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Targeted marketing vs. mass marketing is a critical concept for you to understand. Take a few minutes to review this video that demonstrates the strength of target marketing in terms of reaching the right customers with the right message in the right media. If you have a dog, you might find yourself in one of these segments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=25&v=ecGFT-l1zVc

If you have a market that is large and homogenous, then you can be a mass marketer. One example might be salt, basically one product for anyone who wants it for the need to season food, which is a universal need.

Can you think of a mass-marketed product? What is it and why do you think it is mass marketed?

Required: Share your choice of a mass-marketed product with us in the Week 4 Discussion Forum, Topic 1: Mass-Marketed Products. You might want to comment on classmates' posts with your opinion as to whether they have selected a mass-marketed product, and if not, why you think their choice is actually a segmented market.

The topic of segmentation always brings up the highly controversial subject of consumer privacy. Check out this video created by the American Civil Liberties Union in an effort to warn consumers about the information being collected about them.

https://youtu.be/OnuH-yO0BJE

Do you think the video is far-fetched? Or do you think consumers should be alarmed? In your opinion, do the potential benefits of these databases exceed the potential downside?

4.2 How Markets are Segmented

Segmenting markets is difficult and often requires marketing research to find out how consumers think, behave, and basic information such as age, gender, etc. Therefore, defining market segments is aided with the generic segmentation bases, behaviors, demographics, geographics, and psychographics. Be sure to understand this as it is discussed in the Week 4 readings. Also understand that these are generic categories, not segments themselves. Within each of the generic bases are a number of variables from which marketers can choose which ones are relevant for a usable market segment.

All of a company's marketing mix should focus on the market segment, now called a target market. In other words, the offering should be what the target market wants, where it wants it, how much it wants to pay for it, and how the company communicates with the target market. If done right, we can usually determine the characteristics of a target market by analyzing the advertising.

Your job in this learning activity is to find an ad, print or TV, and tell us who you think is the target market. The hints are in the type of music used, the spokesperson's persona, the approach to the marketing communications message, the types of people used in the ad, the words chosen for the ad, etc. All this should tell you to whom the marketing communications is intended to influence.

Here's a link to the top ads for 2013–2014 as chosen by Ad Week, the industry trade publication.

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/worlds-26-best-commercials-2013-14-158533

First thing you'll notice is that most of them are foreign, most of them tell a story, and most of them don't even mention the advertiser until the end. You can choose your print or broadcast ad from one of these. Or, search youtube.com for your favorite commercial.

If you find your own ad to analyze, be sure to embed or link it when you post it to the Discussion Forum. Then identify at least three of the characteristics you think comprise the target market. Make your choices using Table 4.1 from the main text as your framework. But, don't merely say demographic/age. Tell us what age, or psychographic/values. Specifically note the value such as family or thrifty.