Understanding Audience Profiles

In todays lesson, I learnt a lot about the importance of understanding the target audience profiles as it enables the supplier to target the communication. I learnt that there are different types of audience profiles which are Demographic profiles and Psychographic profiles. Demographic profiles are statistics of a given population and the most used demographic variables are age, gender, job, location, martial status, educational level, income and nationality. Psychographic profiles show a persons interests, opinions and the activities they enjoy as well as attitudes and values of those people. I also learnt that ACORN is a demographic classification of British social classes. ACORN is used by market professionals, entrepreneurs and researchers.

The target audience for magazines is separated into different social classes which are known as A, B, C1, C2, D and E. The social grade 'A' is for the upper class customers in comparison to social grade E which is for customers that are at the lowest level of subsistence.

Different magazines and advertisements appeal to the diverse social groups. For example, the upper class may be attracted to a chocolate bar with the words; 'indulgent', 'luxurious' and 'elegant' because it seems more expensive and therefore is most likely to be a better standard chocolate bar. In contrast to a chocolate bar aimed at members of the lower class, the words and slogans used may be simple and basic. The words on the chocolate bar may consist of 'cheap', 'chewy' and 'crispy' which are vague descriptions of the product which would appeal to someone of that class immediately.

The magazine covers are extremely unalike because they aim to different target audiences. 'Seventeen' is clearly targeted towards young girls because of the bright luminescent colours featured and the cover model (Rihanna) who is popular and seen as a role model by young teenagers. 'Marie Claire' is a fashion magazine aimed towards older women (aged 20-40). The cover includes dark and neutral colours which appear to be sophisticated and would attract older women.