Esrm 320 Nature, Values and Market Segmentation Paper

Yao Guo

1030061

ESRM320

Nature, Values, And Market Segmentation paper

11/06/2013

The visual image of “ Old Spice” and “Just add vodka” caught my attention. Both printed advertisements are detailed, eye-catching, animated and informational. And those advertisements do reflect my most important value. According to VALS survey, my primary VALS type is experiencer, and my secondary type is Striver. The primary VALS type represents my dominant approach to life. An experiencer is “motivated by self-expression” and “Young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers”. I was surprised about the result of my VALS type, because I am the person who is likely to experience the new things. The printed advertisement of “Old spice” shows a portrait of a strong black man: Cement, beach, palm tree, old village and women wear bikini are covering his upper body; The volcano eruption is undergoing on his head; A man sitting on his ear just caught a shark; a ship struck a rock on his shoulder. In the poster, the black man’s confident expression presents his enjoyment about everything happening around his body. The printed advertisement of “Old spice” is full of the elements of adventurous spirits, which fit into my VALS type of experiencer. As an experiencer, I value the risky and exciting activities and love sports and outdoor recreation; the shark, ship wreck, volcano eruption in the poster all can give me the vicarious thrills and excitement. Another printed ads “Just add vodka” feature a bottle of vodka pouring its wine onto a dark and quiet village. Suddenly the center of the area, which has been poured by vodka, becomes a bright and energetic downtown. As an experiencer, I also “spend a comparatively high proportion of my income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing” The printed ads of vodka shows an idea that an bottle of vodka can bring us an exciting night life, which is full of the elements of colorful lights, restaurants and skyscrapers. It fits into my interest on entertainment and socializing.

Through market segmentation and target marketing, people can able to use ads to target the products to the right consumers. According to the reading, market segmentation is “the process of dividing the total market into groups whose members have similar characteristics.” And target marketing “is the process to select which groups or segments an organization can serve profitably.” A hair shampoo brand may choose to sell only women’s shampoo, child’s shampoo or only men’s shampoo. The printed ads of “old spice” display a sense of masculinity to lure male customers to buy it. In order to analyze the ads, we have to understand there are some methods marketers use to divide market in order to break the market into smaller unites. By relating the printed ads to different variables, we can get to know which customer market those printed ads aim to. There are five segmentations – geographic segmentation, demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation, benefit segmentation and volume segmentation. The printed ads of “old spice” has the urban elements, such as traveling (bikini women laying on the beach), so it should target on people from urban and big city; The ads itself is a portrait of a strong black man, which means the product aim to the male African American or people from other races who want to be as masculine as the black man in the poster. The volcano eruption and animals express a sense of ambition and aggressive and convey an ideal that anyone use the old spice shampoo should become a “real” man. In addition, from the adventurous ideal in printed ads, “Old spice” can provide customers benefits of lifestyle. And it target on nonusers, because most men use bar soap instead of the shower gel and “Old Spice” want to attract more nonusers to try this new product. From the analysis of the marketing segmentation of “Old Spice”, we can conclude that “Old Spice” aim to the customer market of men living in urban area who want to have more sense of masculinity. From the aspect of psychology, the experiencers will be interested in this product, because they are motivated by self-expression. When they buy products, they focus on purchasing things, which can make them looking good. The printed ads of  “Old Spice” display a sense of masculinity and express an ideal of “Smell like a man” and it target on consumers who want to “smell” and “look” like a “real” man, so experiencers tend to buy it to make them “smell” better.

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