Chapter 6

Personality and Lifestyles

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
Global Edition 9e
Michael R. Solomon

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Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should understand
why:
• A consumer’s personality influences the way he or
she responds to marketing stimuli.
• Consumers’ lifestyles are key to many marketing
strategies.
• Psychographics go beyond simple demographics to
help marketers reach different segments.
• Identifying patterns of consumption is superior to
knowledge of individual purchases when a marketer
crafts a lifestyle marketing strategy.

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Personality
• Personality: a person’s unique psychological
makeup and how it consistently influences
the way a person responds to his/her
environment

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Freudian Systems
Personality = conflict between gratification
and responsibility
• Id: pleasure principle
• Superego: our conscience
• Ego: mediates between id and superego
• Reality principle: ego gratifies the id in such
a way that the outside world will find
acceptable

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Freudian Systems (continued)
Marketing Implications
• This ad focuses on
the conflict between
the id and the
superego
• Ads often times use
symbolism to
motivate product
purchases

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Motivational Research
and Consumption Motives
• Power-masculinity- • Status
virility • Femininity
• Security • Reward
• Eroticism • Mastery over
• Moral purity- environment
cleanliness • Disalienation
• Social acceptance • Magic-mystery
• Individuality

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Motivational Research
• Criticisms
• Invalid or works too well
• Too sexually based
• Appeal
• Less expensive than large-scale surveys
• Powerful hook for promotional strategy
• Intuitively plausible findings (after the fact)
• Enhanced validity with other techniques

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Neo-Freudian Theories
• Karen Horney
• Compliant versus detached versus
aggressive
• Alfred Adler
• Motivation to overcome inferiority
• Harry Stack Sullivan
• Personality evolves to reduce anxiety
• Carl Jung
• Developed analytical psychology
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Carl Jung,
Father of Analytical Psychology
• Disciple of Freud
• Established concept of collective
unconscious
• Explained the creation of archetypes
• Old wise man
• Earth mother
• Young & Rubicam uses the concept of
archetypes in its BrandAsset® Archetypes
model

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Figure 6.1 BrandAsset Valuator Archetypes

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Figure 6.1 BrandAsset Valuator Archetype
(continued)

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Trait Theory
• Personality traits: identifiable characteristics
that define a person
• Traits relevant to consumer behavior:
• Innovativeness
• Materialism
• Self-consciousness
• Need for cognition
• Frugality

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Are You an Innie or an Outie?
Idiocentrics Allocentrics
(individualist orientation) (group orientation)

Contentment More satisfied with current life Less satisfied with current
life

Health Less likely to avoid unhealthy More likely to avoid

Consciousness foods unhealthy foods

Food Preparation Spend less time preparing Love kitchen; spend more
food time preparing food

Workaholics More likely to work hard and Less likely to work hard
stay late at work

Travel and More interested in traveling to Visit library and read more
Entertainment other cultures

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Problems with Trait Theory
• Prediction of product choices using traits of
consumers is mixed at best
• Scales not valid/reliable
• Tests borrow scales used for mentally ill
• Inappropriate testing conditions
• Ad hoc instrument changes
• Use of global measures to predict specific
brand purchases
• “Shotgun approach” (no thought of scale
application)
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Brand Personality
• Brand personality: set of traits people
attribute to a product as if it were a person
• Brand equity: extent to which a consumer
holds strong, favorable, and unique
associations with a brand in memory—and
the extent to which s/he is willing to pay
more for the branded version of a product
than for a nonbranded (generic) version

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Table 6.2 Brand Behaviors and Possible
Personality Trait Inferences

Brand Action Trait Inference

Brand is repositioned several times or changes Flighty, schizophrenic
slogan repeatedly

Brand uses continuing character in advertising Familiar, comfortable

Brand charges high prices and uses exclusive Snobbish, sophisticated

distribution

Brand frequently available on deal Cheap, uncultured

Brand offers many line extensions Versatile, adaptable

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Lifestyles
• Lifestyle defines a pattern of consumption
reflecting a person’s choices of how one
spends time and money
• Lifestyle marketing perspective: people sort
themselves into groups on the basis of:
• What they like to do
• How they spend leisure time
• How they spend disposable income

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Colorado’s Lifestyle Marketing

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Lifestyles as Group Identities
• Forms of expressive symbolism
• Self-definition of group members = common
symbol system
• Terms include lifestyle, taste public,
consumer group, symbolic community,
status culture
• Each person provides a unique “twist” to
be an “individual”
• Tastes/preferences evolve over time

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Building Blocks of Lifestyles
• Product usage in desirable social settings
• Consumption style
• Patterns of behavior
• Co-branding strategies: brands team up
with other companies to promote their
products understand this
• Product complementarity: symbolic
meanings of different products relate to
one another
• Consumption constellations: define,
communicate, and perform social roles
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Figure 6.2 Consumption Style

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Discussion
• What consumption
constellation might
characterize you and
your friends today?

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Psychographics
• Psychographics: use of psychological,
sociological, and anthropological factors to:
• Determine market segments
• Determine reasons for choosing products
• Fine-tune offerings

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Best Buy Psychographic Segments
• “Jill”: busy suburban mom who buys
electronics for family
• “Buzz”: focused, active younger male
interested in buying latest gadgets
• “Ray”: family man who likes his technology
practical
• “BB4B (Best Buy for Business)”: small
employer
• “Barry”: affluent professional male who’ll
drop tens of thousands of dollars on a home
theater system
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Forms of Psychographic Analysis

Lifestyle profile

Product-specific profile

General lifestyle study

Product-specific study

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AIOs
• Grouping consumers according to:
• Activities
• Interests
• Opinions
• 80/20 Rule: lifestyle segments that produce
the bulk of customers
• Heavy users and the benefits they derive
from product

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Table 6.3 Lifestyle Dimensions
Activities Interests Opinions Demographics

Work Family Themselves Age

Hobbies Home Social issues Education

Social events Job Politics Income

Vacation Community Business Occupation

Entertainment Recreation Economics Family size

Club membership Fashion Education Dwelling

Community Food Products Geography

Shopping Media Future City size

Sports Achievements Culture Stage in life cycle

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Psychographic Segmentation Uses
• To define target market
• To create new view of market
• To position product
• To better communicate product attributes
• To develop product strategy
• To market social/political issues

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Figure 6.3 VALS2TM

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Discussion
• Construct separate advertising executions
for a cosmetics product targeted to the
Belonger, Achiever, Experiencer, and Maker
VALS types.
• How would the basic appeal differ for each
group?

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Global Psychographic Typologies
• Global MOSAIC identifies segments across
19 countries
• RISC measures lifestyles/sociocultural
change in 40+ countries
• Exploration/Stability
• Social/Individual
• Global/Local

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Discussion
• Extreme sports. Day trading. Blogging.
Vegetarianism. Can you predict what will be
“hot” in the near future?
• Identify a lifestyle trend that is just surfacing
in your universe.
• Describe this trend in detail, and justify your
prediction.
• What specific styles and/or products are part
of this trend?

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Geodemography
• Geodemography involves using data on
consumer expenditures and other
socioeconomic factors with geographic
information about the areas in which people
live to identify consumers who share
common consumption patterns
• “Birds of a feature flock together”
• Can be reached more economically (e.g.,
90277 zip code in Redondo Beach, CA)

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Discussion
• Geodemographic techniques assume that
people who live in the same neighborhood
have other things in common as well.
• Why do they make this assumption, and how
accurate is it?

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Food Cultures
• Food culture refers to patterns of food and
beverage consumption that reflects the
values of a social group
• Differences in international food cultures:
• In China, milk chocolate has less milk
• In United States, Campbell’s soup is saltier
than in Mexico
• In Germany, food must be healthier

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Figure 6.4 European Food Cultures

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PRIZM by Claritas, Inc.
• 66 clusters of U.S. zip codes
• Example: “Young Influential,” “Money and
Brains,” “Kids and Cul-de-Sacs”
• Ranked by income, home value, and
occupation
• Maximize effectiveness, cost-efficiency, and
impact of marketing communications

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Table 6.4 Comparison of PRIZM Clusters

Furs and Station Wagons Tobacco Roads

New money, parents in 40s and 50s Racially mixed farm town in South
Newly built subdivisions with tennis courts, Small downtowns with thrift shops, diners,
swimming pools, gardens and laundromats; shanty-type homes without
indoor plumbing

High Usage Low Usage High Usage Low Usage

Country clubs Motorcycles Travel by bus Knitting
Wine by the case Laxatives Asthma medicine Live theater
Lawn furniture Nonfilter cigarettes Malt liquors Smoke detectors
Gourmet magazine Chewing tobacco Grit magazine Ms. Magazine
BMW 5 Series Hunting magazine Pregnancy tests Ferraris
Rye bread Chevrolet Chevette Pontiac Bonneville Whole-wheat bread
Natural cold cereal Canned stews Shortening Mexican foods

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Behavioral Targeting
• Behavioral targeting refers to the serving of
customized ads (primarily online) based on
the prior activity on those sites by the target
• Data collected are anonymous but still
privacy proponents express concern

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Chapter Summary
• Consumer personality influences the way one
responds to marketing stimuli
• Lifestyles are an important aid to many marketing
strategies
• Psychographics go beyond simple demographics to
help marketers understand different consumer
segments
• Identifying patterns of consumption are valuable
components of a lifestyle marketing strategy

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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