Why behaviour beats demographics when it comes to segmentation

Classic demographics like age and gender – despite being tried and tested for years – appear to be losing their popularity among marketers as the most common forms of segmentation. The wealth of customer data now available means brands are increasingly evolving their approach to reflect their consumers’ behaviour, attitudes and life stage.
Procter & Gamble (P&G), for example, has shifted the focus of its segmentation strategy from “ wasteful mass marketing to mass one-to-one”. The FMCG giant has combined anonymous audience data covering 90% of the US population with purchase data and analytics to move from “generic demographic targets”, such as women or an age group like 18 to 49, to more than 350 precise “smart audiences”, including first-time mums and first-time washing machine owners. Read more…