Buyographics: How Demographic and Economic Changes Will Reinvent the Way Marketers Reach Consumers

by Matt Carmichael

Author Matt Carmichael has been tracking demographic shifts for years, and provides a data-rich look at the changing American consumer. This book follows ten families in ten representative counties to examine their lives and how the decisions they make impact consumer behavior. This is not just a data book, because in the end each of those numbers—in datasets big and small—is a person. As you read those stories, the trends come to life and give you a greater understanding of how to reach your target—whether it’s a baby boomer farmer in Teton, Montana or a set of working parents in one of the most affluent counties in the US. Carmichael focuses on the top ten trends that are reshaping the consumer landscape and impacting buying behavior and the economic outlook of the world’s most important market. For each trend he provides ethnographic research from the families, stats from the leading consumer data sources, and exclusive interviews and examples from marketers, agencies, and media executives. These trends show how America is aging, growing more diverse ethnically, and becoming more polarized economically. Buyographics is a smart, engaging read that will be important for every marketer to consider before creating a successful campaign.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2013

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Matt Carmichael shows how "big data" is culled from different sources and analyzed to describe consumers and then develop both targeted content and targeted distribution to reach those consumers. The book's data is surprisingly up to date for a book as compared to an article.

Personal info (age, race, household size) from varied sources matched with geographic, financial and even friend data from Facebook is used to draw consumer portraits. If companies are behind the curve in spotting the trends shown in recent data and their messaging will be "off" and they may not reach their intended audience.

Of interest to the lay person his how many statistical barriers have been just recently shattered. As of 2010 (p.47) married couples with kids made up fewer than one in five households and married couples made up 48% of the households. This means the conventional family is no longer conventional: most households do not include a married couple. Another recent change: those aged 16-34 drove 23% fewer miles than at the end of the last decade than they did at the start (p.160).

The rapidly changing demographics owe a lot to the aging population, which is no longer moving south in droves upon retirement and the millennials who are gravitating to cities. Social such as the more engaged father, growing diversity, pervasive technology as well as financial forces have led to smaller households, a the decline in the car culture and a drop in the number of shopping hours. We are now at the end of "big tent marketing" (p. 78) since a diverse population can now only be reached through live sports, awards shows and Facebook.

The items on political marketing are interesting, showing how Obama for America spotted the urban trend and used cross data analysis to find its voters, target them and get them to the polls. This made the difference in the "purple" battle ground states.

The author says the book focuses on 10 "families", but the theme is not well developed and you forget which "family" you are following. I didn't know, until the end, that their profiles appear in Appendix 1. Knowing this from the start might have helped, but the points the author is making are larger than the individual families.

Appendix 2 is a worthwhile read in itself for its demonstration of perceptual mapping.

[Lori Paximadis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. There were a few gems of insight here, but it's mostly a long slog through a lot of blather to get there. Also, the much-touted "profiles" of the ten families/people really aren't here at all. He mentions a few randomly once in a while as examples of one thing or another, but based on the description, I was expecting more of a "here's this person, and here's how he/she reflects this current trend" type of thing. He doesn't even list or give any details about these families/people until appendix 1, and nowhere in the text of the book does he mention that the details about the families are in appendix 1. That would have been much more useful in the front of the book.

[Michele Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book through the examples of ten different representative families show how demographic changes affect the purchasing decisions of consumers. They do show how the changes in society today affect how marketers market their product to different target audience. The country is broken down into different types of communities. This is a good book for those in marketing in how to address their target audience.