Common ways to categorise these groups are in terms of age, gender, race and location.
However, there are also other ways of classifying these groups:
Income brackets/ status
One way to classify audiences is by class, which is mainly determined by the type of job the person does.Most advertisers will focus mostly on ABC1 or C2DE. These are grouped together by the genre that is popular within the majority of that group.
A
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Upper middle class
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Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals
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B
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Middle class
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Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' eg graphic designers etc
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C1
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Lower middle class
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Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialist clerical staff etc
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C2
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Skilled working class
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Skilled workers, tradespersons (white collar)
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D
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Working class
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Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar)
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E
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People at lowest level of income
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Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers
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Young and Rubicam's Four Consumers
As the idea of classing by class became less popular, advertising agency Young and Rubicam came up with another way to target advertise.
Mainstreamers
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Make up 40% of the population. They like security, and belonging to a group.
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Aspirers
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Want status and the esteem of others. Like status symbols, designer labels etc. Live off credit and cash.
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Succeeders
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People who have already got status and control.
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Reformers
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Define themselves by their self-esteem and self-fulfilment.
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LifeMatrix
One of the most recent ways to classify groups has grown from Market Research this looks at both attitues, values and beliefs and more fundamental, demographic audience categories.
Tribe wired
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Digital, free-spirited, creative young singles
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Fun/Atics
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Aspirational, fun-seeking, active young people
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Dynamic Duos
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Hard-driving, high-involvement couples
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Priority Parents
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Family values, activities, media strongly dominate
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Home Soldiers
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Home-centric, family-oriented, materially ambitious
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Renaissance Women
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Active, caring, affluent, influential mums
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Rugged Traditionalists
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Traditional male values, love of outdoors
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Struggling Singles
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High aspirations, low economic status
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Settled elders
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Devout, older, sedentary lifestyles
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Free Birds
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Vital, active, altruistic
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