Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Personality characteristics
Personality characteristics are more difficult to measure than demographics or socio-
economics. They are generally inferred from large sets of questions, often involving detailed 
computational (multivariate) analysis techniques.
Several personality inventories have been used by segmentation researchers. Most nota-
ble are the Cattell 16-Personality Factor Inventory (see, for example, Oxx, 1972) and the 
Jackson Personality Inventory (see Kinnear et al., 1974). Both were developed by psycholo-
gists for reasons far divorced from market segmentation studies and have, understandably, 
achieved only varied levels of success when applied to segmentation problems.
Perhaps the main value of personality measures lies in creating the background atmos-
phere for advertisements and, in some instances, package design and branding. Research to 
date, however, primarily conducted in the United States, has identified few clear relation-
ships between personality and behaviour. In most instances, personality measures are most 
likely to be of use for describing segments once they have been defined on some other basis. 
As with the characteristics discussed, behaviour (and reasons for behaviour) in personality-
homogeneous segments may be diverse.
Lifestyle characteristics
In an attempt to make personality measures developed in the field of psychology more rel-
evant to marketing decisions, lifestyle research was pioneered by advertising agencies in the 
United States and the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. This research attempts to isolate 
ACORN group
Description
A
Agricultural areas
B
Modern family housing, higher incomes
C
Older housing of intermediate status
D
Poor-quality older terraced housing
E
Better-off council estates
F
Less well-off council estates
G
Poorest council estates
H
Multiracial areas
I
High-status, non-family areas
J
Affluent suburban housing
K
Better-off retirement areas