflecting the proposition that Smithwicks is essential to easy, relaxed, social drinking. Since the introduction of this campaign, the rate of decline of Smithwicks has slowed from 7.5 per cent in 1995 to 1.6 per cent in 1998, and in 1999 sales actually began to increase. The reason behind the success of the campaign is that it is an uncompromising, single-minded strategy addressing current drinkers.
Age
Age is a
factor that has been used in the segmentation of a host of consumer
markets7
(see Exhibit 5.2). As we saw in Chapter 3, children have become a
very important market and now have their own television programmes,
cereals, computer games and confectionery. The sweeter tooth of
children is reflected in sugared cereal brands targeted at children
(e.g. Kellogg's Frosties). Lego (www.lego.com), the Danish
construction toy manufacturer, segments the children's market by age.
In broad terms, Duplo targets the up to 6-year-olds, the Lego range
aims at the 5- to 12-year-olds, and the Technics range caters for the
8 to 16 age group. Age is also an important segmentation variable in
services. The holiday market is heavily age segmented, with offerings
targeted at the under-30s and the over-60s segments, for example.
This reflects the differing requirements of these age groups when on
h
oliday.
Age distribution changes within the European Union are having a
profound effect on the attractiveness of various age segments to
marketers (see Chapter 2).
Exhibit 5.2 This advertisement for Maltesers, chocolate coated confectionery, clearly targets young people, incorporating their lifestyles and personalities