Audiences 5 Y&R 4C's

• Learning objective: Apply Young and Rubicam's 4C's theory to the text you are investigating.

• Key words: Demographics, Psychographic, Values, Cross cultural, Mass audience, Niche audience.

Demographics. Recap:

Definition: 

Demographic information is used in media marketing to classify an audience into age, gender, race and other categories.

Demographics are broken into bands depending on peoples jobs or status.

This is shown in this table:

Many texts and movies could be aimed at any off the above letter codes. This is because some have such a wide audience. However some texts do not appeal to all audiences.

Psychological thrillers for example may not appeal to the E code as they could be less educated if they are unemployed so would not see the appeal in a psychological thriller.

Task 1: 

Apply NRS categories to the text you are investigating using the handout provided.

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Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on 

• Social class
• Lifestyle
• Personality characteristics. 

It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that person's characteristics and patterns of living.

Young and Rubicam is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting.

Young and Rubicam came up with a consumer categorisation specifically designed to gain an insight into the values of consumers. 

It is called the 4Cs, the abbreviation of Cross-cultural consumer characterisation.
Cross cultural meaning these values are found in all different cultures although their expression may vary slightly.
Consumer characterisation meaning a persons lifestyle and the way their beliefs and values come together to form a way of making choices.
This method was developed for advertising purposes, and so they have 5 main motivations of each characterisation. 

These include Safety, Control, Security, Enlightenment and Discovery. 

These were chosen because they play the largest roles in advertising. 

There are 2 other categories, Survival and Escape, but these are rarely targeted commercially.

Young & Rubicam 4 Cs model Cross-Cultural Consumer Characterisation model 

A more useful audience segmentation model than the traditional ABC1 categorization. 

It acknowledges the global nature of media audiences 

Divides audiences into 7 types of consumer 4 main categories are (MARS):

• MAINSTREAMERS
• ASPIRERS
• REFORMERS
• SUCCEEDERS 

Mainstreamers – People who fall into this category tend to like popular TV shows that are on during peak times, films that are currently showing in the cinema and music that features in the charts.
They do not like media products that are too offensive or challenging against the ‘norms’.

Aspirers/Social Climbers – These type of people are ones who look up to the characters that the actors play in the TV shows and/or films, or music artists. They see them as their role models, someone to base themselves on or someone to follow in the footsteps of to make themselves better people. They take what their models have achieved and turn them into goals that they would like to reach. 

Physical materials and social statuses can drive these kind of people to do well, for example getting money for expensive cars, jewellery and designer clothes.

Succeeders – People who fall into this category tend to already have established their place in life as they know what they want/need and how to get it. They believe that they are successful. In order for all this they would need to have had experience and therefore would probably be the older audience members.

Reformers – Those who can be put into this category enjoy media products that challenge the ‘norm’. They have a tendency to use new technologies to gain access and research into new music or music that exists in niche markets. Personal growth and how they can take part in make social changes as they view this to be very important. Also they care about the well being of other people and believe in caring and sharing. 

The other categories to be added to this are EXPLORERS RESIGNED STRUGGLERS 

It takes the following as consumer motivations: SECURITY, CONTROL, STATUS, INDIVIDUALITY, FREEDOM, SURVIVAL and ESCAPE Clear links with Maslow.

Applying the 4 C's to texts

The Mighty Boosh 

This is a British situation comedy (sitcom) that would appeal to the Explorer audience category. Whilst there are many elements of traditional sitcoms, The Mighty Boosh is experimental in its use of a humour through strange & unconventional characters and unrealistic settings. It also uses a combination of live action and occasional animated scenes, and added to the unusual mix are musical numbers which makes for a bizarre hybrid show that offers a new experience and challenges an audiences expectations of the traditional sitcom 

Toy Story 3 

This is a computer animated film from Disney/Pixar that would appeal to the Mainstream audience category. Not only is Disney a well trusted and household brand name, but the Toy Story series of films is also very well known as two of the most popular animated films of recent years. The audience would be aware that this film has ‘something for everyone’, the subject matter & story for children and potentially some humour appealing to parents. It would also provide an opportunity to enjoy something as a group. The Mainstream audience could be secure in the knowledge that their expectations would be met.

Task 2: 

Apply Maslow and Young and Rubicam's 4 C's to the text you are investigating using the handout provided.

Task 3: 

Using the responses you gave yesterday, write a paragraph discussing how the text you are investigating appeals to audiences.