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Transformation: the new consumer motive.

Grant McCracken

Abstract

A revolution was created in the world of marketing by the idea of market segmentation. For the first time, marketers were encouraged to see markets are not homogeneous, that marketers must distinguish between types of consumers in any given market, that one size would not fit all. Now it's time to take the segmentation revolution one step further. Now it's time to see that the individual consumer is not homogeneous. I will argue that every individual consumer consists in a number of selves and that we must speak to each of these selves in a different voice. It is time, in other words, now that we have segments markets, it is time to segment consumers. In this talk I will show the several selves that exist in any given consumer. I will show how these selves differ, where they come from in our culture, how they are typically "bundled" in any given consumer, and the best strategies for talking to them. The Transformative approach to marketing allows us to build our message with a new sense of nuance, accuracy and power. I will show how a transformative approach can be used by Amazon.com, Netflix, carbonated soft drinks, the financial services industry, television programming, and packaged consumer goods. Consider this talk your ticket to the revolution.

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Grant McCracken

Grant McCracken holds a PhD from the University of Chicago in cultural anthropology. He is the author of Culture and Consumption I, Plenitude, Big Hair, Culture and Consumption II: Markets, Meaning and Brand Management, The Long Interview, Flock and Flow and Transforming selves that appeared last month. He has been the director of the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and he is now a Research Affiliate at MIT. He has worked for many clients, including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Campbell Soup, IBM, HP, and Boston Beer. He lives outside New York City with his wife, Pamela.