Sales of products on Amazon are nearly doubled when vendors broaden their customer base, focusing less on age demographics.
In the world of advertising, understanding and connecting with consumers on a deeper level has become more important than ever. A new report by Amazon Ads and Strat7 Crowd.DNA, titled "Beyond the Generational Divide: The New Rules for Consumer Connection," suggests that layered audience segmentation, combining age-based targeting with audience signals like values, behaviors, and communities, delivers better results.
The report highlights that such combined segmentation moves beyond simplistic generational categories, enabling marketers to understand and engage with consumers on deeper, more nuanced levels. By integrating signals like values and behaviors alongside age, brands can create more personalized, relevant messaging that resonates with the specific motivations and identities of audience members.
Leveraging community affiliations adds another dimension, fostering connections that tap into shared interests or social groups, which enhances engagement. This multi-dimensional approach leads to more effective targeting, improving campaign performance by aligning ads closely with complex consumer identities rather than relying solely on broad age groups.
The findings of the report align with contemporary marketing practices, showing that layered audience segmentation drives better results than age alone. Communities, behaviours, and shared passions matter more than birth years in targeting consumers. In fact, audiences are 1.4 times more unified by shared values, 2.1 times more unified by shared behaviours, and 2.2 times more unified by shared communities than by generation.
Brands that target people for who they are, not when they were born, will be the ones that cut through. For instance, Booking.com tapped into the rise of 'set-jetting' - travellers choosing destinations based on their favourite shows - with campaigns linked to The Rings of Power and The Idea of You, driving significant jumps in brand favourability across demographics.
Nissan UK's recent inclusivity-in-sport campaign connected with anyone who cares about breaking down barriers, not just a specific age group. These examples demonstrate how brands can effectively target consumers beyond their age.
The report challenges the habit of dividing audiences into generational boxes (baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, Gen Z) and assuming that's enough to build relevance. Millennials were described in 5,000 articles as work-life balance champions and in 1,800 articles as the burnout generation. Such stark contradictions underscore the need for a more nuanced approach to consumer targeting.
Amazon's analysis of 600,000 news articles between 2021 and 2024 found a 36% year-on-year increase in stories about generations. However, four in five consumers said their mindset defines them more than their age. Yaw Owusu, a cultural consultant, states that a brand can speak to both an individual and their mother if they are aspirational people.
Claire Paull, CMO of Amazon Ads, wrote that 'Age really is just a number.' The main image for this article is by Jorge Domingues on Unsplash. Nearly 60% of consumers believe brands make inaccurate assumptions based on age alone. Brands that understand this and adapt their strategies accordingly will be best positioned to connect with their audiences in meaningful ways.
The report includes case studies of brands demonstrating how to target consumers beyond their age, offering valuable insights for marketers looking to improve their campaigns. As the report states, "Age really is just a number." By focusing on shared values, behaviours, and communities, brands can break through the generational divide and connect more meaningfully with their audiences.
- The report suggests that combining age-based targeting with audience signals like values, behaviors, and communities in advertising leads to more effective targeting and improves campaign performance.
- Brands that create more personalized, relevant messaging by integrating values and behaviors alongside age, can resonate better with the specific motivations and identities of consumers, rather than relying solely on broad age groups.
- The analysis of 600,000 news articles between 2021 and 2024 found a 36% year-on-year increase in stories about generations. However, four in five consumers said their mindset defines them more than their age, indicating a need for a more nuanced approach to consumer targeting in media and business.
