Live from the Donnelley Privacy Forum: From Sitcom to Defcom

Get ready to tap into the hottest new demographic segment.

Trophy wives.

Yes. There are many of them, and they have money, said Paul Wang, an associate professor at Northwestern University.

“They’re good for nonprofit offers,” Wang added, speaking at the Donnelley Information Privacy Forum. “And if you sell Viagara, the husband is a prime target audience.”

Of course, that was Wang’s way of illustrating the point that marketers should find hidden segments before their competitors do. And, if nothing else, it provided comic relief from a debate between one-to-one guru Martha Rogers and Bob Nascenzi, the CEO of Claritas, over the substance of her core philosophy.

Nascenzi argued that group segmentation is highly effective, and that people cannot be individually targeted for most products, especially at the acquisition stage.

“I think of segment as the “S” word,” answered Rogers. “So many customers can fall into more than one segment, including trophy wives. You can address them in multiple ways they’re aware of and we’re not. It’s important to see how they’re alike, but even more important to show how they’re different.”

That developed into a debate about how the segments have changed. Nascenzi noted that he had moved from being a Sitcom (single income and outrageous mortgage) to a Defcom (Dueling earnings, four kids, outrageous mortgage). Many old Claritas segments have simply disappeared, he said.

No group has changed more than so-called mature consumers.

“Baby boomers, who redefined every concept are going to redefine the mature customer as well,” said Ellen Farley, director of consumer data for Donnelley Marketing.

“What do you think most important variables are for this older population?” Rogers asked. “Health? Level of education and exposure to other experiences?”

“Health, like money, is important if you don’t have it, but not ultimate definer,” Farley said. Most boomers foresee no change in the level of their activities as they are in their ’70’s or even their ’80’s, she added.

Wang chimed in that “the trophy wife tends to love her husband tremendously. This is a very important fact.” Then he got serious, saying that smart marketers look for variables with the greatest variance.

Back to the mature consumer. In a recent survey, 70% expressed “strong dissatisfaction with seeing vastly younger people being represented in promotions,” said Farley.

That prompted an audience member, age 65, to complain that most marketing to his generation is “downright insulting.”

For example, “a woman will say, ‘I just turned 65. Invariably, they’ve chosen a 75 year-old actor with gray hair,” he said. “Or, if it’s a medicine commercial, they show doddering old fools who must be told by their kids which medicine to take.”

That may be because industry economics now dictate that young people write the creative, said John McManus, editorial director of American Demographics magazine.

“Do we have people who can resonate with those issues?” he asked.

Rogers concluded by assailing the way one-to-one is practiced in some cases