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The phenomenon of simultaneous target marketing in contemporary society Jamuel Enriquez

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The phenomenon of simultaneous target marketing in contemporary society


In the paper ‘’The Bonding of the Media’ by William Leiss, Stephen Kline and Sut

Jhally one the progression of advertising in the last twentieth century was outlined

in four phases. These four phases are: the ‘Product-oriented approach’, ‘Product

Symbols’, ‘Personalization’ and ‘Market Segmentation’ (Leiss et al., 1997). This essay

will focus on the development of ‘Simultaneous target marketing’. This concept

builds on market segmentation to the point where it discusses that markets targeted

by firms are becoming more specified because of increased competition.

Furthermore, as these markets become more specified, they are inevitably smaller

and so it becomes more profitable to target small market clusters simultaneously.

Market segmentation is a research tool to prepare producers with a found strategic

way to promote their product. In this stage, advertising is part of the marketing mix

under promotion. Academically, marketing is seen as a complete process, not only in

place to inform the customer but is in place to understand and anticipate their

needs. Thus advertising is a tool in marketing to help promote a firm’s brand and

their ability to meet their customers’ needs. This essay will give a complete overview

on simultaneous target marketing, especially with its relationship to market


segmentation. It will focus on answering what the development from market

segmentation to simultaneous target marketing, who uses it, how it is used and

what its relevance to advertising is.

To begin, one must identify the definition of market segmentation. Schiffman

et al. identify that market segmentation can be described as the process of dividing

the market into distinct, smaller groups of customers who share the same

needs/values (Schiffman et. al, 2008). The importance of this is that if firms adopt

market segmentation, they wisely accept the notion that all consumers are different.

One example of this market segmentation can be found online at the Nike Soccer

website, particularly in their range of soccer boots on offer (Nike, 2010). Nike’s

recently released line of soccer boots advertises four new, different types of soccer

boots for four different types of soccer players (Appendix, Figure 1). These boots

include the Mercurial (for players looking for speed), the Tiempo (for players looking

for better touch), the CTR360 (for players looking for better control) and the T90 (for

players looking for better accuracy). This is a good example of market segmentation

as Nike can be seen as targeting four distinct groups of football players (customers).

On the basis of the product, Nike’s most generic offering can be seen plainly as just a

soccer boot. However, upon segmenting their market, Nike has differentiated to


meet more specific needs of customers adding benefits to their product. In this

case, Nike sees that football players may also be segmented based on their current

or aspired playing style. This example shows marketing segmentation as meeting a

more specified need of a customer. This is example clearly shows Nike using

‘simultaneous target marketing’. As Nike specifies the target market for its products,

they furthermore pursue four target markets at the same time. This shows how

simultaneous target marketing has progressed from traditional marketing methods.

Target marketing moves further than just attempting to satisfy the most basic need

of a consumer, but meets a more specific need as opposed to generic mass

marketing.

Simultaneous target marketing builds on meeting consumer needs more than

just segmenting the market and is indeed a progression of mass marketing,

epitomising the progression of advertising. As Leiss et al have identified, market

segmentation is the latest stage of advertising and has developed from mass

marketing (Leiss et al., 1997). The idea of market segmentation is needed in

simultaneous target marketing, in order to first broadly define a market quality, then

specifying multiple markets in that segment. Though market segmentation still

aggregates customers in order to tap into a profitable group of consumers, it


involves the pursuit of meeting the basic need of a market in order to understand

their customers better. Marketers can meet their customers’ needs better through

product differentiation. A basic example of this is in the car industry. Imagine if

market segmentation did not occur and there was only one type of car available, a

two door Porsche (Figure 2). Even though this car can meet the most basic need of

transportation, the two-door Porsche may be appropriate for a young wealthy

individual, but it would not suit a family of six. Despite the advertisement suggesting

a very superior car brand, it cannot physically mean the functional needs of the large

family. This most basic example shows that if market differentiation did not occur to

make more tailored needs, it would be much more difficult as a consumer.

Furthermore, market segmentation allows act to avoid head on competition with

rival firms. By further specifying a mass market, it allows firms to target different

types of consumers and tailor different benefits avoiding offering exactly the same

product as each other. This also encourages the formulation of different advertising

strategies to target these customers.

Simultaneous target marketing is a key strategy for marketers and

manufacturers of consumer goods. They use this strategy to find many specified

markets enough to provide a relevant benefit to, and aggregately large enough to


make a profit. Ideally for firms, mass marketing would be the most profitable auction

if it was still a valid way to ensure strong customer acquisition. However, as society

just becomes more fragmented, individualised and more aware of themselves, they

are also more aware of their needs. With regards to consumer goods, individuals

realise that their need transcends that of just a basic need, but one which meets

their more personal needs. Because marketing itself is consumer-oriented, products

must be developed to meet customers’ specific needs. However it is just not

plausible to make the perfect tailored product to each individual, thus for marketers,

a significant identification of a group of consumers with similar needs is important.

An example of a company that has found successful market segments is New

Balance (New Balance, 2010). As they compete in the sports shoes industry they

have proceeded to develop their products in accordance to meet their identified

market segments. These include types of activities such as walking, running, or

general sports (cross trainers) (Figure 3). They also divide their product lines by

gender. This shows marketers being aware and physically employing simultaneous

target marketing. Now, if market segmentation occurs, this does not mean that the

size of one’s market is limited as firms can build larger customer bases (like in this

case) to pursue multiple segments at a time. Furthermore, this shows that marketers

are in place to identify consumer need. The purpose of this is to continue to attract a


large amount of customers yet provide a more specific offering to their market than

their competitors.

Simultaneous target marketing operates in order to identify these needs of a

consumer and to aggregate customers with similar needs to create a market

segment. Market segmentation is appropriately defined by Hammond et al. stating

‘Marketing segmentation is in place to aggregate a group of customers with

significant homogenous needs’ (Hammond et al., 1996). This is important to

understand that in target marketing it is still important to find a group of customers

with homogenous needs, not just pursuing a market of a few customers. The mantra

of marketing is ultimately to provide customer satisfaction. Therefore all efforts in

the entire marketing process are geared towards this purpose. Thus in order to

understand how to satisfy a customer, one must examine and research how to

determine the customer’s needs. Thus research is a very large factor of

understanding the customer; ergo part of the process of understanding a customer

is tremendous market research in order to provide insight on how to tap the

pursued market. Additionally, marketers and brands may find themselves as out of

touch with society, so simultaneous target marketing can help brands reposition

themselves in order to meet a customer need better than they previously had. A


good example of this is Adidas, as in 2009 they began rebranding their store

providing street-wear clothes branded as ‘Adidas originals’ and sportswear clothes

branded as ‘Adidas performance’ (Adidas, 2009) (Figure 4). This shows that Adidas

are clearly aware that their presence in the market is diverging into two different

directions, so in order to control their current markets they took a brand stance in

making specific offerings to both diverse target markets.

So, marketing segmentation’s relevance to advertising is that it is an extension or a

development of more traditional techniques. This is significant as it has developed

mass marketing to meeting specific consumer needs. It is a more specific way to

meet the needs of a large group of consumers who share the same values. But part

of the relevance of market segmentation to advertising is that when market

segmentation occurs, marketers can discover that certain media outlets are more

effective to reach a certain market segment to encourage interaction with the

customers.

In conclusion, simultaneous target marketing is a process to find consumers with the

same wants, to be grouped together. Firms find specified fragmented groups and

target them all at the same time and offer more specific benefits than if they were to


just segment the markets. The diverse nature of simultaneous target marketing

provides research and insight to marketers, primarily allowing them to be aware of

the diversity of the modern consumer. Simultaneous target marketing is a huge way

to meet more specific needs to multiple groups of consumers thus becoming more

relevant with each target segment or market. No doubt there has been a shift to

previous types of marketing such as mass marketing; however simultaneous target

marketing has proved itself to be a useful tool in understanding consumer

behaviour. This is important as it is part of the research process to understand the

consumer as an individual and how they work within a whole, or group in society.

Without this, advertising would be pointless as there would be no true focus to its

communicated message. Thus, simultaneous target marketing will have a powerful

place in marketing to establishing an aggregate consumer base because of

defragmented, individualising markets.


Bibliography (APA Referencing)

Adidias. (2010). Originals and performance. Retrieved may 13, 2010 at

http://www.adidas.com

Leiss, W., Kline, S., & Jhally, S. (1997). The bonding of the media. New York, USA:

Routledge

New Balance. (2010). Web express. Retrieved May 13, 2010 at

http://www.nbwebexpress.co.nz/?s1=google&s2=core&s3=new+balance+sho

es+e&gclid=CPH66en3naICFRd7gwodMUEewg

Nike. (2010). Elite series. Retrieved May 13, 2010 at

http://www.nike.com/nikefootball/home/?locale=en_US&sitesrc=uslp

Schiffman, L., Bednall, D., O’Cass, A., Paladino, A., Ward, S., & Kanuk L. (2008).

Consumer behaviour 4th edition. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson Education


Appendix

Figure 1

Nike’s four soccer boots


Porsche 2010 Print advertisement

(From M2 magazine, April 2010)


Figure 3

New Balance market segmentation on their website


Figure four

(on the left is the adidas original brand and on the right is the adidas performance

brand)

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