Finding Consumer Common Ground, Part II: Psychographics
As I wrote in Part I, brands are starting to look beyond the obvious and the linear in trying to resonate with today’s consumer. Both the storytelling I discussed there, and the psychographic approach I’ll cover here, are powerful ways to reach the “feminine brain traits” in everyone.
Psychographic Appeal: Stuart Elliott wrote a recent New York Times campaign spotlight on a new Gold’s Gym effort, which – to me – describes the common ground of the core customer for that workout facility, which is: the psychological appeal of “strength” and the re-definition of the modern gym-goer. No stereotypes here and no appealing to the mass market of possible clientele for a fitness center (which would be the typical, demographic approach). Rather, Gold’s identified a specific mindset which they hope will be a universal motivator for their most likely customers. I think they hit the nail on the head. Here’s a quote from Lisa Zoellner, Gold’s chief marketing officer:
It is “not targeted to a specific demographic,” she adds, but rather “a psychographic, a mindset,” through “a focus on individual moments of achievement.”
The intended audience is what Ms. Zoellner calls “the committed,” who are “a little more committed in all aspects of life: family, career, community.”
“We see the work as being somewhat challenging,” she adds, “challenging people to know their strengths, find their strengths.”
Fear (of being fat, or of being considered a wimp) has been a traditional marketing angle for gyms, but consumers prefer to join in on anything when they are given more positive messages (for women, take Curves as an example). In this new Gold’s pitch, the strength that each person takes on as his or her own challenge is a lot different than fear of not being seen as strong by others. One is a concept that resonates with so many of you reading this and the other seems very old-fashioned and irrelevant.
Mindset-guided marketing much more easily gets to the “empowerment” (oh – but I wish that word hadn’t become such a cliche…) factor, that, when all is said and done is something EVERYONE can agree on. And, consumer common ground, no gender about it, strikes again
