Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Table 7.3 
Stages of the family life cycle
two occupational groupings (white collar and blue collar – ABC1 and C2DE). On the basis 
of these three variables, 12 distinct SAGACITY groupings are identified with different 
aspirations and behaviour patterns (see Crouch and Housden, 1996).
Some analysts have pointed out that the Baby Boomer generation has made a significant 
impact on marketing to the over 50s (Paul Fifield in Marketing Business, January 2002). 
Thirty years ago the ‘Boomers’ changed the way marketers dealt with the youth market, as 
they demanded more individualised and tailored products and services. Having now raised 
families and paid off mortgages they are approaching the ‘empty nester’ stage of the life 
cycle, but are likely to have very different expectations from previous generations of 50
+ 
consumers. Generally fitter, well educated and more affluent, they pose very significant 
marketing opportunities for the future.
ACORN and related classificatory systems
As a direct challenge to the socio-economic classification system, the geodemographic 
ACORN system was developed by the CACI Market Analysis Group (http://www.caci.
co.uk/acorn-classification.aspx). The system is based on population census data and clas-
sifies residential neighbourhoods into 36 types within 12 main groups (see Table 7.4). The 

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CHAPTER 7 SEGMENTATION AND POSITIONING PRINCIPLES
groupings were derived from a clustering of responses to census data required by law on a 
ten-yearly basis. The groupings reflect neighbourhoods with similar characteristics.
Early uses of ACORN were by local authorities to isolate areas of inner-city deprivation 
(the idea came from a sociologist working for local authorities), but it was soon seen to 
have direct marketing relevance, particularly because the database enabled postcodes to be 
ascribed to each ACORN type. Hence its use particularly in direct mail marketing.
Other ‘geodemographic’ data sources are provided by such firms as Eurodirect, who 
developed CAMEO (https://www.cameodynamic.com), and Experian, with their 
MOSAIC classification system (http://strategies.experian.co.uk/).