After reading Stanley Johnson’s blog post on demographics the other day, it got me thinking about how useless demographics can be, especially when attempting to undertake research for business. There are less-defined boundaries these days when grouping people into age groups & then stereotyping their lifestyle.
There are 18 year olds who have never heard of social media.
There are 80 year olds who blog.
There are baby boomers who have more readily embraced new technology than Gen Y.
So why on Earth are we still grouping people into age brackets and defining them by it?
The other gripe I have is the age bracket range that defines the group. I am almost 22, and I hate being placed into the “18-25 years old” age bracket. My interests & lifestyle are so different from the majority of 18 year olds out there. I don’t smoke, I rarely drink, I don’t get plastered in the nightclubs or at house parties, I own my own business, I’m hopefully going to be building a house next year & hoping to get married in the near future. And I just don’t feel this strongly about my personal situation. My sister is 18…she’s super smart, she is switched on, she has her own graphic design business, she has the maturity of at least someone my age, if not older. She has a superb work ethic. And she is so different from all of her friends, they still act like ‘typical’ 18 year olds.
Then there’s my girlfriends. They are aged between 20 and 23, yet one’s married with a child, three are engaged, a couple of them are businesswomen who are definitely going to be successful, one wants to travel the world before settling down, the youngest has already lived in Newcastle, Sydney, Blue Mountains & London in only two years, and one has just moved interstate to start a new life.
Then there’s my parents. They are less than two years apart in age, both baby boomers. My Dad has embraced technology, his whole business is about developing innovative technology. My Mum, however, struggles with computers, & can’t even grasp basic functions like ‘copy and paste’. One of my grandparents doesn’t even know how to turn a computer on, whilst another wants to sell things on ebay.
So, how could you possibly stereotype people based on age brackets?
I do realise that grouping people into age brackets is an efficient way of gathering quantitative data, but people immediately stereotype groups, whether they realise it or not. Is there a way of possibly changing this to incorporate both age and lifestyle? I think the advertising industry needs to think about this, it will cut out a lot of waste.
7 Comments
October 30, 2008 at 10:13 am
Hi Belinda
Great post. I absolutely agree!
Useful research output depends on gathering a sample based on meaningful criteria. Age can be – but often isn’t – very useful as a key variable in this regard.
There are many other ways to group people (attitudes, behaviours, etc) that usually make much more sense.
October 30, 2008 at 10:25 am
Great post and I totally agree.
The biggest issue marketers and advertising agencies face is introducing market segmention to clients.
Its difficult…clients are being bombarded by traditional TV, print and radio salespeople with demographical information that has been compiled to sell and not to inform.
We just had one here this morning…
The more a client understands their customer, the cheaper advertising gets.
Unfortunately, its easier said than done!
February 26, 2009 at 11:06 am
[...] Please read my post on age brackets to understand why I am [...]
March 5, 2009 at 4:33 pm
TOTALLY agree Belinda, i think age bracketing is such a 90’s segmentation tool. Just thinking of nearly everyone i know… how complex & deep their interests are these days.
I think emotions are the REAL shit in marketing.
March 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm
You’re 100% correct! I’m 21, married, have a glass of wine with dinner kinda gal. I’m sick of being pushed into a corner with a whole heap of hard partying twenty-somethings when its just not my scene.
I had to giggle when i read about your grandparents. My 80 year old Pa is always on his computer printing out his digital photos or hooking them up to his data projector to show us the latest holiday, the other is handing me his ringing phone asking me how answer it.
Great blog ya got here.
April 27, 2009 at 9:42 am
I couldn’t agree more. Like you, I don’t fit the usual “early twenties” stereotype-however I’d be interested to hear your views on behavioural targeting and contextual advertising?
October 24, 2009 at 7:45 am
I think you may have answered your own question when you wrote “And she is so different from all of her friends, they still act like ‘typical’ 18 year olds”. You and your sister may not fit the stereo type for your ages. You made it clear that you and your sister are different from the norm. Marketers know that they can’t get it right 100% of the time, but are willing to design their commercials and ads for the population that does fit these models. Stereo-types exist for a reason. Just be glad you don’t fit the typical 18-25 year old stereo-type.