Psychographics

Geodemographics

Geodemographics, in its simplest form is plotting the residential location of concentrations of particular audience characteristics—of high-income single men, for instance—so that communication efforts are directed with more cost-effectiveness. As extended by proprietary systems like PRIZM or ACORN, researchers overlaid demographic knowledge with questions concerning consumer behavior and attitudes. The oldest of the geodemographic [Page 702]methods, PRIZM, was introduced in 1974. Now called Nielson PRIZM (Potential Rating Index for ZIP Markets), this technique reduces U.S. Census block group statistics to 14 distinct categories that take into account age, income, presence of children, marital status, homeownership, and urbanicity. The system correlates these classifications with consumer purchase records to categorize an individual neighborhood of households into one of 66 different consumer segments that represent two groups: social and lifestyle. The resulting segments are labeled with such names as Boomtown Singles, Bedrock America, Rustic Elders, Bohemian Mix, and Shotguns and Pickups. The company assists clients by examining mailing lists of current customers and determining insight about what psychographic traits those customers possess. That knowledge then allows marketers to know where additional similar customers may be found.

Life Cycles/Generational Cohorts

The generational cohort to which one belongs is another psychographic characteristic that aids professionals in more clearly defining their targeted publics. William Straus and Neil Howe (1991) conducted extensive generational theory research. They define a generation as a cohort group whose length approximates the span of a phase of life and whose boundaries are fixed by peer personalities. Further, a generation is shaped by its “age location” (e.g., participation in epochal events that occur during one's course of life). Examples include the Great Depression, the Korean War, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, and, most recently, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. During each stage of the life cycle, a set of collective behavioral traits and attitudes is produced. Straus and Howe refer to each generational cohort's traits and attitudes as its “peer personality.” Attitudes of one generation affect how that person's children are raised and, later, how those children raise their offspring.

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