benefit segmentation-a decision-oriented research tool[1]
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Benefit Segmentation:
A Decision-oriented
Research Tool
RUSSELL
I HALEY
According
to
this article,
most techniques of market
segmentation rely only
on
DES RIPTIVE
factors pertain
ing
to
purchasers and
are
not efficient predictors of
future buyer behavior . The
author proposes an ap
proach whereby market seg
ments
are
delineated first
on the basis of factors with
a
CAUSAL
relationship
to
future purchase behavior.
The belief underlying this
segmentation
strategy
is
that the
benefits which peo
ple are seeking in consuming
a given product are the
basic reasons for the exist
ence of true market seg
ments.
Journal of MaTketiflU
Vol. 32
(July.
1968). 'Pp. 30·35 ,
M
ARKET segmentation has been steadily moving toward
ce
nter
stage
as a topic of discussion in
marketing
and research
cir cles. Hard ly a conference passes
without
at least one session
devoted to Moreover, in March the American Management
Association held a three-day conference entirely concerned with
various aspects of the segmentation problem.
Accord ing to Wendell Smith, IlSegmenta t ion is based upon de
velopments
on
the demand s id e of the market and represents a
rational and more precise adjustment of product and marketing
effort
to
consumer
or
user requirements.'
The
idea
that
all
mar
kets can be profitably segmented has now received almost as wide
spread acceptance as the marketing concept itself. However, prob
lems remain. In the extreme, a marketer can divide up his market
in as many ways as he can describe his prospects. f he wishes,
he ca n define a l
eft-
handed segment, or a blue-eyed segment, or a
German-speaking segment. Consequently, current discussion re
vo lves la
rg
ely around which of the virtually limitless alternatives
is likely to be most product ive .
Segmen lat;otl Methods
Several varieties of market segmentation have been popular in
the recent past. At least
three
kinds have achieved some degree
of prominence. Historica lly, perhaps the
fU st
type to exi
st
was
geographi c segmentation. Small manufactu rers who wished to
limit their investments, or whose distr ibution channels were not
large enough to cover
the
entire country, segmented the U. S.
market, in effect, by selling their products
on
ly in certain areas.
However, as more and more
brands
became national, the sec
ond major system of segmentat ion--ciemographic
segmentation-be
came popul
ar
. Under
this
philosophy targets were defined as
younger peopl
e,
men, or fam ilies with children. Unfortunately, a
number
of recent
stu
dies have shown
that
demographic variables
such as age, sex, income, occupation and race are, in general,
POOl'
predictors of
be
havior and, consequently, less than optim
um
bases
for segmentation strategies.
2
1
Wendell
R.
Smit
h ,
Product
Differentiation
a nd
Market Segmentation
as Alternative Product Strateg
ie
s, J OURNA.L OF MARKETING,
Vol.
XXI
(J u ly, 1956), pp. 3-8.
2
R
ona ld
E. Frank,
HCorrelates of Buyi
ng
Behavior
for Grocery
Prod
ucts,
JOURN
AL OF
MARKETING
,
Vo
l.
31 (Octobe r,
1967),
pp. 48-53; Ron
ald E. Frank, William Ma
ssy, a nd
Harper
W. Boyd, Jr .,
Cor
rela
tes
of Grocery
Product
Consumption
Rates,
Journal of Marketing
R e
sea.rch
Vol. 4
(May, 1967),
pp.
184-1
90; and Clark
Wil son, Home_
maker
Living Patterns and
M
arketplace Behavior-A Psychometric
Approac
h , in John S . Wright and Jac L.
Goldstucker,
Editors, New
Ideas
for
Succe88ful Marketing
P roceedings
of
1966 Wol'ld Consrrcss
(Chicago:
American
Marketing
Association,
June, 1966), pp. 305-331.
30·
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Benefit
Segmell
tation A Decis i
on oriented
Research Tool 31
More recently, a third
type
of
segmentation has
come into
increasing favor-volume seg
m
en t
ation.
The so-called '4heavy ha
lf
theory, popularized
by
Dik Twedt o[ t he Oscar Mayer Co mpany, points
out that in most
product
categories one-half of the
consumers account
for
around 80
q. of the consump
t ion. f
this
is
true,
the argument goes, shou ldn 't
knnwledgcable murketc)'s concent r
ate
their eft
olts
on the.se high-volume
consumers
Certa inly they
are the most valuable consu mers .
The
trouble
with thi
s line of reason
ing
is
that
n
ot
a
ll
heavy
consumers
il
re
llsually avai lab le to the
same
brand-because
they a re not all
seeking
the same
kinds of benefits from a product. F or example,
heavy coff ee drinkers
cO
::;ist of two types of
COIl
sumers-
those
who d r ink chai n
sto
re
brands
and
t hose who
dr
ink premium brands. The chai n store
custo mers feel that all co ffees
ar
e basically alike and.
because they drink .so much coffee, t hey fee l
it
is
sensible to buy
a
relcltively inex])ensive
brand. The
prernium orand buyers, all
the
othe r hal1 1. feel
that
the
few added pennies which coffees like
YubHI1.
Martinson's,
Chock Full O'Nuts, and Savarin cost
are more
than justi
fi ed
by
their fulle)'
taste.
Obvi
ously, these two g roups of people,
although they
are
both members of the heavy half
segment.
a re not
equally good prospects for anyone brand, nor can
they be expected to respond to the
same
advert i
sing
cla ims.
These three
systems
of segmentati on have 'been
lIsed because
they
provide helpful
guidance
in t he
use of certain marketing tools.
For
example, geo
gnlphic segmentat ion . because it describes the mar -
ket in a discrete way, provides definite direction in
media p
ur
chases. SI
)Qt
TV.
spot
radio,
Clnd
news
papers CHn
be bought for the geographical
seg
ment
se lected fo), concentrated e
ff
o
rt
. S imil
ar
ly. demo
graphi c segmentation allows media to be bought
more efJicient ly since demog raphic data on readers,
viewers, and
listeners ar
e readily
ava
ilable fo) mo
st
media veh icles. Also. in some
product
categori es
demographic
var
iab les
are ext
remely helpful in dif
ferentiating
users
fro
m non-users, although they are
t y p i C ~ l l l v
l
ess
helpful in di
st i
nguishing between the
usel's
of
va r i
ous
b
rand
s. The philoso
phy is especia
ll
y effect ive in
directing
dollars w ~ l r d
the most important parts of the
mark
et .
However, each
of
these
three syste
ms
of
segme
n
tation is handicapped by
an
underlying dis
advantage
inh erent in its nature.
All
are b ~ l s e d on an ex-post
facto anHiysis of the
kinds
of people who make up
var ious segment s of a nUlI·ket. They rely on de-
1c
riptiv
factors
rather than cawml
factors.
For
this reason t hey are n
ot
effic ient
pr
edictors of future
:J
Oik
Wurr
en 'fw edt,
So
me
Practic
al Applications
of
the 'H eavy
Half
' Th eor
y
(New
York:
Ad
vert
ising
Research Foundation 10 th Annual Conference, Oc-
tobe,' 6, 1964).
buying behHvior,
and
it is future buying be
ha
vior
~ l t
is of
centra
l inte r
est
to
marketers.
Benefit Segmentation
An approach to
mnrket segmentation
whereby it
is possible to identify market segments by c;Hlsal
factol's J'Hthel' than descriptive factors, might be
ca
ll
ed benefit segment ation. Th e belief under
lying
this
segmentation strategy is that the bene
fits which people Hre seek in g in consuming a given
product Hre the basic reHSOIH:\ for the existence of
true market segment s. Experience
with
this ap
pr oach
has show
n
that
benefits sought by
consumers
determine their behavior
much
more
accllrately
than do demographic charncteristics or volume of
con
sumption.
This does not mean that the ki nds of dabl
ga t
hered in
mOre
traditional types of
segmenta
ti on
are not useful. Once people ha ve been class
ifi
ed
into segments in accordullce with the benefits they
are see
king.
each segment is
cont
r
asted
with all of
t he
ot
her
segments
in
terms
of it
s
demography, its
vo lume of consumption,
its
brand perceptions,
itt:;
me
dia habit
s, its personality and li fe-style, and so
forth. In th is way. a reasonab ly deep understanding
of t he people who make up eHch segment can be
obta ined.
And by
cap itali
zing on
t hi s undel'sbllld
ing,
it
is possible to reach them, to talk to them in
their OW11
terms,
and to present a product in the
most favo
.
able ligh t possible.
The
benefit segment ation
approach
is not n
ew
.
1t
has been employed by a number of Ame rica's largest
co
rp
orati ons s in
ce
it was introduced in ]961. How
eve r, case hi tori es have been notably absent
from
the Iitel'ature
because m
ost studies
have been con
tl'acted for
privately. and have
been treated
confiden
tially.
.\ RU$seli
1.
Haley, HExperimental Research on Atti
tudes Towu rd Shampoos, an unpublished papel (Feb
ruary,
1
96t).
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Russe ll
I.
Hal ey is Vice Pr esi
dent
and Corporate
Research Director
of
D'Arcy Advertis
ing
in
New York City. Prior
to hi
s cur
rent position he was Vice Preside nt
and
Associate Director
of
the Marketing a nd
Research
Department
at
Grey
Adv e rtis
ing. While there. he developed
new
methods for measuri
ng attitudes
. a
unique way
of segmenting
markets by
attitude patterns
.
and
improved
methods
of conducting
large-sca le market tests. Mr. Haley received
hi
s
M.B.A. from Columbia
in
marketing and statistics.
Mr.
Haley
is a
past
president
of
the Cleveland Chapter of
the
American Statistical Associ ation. He
is
a member of the
American Market ing Association . the Americdn Associdt ion for
Public Opinion Research. dnd the Executive Committee
of
the
Copy
Research Council. Mr. Haley
is
currently
Chairm
a n
of
an
A.R.F.
CommiHee dealing
with attitude measurement
and
teaching at
Rutger
s University.
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32
Th
e bene
fi
t segmentn
ti
on a
ppr
oach is based upon
being able to meas
ur
e
co
nsumer va
lu
e sy
te rn
s in
deta il ,
t ogethel
wi th what th e consumer thinks
ab
out
various b
ra
nds
in
th e prod u
ct
category
of
interest.
While thi s concept seems s imple enough, oper
at
ion
a
ll
y
i t
is very
co
mplex.
Th
ere is no s imple s
traigh
t
fo
rw
ard way of handling th e volumes
of
da
ta
that
have
to
be
ge
nerated.
Co
mpu ters and sophi s
ti
cated
multivari ate att itude m
eas
urement techniques are a
necessit y.
Seve
ra
l al tern
at
ive stati sti cal a
ppr
oaches can be
employed , among th em t he so-ca
ll
ed Q technique
of
f actor
an
a lys is, multi-d imensional scaling, and
other distance measures. ) All of
th
ese methods
re
late
th
e
ra
t in gs of each respo
nd
e
nt
to t hose of every
oth er respondent and t hen seek clusters
of
individ
uals wit h sirni)nr
ra
t ing pat terns. f the items
rn ted are potenti a l consumer benefi ts, the clu sters
that
emerg
e will be groups
of
people who a
tt a
ch
simila r d
eg
l'ees
of
imp
OI
ta nce
to
th e various benefits ,
Whatever
th
e
stati
st ical
ap
proach selected, t he end
res
ul
t of t he ana
ly
s is is likely to
e
between t hree
and seven
co
nsume
I
segme
nt
s, each re
pr
esent ing
a
pote
nti
a
ll
y
pr
odu
ct
ive foca l point fo r
mark
e
ting
effo
rt
s.
Ea
ch segment is identified by t he benefi ts it is
see
king
, However , it
is th
e total con
fi
lt·
utio
n of
th
e benefits
soug
ht which differ
en t
i
ates
one se
gment
from ano
th
er,
ra
ther
th
an t he
fact
that one
is seekin g one
parti
cu la r benefit and anoth er a
quit
e
different benefi t.
Indiv
idual benefits are likely to
have appea l for severa l segme
nt s. In
f act .
th
e re
se
ar
ch
th
at h
as
been done thus far suggests t
hat
most peo ple would
like as
many benefits
as
poss ible.
However ,
the
e
lative
impo
rt
ance
th
ey at tach to
in
dividual benefits can differ impOl·ta nt ly and, accord
ingly, can be used
as
an effecti ve lever in seg ment
ing ma
rkets.
Of co
ur
se, it is possible
to
determine benefit seg
ments intui t ive ly as
well as
with compute rs and
sophis
ti
cated research meth ods. The kinds
of
bril
liant ins ig
ht
s which pl'oduced t he
Mu st lmg
a
nd
th e
fir
st
IOO-millimeter cigarette have a good chan ce
of
succeeding whenever
mark
et ers a re able to
tap
an exis
tin
g benefit
se
gme
nt
.
However, in
tu
iti on can be very expensive when it
is
mi s
ta k
en. Ma
rk
e
ti n
g
hi
story
is repl
ete
with
e
x
amples of
pr
odu
cts
whi ch som
eo
ne fe
lt
co
uld not
miss. Ov er
th
e longer te
rm
, system
at
ic benefi t seg
men
ta ti
on research is likely to have a higher
pr
o
po
rt i
on of su
cc
esses.
But is benefit segme
nt
a tion
pract
ical ? And is it
t
ru l
y operat ional ?
he
answer
to
b
ot
h of
th
ese
qu
es t
ions is
yes
.
In
effect, th e crux of
th
e prob-
R
ona
ld
E. Fran
k a nd
Paul
E . Gr
ee
n,
Nu m
eri cal
Taxonomy in Marketing Anal ys is: A Review At·ti cle.
Journal of Marketing Research Vol. V ( F
eb ruar
y,
1968), pp. 83-98.
-
Jo
urnal
of M arket;IIg J
uly
1968
te
rn
of choos
ing
t he best
se
gment
at i
on
syste
m is to
dete
rm
ine which h
as th
e g reatest number
of pr
ac
tical
marketing
implic
at i
ons. An example should
show tha
t benefit
segmenta
t ion h
as a
much wider
ra
ng
e of implica
ti
ons
th
an alte rnat ive fO
m
s
of
segme
nta
t ion.
A n Examp le of Benefit Segm entation
While
th
e
mat
eria l
pr
esen
te
d here is
pur
ely illus
trative to
pr
otect
th
e compet it
iv
e edge of companies
who have invested in stud ies of thi s kind,
it
is based
on
ac
tu
a l
seg
men
ta t
ion st udies.
Co
nsequ ently.
it
is
quit
e ty
pi
cal
of th
e kinds
of
t
hing
s which a re nor
mally lea rned in the
co urse
of a benefi t se
gm
en
ta
tion s
tud
y.
Th
e too
thpa
ste market h
as
been chosen
as
a n ex
ample because it is one wit h which everyone is
familial'.
Let
us
ass
ume
th
at
a
benefit segme
nt
a
ti
on
s
tud
y has been done Hnd
'fOUl'
major segme
nt
s have
been id entified
--o
ne pa
rt i
cularly
co
ncerned w
ith
de
cay
pr
eventi on, one with bri g
htn
ess of
teet
h. one
w
ith
t he
fl
avor and appea ran ce of t he prod u
ct
, and
one
with pri
ce. rela
ti
ve
ly la
rg
e amount of sup
pleme
nt
a ry
inf
ormat ion has a lso been gather
ed
(Table 1)
ab
o
ut
t he people in each of these segments.
The decay
pr
eventi on
se
gment . it h
as
been found,
co
ntain
s
a
dis
pr
opo
rt
io
nat
ely large number
of
fam
ilies with childl'en.
Th
ey are seriollsly
co
nce
rn
ed
about th e poss ibi lity of cavit ies and show a de fin
ite
prefe rence for fl uo ride too thp
as
te.
Thi
s is re
in
forced by their
pe
rsona lities. Th
ey
tend to be a
little hyp
oc
hondr iacal and, in t heir
li
fe-styles, t hey
are less socially-oriented than some
of
t he
ot
h
er
groups.
Thi
s segment has been named The Wo
rr i
ers.
Th
e second se
gm
ent.
co
mprised
of
p
eo pl
e who show
co
ncern for
th
e bri g
htn
ess
of
the
ir teet
h, is quite
different . t includes
a
relat ively l
arge gr
oup
of
yo
ung
ma
rr i
eds.
Th
ey smoke more
th
an ave rage.
Thi
s is where
th
e swin gers are. They are strongly
social and their life-style pat te rn s are ve ry active.
This is
pr
obably th e grou p to which too thp
as
tes such
as Macle
an
s or
Pl
us
Whit
e
or
U
lt r
a Brite would
appea
l. Th
is segment has been
nam
ed
Th
e Soci
ab
les.
In th e
third
segment, t he one which is par t icular ly
concerned wit h
th
e fla vo r and appea
ra
nce
of
the
pr
o
du
ct. a
larg
e port ion
of
th e bra
nd
deciders ar e
c
hildr
e
n.
The
ir
use
of
spe
arm
i
nt
t
oo
th
paste
is we
ll
above average. Stri pe h
as
done rel
at
ively well
in
this segment. Th ey a re more ego-cente red than
other segment
s,
and t heir
li f
e-style
is
outgo
ing
but
n
ot
to the extent
of
th e swin
ge
r s. They will be
called The
Se
nsory Segment .
The fourt h segment, t he price-ori en
te
d
seg
ment ,
shows a
pr
edominance of men.
t
t ends to be
ab
ove
ave
rage
in
te
rm
s of toothp
aste
usage. P
eo pl
e in
t
hi s segment see very few meanin
gf
ul differences be
tw
een brands. They
sw
itch mo re fr equently than
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•
•
Be e/it Segmentation:
D e c ; s j o u ~ o r j e 1 J l e d Research Tool
33
TABLE
T
OOT HPA
STE
MAR
KET
SEGMENT DE
SCRIPTION
Sel1ment: Name : The Sensor
Se
ment:
Principa l bene
f i t so
ugh t:: Fl
avor
,
product appearance
Demograph:1c s t
rength
s :
Child r en
Special behavio
r a l Users
of
spearmint
ch a r ac te r i s t ic s : flavored toothpas te
Brands
disproport ionate l y Co l gate ,
Str ipe
favored:
Personality
cha
ra
cter i s t i cs : High self-involvement
Life s tyle ch a ra c te r i s t i cs : Hedonistic
people
in
other seg ments and tend to
bu
y a brand
on sale. In terms of personality, they are cognitive
and they
are
independent. They like to
think
for
th
emselves a nd make brand choices on
th
e basis of
their judgment. 'fhey will be ca lled The Independ
e
nt
Segment .
Marketing Implicatio ns of
Benefit Segm
entat
ion
Studies
Both copy di rections and medi.a choices will show
shurp differen ces depe
nding
upon which of these
seg ments is chosen as the ta rge t The Worr i ers , The
Sociab les, The Sensory Segment, or The Independent
Segment. F or example,
th
e tonality of the copy
will be light if The Sociable Segment or The Sen
sory
Segment
is to be addressed.
t
will be more
serious if the co py is aimed at The Worriers. And
i f
The Independent Segment is sel
ec
ted , it will prob
ab ly be desirable
to
use rational, two-s ided argu
ments. Of course, to talk to this group
at
a ll it
will be necessa ry to have either a pl'i
ce
edge or
some kind of demonstrable product superi ori ty.
Th
e depth-of-sell reflected by the copy will a lso
vary, depending upon
th
e segment which is of in
terest It will be fairly
in
tensive for The Worri er
Segment and for The Independe
nt
Segment, but
mu
ch m
ore
su perficial and
mo
od- ol'iented for The
Sociable and
Sensory
Segments.
Likewise, t he
set
ting
will
vary
.
t
will
focus on
t he produ
ct
for The Sen
so
ry Group, on socially
oriented s
ituati
ons for The Sociable Grou p, and
perhaps on demon
st
ration or on competitive CODl-
pn 'i so ns for
The
rndependent
Gr
oup.
Media environments will also be tailo red to the
segments chosen as targets. Those with seri ous en
vii'onments
will
be used for
Th
e Worrier and
Inde
pendent Segments, and th ose with youthful, modern
and active environments for The Sociable and the
Sensory
Groups. For example, it might be logical
to
use a larger
pJ op
ortion of television for The So-
The
In d
ependent
The Socisbles The Worriers SeO'ment
Brightness of teeth Decay prevention Pr ice
Teens young
people
Large families Hen
Smoke
rs
Heavy
users
Heavy users
Hacleans
Plus White , Crest
B r a n ~
on sa le
Ul t r a Bri te
High sociabiHty
High hypocho
n-
H gh
dr i a s i s autonomy
Active
Conservative
Value-oriented
ciable and
Sensory
Groups, while The o o
rr i
ers and
fndependents
might
have heavier print schedules.
The depth-of-sell needed
will
also be reflected in
the media choices. For The Worr ier and Rat ional
Segments longer co mmerCial
perhap
s 60-second
commercial would be indicated, while for the
other two
groups
shorter commercials and higher
fr
equency wou
ld
be desirable.
Of co urse, in med ia selec tion the facts
that
have
been gathered about the demographic characteris
tics of
th
e segment chosen as the tnt'get would also
be taken into
co
nsider ati on.
The information in Table 1 also has pack
ag
ing
implica tions. For example, it might be appropriate
to have
co
lo
rful
P < ~ c k a g e s
for The
Sensory Segment,
perhaps
aqua
to
indicate fluoride ) for The Wor
rier
Gr
ou p, and gleaming white for The Sociable
Segment because of th eir interest
in
bright white
teeth.
t should be readily apparent that the kinds of
in formation normally obtained in t he cou rse of a
benefit seg menta t ion st udy have a wide
rang
e of
marketing
implications. Sometimes they are use
ful n suggesting phYSical changes in a
pr
oduct.
For example, one ma
nufa
c
tu r
er discovered that hi s
product was
weLl
su ited
to th
e needs of his chosen
target with a single exception in
th
e area of
fl
avor.
He was able
to
make a relatively inexpensive modi
fication in his product and thereby
stre
ngthen his
market
positi on.
Th
e new
pr
oduct impli
cat
ions of benefit
m e n ~
tation studies a re equally apparent. Once a m a r ~
keter
understand
s
the
kinds of segments
that
e
xi
st
in hi s ma rket, he is often able to see new pl'oduct
oPPOl'tunities or particularly effective ways of posi
tioning the products emergi
ng
f r
om
hi s resea rch and
development operati o
n.
Similarly, benefit segmentation information has
been found helpful in
pr
ov iding direction in the
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34
choice
of
compatible
point-oi-purchase materials
and
in
the
selection
of the
kinds
of
sales promotions
which
are
most likely to be effective
for
any given
ma ket target.
Ge n
er a
liz
ations
from
Benefit
Seg
mentation St udi
es
A numbel' of generalizations
are
possib le on
the
basis of the major
benefit segmentntion
studies
which have been conducted
thus far. For
example,
the following general rules of thumb have become
apparent:
•
t
jg
easier
to ulke
advantage of market
seg
ments
that
already
exist than
to
attempt to
cr
eate
new ones. Some
time
ago
the strategy
of product
cUlfel'entiation
was heavily empha
sized in
marketing
textbooks.
Under th
is phi
losophy it was believed that a
manufacturer
was mure
or
less able
to create
new
market
segments
at
will by mnking his
product
some
what
different
from those of his
compet
it
ors.
Now i t is generally recognized
that
fewe)' cost
ly e lT
ors
will be made
if
money is first in vested
in consumer research aimed
at determ
i
ning
the
present
contours
of
the
market,
Once
this
knowledge is available, it is usually most
effi-
cient
to tnilor
marketing strategies to exist
ing
consumer-need
patterns.
• No brand can expect
to
appeal to all consumers.
The
very
act
of
attract
i
ng
one segment may
automaticall
y a
li
enate others. A corollary
to
this
principle is that any
marketer
who wishes
to
cover a
market
fully
must
oife
l
consumers
more
than
a single brand.
The
flood oJ new
br
ands
which have r
ece
ntly appeared on
the
market is concrete recognition
of this
principle.
• A company's
brands
can sometimes canniba
li
ze
each
other but
need
not
necessarily do so. t
depends on whether
01'
not they al'e positioned
against
the
same
segment of
the market, Ivory
Snow sharply reduced Ivory
Flakes'
sha re
of
market,
Hnd
the Ford
Falcon
cut
deeply into
the sales
of
the standard size
Ford
becnuse, in
each case,
the
pl'oducts we re competing in the
same segments.
Later
on,
for
t he same
com-
panies.
the Mustang
was successfully
intr
oduced
wi
th compamt
ively little
damage
to
Ford;
and
the
success of
Crest
did
not
have a dispropor
tionately adverse effect on Gleem's market
posi
tion
because, in these
CHses,
the
segments to
which the products appea led were different.
• New and old products alike should
be
designed
to fit
exactly the
needs
of
some
segment of the
market.
In other
words, they should be aimed
at
people seeki
ng
a speCific combination
of
bene
fits. t is a marketing
truism that
you se
ll
people one
at
a
t ime-that
you have
to
get
8 fHneOne
to
buy
your
product before you
get
loltr ,,[ of MarketillK
llt[
y 1968
nyone
to buy it, A s
ubstantial group
of peo
ple
must
be
interested
in your spec
ifi
c
set of
benefits before yOll can make progress in a
market. Yet, many products
attempt
to aim
at
two
01'
more segments Simultaneously. As
a result,
they are
not able to maximize
their
appeal to any segme
nt
of
the
mal'ket. and t h
ey
run the
ri sk
of ending
up
with
a dangeroLisly
fuzzy brand image.
•
Marketers
who
adopt
a benefit segmentation
strategy have a
distinct
compet it ive edge. f
a benefit se
gment
can be located wh ich
i5
seek-
ing
exactly
the
kinds
of satisfactions
that one
marketer's brand can offer
better than
any
other
b
rand
, the rnarketel can almost cer
tainly
dominate
the
purchases
of
that
segment.
Fur
the
rmore,
if
his competit
ors are
looking
nt the
market
in
terms of
tl'aditiollHI types of seg
ments. they may not even be
aware of the
exist
ence
of
the
benefit
segment
which he has chosen
as
his
market target
. f they
are ignorant
in
this sense, they will be at a loss to expla in
the
success
of
his brand. And it
naturally
follows
that if
they do not
understand
the
reasons
fa,
his Sll ccess,
the
kinds
of
people buying his
brand. and the
be
nefits they
are obtaining
from
it, his competitors wi ll find it
very
diflicult to
successfully
attack
the
marketer's
position.
• An
understanding
of the
benefit segments which
exist within
a
market
can be used to advantage
when competitors introduce new products. Once
the
way in which consumers
<lre
pOSitio
ning
t he new
product
has been determined,
the
like
lihood that it will make
major in r
oads into
segments
of interest
can
be
assessed, and a de
cision can
be
made
011
whether 01'
not counter
actions
of any
kind
are
required.
f
the new
product appears
to be assuming an amb iguous
pOSition, no money need be invested in defensive
measures. However, i f i t appeal's
that the
new
product is ideally
suited to the
needs of an
important segment
of
the
market. the m n u f ~ c -
ture l
in question can introduce a new com
petitive product
of
his own, modify
the
physical
properties
of existing
brands, change his adver
tising
st
ra t
egy ,
or take whatever steps
appear
appropriate.
Types
of
Seg
ments Uuco1lered Through
Bene
fit Seg
metJlatiOtI S
tudi
s
t is diflieult
to
generalize about the types of
segments
,\Chich
are
apt
to be discovered
in
the
co
urse of
a benefit
segmentat
ion
study.
To a large
extent,
the segments
which have been found have
been unique to
the
product categories being ana
lyzed. However, a few types of
segments
have
appeared in two
0
1 more
private
studies. Among
them
are the
following:
.
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Benefit Segm en tation A Decision-oriented Research Tool 35
The Status Seeker
The Swinger
The Conservative
The
Rational Man
The Inner
directed Man
a group which is ve ry
much concerned w
ith
the
pre s
tig
e of
the
brands
purchased.
a group which
tries
to
be mode
rn and up
to
date in all of its activi
ties.
Brand
choices re
flect
thi
s
orientat
ion.
. a
group which prefers to
stick to large successful
companies and popular
brands.
. a group which looks
for
benefits such as econo
my, value, durability,
etc.
a
group
which is espe
cially concerned with
self-concept. Mern bel's
consider themselves to
have a sense of hum or,
to be
independent
and /
or honest.
or, for that matter,
any of
them exist in any given
product category. Finding out whether they do and,
if so, what should be done
about them
is the pur
pose
of
benefit
segmentation
research.
Co nclu
sion
The
Hedonist a
group
which is con
cerned primarily with
sensory benefits.
The
benefit segmen
tation
approach is
of particu
lar
interest
because
it
never fai Is to
pr
ovide
fresh
in
sig
ht into
markets.
As was indicated in
the
tooth
paste example cited earUer,
the marketing
implica
tions of this analytical resear
ch tool
are
Limi ted
only by
the imagination
of
the
person
using the
inf
o
rmati
on a segmentation study provides.
In
effect, when segmentation studies
are
conducted, a
number
of smaller markets
emerge instead
of
one
large
one. Moreover, each
of these
smaller
markets
can be subjected to
the
same kinds
of thorough
analyses
to
which total m
arkets
have been subjected
in
the
past.
The
only difference--a cr ucial
on
is
that
th
e total
market
was a heterogeneous conglom-
eration of sub-groups. The so-called
average
con
sumer
existed only in
the
minds
of
some marketing
people. When benefit
segmentat
ion
is
used, a num
ber
of
relatively homogeneous segments
are
uncov
ered. And. because they are homogeneous, descrip
tio ns of them in
terms
of averages are much more
appropriate
and
meaningful as marketing
gu id es.
Some
of
these segments
appear
among
the
cus
tomers of almost all products and
se
rvi ces. How
ever,
there
is no
guarantee
that a
majority of
them
-------------MARKETING
MEMO---- - - - - - -
-
A difference between managers and scientists
basic controversy revolves around
th
e question of problem vs . technique orienta·
on. In the extreme, managers are interes t
ed
in problem solving regal'dl eS5 of tech
nique,
and
scientjsls are interested in sophisticat ion of method regardless of app
li
ca·
bility.
Yet the quest ion of
pure
vs app
li
ed research is really one of degree rather
than kind, and th ese designati ons are rea lly related to long- and shor t-term con
si_era
ti
ons. However, overemphasis
on
pure resea.rch and technique developmenl
ralher than problem solving has resulted in low yield fr om inv
es
tm en ls
in
mpnage
menl science. The percentage of recommendations that eventually affect operations
has been mise rably low.
- James E Rosenzweig, Managers and
Management Scientists (Two Cui·
hIres) , Business Horizons Vol. 10
(fall, 1967
), pp
79.86, at pages 79,
and 80.