TARGET AUDIENCES.

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS THEORY:

Abraham Maslow's theory of the 'hierarchy of needs' outlines the different needs that the everyday person has and how to use different concepts to appeal to different people. For example, to appeal to the 'higher class' companies' target audience they will use the 'psychological needs' level of the hierarchy.

The theory is based on the concept that..1. people all have basic needs which are arranged into a hierarchy of importance. When lower levels are satisfied, people can devote energy to seeking satisfaction of higher ones; 2. unsatisfied needs motivate behaviour. This means that people work up the list from 5 to 1 which are listed below.

The hierarchy in order of importance:

1. Physiological needs: basic necessities for survival – food, heat/cover, water etc.

2. Safety needs: - protection from threat, danger, deprivation

3. Social needs: companionship, belonging, acceptance, friendship, love

4. Esteem needs: need for self-esteem desire for self-confidence, self-respect, feelings of competence, achievement, independence need for esteem from others desire for recognition, status, appreciation, prestige

5. Self actualisation: needs - realisation of potential, self-fulfillment, creativity

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DEMOGRAPHICS:

Socio-economic status:

The following catagorises audiences and is used by the print industry NRS (National Readership Survey):

Age and gender:

Companies will use categories for their audience to find how they should best advertise to them to gain their attention and engagement. These can be shown in multiple forms,graphs or charts, two are shown below.

Magazines target an audience for advertisers in their Press Packs for example on the right.

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PSYCOGRAPHICS:

Lifestyle:

Lifestyle is a very prominent part of an audience's chance of endorsing the product or message and can be defined as the consumer's behavioral habits, ideas, customs and values. Different lifestyles were set into categories by the marketing company Young & Rubican as the 'Four Cs Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation' and these are represented by seven types of common consumer found in today's society.

The explorer: has an urge for being unique and different from the mainstream, they often are looking to try out new brands, experiences and ideas. Their main need is discovery.

The aspirer: has a secure need for keeping up to date with trends and being seen in a certain light. They want the most trendy and expensive brands / products regardless of efficiency.

The succeeder: has a need for control and to be organised. This may be professionally or in personal life as they have strong goals and strive for them. They wish for high quality.

The reformer: is generally seen to be the most intellectual and have strong moral opinions. They are often the leaders of society and want authentic brands and people in their life.

The mainstreamer: will follow the general popular trend to fit in and don't necessarily understand why they will buy something for any reason other than it being popular. They are very considerate of others and will put them first, they react to family brands and togetherness.

The struggler: is seen as unorganised and clueless in lots of their life, they don't have a long term plan or many goals. They live for the moment and often are low in society, they have no work ambition and seek escape.

The resigned: are those of the older generations and who are reluctant to change their ways and views of life. They respect institutions, have 'traditional' main values which have been built over time and their main instinct is to survive.

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FOUR PARABLES OF ADDRESS IN ADVERTISING:

There are four different types of parables of personal address in advertising according to Roland Marchand in his book 'Advertising the American Dream' of 1886.

1. The parable of first impressions:

This strategy uses product to show how the consumer would make a first impression with or without it, showing how it would benefit their life. This is shown with this Lynx example as the main character struggles to engage with the girls but then when he uses the product then he becomes confident and can manage himself, this uses both example to contrast how much better he can cope with the deodorant. The target audience for the advert and company are the D (working class) and C2 (skilled working class) categories as they do not need much convincing between the deoderant as they understand it is a necessity rather than a choice between which brand they should choose. This is because of the struggler mindset they do not see the need to do much research as 'at the end of the day a deodorant is a deodorant'.

2. The parable of the democracy of goods:

Adverts which use this parable make the audience feel involve in an upper class lifestyle even when of lower classes, this appeals directly with the aspirer lifestyle as this is what they crave. A brand which is very popular with this mindset is Ferrero Rocher as they advertise that their chocolate is high end and of the A (upper middle class) lifestyle with the posh ball and fancy dresses, even though the consumer can happily eat the chocolate from the comfort of their couch.

3. The parable of civilization redeemed:

The ad convinces the viewer of purchase by advertising the value that using the product has and how it will benefit the viewer's life. This technique uses the symbolism of the benefit according to Donald Gunn's twelve advertising strategies, we see this is the following ad as it shows that using the product will create a positive impact on the life of the consumer. It showcases the robots laughing about how people make mashed potatoes before using Smash, bringing laughter into the equations suggests that it is almost obvious that you should use Smash instead of mashing an actual potato.

4. The parable of the captivated child:

The advert is aimed at the family or parents of the child but they wish to buy to the product for their child. This is often used in food and sweets advertising as legally food products with high sugary percentages cannot be directed to children. We see this in the Werther's ad as the grandfather relives his past experiences with the sweet and having it be introduced by his grandfather, eating the Werther's turns into a special occasion between the two. This advertising strategy is aimed at older generations - retired E class or the resigned - and suggests that they could create the same memories with their own grandchildren and make having the sweets together a bonding experience.

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MASLOW'S HIERARCHY COMPARED TO LIFESTYLES:

Maslow's hierarchy and lifestyles work similarly as the seven consumer types each crave different things on the hierarchy for their individual reasons.

For example, The Struggler will want safety because they lack security, don't have many belongings and value the people in their life over the superficial objects. Although, a Succeeder or Resigned would want safety of their own possessions against theft because they feel they earned them as well as their need for security and safety.