Wednesday, March 28, 2012

What do your products say about you?

When marketing a product, companies choose which demographics of people they would like to market to. Factors for demographics can include age, gender, race, education, income, family size, region, climate, lifestyle, and motives, to name a few. This made me wonder about the products I consume, and what target demographic they were originally intended for. Am I inside that target?

I looked at the larger products that I use very frequently: my computer, car, and phone.

Apple MacBook Pro:
According to this study, Apple Computers consumers are people between 18-34. Over half of the consumers say they are liberal, and most live in the city. Many want to be "perceived as unique and different to make my own mark", and consider themselves "late adopters". Lastly, many of these people are in creative professions.

I fit this target pretty well. I'm within the age group, would consider myself liberal, and I am in a creative profession (film and event production). I don't consider Keene a city, as it isn't very big. I also don't believe I'm a late adopter.

'00 Jeep Cherokee:
Currently Jeep is very popular with Gen Y age group, which is 18-27. The original marketing push was for upper middle class adults, age 44. While I can't find anything to support this, I believe that the targeted group is males, age 18-35, who like the outdoors, as well as families with 1-3 kids, with parent(s) over 40.

According to my own estimation of Jeep Owners, I really don't fit the target demographic at all. I would fit in the age groups however.

Droid X:
I found two very different accounts of what the target for Droid is, so I will talk about both. Droid users are predominately male, with over 73% being male according to one source, and over 54% in another. Users are between 25-34, and half of all users are under 35. Compared to its iPhone counterparts, the Droid appeals to those who have slightly less education, and those who are less wealthy.

I am also not a part of the gender demographic that Droid seeks. I do fit in to the age and income group. Since I'm currently attending college, I don't believe I fit into that group.

It seems that I would be a marketer's least favorite kind of person: the person that doesn't buy the products targets for me. I personally buy based on consumer reviews, and personal preference.

What do the products you use say about you? Do you fit into the demographics for those products?

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