Amazon's conversion rate doubles when sellers cater to a broader demographic, disregarding age.
In a groundbreaking report by Amazon Ads and Strat7 Crowd.DNA, titled "Beyond the Generational Divide: The New Rules for Consumer Connection," a new approach to marketing is being advocated. The report emphasizes moving away from traditional age-based marketing and instead prioritizing interest-based marketing.
The report highlights that combining generational targeting with audience signals, such as consumer interests and shopping behaviors, significantly improves campaign results. By integrating generational cohorts with other relevant audience data, campaigns become more precise and relevant, which boosts engagement and overall ad effectiveness.
According to the report, audiences are more unified by shared behaviours (1.1 times), shared communities (2.2 times), and shared values (1.4 times) than by generation. This finding challenges the convention of targeting customers solely by age and encourages advertisers to use a broader set of signals for personalization.
The report includes case studies of brands demonstrating how to target consumers beyond their age. For instance, Nissan UK's recent inclusivity-in-sport campaign connected with anyone who cares about breaking down barriers, not just a specific age group. Similarly, Booking.com tapped into the rise of 'set-jetting' - travellers choosing destinations based on their favourite shows - with campaigns linked to The Rings of Power and The Idea of You, driving significant jumps in brand favourability across demographics.
Amazon's analysis of 600,000 news articles between 2021 and 2024 found a 36% year-on-year increase in stories about generations, often framed in stark contradictions. This trend, the report suggests, contributes to the misconception that generations are polarized, leading to inaccurate assumptions by brands.
In fact, nearly 60% of surveyed consumers believe brands make inaccurate assumptions based on age alone. A quarter of the 26,400 consumers surveyed for the report said they identify more with a different generation than their own. This underscores the importance of moving beyond generational stereotypes and focusing on consumers' interests.
Claire Paull, CMO of Amazon Ads, wrote that the report's findings support the old adage that "age is just a number." She further stated that Amazon Ads' tools and data analytics capabilities allow brands to optimize shoppable content and integrate multiple data points for more personalized advertising.
Cultural consultant Yaw Owusu adds that it is possible for one brand to speak to both aspirational people of different age groups. He believes that brands that target people for who they are, not when they were born, will be the ones that cut through.
In conclusion, the new rules for consumer connection emphasize going beyond the generational divide by leveraging interest-based targeting combined with generational data and other audience signals. This strategy leads to deeper consumer connections and improved campaign performance.
- The report reveals that combining generational targeting with audience signals, such as consumer interests and shopping behaviors, significantly improves campaign results, making campaigns more precise and relevant, which boosts engagement and overall ad effectiveness.
- The analysis of 600,000 news articles between 2021 and 2024 found a 36% year-on-year increase in stories about generations, often framed in stark contradictions, contributing to the misconception that generations are polarized, leading to inaccurate assumptions by brands.
- Nearly 60% of surveyed consumers believe that brands make inaccurate assumptions based on age alone, while a quarter of the 26,400 consumers surveyed for the report said they identify more with a different generation than their own, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond generational stereotypes and focusing on consumers' interests.
- Claire Paull, CMO of Amazon Ads, notes that Amazon Ads' tools and data analytics capabilities allow brands to optimize shoppable content and integrate multiple data points for more personalized advertising, encouraging brands to follow the new rules for consumer connection.
